What the Riff Next Gen

Many folks know that the Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd came out of Jacksonville, Florida.  But they weren't the only big southern rock band to arise from that city.  Molly Hatchet was another southern rock band from Jacksonville, also sporting three guitars.  The band formed in 1971 and shares a lot of the inspiration and influence of Skynyrd.  their best selling album was their second one, Fl...

Moondance is the album that established Van Morrison as a solo artist.  However, he was an accomplished musician before this, first as a multi-instrumentalist in Irish show bands of the late 50's, then as the lead singer of the band Them.  Moondance is either Morrison's second or third solo album…depending upon how you count it.  The first album entitled “Blowin' Your Mind!” was put out without Mo...

Aside from having a terrific title, the seventh studio album by REO Speedwagon would be the one which would bring them mainstream success.  You Can Tune a Piano, but You Can't Tuna Fish was the first album to be co-produced by guitarist Gary Richrath and lead singer Kevin Cronin, and was the first to break into the top 40 on the Billboard 200 album charts in the US, peaking at number 29.  It also...

The Blues Brothers Original Soundtrack is a powerhouse collection of rhythm and blues that captures the essence of the iconic film.  It features a blend of classic blues, soul, and rock 'n' roll performed by legendary artists including Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, James Brown, and Cab Calloway.   The Blues Brothers originated as a musical comedy act created by Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi on the...

The Band was a Canadian-American rock group formed in the mid 60's as the backing band for Bob Dylan when he made his controversial switch from acoustic to electric.  Originally called “The Hawks,” when they toured as the backing band for Ronnie Hawkins, they toured as “Bob Dylan and the Band” when they joined Dylan.  After leaving Bob Dylan to do their own work, they stuck with the generic name “...

Before his solo work, before Blind Faith, before Traffic, a 14-year old known then as Stevie Winwood joined The Spencer Davis Group as a guitarist and lead singer.  This blues-oriented British band released their first LP, conveniently called Their First LP in June of 1965 to British and European audiences.  We are covering it in August 1965, but the album itself was not released in the United Sta...

Randy Bachman left The Guess Who in 1970 after experiencing lifestyle differences with the other band members.  After exploring a number of alternatives, Bachman formed a group with his brothers Tim Bachman (guitars, vocals), and Robbie Bachman (percussion), and with Fred Turner (bass, vocals).  The group took the name Bachman -Turner Overdrive, often shortened to BTO.  Although their self-titled...

Aerosmith is a band in two acts.  They were a highly successful group in the 70's, but arguments and drugs left the band a shade of its former self by 1980.  A second chance was presented when the crossover collaboration between Aerosmith and Run-D.M.C. on "Walk this Way" became a number 4 US hit in 1986.  The bad went into drug rehab at the insistence of manager Tim Collins, and had a major hit w...

This podcast goes out to all the Parrot heads out there.  Son of a Son of a Sailor is the eighth studio album by Jimmy Buffett, and is the follow-up to his breakout album “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes.”  This is Buffett's highest charting album of the 70's, peaking at number 10 in the U.S.  Jimmy Buffett was born on Christmas Day, 1946, in Pascagoula, Mississippi.  He lived in Mobile...

Montrose was considered to be America's answer to Led Zeppelin in the early 70's.  Founder Ronnie Montrose had played with a number of musicians including Van Morrison, Boz Scaggs, and with Edgar Winter on the hit singles “Frankenstein” and “Free Ride.”  He formed the band bearing his name with bassist/keyboardist Alan Fitzgerald, drummer Denny Carmassi, and front man Sammy Hagar.  Paper Money is...

Although one of the most successful artists and songwriters of the 60's, Marvin Gaye had not released a solo studio album for two years prior to In the Groove, his eighth studio album.  Instead he had been releasing duet performances with artists like Kim Weston and Tammi Terrell.  Gaye was one of the primary artists shaping what would become the Motown sound, first as a session player, then as a...

Candlebox had a seemingly immediate success with their self-titled debut album in July 1993.  The group had formed in November of 1990, with lead singer Kevin Martin, guitarist Peter Klett, bassist Bardi Martin, and drummer Scott Mercado as the founding members.  They performed in clubs around Seattle, a musical mecca at the time that benefitted from the grunge movement, and released an EP that go...

Welcome to the middle of the second British Invasion!  John Howard Jones was born in Southampton, in southern England to Welsh parents.  He grew up in Wales, moved to Canada when he was a teenager, and returned to the UK in the mid 70's where he attended the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.  The was the oldest of four boys, all of which became musicians, and started piano at the age...

Although Ike & Tina Turner had been performing since 1960 and were well known for the energy of their performances, it wasn't until 1965 and the release of Live!  The Ike & Tina Turner Show that they received national recognition.  This album featured the best live performances of the previous year. Tina Turner was born Martha Nell Bullock (aka Anna Mae Bullock), and was given the name Tin...

Weezer released their debut studio album in May of 1994, often known as the Blue Album due to its blue cover.  The band formed in Los Angeles in 1992 as grunge was on its ascendency.  Despite a sound that we identify with grunge today, singer/guitarist Rivers Cuomo, drummer Patrick Wilson, guitarist Jason Cropper, and bassist Matt Sharp struggled to find an audience in the midst of the grunge move...

Long before the Twilight books and movies made vampires cool, the motion picture The Lost Boys was a hit.  This dark comedy/action drama centers around Michael and Sam Emerson and their experiences with a biker gang who are secretly vampires living in the California beach town of Santa Carla.  When Michael is drawn into the influence of the vampires, he must make a choice between becoming a vampir...

The Beatles were at the height of their popularity, and surprisingly near the end of their time as a group when they recorded Abbey Road, their eleventh studio album.  In fact, it would be the last album the group started recording, as Let it Be was mostly recorded prior to the Abbey Road sessions even though it wasn't finished until after Abbey Road was released.  John, Paul, George, and Ringo we...

The debut album by The Sundays entitled Reading, Writing and Arithmetic introduced the dream pop band to the UK during a time between alternative waves.  The Smiths had broken up previously, but it would still be several years before the Manchester sound would take over the indie scene.   Vocalist Harriet Wheeler and guitarist David Gavurin met at Bristol University.  The two became a couple, and...

We're going extra-deep this week with alternative rock group The Coolies.  The name comes from a derogatory term for 19th century Chinese immigrants who had to work hard for little pay.  The Atlanta based group was only around for about three years and produced two albums.  The first called "dig..?" was largely a collection of Simon and Garfunkel covers.  Their second album, Doug, is a rock opera...

Infinity is the album where Journey takes on the sound we recognize as that monster of a group.  This fourth studio album is the first to include vocalist and front man Steve Perry in the group.  The group had been looking for a stronger lead vocalist, and had originally settled on Robert Fleischman for that role.  However, Fleischman was soon replaced by Perry after “musical and management differ...

By the time they released The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion, their second studio album, The Black Crowes were already a popular band.  This album would continue their dominance, achieving a record four album rock number one hits, and debuted at the number 1 spot on the Billboard 200 album chart as well.  The Black Crowes were originally an Atlanta band during a time when hair bands were o...

Vivid is the debut album from Living Colour, and it was a commercial and critical success, peaking at number 6 on the Billboard 200 album charts.  Vernon Reid formed Living Color in New York in 1984.  Reid is from England and used the British spelling of the band.  It was known as "Vernon Reid's Living Colour" for the first couple of years, and evolved through a number of band members and genres i...

Although neither popular nor long-lived as a band,  the New York Dolls were one of the most influential bands of the punk and glam rock genres.  Their debut album, the eponymously named New York Dolls came out on the strength of their lower Manhattan fan base and received critical acclaim.  However, their appeal outside of New York was limited and the album was considered a commercial failure in t...

Defining a genre for the group War is a difficult process.  There are elements of Latin, R&B, funk, soul, and rock mixed in.  Some call it progressive soul.  War came from Long Beach, California in 1969, and began as a backing band for Deacon Jones.  The band was originally led by Eric Burden of the Animals and were known as Eric Burden and War for their first tow albums, then as War after Bur...

Drivin' N' Cryin' hit the peak of their commercial success with this fourth studio album, Fly Me Courageous.  It was released in January at the same time as the start of the Persian Gulf War, and they benefitted from patriotic associations the title song received.  The album peaked at 90 on the Billboard 200 album chart. The band at the time included Buren Fowler on guitar, Kevin Kinney on guitar...