Artists with the tag 'classic'
The Cranberries
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…
Aerosmith
A hard-rocking, no-holds-barred American group fronted by the wiry Steven Tyler, Aerosmith plays heavy riffs with a blues underpinning. After huge hits and sold-out tours in the 1970s, the band sank into oblivion for the first half of the '80s. They …
R.E.M.
This Athens band's initial mix of Velvet Underground strum, Byrds-like Rickenbacker jangle, and charismatically oblique singing, became the sound of the 1980s as legions of bands followed suit. But even as imitators codified R.E.M.'s approach into th…
America (Rock)
The first half of the 1970s was the heyday of introspective songwriting and close-harmony singing. America were at the forefront of the commercial end of this movement, releasing a string of singles that dominated the radio for years. Following their…
George Strait
George Strait led country's New Traditionalist movement in the early '80s with his updated approach to traditional Western swing and his smooth, romantic crooning. The reclusive superstar's chart success has never flagged since then; he routinely sco…
Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden were one of the leaders of the early-1980s New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement energized by the spirit of punk. Maiden built upon their initial cult success, eventually leading to global domination by the mid '80s. The band's singer …
Marvin Gaye
Marvin Gaye began his career in the late 1950s, singing with various R&B vocal groups. Soon he moved on to work as a session drummer and vocalist at Motown. Gaye's own '60s albums are marked by propulsive, high-energy R&B, and duets with Mary Wells a…
Fugazi
Fugazi's roots lie in the early-1980s straight-edge punk rock band Minor Threat, led by Ian MacKaye. (MacKaye and bandmate Jeff Nelson started Dischord Records, which became one of the most important US punk labels.) By the late '80s, MacKaye had mov…
Rush
Initially inspired by the heavy rock of Led Zeppelin and Cream, Rush relied on Geddy Lee's high, Robert Plant-like vocals, Neil Peart's Carl Palmer-on-steroids drumming, and Alex Lifeson's guitar heroics for their explosive power-trio sound. As the 1…
The Beatles
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 …
Mohair (UK)
"Those boys rock" - Rolling Stone
"Big hearted, boisterous pop" - The Sun
“A band that harkens back to the days when rock was raucous and bands were fun" - Music Connection
"They sound like the best night of your life" - Logo
"Sun…
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Red Hot Chili Peppers
Inspiring legions of imitators (especially among the rap-metal crowd), the Red Hot Chili Peppers combined biting rock guitar with funk rhythms and rap-influenced vocals for a thunderous, party-hearty sound. While the California band was popular on th…
Led Zeppelin
Formed from the ashes of British blues-rockers the Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin shot to the stratosphere in the early 1970s. With Dionysian frenzy and a blast of blues-drenched riffs, they became one of the biggest bands of the era. Their intense musical …
Eric Clapton
Over the course of four decades, Eric Clapton has carried the British blues legacy into the mainstream of pop music. From his mid-1960s days with the Yardbirds and John Mayall, through his years as guitar god with Cream and Blind Faith, and eventuall…
Queen
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…
Infected Mushroom
Mining Israelian Goa trance of its hottest intensities Infected Mushroom remain one of the Middle Easts biggest international cult successes Erez Aizens cheap background in obsessed bedroom computer tinkering had led him into and out of a number of c…
Smashing Pumpkins
Before The Smashing Pumpkins, alternative rock had yet to touch upon the grandiose arena rock of the 1970s. Leader/singer/guitarist/songwriter Billy Corgan composed songs that were somehow part Boston, Cure, Queen, and Jane's Addiction. The Pumpkins …
Chris Whitley ('06)
Reiter in - the final album from the legendary Chris Whitley is a raucous and beautiful blend of punk, blues, rock, and soul.
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The Doors
Like a trippier, more mystical, West Coast equivalent of the Velvet Underground, the Doors went against the 1960s flower-power grain, taking an uncompromising look at the underbelly of the American psyche. Jim Morrison's dark, surreal poetry gave the…
Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk was initially part of the hippie-era krautrock boom. However, this pioneering German electro-pop group soon set themselves apart from their long-haired contemporaries by forsaking acid-soaked jams for a clean, precise sound whose mechanical…
The Velvet Underground
From their early days as the house band for Andy Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable, the Velvet Underground were the antithesis of late-1960s Flower Power optimism. Lou Reed's decadent lyrics and dour vocals proved to be the perfect match for the …
Young M.C.
b. Marvin Young, 10 May 1967, London, England, but raised in Queens, New York City. Young went to college in California, earning a degree in economics from the University Of South California, where he also wrote material for Tone-Loc (including co-wr…
Tom Petty
Tom Petty is part of rock's gentry, and his recordings with the Heartbreakers are placed in the pantheon of "heartland rock" along with Bruce Springsteen, Bob Seger et al. However, he was originally regarded as a part of the "new wave" of the late 19…
Arlo Guthrie
b. 10 July 1947, Coney Island, New York, USA. The eldest son of folksinger Woody Guthrie, Arlo was raised in the genre's thriving environment. His lengthy ballad, "Alice's Restaurant Massacre", was the outcome of being arrested for being a litter lou…

