Slave to the Grind is the second studio album by American heavy metal band Skid Row, released on June 11, 1991 by Atlantic Records. The album displayed harsher sound than its predecessor and lyrics that avoided hard rock cliches. Slave to the Grind is the first heavy metal album to chart at number one on the Billboard 200 in the Nielsen SoundScan era, selling 134,000 copies in its opening week. The album was certified 2× platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 1998 for shipping two million copies in the United States. It produced five singles: "Monkey Business", "Slave to the Grind", "Wasted Time", "In a Darkened Room" and "Quicksand Jesus", all of which did not receive significant airplay as the singles from the previous record. Skid Row promoted the album opening for Guns N' Roses in 1991 and as a headliner the following year.
Reflection Eternal is an American hip hop duo composed of emcee Talib Kweli and producer Hi-Tek. They released their first album, Train of Thought, in 2000. They have since released a mixtape, The RE: Union, in late December 2009, and their second album Revolutions Per Minute was released May 18, 2010.
Sebastian Philip Bierk, known professionally as Sebastian Bach, is a Canadian singer-songwriter who achieved mainstream success as frontman of Skid Row from 1987 to 1996. He continues a solo career, acted on Broadway, and has made appearances in film and television.
Rise Against is an American punk rock band from Chicago. The group's current line-up comprises vocalist/rhythm guitarist Tim McIlrath, lead guitarist Zach Blair, bassist Joe Principe and drummer Brandon Barnes. Rooted in hardcore punk and melodic hardcore, Rise Against's music emphasizes melody, catchy hooks, aggressive movements, and rapid-paced tempo. Lyrically, Rise Against is known for its outspoken social commentary, covering a wide range of topics such as animal rights, economic injustice, environmental disasters, forced displacement, homophobia, modern warfare, and political corruption.
Skid Row is an American heavy metal band, formed in 1986 in Toms River, New Jersey. Their current lineup comprises bassist Rachel Bolan, guitarists Dave Sabo and Scotti Hill, drummer Rob Hammersmith and vocalist ZP Theart. The group achieved commercial success in the late 1980s and early 1990s, with its first two albums Skid Row (1989) and Slave to the Grind (1991) certified multi-platinum, the latter of which reached number one on the Billboard 200. The band's third album Subhuman Race (1995) was also critically acclaimed, but failed to repeat the success of its predecessors. During this period, the band consisted of Bolan, Sabo, Hill, drummer Rob Affuso, and frontman Sebastian Bach. The band had sold 20 million albums worldwide by the end of 1996.
"Youth Gone Wild" is the debut single from Skid Row's eponymous debut album.
Blacksmith is a music management company and a record label founded by Harlem born Corey Smyth and Talib Kweli of Black Star. Signees include Jean Grae, Strong Arm Steady and Idle Warship and Kweli has stated he hopes to sign Camp Lo and had expressed interest in Rakim. Talib Kweli announced that there will be a 'BlackSmith TV' where people will get information about the label. The label was originally distributed through Warner Bros. Records but split in December 2008. Talib did confirm to AllHipHop.com that Warner Bros. would still distribute Reflection Eternal & Talib Kweli projects but not any other Blacksmith acts. It's now believed that the label has distribution through Element 9/Fontana with Strong Arm Steady latest project and Idle Warship's upcoming debut album said to have distribution through them. As of 2012 the label is defunct and was disbanded after Kweli's manager decided to focus the Blacksmith brand elsewhere rather than the label. Blacksmith management is currently home to artists such as Chad Hugo, and Vince Staples, among others.
Skid Row is an area of Downtown Los Angeles. As of the 2000 census, the population of the district was 17,740. Skid Row was defined in a decision in Jones v. City of Los Angeles as the area east of Main Street, south of Third Street, west of Alameda Street, and north of Seventh Street. Skid Row contains one of the largest stable populations of homeless people in the United States.
Michael Wagener is a music producer, mixer, and engineer from Hamburg, Germany, best known for his work with many top hard rock and heavy metal bands in the late 1980s. He is particularly renowned for his multi-amping and reamping techniques. Wagener's works have sold over ninety-four million albums worldwide.
Forever Wild is a DVD video of live performances by Sebastian Bach, released on June 15, 2004. The performances are recorded in Los Angeles, Whisky a Go Go in 1998 and features several Skid Row songs. The DVD features full clips of some of Bach's favorite moments from his stint as host of VH1's Forever Wild TV show.
Dave Gara is a drummer who played for the American band Skid Row from 2004 to 2010. In April 2010, it was announced that Gara had parted ways with Skid Row. He was replaced by Rob Hammersmith of Rockets to Ruin. Prior to his tenure in Skid Row, Dave Gara played on the final Betty Blowtorch tour in 2001 which ended with the death of singer/bassist Bianca (Butthole) Halstead in a car accident post show in New Orleans. In January 2013 Dave played with the BulletBoys on a 3-week North American tour. Most recently Dave is writing, recording & gigging with his new, western NY based rock band, FLOOZIE...
John Preston Solinger is an American singer-songwriter best known for being the former lead vocalist of Skid Row from 1999 to 2015; at the time of his split, he was their longest serving vocalist, surpassing Sebastian Bach, who was in the band for nine years. During his time in the band, he performed on the albums Thickskin (2003) and Revolutions Per Minute (2006) along with Chapters 1 and 2 of the 3 part United World Rebellion EP series with Chapter 3 due to be completed with ZP Theart on vocals.
Idle Warship is a musical duo composed of Brooklyn emcee Talib Kweli and Philadelphia singer Res. Res has appeared on each Talib Kweli album since 2000's Train of Thought. They have also toured together, including on the summer 2005 MGD Flavor 2 Savor mini-tour. They released their debut mixtape, Party Robot, on October 27, 2009 for free. This was originally set for a 2008 release and announced on Talib Kweli's MySpace page in a New Year's blog entry.
RPM or rpm is an acronym for revolutions per minute, a measure of rotation frequency.
Midnight Hour may refer to:
United World Rebellion is a trilogy of 2 extended plays and 1 upcoming studio album from the American heavy metal band Skid Row. The first and second chapters were released on April 16, 2013 and August 5, 2014 by Megaforce Records and were Skid Row's final recordings with singer Johnny Solinger. The final chapter to complete the trilogy was scheduled for 2015 but pushed back to 2016 due to Solinger's departure and pushed back again due to Tony Harnell's sudden departure. The third instalment now scheduled for 2019 will feature new lead singer ZP Theart.
"Just Begun" is a song by American hip hop duo Reflection Eternal, composed of New York rapper Talib Kweli and Ohio producer Hi-Tek. The song was released on February 2, 2010, as the second single from their second studio album Revolutions per Minute (2010). The song is a posse cut featuring verses from rappers Jay Electronica, J. Cole and Mos Def, the latter of which also forms a duo with Talib Kweli, known collectively as Black Star.
