Third Eye Blind
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Third Eye Blind

Like many groups, San Francisco’s Third Eye Blind got going in fits and starts. The original incarnation fractured leaving only guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Stephen Jenkins and bassist/vocalist Arion Salazar. They hooked up with guitarists Kevin Cadogan and Tony Fredianelli. In ’94 Fredianelli left but the group was able to find drummer Brad Hargreaves. Barely surviving the local…

The Hives Back After More Than A Decade

The Hives Back After More Than A Decade

“The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons,” the sixth studio album by The Hives, has arrived via the band’s Disques Hives label. It’s the first studio release in over 11 years – since 2012’s “Lex Hives.” The album was recorded in a studio owned by ABBA’s Benny Anderson in Stockholm. The Hives mainstream success came with the release…

Ghost
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Ghost

Ghost made an immediate impression. Papa Emeritus wore a skull mask and dressed like a “demonic anti-Pope. He was backed by the Nameless Ghouls who were hidden behind silver masks with horns, satanic symbols and full-length hooded robes. It was a visual borne from a “love of horror films and the traditions of Scandinavian Metal.”…

Beach Boys
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Beach Boys

The Beach Boys featured three talented brothers, Brian, Carl and Dennis Wilson, a cousin, Mike Love and a friend, Al Jardine. Of them all, the most talented and sensitive was Brian. Their first hit was “Surfin’ U.S.A.” which put new lyrics to a Chuck Berry riff. The Beach Boys were soon on a roll with…

Metallica’s Twelfth #1

Metallica’s Twelfth #1

Metallica’s “72 Seasons,” the title track from their most recent album, is #1 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart (dated 7/1).   The song is the second from the “72 “Seasons” album to top the chart.  “Lux Æterna” was the first.  Metallica now has twelve Mainstream Rock chart-toppers, which puts them in a three-way tie…

Extreme
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Extreme

Countless bands are remembered for one thing: a song, an album or even involvement in a notorious event. It’s unfair since bands are often more accomplished than they are given credit for and find that their catalog of accomplishments goes unrecognized. What’s really crazy is when they are remembered for is something that is not…

Iron Butterfly
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Iron Butterfly

Navy towns are great places for Rock bands. You get on-the-job-training working clubs where the only real requirement is to play loud. Hailing from San Diego, in the mid ’60s, the Iron Butterfly were a five-man group with organist/vocalist/leader Doug Ingle, vocalist Darryl DeLoach, guitarist Danny Weiss, bassist Jerry Penrod and drummer Ron Bushy. They…