This French band was formed in 1986 by Manu Chao (b. Oscar Tramor, 26 June 1961, Paris, France; guitar, vocals), his brother Antonio Chao (trumpet), and his cousin Santiago Casiriego (drums). Formed from the remnants of the Paris-based rockabilly out…

Formed in 1984, this UK pop band originally comprised Paul Heaton (b. 9 May 1962, Bromborough, Merseyside, England; vocals/guitar), Stan Cullimore (b. Ian Cullimore, 6 April 1962, Cambridge, England; bass), Ted Key (b. 1 July 1960, Hull, England; bas…

The U.K.'s Dire Straits became one of the world's most popular rock bands the old-fashioned way, through songwriting and musicianship. When "Sultans of Swing" broke through on both sides of the Atlantic in 1979, the sound suggested Bob Dylan backed b…

Formed in 1982, The Pogues married the raw energy and political anger of punk with the structures and instrumentation of Irish folk. The scope of their brash approach belied the acoustic nature of their arrangements. Singer/songwriter Shane McGowan, …

Madness took its cue from other British ska revivalists such as the Specials and the Selecter, but where those bands took aim at social issues, Madness went in for goofy fun. In the early days of MTV, the group had several stateside hits, but nothing…

The initial hype suggested that Manchester's Stone Roses represented nothing less than the new Beatles. Hyperbole, to be sure, but the fact that the group's 1989 debut record turned out to be brilliant, timeless, and influential certainly counts as s…

Talented and hardworking Spanish singer who started her music career in a rock band called los Fannys After studying music and being seduced by opera Luz Casal made her first professional work as a chorus girl in a Juan Pardos live performance In 198…

Irish alt-rockers the Cranberries became Top 40 superstars following the stateside release of their debut album, 1993's EVERYBODY'S DOING IT SO WHY CAN'T WE? The band's blend of alternative rock and dreamy pop was the perfect musical backdrop for lea…

Pata Negra literally Black Leg which is the best cut of ham in Spain was formed in the 1980s by brothers Raimundo and Rafael Amador Combining flamenco with amplified blues guitar they scored their first hit with the EP Guitarras Callajeras and then a…

Bruce Springsteen came out of New Jersey in the early 1970s sounding like a cross between Bob Dylan and early Tom Waits, backed by the rambunctious E Street Band. After toughening up his sound, Springsteen created his 1975 masterpiece, BORN TO RUN, w…

Singer/songwriter Mark Oliver Everett started out under the moniker A Man Called E, releasing two albums of dark, melodic pop in the early 1990s. After forming Eels and signing to a new label, Everett's work became even darker, and the production bec…

In 1976, the Ramones almost single-handedly invented punk rock and taught the likes of the Sex Pistols and the Clash how it was done. They combined a love of '60s pop melodies with a predilection for short, fast, loud songs and thick, chugging guitar…

Singersongwriter Kiko Veneno was born in Figueres Spain and later settled in Sevilla making his live debut at a local university in 1971 After participating in a duet called Kiko y Germn he joined brothers Rafael and Raimundo Amador to form Veneno a …

The Rock en Espanol band Heroes del Silencio was formed in Zaragoza Spain during the mid-80s Comprised of singerguitarist Enrique Bunbury lead guitarist Juan Valdivia second guitarist Alan Boguslavsky bassist Joaquin Cardiel and drummer Pedro Andreu …

Diminutive, bald-headed Richard Melville Hall, better known as Moby, achieved greater mainstream success than any other electronica artist by virtue of his willingness to adapt electronic dance music to a well formed pop sensibility. From the '90s on…

In 2002, Interpol helped lead the charge of New York bands influenced by the post-punk and new wave sounds of the early 1980s. With Cure-like moody guitar and synth riffs and dour, Ian Curtis-style vocals, they conjured up a dark but infectious sound…

Pearl Jam strode the middle of the neo-hard rock road manfully with their angst-ridden anthemic tunes bearing echoes of 1970s riff-rock. They arrived as part of Seattle's grunge explosion, with a sound less "punk" than Nirvana and less "metal" than S…

Late-1980s/early-'90s rock had totally lost the gritty feel of the '60s and '70s until Lenny Kravitz rediscovered the magic retro formula. Kravitz's sonic template was based on a combination of glam, soul, and psychedelia, and it made him a massive s…

Queen embodied 1970s glam rock--mixing heavy riffs and intricate vocal harmonies with a gender-bending image. Freddie Mercury's operatic voice and Brian May's guitar were multi-tracked ad infinitum to create pomp-rock in the grandest sense. In the '8…

The Clash was one of the first and most important British punk bands. In the 1970s, they were the Beatles to the Sex Pistols' Stones, and went on to incorporate elements from all the roots music they loved--reggae, rockabilly, soul, blues--without ev…