Black Sabbath were an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. They are often cited as pioneers of heavy metal music. The band helped define the genre with releases such as Black Sabbath (1970), Paranoid (1970), and Master of Reality (1971). The band had multiple line-up changes following Osbourne's departure in 1979, with Iommi being the only constant member throughout its history.
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for almost six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, heavier-driven sound that came to define hard rock. Their first stable line-up comprised vocalist Mick Jagger, multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones, guitarist Keith Richards, bassist Bill Wyman, and drummer Charlie Watts. During their formative years Jones was the primary leader: he assembled the band, named it, and drove their sound and image. After Andrew Loog Oldham became the group's manager in 1963, he encouraged them to write their own songs. Jagger and Richards became the primary creative force behind the band, alienating Jones, who developed a drug addiction that interfered with his ability to contribute meaningfully.
Jennifer Joanna Aniston is an American actress and producer. The daughter of actors John Aniston and Nancy Dow, she began working as an actress at an early age with an uncredited role in the 1988 film Mac and Me; her first major film role came in the 1993 horror comedy Leprechaun. Since her career progressed in the 1990s, she has become one of the world's highest-paid actresses. Films with her in the leading role have grossed over $1.6 billion worldwide, with 12 of them earning at least $100 million.
Blur are an English rock band. Formed in London in 1988, the group consists of singer Damon Albarn, guitarist Graham Coxon, bassist Alex James and drummer Dave Rowntree. Blur's debut album Leisure (1991) incorporated the sounds of Madchester and shoegazing. Following a stylistic change influenced by English guitar pop groups such as the Kinks, the Beatles and XTC, Blur released Modern Life Is Rubbish (1993), Parklife (1994) and The Great Escape (1995). As a result, the band helped to popularise the Britpop genre and achieved mass popularity in the UK, aided by a chart battle with rival band Oasis in 1995 dubbed "The Battle of Britpop".
Sir George Ivan Morrison, known professionally as Van Morrison, is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer whose recording career spans seven decades. He has won two Grammy Awards.
Steven Paul Smith, known professionally as Elliott Smith, was an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Smith was born in Omaha, Nebraska, raised primarily in Texas, and lived much of his life in Portland, Oregon, where he first gained popularity. Smith's primary instrument was the guitar, though he also played piano, clarinet, bass guitar, drums, and harmonica. Smith had a distinctive vocal style, characterized by his "whispery, spiderweb-thin delivery", and often used multi-tracking to create vocal layers, textures, and harmonies.
Neil Percival Young is a Canadian-American singer, musician and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Furay and others. Since the beginning of his solo career with his backing band Crazy Horse, Young has released many critically acclaimed and important albums, such as Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, After the Gold Rush, Harvest and Rust Never Sleeps. He was a part-time member of Crosby, Stills & Nash.
Christopher George Latore Wallace, better known by his stage names the Notorious B.I.G., Biggie Smalls, or simply Biggie, was an American rapper and songwriter. Rooted in the New York rap scene and gangsta rap traditions, he is widely considered one of the greatest rappers of all time. Wallace became known for his distinctive laidback lyrical delivery, offsetting the lyrics' often grim content. His music was often semi-autobiographical, telling of hardship and criminality, but also of debauchery and celebration.
Rupert Alexander Lloyd Grint is an English actor. He rose to fame for his role as Ron Weasley, one of the three main characters in the Harry Potter film series. He was cast as Weasley at age eleven, having previously acted only in school plays and his local theatre group. From 2001 to 2011, he starred in all eight Harry Potter films.
Carly Elisabeth Simon is an American singer, songwriter, and children's author. She rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of hit records; her 13 Top 40 U.S. hits include "Anticipation", "Haven't Got Time for the Pain", "Attitude Dancing", "You Belong to Me", "Coming Around Again", and her four Gold-certified singles "You're So Vain", "Mockingbird", "Nobody Does It Better" from the 1977 James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me, and "Jesse". She has authored five children's books, as well as two memoirs.
Robert Bartleh Cummings, known professionally as Rob Zombie, is an American singer, songwriter, filmmaker, and voice actor. He is a founding member of the heavy metal band White Zombie, releasing four studio albums with the band. He is the older brother of Spider One, the lead vocalist of the industrial metal band Powerman 5000.
Leon Russell was an American musician and songwriter who was involved with numerous bestselling records during his 60-year career which spanned multiple genres, including rock and roll, country, gospel, bluegrass, rhythm and blues, southern rock, blues rock, folk, surf and Tulsa Sound.
Pitchfork is an American online music publication that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog.
The Rolling Stone Album Guide, previously known as The Rolling Stone Record Guide, is a book that contains professional music reviews written and edited by staff members from Rolling Stone magazine. Its first edition was published in 1979 and its last in 2004. The guide can be seen at Rate Your Music, while a list of albums given a five star rating by the guide can be seen at Rocklist.net.
Robert Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, author and visual artist. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career spanning 60 years. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s, when songs such as "Blowin' in the Wind" (1963) and "The Times They Are a-Changin'" (1964) became anthems for the civil rights and anti-war movements. His lyrics during this period incorporated a range of political, social, philosophical, and literary influences, defying pop music conventions and appealing to the burgeoning counterculture.
Dexter is an American crime drama television series that aired on Showtime from October 1, 2006, to September 22, 2013. Set in Miami, the series centers on Dexter Morgan, a forensic technician specializing in bloodstain pattern analysis for the fictional Miami Metro Police Department, who leads a secret parallel life as a vigilante serial killer, hunting down murderers who have not been adequately punished by the justice system due to corruption or legal technicalities. The show's first season was derived from the novel Darkly Dreaming Dexter (2004), the first in a series of novels by Jeff Lindsay. It was adapted for television by James Manos Jr., who wrote the first episode. Subsequent seasons evolved independently of Lindsay's works.
The Penguin Guide to Jazz is a reference work containing an encyclopedic directory of jazz recordings on CD which were currently available in Europe or the United States. The first nine editions were compiled by Richard Cook and Brian Morton, two chroniclers of jazz resident in the United Kingdom.
Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson, known professionally as Katy Perry, is an American singer, songwriter, and television judge. She has been recognized for her influence on the pop sound and style of the 2010s. Originally singing in church during her childhood before later pursuing it as a career, Perry signed with Red Hill Records and released her commercially unsuccessful gospel debut studio album Katy Hudson (2001) under her birth name. After Red Hill went bankrupt, she moved to Los Angeles at 17 to venture into secular music, adopting the stage name "Katy Perry" from her mother's maiden name. Perry began working on an album titled Fingerprints with producers such as Glen Ballard, Butch Walker, and Greg Wells while signed to Java Records and later Columbia Records before being dropped. Much of the material from this time later appeared on One Of The Boys after executive Angelica Cob-Baehler helped her sign a recording contract with Capitol Records in April 2007.
Zendaya Maree Stoermer Coleman, known mononymously as Zendaya, is an American actress and singer. She has received various accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award, a Satellite Award, and a Saturn Award.
Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies is a music reference book by American music journalist and essayist Robert Christgau. It was first published in October 1981 by Ticknor & Fields. The book compiles approximately 3,000 of Christgau's capsule album reviews, most of which were originally written for his "Consumer Guide" column in The Village Voice throughout the 1970s. The entries feature annotated details about each record's release and cover a variety of genres related to rock music.
