With our fourth pick, The Upper Crash are proud to select, in the Female Artist category, the true Queen of Rock 'n Roll...
Miss Joan Jett!
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Joan Jett (born Joan Marie Larkin on September 22, 1958 in Ardmore, Pennsylvania) is an American rock guitarist, singer, songwriter, producer and actress.
She is best known for her hit single "I Love Rock N' Roll", which was #1 on the Billboard charts from March 20 to May 1, 1982, as well as for her other popular recordings including "Crimson and Clover", "Do You Wanna Touch Me", "Light of Day", "Love is All Around", "Bad Reputation," "I Hate Myself for Loving You," and "Little Liar."
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The Runaways
Joan Jett is one of the founding members of The Runaways along with Kari Krome and Sandy West. Kari Krome (replaced by Micki Steele and later Jackie Fox), Lita Ford, and Cherie Currie completed the line-up. While Currie initially fronted the band, Jett also sang lead vocal, played rhythm guitar and wrote or co-wrote much of the band's material. The band recorded five LPs, with one becoming one of the biggest-selling imports in U.S. and U.K. history. The band toured around the world and some of their opening acts included Cheap Trick, Van Halen and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. They found huge success abroad, especially in Japan.
While The Runaways were popular in Europe, Japan, Australia, Canada and even South America, they could not garner the same success in the U.S. It seemed that the United States, and the music press especially, was not ready to take seriously the music of female teenagers. After Currie and Fox left the band (to be replaced by bassist Vicki Blue and later, Laurie McAllister), the band released two more albums: Waitin' for the Night and And Now... The Runaways. Altogether they produced five albums from 1975 until they disbanded in spring of 1979.
It was soon after that Jett produced The Germs' first and only album GI (GI=Germs Incognito, since they were pretty much banned from playing most clubs by this time due to their and their audience's reputation of causing damage during the shows).
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Joan Jett and The Blackhearts
With Laguna's assistance, she formed the Blackhearts. Joan placed an ad in the L.A. Weekly "looking for three good men." John Doe of X sat in on bass for the auditions held at S.I.R. studios in Los Angeles. He mentioned a local bass player, Gary Ryan, that had recently been crashing on his couch. Ryan was part of the L.A. punk scene and had played bass with local artists Top Jimmy and Rik L. Rik. He had been a huge fan of the Runaways and Jett for years. Joan recognized him at the audition and he was in. Gary recommended guitarist Eric Ambel, who was also at the time part of the Rik L. Rik band. The final addition to the original Blackhearts was drummer Danny "Furious" O'Brien, formerly of the infamous San Francisco band The Avengers. This line-up played several gigs at the Golden Bear and Whisky a Go Go in Hollywood before embarking on their first European tour; which consisted of an extensive tour of the Netherlands and a few key shows in England including the Marquee in London.
Upon returning to the states, Jett, Ryan, and Ambel moved to Long Beach, N.Y. O'Brien stayed behind in England to pursue other interests. Auditions were set up and Lee Crystal, formerly of The Boyfriends, became the new drummer. Joan Jett and the Blackhearts then toured throughout the states and built quite a following in their new "stomping grounds" of New York. Jett and Laguna soon used their personal savings to press up copies of the Joan Jett album and set up their own system of independent distribution, sometimes selling the albums out of the trunk of Laguna's Cadillac at the end of each concert. Laguna was unable to keep up with demand for her album. Eventually, old friend and founder of Casablanca Records, Neil Bogart, made a joint venture with Laguna and signed Jett to his new label, Boardwalk Records and re-released the Joan Jett album as Bad Reputation. After a year of touring and recording, The Blackhearts recorded a new album entitled I Love Rock N' Roll for the label. During the recording process, Ambel was replaced by local guitarist Ricky Byrd. Eric went on to a successful career as a founding member of the Del-Lords, and later worked as a producer of a wide variety of bands. He currently plays with his band, The Yayhoos, and is Steve Earle's guitarist.
With Byrd on guitar, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts recorded their hit album. The new single was a re-recording of the title track, "I Love Rock N' Roll", which in the first half of 1982 was number one on the Billboard charts for seven weeks in a row. It is now Billboard’s #28 song of all time.
A string of Top 40 hits followed, as well as sellout tours with The Police, Queen, and Aerosmith, among others. Jett was the second American act of any kind to perform behind the Iron Curtain, the first one being Blood, Sweat & Tears in Romania in 1969. She was among the first English-speaking rock acts to appear in Panama and the Dominican Republic.
After receiving her own MTV New Year's Eve special, Jett beat out a number of contenders to appear in the movie Light of Day with Michael J. Fox. Bruce Springsteen wrote "the title song" especially for her, and her performance was critically acclaimed. It was about this time that Ryan and Crystal left the Blackhearts. They were soon replaced by the powerful rhythm section of Thommy Price and Kasim Sultan. Later that year, Jett released Good Music, which featured appearances by The Beach Boys, The Sugarhill Gang and singer Darlene Love.
Joan Jett and the Blackhearts became the first rock band to perform a series of shows at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on Broadway, breaking the record at the time for the fastest ticket sell-out ever. Her next release, Up Your Alley, went multi-platinum and was followed by The Hit List, which was an international hit.
In 1989, Joan co-wrote the song "House of Fire", which appeared on Alice Cooper's Trash album.
In the 1990s, Jett and Laguna released Flashback, a compilation of her career so far on their own Blackheart Records. Her next release, Notorious (which featured The Replacements' Paul Westerberg) was the last with Sony/CBS as Jett switched to Warner Brothers. A CD single of "Let's Do It" featuring Jett and Westerberg was also released during this time and appeared in the song credits for the movie Tank Girl. It was also during this period that a couple of years were mysteriously shaved off her age in promo materials. Her website still reflects this change, advertising her year of birth as 1960.
Jett produced several bands prior to releasing her debut and her label Blackheart Records released recordings from varied artists such as thrash rock band Metal Church and rapper Big Daddy Kane.
The press touted Jett as the "Godmother of Punk" and the "Original Riot Grrrl". In 1994, the Blackhearts released the well received Pure and Simple, which featured tracks written with Kat Bjelland (Babes in Toyland), Donita Sparks (L7) and Kathleen Hanna (Bikini Kill).
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Current projects
In June 2006, Joan Jett released a new album, Sinner, on Blackheart Records, her own label. To support the album, the band appeared on the 2006 Warped Tour, and embarked on a Fall 2006 tour with Eagles of Death Metal. Various other bands like Valient Thorr, The Vacancies, Throw Rag and Riverboat Gamblers were to have joined the tour for a handful of dates each.
A Joan Jett video with Paul, Paul Jr. and Mikey Teutul of the Learning Channel show American Chopper aired on January 14, 2007. The making of that video was presented in a segment of American Chopper that aired on The Learning Channel February 22, 2007.
Jett sang a duet with Chase Noles on "Tearstained Letters," a song on 2006 Heart Attacks album, Hellbound and Heartless.
In late June 2007, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts performed at Dolphin Stadium in Miami, following a Florida Marlins baseball game.
Joan Jett and the Blackhearts headlined the Albuquerque, New Mexico Freedom Fourth celebration on July 4, 2007, with an estimated crowd of 65,000 in attendance at the annual outdoor event.
In November 2007, Jett and the Blackhearts appeared with Motörhead and Alice Cooper in a UK arena tour.
Jett is to executive produce the 2009 upcoming film Neon Angels, which chronicles the Runaways' career. Floria Sigismondi, who has also directed videos for Marilyn Manson, the White Stripes and David Bowie, is to write and direct.
Jett opened eight American shows on Aerosmith's 2007 World Tour.
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Accolades and awards
* Jett was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in October of 2006.
* In 2003, Jett was named in the Rolling Stone greatest 100 guitarists of all time at number 87. She was one of only two women in this list. The other was Joni Mitchell.
* Jett is listed as one of Blender's "hottest women of rock" 21 years after she started The Runaways.
I had originally intended on selecting Brian May with this pick as my guitarist, but he unsurprisingly went a little bit earlier. So, with our next pick in the inaugural CP MusicDraft, Team Phlegmp3 is proud to select Queen member John Deacon in the bass guitarist category.
As a bass player his most notable works include "Another One Bites the Dust", "Father to Son" "Dragon Attack", "Brighton Rock", "The March of the Black Queen", "You're My Best Friend", "The Millionaire Waltz", "We Are the Champions", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love". As a guitar player, he did some rhythm-playing in songs like "Staying Power" (both live and in the studio) and "Back Chat", as well as lead parts in "Another One Bites the Dust" and "Misfire" and Spanish acoustic fills in "Who Needs You". He also played double bass, notably on Brian May's 1975 song "'39". May had asked him to play upright bass as a joke but a couple of days later he found Deacon in the studio with the instrument, and he had already learned to play it.[4]
Alrighty guys sorry for the delay. With their fourth pick, Dr. Funke's 100% Natural Good Time Family Band Solution is proud to select, in the category of Band with the option to move to Canada, The Tragically Hip.
I'll get youtube and stuff up later. Just didn't want to hold the draft back any longer.
Finally got some time to put this up, so here she goes:
Although the band is immensely popular in Canada, they have never found mainstream success in the United States. Their most-seen appearance in the United States was on March 25, 1995, when they appeared on Saturday Night Live (performing Grace, Too and Nautical Disaster) with fellow Canadian and friend Dan Aykroyd guest starring, and with John Goodman hosting. In 1999, The Hip were also one of the featured bands at Woodstock '99 held in Rome, New York. When touring in Canada they typically play to sold-out arenas; when touring in the United States they play smaller venues and clubs, or festivals where they aren't the headliner. Performances abroad are usually attended by Canadian expatriates. The band permit recordings of their performances, so an active trading community thrives. The tone and content of much of their music is a paean to the Canadian experience and touches on such themes as small-town life, geography, Canadian history and ice hockey. The historical, geographical and individual references in many of the lyrics are a source of much internet discussion.
Little Bones:
Nautical Disaster, one of my all time favorites:
Courage:
Fully Completely:
Fiddler's Green:
The Darkest One:
38 Years Old, with Don Cherry and the Trailer Park Boys
And the best Hip song ever...Wheat Kings:
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Let's get drunk and do philosophy.
If you took a burger off the grill and slapped it on your face, I'm pretty sure it would burn you. - kermitology
Alrighty guys sorry for the delay. With their fourth pick, Dr. Funke's 100% Natural Good Time Family Band Solution is proud to select, in the category of Band with the option to move to Canada, The Tragically Hip.
I'll get youtube and stuff up later. Just didn't want to hold the draft back any longer.
NO!!!!!!!!!!!
Man, now I have to put some thought into my pick. I'll get it up quickly guys.
__________________ I am in love with Montana. For other states I have admiration, respect, recognition, even some affection, but with Montana it is love." - John Steinbeck
With our 4th round pick 74th overall, reeling from the 'theft' of our Canadian category pick by Berger (good god what am I going to do there NOW?) AliceLoveGarden is proud to select in the category of BAND (for now) 1/3 of our namesake Alice In Chains!
Alice in Chains is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington in 1987 by guitarist Jerry Cantrell and vocalist Layne Staley. Although widely associated with grunge music, the band's sound incorporates heavy metal and acoustic elements. Since its formation, Alice in Chains has released three studio albums, three EPs, two live albums, four compilations, and two DVDs. The band is known for its distinct vocal style which often includes the harmonized vocals of Staley and Cantrell.
Alice in Chains rose to international fame as part of the grunge movement of the early 1990s, along with bands such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden. It was one of the most successful music acts of the 1990s and sold over 14 million albums in the United States alone. The band achieved two number-one Billboard 200 albums (Jar of Flies and Alice in Chains), 11 top ten singles on the Mainstream Rock Tracks charts, and six Grammy Award nominations.
Following the demise of his band Sleeze in 1986, vocalist Layne Staley formed Alice N' Chainz, a band which he said "dressed in drag and played speed metal".[3] The new band performed around the Seattle area playing Slayer and Armored Saintcovers. Staley met guitarist Jerry Cantrell while working at MusicBank rehearsal studios, where the two struggling musicians became roommates, and lived in a rehearsal space they shared. Staley's Alice N' Chainz soon disbanded and he joined a funk band who at the time also required a guitarist. Staley asked Cantrell to join as a sideman. Cantrell agreed on condition that Staley joined Cantrell's band Diamond Lie, which at the time included drummer Sean Kinney and bassist Mike Starr. Eventually the funk project broke up and in 1987 Staley joined Cantrell on a full time basis. Diamond Lie played in clubs around the Pacific Northwest, often stretching 15 minutes of material into a 45-minute set. The band eventually took the name of Alice N' Chains, although they switched the z in the title to an s.[3][4]
Local promoter Randy Hauser became aware of the band at a concert, and offered to pay for demo recordings. However, one day before the band was due to record the Music Bank studio in the Washington, the police shut down the studio during the biggest marijuana raid in the history of the state.[3] The final demo was named The Treehouse Tapes, and found its way to the music managers Kelly Curtis and Susan Silver, who also managed the Seattle-based band Soundgarden. Curtis and Silver passed on the demo to Columbia Records' A&R representative Nick Terzo, who set up an appointment with label president Don Lenner. Based on The Treehouse Tapes, Lenner signed Alice in Chains to Columbia in 1989.[3]
Love Hate Love probably my favorite Alice tune and one that speaks to what the band was probably all about.
Would? Bridged the gap between Facelift and Dirt. Brilliant marketing to kick off their second record and the video rocks. If Love Hate Love is what Alice was all about lyrically, this song might be the perfect Alice song musically.
One of the hidden Alice gems...Real Thing, from facelift. Love it, and I have no frame of reference for songs about addiction. No idea how that happens.
Grind
Frogs, another gem that was never played on the radio
I COULD post all of their songs, the entire concert I went to at the Hollywood Palladium in 92 and sundry other items Alice...but the draft must continue past this pick!
__________________ I am in love with Montana. For other states I have admiration, respect, recognition, even some affection, but with Montana it is love." - John Steinbeck
Thanks! Habby might be a bit irked, or maybe just proud of me!
__________________ I am in love with Montana. For other states I have admiration, respect, recognition, even some affection, but with Montana it is love." - John Steinbeck
lovin' that pick, Dis. A great, great band that was around for far too short a time. Heroin is a nasty, nasty habit. I only saw them live once, but I am very glad I did (they opened for Van Halen Nov 9, 1991. Van Halen sucked big time that night). Cantrell is one of my favourites on guitar (anyone who doesn't have it, grab his solo stuff, fantastic is not a strong enough word to describe it) and Staleys haunting vocals are a perfect match.
Yup, nice pick with Alice In Chains. I have heard that they might be putting out some new stuff...how will that work? Who would be the lead singer?
They would either use just Jerry or involve Will Duvall from the band Comes With the Fall who toured with them last year singing Layne's parts.
__________________ I am in love with Montana. For other states I have admiration, respect, recognition, even some affection, but with Montana it is love." - John Steinbeck
