Judas Priest

Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band formed in 1969 in Birmingham. Originally formed by guitarist K. K. Downing and bassist Ian Hill, Judas Priest's core line-up consists of Downing, Hill, vocalist Rob Halford and guitarist Glenn Tipton. They have been cited as an influence on many heavy metal musicians and bands. Their popularity and status as one of the definitive heavy metal bands has earned them the nickname "Metal Gods", from their song of the same name.^[1] They have sold over 35 million albums worldwide.^[2]

Jeff Beck

Geoffrey Arnold ("Jeff") Beck (born June 24, 1944 to Arnold and Ethel Beck in Wallington, Greater London) is an English rock guitarist. He was one of three noted guitarists — the others being Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page — to have recorded with the band The Yardbirds.

Beck has never attained the sustained commercial success of his fellow Yardbirds guitarists (he is the only one who hasn't been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame individually or with another band). In 1992 the Yardbirds, along with Jeff Beck, were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Jeff Beck wise-cracked at the ceremony stating:

“

I suppose I should say thank you, but they fired me ... so fuck 'em! (Laughs)...

”

Much of his output has been instrumental, and his releases have spanned genres, ranging from blues rock, heavy metal, jazz fusion and (currently) a blend of guitar-rock and electronica. This versatility has made it difficult for Beck to establish and maintain a broad following.

Beck's commercial releases have been sporadic since 1977. Stories about his temper, erratic behavior and tour-related incidents (even from musicians who are unabashed fans) have built his persona as a somewhat mad genius.

Nevertheless, Beck has gained wide critical acclaim for his work as a guitarist.^[1] He has won many Grammy awards in the category for best rock instrumental and played on some of the most influential releases in music history.

Kiss

Kiss is an American rock band formed in New York City in 1971. Easily identified by their trademark face paint and stage outfits, the group rose to prominence in the mid-1970s on the basis of their elaborate live performances, which featured fire-breathing, blood spitting, smoking guitars, and pyrotechnics. Kiss has been awarded 24 gold albums to date.^[1] The group's worldwide sales exceed 95 million albums.^[2][3]

The original lineup of Gene Simmons (bass and vocals), Paul Stanley (rhythm guitar and vocals), Ace Frehley (lead guitar and vocals) and Peter Criss (drums and vocals) is the most successful and identifiable. With their makeup and costumes, they took on the personae of comic book-style characters: the Demon (Simmons), the Star Child (Stanley), the Space Man (Frehley), and the Cat Man (Criss). Due to creative differences, both Criss and Frehley were out of the group by 1982. The band's commercial fortunes had also waned considerably by that point.

In 1983, Kiss abandoned their makeup and enjoyed a commercial resurgence throughout the rest of the decade. Buoyed by a wave of Kiss nostalgia in the 1990s, the band announced a reunion of the original lineup (with makeup) in 1996. The resulting Kiss Alive/Worldwide Tour was the top-grossing act of 1996. Criss and Frehley have since left Kiss again and have been replaced by Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer, respectively. The band continues to perform, while Stanley and Simmons have remained the only two constant members.

Led Zeppelin

Led Zeppelin were an English rock band that formed in September 1968. Led Zeppelin consisted of Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and John Bonham. With their heavy, guitar-driven sound, Led Zeppelin are regarded as one of the first heavy metal bands.^[1][2] Their rock-infused interpretation of the blues and folk genres also incorporated rockabilly,^[3] reggae,^[4] soul,^[5] funk,^[6] jazz,^[7] classical, Celtic, Indian, Arabic, pop, Latin, and country. The band did not release the popular songs from their albums as singles in the UK, as they preferred to develop the concept of album-oriented rock.^[8]

Over 25 years after disbanding following Bonham's death in 1980, Led Zeppelin continue to be held in high regard for their artistic achievements, commercial success, and broad influence. The band have sold more than 300 million albums worldwide,^[9] including 109.5 million sales in the United States,^[10] and they are the only band to have had all their albums reach the U.S. Billboard Top 10.^[11] Led Zeppelin are ranked No. 1 on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock.^[12]

On December 10, 2007 the surviving members of Led Zeppelin reunited for the Ahmet Ertegün tribute show at The O₂ in London .^[13]

Pentagram

Pentagram are a long-running American heavy metal band from Virginia, most famous as performers of Sabbathesque doom metal. The band was quite prolific in the underground scene of the 1970s, producing many demos and rehearsal tapes, but did not release a full-length album until reforming in the early 1980s with an almost completely new lineup. Throughout the band's history the only constant member has been vocalist Bobby Liebling. The revolving lineup of Pentagram has featured many well respected musicians in the local doom metal scene, with members spending time in other acts such as Place of Skulls, Internal Void, Spirit Caravan, among many others.

Queen

Queen are an English rock band formed in late 1969 in London by guitarist Brian May, lead vocalist Freddie Mercury and drummer Roger Taylor, with bassist John Deacon joining the following year. Queen rose to prominence during the 1970s and are one of Britain's most successful bands of the past three decades.^[1]

The band is noted for their musical diversity, multi-layered arrangements, vocal harmonies and incorporation of audience participation into their live performances.^[2] Their 1985 Live Aid performance was voted the best live music performance of all time in a BBC poll.^[3]

Queen had moderate success in the early 1970s, with the albums Queen and Queen II, but it was with the release of Sheer Heart Attack in 1974 and A Night at the Opera the following year that the band gained international success. All of the band's studio albums reached number one on numerous charts around the world. Since 1973, they have released fifteen studio albums, five live albums, and numerous compilation albums. According to OhmyNews, the band have sold more than 300 million copies worldwide,^[4] including more than 32.5 million in the United States alone,^[5] making them one of the world's best-selling music artists.

Following Mercury's death and Deacon's retirement in the 1990s,^[6] May and Taylor collaborated with Paul Rodgers, under the moniker Queen + Paul Rodgers.

Scorpions

Scorpions are a hard rock/heavy metal band from Hanover, Germany, perhaps best known for their 1980s rock anthem "Rock You Like a Hurricane" and their singles "Wind of Change", "No One Like You", "Still Loving You", "Humanity", "Send Me an Angel". The band has sold over 75 million albums worldwide.^[1]

Although the band's official name is "Scorpions", they are often referred to as "The Scorpions". Their Internet domain name, "the-scorpions.com" is one example of this.

Formation and early history (1965-1973)

Rudolf Schenker, the band's rhythm guitarist, set out to find a band in 1965. At first, the band had beat influences and Schenker himself on vocals. Things began to come together in 1969 when Schenker's younger brother Michael and vocalist Klaus Meine joined the band. In 1972 the group recorded and released their debut album Lonesome Crow with Lothar Heimberg on bass and Wolfgang Dziony on drums. During the Lonesome Crow tour, Scorpions opened for upcoming British band UFO. At the end of the tour the members of UFO offered guitarist Michael Schenker the lead guitar job; an offer which he soon accepted. Uli Roth was then called in temporarily to finish off the tour.

The departure of Michael Schenker led to the break up of the Scorpions. In 1973, guitarist Uli Roth, a friend of the Schenker brothers, was in a band called Dawn Road. He had been offered the role as lead guitarist in Scorpions after Michael Schenker's departure but turned the band down. Rudolf decided that he wanted to work with Roth but did not want to resurrect the last Scorpions lineup.

Rudolf Schenker attended some of Dawn Road's rehearsals and ultimately decided to join the band, which consisted of Roth, Francis Buchholz (bass),Achim Kirschning (keyboards) and Jurgen Rosenthal (drums). Roth and Buchholz persuaded Rudolf Schenker to invite Klaus Meine to join, which he did soon after. While there were more members of Dawn Road than Scorpions in the band, they decided to use the Scorpions name because they had released an album under that name and were already known in the German hard rock scene. [1]

Steppenwolf

Steppenwolf is a rock band that helped establish heavy metal music in the late 1960s along with bands like Blue Cheer and Iron Butterfly. The band was formed in 1967 in Los Angeles by vocalist John Kay, guitarist Michael Monarch, bassist Rushton Moreve, keyboardist Goldy McJohn and drummer Jerry Edmonton after the dissolution of its predecessor, The Sparrows.

The band has sold more than 25 million units worldwide, releasing 8 gold albums and 13 Hot 100 singles, including three top-10 hits in "Born to Be Wild", '"Magic Carpet Ride", and "Rock Me". Steppenwolf enjoyed worldwide success from 1968 to 1974, but clashing personalities led to the end of the core lineup. Today, frontman John Kay is the only original member left, having served as lead singer for almost all of the 40 years since 1967. Kay has stated that there will be no more Steppenwolf tours, but according to band manager Charlie Wolf, he has left open the possibility of doing "a half dozen shows in '09".[1]

Thin Lizzy

Thin Lizzy are a hard rock band who formed in Dublin, Ireland in 1969. The band was originally led by bassist, songwriter and singer Phil Lynott. They are best known for their songs "Whiskey in the Jar", "Jailbreak", "The Boys Are Back in Town" and "Bad Reputation", all major international hits still played regularly on hard rock and classic rock radio stations.

Critic for allmusic.com John Dugan has written that "As the band's creative force, Lynott was a more insightful and intelligent writer than many of his ilk, preferring slice-of-life working-class dramas of love and hate influenced by Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Bruce Springsteen, and virtually all of the Irish literary tradition."^[1] Van Morrison was a major influence as revealed in an interview with Phil Lynott in the movie Thin Lizzy the Rocker: A Portrait of Phillip Lynott. American groups Little Feat and Bob Seger also influenced Lizzy.^[2] Their music covered much territory (including hints of country and traditional folk music), but is generally classified as traditional hard rock or heavy metal.^[3]

Though others had earlier used similar techniques, Thin Lizzy is widely recognised as one of the first hard rock bands to employ double lead guitar harmony (the twin guitar clash) - a technique pioneered by Wishbone Ash in the UK, whilst independently in the USA by Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Allman Brothers Band. This style was later refined and popularised by bands of the emerging New Wave of British Heavy Metal, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden especially. The latter group in particular has praised Thin Lizzy extensively and even covered the song "Massacre" from Lizzy's popular Live and Dangerous album. Examples of this dual guitar harmony technique include "The Boys Are Back in Town" and "Cowboy Song" from Jailbreak. Brian Robertson's unconventional use of the wah-pedal as an extension of the instrument during soloing rather than as a purely rhythmic effect, as described in the Total Accuracy video "Still in Love with the Blues" (featuring Brian Robertson & Stuart Bull), is a distinctive and influential sound.

Lynott is one of the few black men to achieve significant success in hard rock. As well as being a multiracial band, members were drawn from both sides of the Irish border and from both Catholic and Protestant communities.^[4][5]

Thin Lizzy was ranked #51 on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock.^[6]

Van Halen

Van Halen is an American hard rock band formed in Pasadena, California in 1972. They enjoyed immediate popularity and influence from the release of their debut album, Van Halen in 1978, which lasted until the band's lineup destabilized in the late 1990s. As of 2007 Van Halen has sold more than 80 million albums worldwide^[2] and earning the band the Guinness Book of World Records title for the most number one hits on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.^[3] According to the Recording Industry Association of America, Van Halen is #19 on the list of top selling artists of all time (having sold more than 56 million albums in the U.S.)^[4] and is one of only five rock groups that have had two albums sell more than 10 million copies in the U.S. The band and its best known former members were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 12, 2007.^[5]

In addition to being recognized for artistic contributions and success, the band is known for the drama surrounding its lead singer spot. The band has gone through tenures with four different lead singers, but the (multiple) exits of Sammy Hagar and David Lee Roth were surrounded in controversy and mass press coverage. David Lee Roth is once again the current lead singer.

Following their 2004 concert tour the band was on a hiatus from the public until September 2006, when long-time bassist Michael Anthony's replacement was confirmed and stories involving Roth began to re-surface. After years of rumours and speculation about Roth, Van Halen began a tour with the new lineup in late 2007 across North America, which has been extended into early 2008. An album is proposed to follow.^[6]

Other than three new songs in 2004, Van Halen has released no new material since their last album Van Halen III was released in 1998.