Alan Cross: Greatest Moments in New Rock History, #10-1
Yup, the very last part of this series. It's been good fun chronicling these events. :D
10. The invention and introduction of the MP3: a dude at a government research in Germany was trying to figure out to send music down a phone line.. he had to figure out how to compress and shrink music files. When he and his colleagues figured it out in 1989, they released it as shareware. In 1997, he went to Silicon Valley, and everyone went nuts over it. The first song to be encoded appears to be Suzanne Vega's Tom's Diner.. it's special because it had a lot of delicate patterns and could be compressed easily. (from a wave file to an MP3.. whoa..)
9. What was the first company to offer legal, pay-to-download songs over the Net? A website called Sonic Net in mid-1995 offered singles for download. The prices were set by the artists, and they got to keep all the profits. The site was concerned with the prestige of being first, and not with profits. They offered a bunch of songs for sale, even though the audio quality wasn't very good: it was somewhere above an AM radio station and an old Sony TV, but not much more than that.
8. Sept. 24, 1991: A record called Nevermind was shipped to record stores.. the expectation was that it wouldn't sell very many copies. Nobody saw this coming, even with hair bands, pop acts like Milli Vanilli, and a glut of classic rock acts then currently around. Generation X needed a spokesperson, because they were angry about the Gulf War and other things. Nirvana was in the right place at the right time, and they turned the world of rock upside down. After this album, whatever was alternative became mainstream.
7. Nov. 26, 1976: Sex Pistols released a record that was a doozy.. they had recorded many different versions of Anarchy in the U.K.. The engineer took the first half of one version and the second half of another version, and spliced them together. It almost worked, but Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious had to come in to the studio later and lay down at least 22 layers of guitar parts. When it was released in stores on that date, the single changed punk rock forever.
They weren't the first punk group to release a single; that honor goes to The Damned, a British group. Nor were they the first punk group to release an album, as the Ramones beat them to it. In the first week in stores, it was of interest only to punk rock fans. The next week changed all that, however..
6. Dec. 1, 1976: punk rock was this curiosity, found only on the uttermost edges of the mainstream. Queen was scheduled to release A Day at the Races, the follow-up to A Night at the Opera. They were scheduled to appear on the then-equivalent of Oprah, called the Today show. However, singer Freddy Mercury took ill.. their gig had to be cancelled. The Sex Pistols were nice and drunk on liquor when they went out on the live show, with 90 minutes' notice.. however, nobody had told them it was live. The host asked hard questions about their brand of music, and the band said all sorts of rude words on TV. In 117 seconds, the interview changed punk rock forever.
Bill Grundy and the producers of the show were suspended for a couple of weeks, and the newspapers everywhere had major headlines screaming about "PUNK ROCK'S FILTH AND DEPRAVITY." Anarchy in the U.K. had only sold about 10,000 copies in the week it was in stores.. after this, it was selling that many in a day.
5. July 4, 1976: In Camden, North London: the Ramones were on a triple bill. The people had heard about what the band had done in New York, and were very excited to see the band. This would be one of the most influential gigs in the history of rock, at the Roundhouse. All the kids who would form their own bands later on were there, and it was talked about for some time after.
4. In the early 1970's, there was no such thing as punk rock. Sure, there were places where the weird art freaks could hang out and do stuff.. but there wasn't really a place where things could coalesce. Unless you counted the Mercer Art Center, where several performances could take place at the same time. However, the hotel portion of the building collapsed in early August 1973.. four people were killed, and 19 injured. It was a good thing that it didn't happen a few hours later, when 1500 people would have been inside.
After the collapse, the members of the band Television saw a building called CBGB's. Since they were looking for a place to play, they convinced the owner to let them play on Sundays.. he didn't have anything going on then. Eventually, word got out to all the weird art freaks that there was something going on at CBGB's. It quickly became a popular spot for people to hang out and play music.. so Television got the ball rolling there.
3. The birth of the electric guitar: several people were instrumental in the invention of this. There were strides made in 1890 (a guitar pickup), 1934, 1941, 1949, 1950: by Les Paul, Gibson, Fender, and a few ordinary people. So who was responsible for its invention? It all depends on who you ask: but without the electric guitar, new rock music would definitely not sound the same as it does today!
2. The invention of recorded sound: without this, all music would have to be enjoyed as it was being made. (a live performance would be the only way to experience it) Thomas Edison invented the phonograph in 1877, and the first recorded sounds were his reciting "Mary Had A Little Lamb." There’s a recording of the Peerless Orchestra playing a medley of the hit songs of 1896, once Edison decided to switch from tinfoil on the records to wax. (wax cylinder technology) With this invention, music could now be enjoyed whenever people wanted, without always having to go to live performances.
1. April 8, 1994: the suicide of Kurt Cobain. If there was a single unifying moment in new rock, this was it. The story started to unfold when an electrician noticed a body in the garage of a house.. he saw a body with a shotgun pointed at his head (and blood nearby), and a suicide note in a potted plant. The Seattle Homicide Department investigated and found it was the body of Kurt Cobain.. also that the wound was self-inflicted. Courtney Love read the suicide note to fans at the funeral; part of it said: "It's better to burn out than to fade away. Peace and love, Kurt Cobain." If you were around then and into music, you will never ever forget that day.. I know I haven't. :(
10. The invention and introduction of the MP3: a dude at a government research in Germany was trying to figure out to send music down a phone line.. he had to figure out how to compress and shrink music files. When he and his colleagues figured it out in 1989, they released it as shareware. In 1997, he went to Silicon Valley, and everyone went nuts over it. The first song to be encoded appears to be Suzanne Vega's Tom's Diner.. it's special because it had a lot of delicate patterns and could be compressed easily. (from a wave file to an MP3.. whoa..)
9. What was the first company to offer legal, pay-to-download songs over the Net? A website called Sonic Net in mid-1995 offered singles for download. The prices were set by the artists, and they got to keep all the profits. The site was concerned with the prestige of being first, and not with profits. They offered a bunch of songs for sale, even though the audio quality wasn't very good: it was somewhere above an AM radio station and an old Sony TV, but not much more than that.
8. Sept. 24, 1991: A record called Nevermind was shipped to record stores.. the expectation was that it wouldn't sell very many copies. Nobody saw this coming, even with hair bands, pop acts like Milli Vanilli, and a glut of classic rock acts then currently around. Generation X needed a spokesperson, because they were angry about the Gulf War and other things. Nirvana was in the right place at the right time, and they turned the world of rock upside down. After this album, whatever was alternative became mainstream.
7. Nov. 26, 1976: Sex Pistols released a record that was a doozy.. they had recorded many different versions of Anarchy in the U.K.. The engineer took the first half of one version and the second half of another version, and spliced them together. It almost worked, but Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious had to come in to the studio later and lay down at least 22 layers of guitar parts. When it was released in stores on that date, the single changed punk rock forever.
They weren't the first punk group to release a single; that honor goes to The Damned, a British group. Nor were they the first punk group to release an album, as the Ramones beat them to it. In the first week in stores, it was of interest only to punk rock fans. The next week changed all that, however..
6. Dec. 1, 1976: punk rock was this curiosity, found only on the uttermost edges of the mainstream. Queen was scheduled to release A Day at the Races, the follow-up to A Night at the Opera. They were scheduled to appear on the then-equivalent of Oprah, called the Today show. However, singer Freddy Mercury took ill.. their gig had to be cancelled. The Sex Pistols were nice and drunk on liquor when they went out on the live show, with 90 minutes' notice.. however, nobody had told them it was live. The host asked hard questions about their brand of music, and the band said all sorts of rude words on TV. In 117 seconds, the interview changed punk rock forever.
Bill Grundy and the producers of the show were suspended for a couple of weeks, and the newspapers everywhere had major headlines screaming about "PUNK ROCK'S FILTH AND DEPRAVITY." Anarchy in the U.K. had only sold about 10,000 copies in the week it was in stores.. after this, it was selling that many in a day.
5. July 4, 1976: In Camden, North London: the Ramones were on a triple bill. The people had heard about what the band had done in New York, and were very excited to see the band. This would be one of the most influential gigs in the history of rock, at the Roundhouse. All the kids who would form their own bands later on were there, and it was talked about for some time after.
4. In the early 1970's, there was no such thing as punk rock. Sure, there were places where the weird art freaks could hang out and do stuff.. but there wasn't really a place where things could coalesce. Unless you counted the Mercer Art Center, where several performances could take place at the same time. However, the hotel portion of the building collapsed in early August 1973.. four people were killed, and 19 injured. It was a good thing that it didn't happen a few hours later, when 1500 people would have been inside.
After the collapse, the members of the band Television saw a building called CBGB's. Since they were looking for a place to play, they convinced the owner to let them play on Sundays.. he didn't have anything going on then. Eventually, word got out to all the weird art freaks that there was something going on at CBGB's. It quickly became a popular spot for people to hang out and play music.. so Television got the ball rolling there.
3. The birth of the electric guitar: several people were instrumental in the invention of this. There were strides made in 1890 (a guitar pickup), 1934, 1941, 1949, 1950: by Les Paul, Gibson, Fender, and a few ordinary people. So who was responsible for its invention? It all depends on who you ask: but without the electric guitar, new rock music would definitely not sound the same as it does today!
2. The invention of recorded sound: without this, all music would have to be enjoyed as it was being made. (a live performance would be the only way to experience it) Thomas Edison invented the phonograph in 1877, and the first recorded sounds were his reciting "Mary Had A Little Lamb." There’s a recording of the Peerless Orchestra playing a medley of the hit songs of 1896, once Edison decided to switch from tinfoil on the records to wax. (wax cylinder technology) With this invention, music could now be enjoyed whenever people wanted, without always having to go to live performances.
1. April 8, 1994: the suicide of Kurt Cobain. If there was a single unifying moment in new rock, this was it. The story started to unfold when an electrician noticed a body in the garage of a house.. he saw a body with a shotgun pointed at his head (and blood nearby), and a suicide note in a potted plant. The Seattle Homicide Department investigated and found it was the body of Kurt Cobain.. also that the wound was self-inflicted. Courtney Love read the suicide note to fans at the funeral; part of it said: "It's better to burn out than to fade away. Peace and love, Kurt Cobain." If you were around then and into music, you will never ever forget that day.. I know I haven't. :(
Labels: 1994, 1995, 1997, alan cross, alcoholic drinks, death, history, internet, johnny, lists, mary, music, news, paul, sick, suzanne, tv shows
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