Nirvana was an American rock band formed in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987. Founded by lead singer and guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic, the band went through a succession of drummers, most notably Chad Channing, before recruiting Dave Grohl in 1990. Nirvana's success popularized alternative rock, and they were often referenced as the figurehead band of Generation X. Their music maintains a popular following and continues to influence modern rock and roll culture.
Portishead is an English band formed in 1991 in Bristol. They are often considered one of the pioneers of trip hop music. The band is named after the nearby town of the same name, eight miles west of Bristol, along the coast. Portishead consists of Beth Gibbons, Geoff Barrow and Adrian Utley, while sometimes citing a fourth member, Dave McDonald, an engineer on their first records.
Let It Be is the twelfth and final studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. It was released on 8 May 1970, almost a month after the group's break-up, in tandem with the motion picture of the same name. Like most of the band's previous releases, the album topped record charts in many countries, including both the US and the UK. However, the critical response was generally unfavourable, and Let It Be came to be regarded as one of the most controversial rock albums in history.
Live at Leeds is the first live album by English rock band The Who. It was recorded at the University of Leeds Refectory on 14 February 1970, and is their only live album that was released while the group were still actively recording and performing with their best-known line-up of Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend, John Entwistle and Keith Moon.
Exile on Main St. is the 10th British and 12th American studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones. Released on 12 May 1972 by Rolling Stones Records, it was the band's first double album. Recording began in 1969 in England during sessions for Sticky Fingers and continued in mid-1971 at a rented villa in the South of France named Nellcôte while the band lived abroad as tax exiles. A collage of various images, the album's artwork, according to frontman Mick Jagger, reflects the Rolling Stones as "runaway outlaws using the blues as its weapon against the world", showcasing "feeling of joyful isolation, grinning in the face of a scary and unknown future".
Sticky Fingers is the 9th British and 11th American studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released on 23 April 1971 on their new, and own, label Rolling Stones Records after previously having been contracted by Decca Records and London Records in the UK and US since 1963. It is Mick Taylor's second full-length appearance on a Rolling Stones album, and the first studio album without Brian Jones who died two years earlier. The original cover artwork, conceived by Andy Warhol and photographed and designed by members of his art collective, The Factory, showed a picture of a man in tight jeans, and had a working zipper that opened to reveal underwear fabric. The cover was expensive to produce and damaged the vinyl record, so later re-issues featured just the outer photograph of the jeans.
Polysics is a Japanese new wave and rock band from Tokyo, who dubs its unique style as "technicolor pogo punk". It was named after a brand of synthesizer, the Korg Polysix. The band started in 1997, but got their big break in 1998 at a concert in Tokyo. They create high energy music, fusing conventional guitar music with synthesized and computer generated sound to create a unique mixture of punk and synthpop heavily inspired by the American bands Devo and The Tubes, as well as Japanese bands such as P-Model and Yellow Magic Orchestra. Their song lyrics often consist of Japanese, English, or just downright gibberish. The band has been noted for their extremely energetic live performances and their wild gimmicky outfits, notably their straight-bar sunglasses and trademark orange boiler suits stamped with a simple "P".
Pearl is the second and final solo studio album by Janis Joplin, released on January 11, 1971, three months after her death on October 4, 1970. It was the final album with her direct participation, and the only Joplin album recorded with the Full Tilt Boogie Band, her final touring unit. It peaked at number one on the Billboard 200, holding that spot for nine weeks. It has been certified quadruple platinum by the RIAA.
Out of Our Heads is the 3rd British and 4th American studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released in two editions with different covers and track listings. In the US, London Records released it on 30 July 1965, while Decca Records released its UK edition on 24 September 1965.
The Stranger is the fifth studio album by American singer Billy Joel, released in September 1977 by Columbia Records. It was the first of Joel's albums to be produced by Phil Ramone, with whom he would go on to work for all of his albums up until his 1986 album The Bridge.
Rust Never Sleeps is an album with both studio and live tracks by Canadian American singer-songwriter Neil Young and American band Crazy Horse. It was released on June 22, 1979, by Reprise Records. Most of the album was recorded live, then overdubbed in the studio, while others originated in the studio. Young used the phrase "rust never sleeps" as a concept for his tour with Crazy Horse to avoid artistic complacency and try more progressive, theatrical approaches to performing live.
"Atlantic City" is a song recorded by Bruce Springsteen,, which first appeared on Springsteen's 1982 solo album Nebraska. Springsteen has often played the song in a full band arrangement in concert.
Solid State Survivor is the second album by Japanese electronic music band Yellow Magic Orchestra, released in 1979. Later, Solid State Survivor was released in 1982 in the UK on LP and cassette, also in 1992 in the United States on CD, but many of the songs from this album were compiled for release in the States as the US pressing of ×∞Multiplies (1980), including the tracks "Behind the Mask", "Rydeen", "Day Tripper", and "Technopolis". Solid State Survivor is only one of a handful of YMO albums in which the track titles do not have a Japanese equivalent.
Little Busters is an album released by the Pillows on February 21, 1998. The album was produced by Zin Yoshida of Salon Music. Several songs from the record were later featured in the anime mini-series FLCL by Gainax. In 2020, Jonathan McNamara of The Japan Times listed it as one of the 10 Japanese albums worthy of inclusion on Rolling Stone's 2020 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
"The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is a recurring opinion survey and music ranking of the finest albums in history, compiled by the American magazine Rolling Stone. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and industry figures. The first list was published in a special issue of the magazine in 2003 and a related book in 2005.
Blue Blood is the second studio album by Japanese rock band X Japan, then known as simply X. It was released on April 21, 1989, by CBS/Sony as the band's major label debut. Blue Blood sold more than 700,000 copies, reached number 6 on the Oricon chart and stayed on the chart for more than 100 weeks. The album's singles would also reach the top five on the chart. In 2007, Rolling Stone Japan ranked Blue Blood number 15 on their list of the "100 Greatest Japanese Rock Albums of All Time".
Brand New Knife is a 1997 album by the Japanese rock trio Shonen Knife. The Japanese version of this album contains six tracks with English lyrics and seven versions of the tracks with Japanese lyrics. The U.S. version features all 13 tracks in English, with the Japanese versions of the seven tracks featured as bonus tracks. In 2020, Jonathan McNamara of The Japan Times listed it as one of the 10 Japanese albums worthy of inclusion on Rolling Stone's 2020 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
Sol-fa is the second studio album by Japanese rock band, Asian Kung-Fu Generation, released on October 20, 2004.
Embrace is the eighth studio album by Japanese electronic/rock duo Boom Boom Satellites. Released on January 9, 2013, Embrace serves as the band's 15th anniversary release. Songs on the album include their single "Broken Mirror" and the song "Drifter", which was used in Sony's Xperia commercials. The album will also be sold in a deluxe edition that contains a DVD and a USB flash drive. JPU Records released the album in the UK, Europe and Russia on 2 September 2013. The CD version from JPU Records contained an exclusive remix of Snow.
GaGaGa SP are a Japanese punk band from Kobe, Japan.
