Radiohead burst onto the Britpop scene in the early 1990s with a clamorous, post-U2 take on guitar rock, buoyed by the hit "Creep." They subsequently developed their songwriting and production skills on THE BENDS and achieved iconic status with their…

This British-French outfit started out in the early 1990s, with a sound that incorporated French-chanteuse vocals, primitive electronics, and Velvet Underground-meets-Neu chugging rhythm. Over the years, they refined their approach immensely, with ec…

Formed in 1970 as the weekend house band at a Dakar club for government officials, Orchestra Baobab were early Senegalese fusionists who paved the way for artists such as Youssou N'Dour and Touré Kunda. The original line-up included Baro N'Diaye (sax…

Formed in 1996, and hailing from Scotland, Belle & Sebastian are a musical collective with a penchant for ellipticism, declining to have their pictures on album covers or in the press, shying away from interviews, and never listing their individual n…

Who would have guessed that one of the more influential indie rock bands of the 1990s would emerge from Boise, Idaho? That's exactly what happened in the case of Built To Spill, who started out as a somewhat ragged, lo-fi outfit. By '97, though, they…

Varied as it is the music of Francis Cabrel never strays far from his basic songwriting tools the acoustic guitar and gentle reflections on life His clear voice and clean guitar are ever the focus of his songs Around this core he weaves contemporary …

Led by Black Francis (AKA Charles Thompson), this Boston band reveled in the raw, loud energy of punk, but harnessed it in service of catchy melodies laced with bizarre lyrics. Their 1989 album, DOOLITTLE, is widely considered to be one of the best a…

Elliott Smith started out as the leader of Portland-based alt-rock band Heatmiser, who made three mid-1990s albums achieving good reviews but disappointing sales. Eventually Smith reinvented himself as a solo singer-songwriter, and his first couple o…

Formed in Jamaica, West Indies, around 1966, the group was formed by lead vocalist and songwriter Wesley Tinglin (b. c.1947, Jamaica, West Indies). They recorded, initially as the Voiceroys, for Coxsone Dodd's Studio One label, with early recordings …

The Parisian post-rockexperimental quartet Cyann Ben came together in 2001 Cyann vocalskeyboards Ben guitar Loc guitarkeyboards and Charlie percussionsamples create an intimate soundscape thats both cinematic and lush with varying ambient styles and…

The neo-psychedelic quartet Baby Lemonade formed in Los Angeles and debuted in 1994 with the six-song Wonderful EP released on the Sympathy for the Record Industry label Following the records release the band -- comprised of singerguitarist Rusty Squ…

New Zealand singer/songwriter Neil Finn started out playing in his older brother Tim's band, Split Enz, in the early 1970s. When that group splintered, Neil and Enz drummer Paul Hester founded Crowded House, whose sophisticated but highly accessible …

No other band has had quite the same impact as the four lads from Liverpool. Over the course of eight years and more than a dozen albums, the Beatles changed popular music and culture forever, spearheading the 1960s British Invasion and shaping rock …

The three founding members of Placebo hailed from Belgium, Sweden, and Switzerland, but their sound was British through and through, a mix of angst-ridden Cure-esque post-punk and glammy art rock a la Bowie. Amid the success of their early albums in …

b. 3 January 1941, Mississippi, USA. A former child actor, Parks had appeared in several Hollywood films prior to embarking on a musical career. Having studied classical piano, he joined MGM, but rather than follow this direction, began writing and r…

Originally a hardcore punk outfit formed in Munich, Germany by Mecki Messerschmidt (drums), Markus Acher (vocals, guitar) and Micha Acher (bass), Notwist first came to prominence when, in 1989, they submitted a demo recording of their song, "I Don't …

The number of shoegazing bands has steadily declined since its early 90s heyday, but by the new millennium there were still a few groups out there flying the stylistic flag, such as Ester Drang. While most bands of the aforementioned genre originated…