Every Breath They Took - The Police............

Most of you would have definetley heard about Sting also known as Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner,but today I would be reffering to the group that brought this talented musician into the limelight....

Most of you would have heard the song every breath you take in probably many many versions.FYI original track by The Police .They were a 3 member band consisting of Sting on Bass and Vocals Stewart Copeland on Percussions and Andy Summers on Guitars..I personally would say a 3 member band is the hardest(outta experience) as you gotta dual role but the adrenaline is phenomenal..The band mostly played on the lines of Jazz,Punk and Reggae

It all started when Stewart Copeland after the demise of his own band wanted to start a 3 piece group to compete with the likes of The Clash during the 70's punk era which seemed to be kicking in and soon went onto become a revolution which branched off away from rock setting a niche for itself..Copeland ,Sting and Henry Padovani began rehearsing in winter of '77 and by mid of that year recorded the very famous studio version of the song "Every Little thing you do is Magic"which only got released after 20 years ..Guys if you haven't heard this song hear it now..Keyboardists take note lot to learn from this song.. soon Summers joined to make it a quartet.Unfortunately Padovani had to leave and The Police became a 3 member band in 1977 till date to their latest performance at The Grammys in 2007.The Police, along with The Clash, are notable as one of the first mainstream white bands to adopt reggae as a predominant musical form, and to score major international hits with reggae-styled material. They usually covered artists such as Bob Marley and Paul Simon and eventually started to move into the reggae and ska genres

Sting started his career as an accountant after which he went on to become an English teacher after which became a musician,phew !! after a few years Sting started acting as well along with the music success & reached stardom in quite a lotta Hollywood movies.


Police went on to release their 4th album in 1981 Ghost in the machine and I really would have to say that it had one of the best album covers of all time.It were three red pictographs of "digital" likenesses of the three band members in the style of segmented LED displays, set against a black background.The band took a sabbatical in '81 with Sting continuing to pursue his carrer in movies



June '83 The Police release Synchronicity which went on to be one of their greatest albums of all time which included the famous songs which I hear almost 4 times a week to work- Wrapped around you Finger ,King of Pain,Every breath you take...
Unfortunately they lost the Grammy to MJ's Thriller but Every breath you take beat MJ's Billie Jean for the "Grammy for Song Of The Year".

Things were going good which made Police one of the greatest acts in punk who started a new era of mainstream post punk in the 80's which made bands like The Ramones ,Sonic Youth to follow,but lotta conflicts spuring up between in the band in 86' they all chose to go solo..The Police went into oblivion.


Little did we all know that a comeback is on the cards and on Jan 22nd 2007 the news broke out that The Police would reunite at the 2007 Grammy's and they did ..I watched them reunite after 21 years and doing what they love best.They played Roxanne as it was the 30th anniversary for the forming of the band.


The Police faded away ,lot of us love Sting still but one thing that can't be denied is that Police was one of the greatest band we saw carving their own niche in the music industry and Every little thing they did was actually Magic !!!!!

Comeback Artists

Hey guys its been quite while since I've put a post,anyways better late than never.I was wondering for the past few days what I can write about,I switched VH1 and I saw the latest Eagles album and a comeback after 28 years,there it was comeback artists.....


I thought a lot about who are the artists I can write about and I came up with a artist names anyways I better start before I begin to bore everyone..... Lets start!!!!




Ozzy Osbourne :

John Michael Osbourne aka Prince of Darkness,sufferred from dyslexia at a young age making his childhood tough,but joined forces with school buddy Tony Iommi to start Black Sabbath,one of the early Metal bands in the UK,Black Sabbath had a good thing going with Chart Toppers such as Paranoid being inspired by the era of Pyschedelic Rock mixed with blues but sadly the end was near...1979 Ozzy was fired from Sabbath largely due to drug abuse and replaced by none other than Ronnie James DIO,classic guys will recognise DIO,anyways meanwhile Ozzy went into depression but was convinced to get his act together and start fresh by none other than Sharon Arden Band manager Don Arden's daugther who now is Ozzy's wife Sharon Osbourne

Ozzy hired Bob Daisley ex Rainbow guitarist and none other that the great Randy Roads of Quiet Riot starting Ozzy's 1st album Blizzard of Ozz in 1980 and simplified the bands name to The Ozzy Osbourne Band which.......ultimately became Ozzy Osbourne,the band toured extensively which gained them popularity which followed the release of their second album "Diary of a Madman" which focused more into classic rock,but on March 1982 Ozzy had fate strike him down again due to a prank.....A light aircraft carrying Randy Roads and pal Andrew Aycock flying the plane without owner consent crashed after the rear wing clipped due to collision with the tour bus killing Randy and Andrew,autopsy showed traces of cocaine in Andrew's blood which led to all this .Ozzy hit a roadblock yet another time in his career when all was going well things just fell apart.....

The band took a while to get over Randy's death(Randy died at 25) but looked hard for a guitarist to take his place which was very hard...Come 1983 Ozzy found guitarist Jake E Lee who worked on great songs such as Bark at The Moon , Rock and Roll Rebel and the biggest hit of the 80's 'Shot in the Dark' from the album Ultimate Sin....

but Lee and Osbourne parted ways in 1987 due to musical differences after which Ozzy found the reincarnation of Randy Roads in a young guy called Zakk Wylde at a New Jersey gas station!! Zakk at 19 got the biggest break of life playing with the greatest acts in Metal of the late 80's and came up with several more albums such as No Rest for the Wicked, Just say Ozzy...

Streaming into the 90's with the hit No More Tears Ozzy became one of the greatest acts alongside Judas Priest,Queensryche and many more...now this time Ozzy was running on a lucky streak,his biggest commercial success was of the OZZFEST in 1990 managed by wife Sharon and son Jack.A festival of many artists who can potray their talent,and guys listen to this
OZZFEST has given the stage and the entry to the gates of Rock n Roll to bands such as Limp Bizkit,System of a Down,Korn,Linkin Park,Sepultura,Megadeth,Slayer who now are bands who I know most of you guys would be headbanging to....... after which Ozzy released Ozzmosis in '95 after which Ozzy went in to oblivion !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2001 : I remember i didn't sleep for 3 days waiting for the release of this album
DOWN to Earth released 16th October 2001 ,people said that its really hard for a success after such a long period,but the Prince of Darkness soared to the top of the charts within 48 hrs of the release in the UK and US,I personally felt the album was kickass!! Bravo Ozzy!!! after this next realease was after Bassist Robert Trujillo left to Metallica to replace their bassist Jason Newstead in 2003,with Prince Of Darkness being released in 2005 which is just more of a tribute to classic rock artists like The Beatles,David Bowie,Steppenwolf and many more..

Finally we have yet another Ozzy album released this year,sadly I haven't been able to check it out as its just out : Ozzy - Black Rain!

That was Ozzy a true comeback artist!!Black sabbath who!!! :)

The Mystery Of Led Zeppelin

Hey guys been a long time,for quite a while I wanted to cover this topic but whenever i sat to write this neva came into my head,anyways....all of you must have atleast heard about Led Zeppelin atleast the song Stairway to Heaven,for some it must have been the first song they tried to play on the guitar,was for me :)....Led Zepp during their peak were one of the greatest rock bands of the 70's,a quartet of astounding talents namely Jimmy Page --Robert Plant--John Paul Jones --and John Bonham,but I'm very sure a lot of you would have seen the 4 symbols associated with the band on many album covers,rock shows....and wondered what they exactly the meant....thats what I'm gonna tell you today


Starting off with Robert Plant(lead vocals),the husky sound of Zeppelin,the pansy.....the symbol to your left is associated with him.The circle with a feather in it,apparently this is the feather of Ma'at who was an egyptian Goddess of justice and fairness and this symbol basically the emblem of a writer





The next symbol is 3 intersecting circles denoting a man-wife-child trilogy according to Greek Mythology also meaning a person who is very powerful and a master of his domain,this symbol represented John Bonham





Next is none other than the symbol of whom I would refer to the most talented but yet silent member in the band,its none other than John Paul Jones,the symbol on the left is a symbol of 3 vesica pieces which symbolises a person with competence,confidence and a person who is a master at more that 1 thing(exactly what John was),this symbol also appears as a watermark on the American declaration,most of you must have seen it either in cryptography books or even in the 2004 movie National Treasure starring Nicholas Cage




And this one I have delibrately kept it for the last as it has such a amazing meaning to it.This symbolises Jimmy Page most of you who have seen this before would be reffering to it as ZOSO but it has more to reveal than the eye can tell and a little spooky ... starting off

"O-O" = Knowledge of creation,a futher meaning is it could signify eternity,black magicians used to believe that the full understanding of eternity could open the doors of hell...

"S" the S is the middle which seperates the "O-O" is the symbol of Samhain the Wican Sabbath

the "Z" signifies subcounscious or death or as a matter of fact spirutal secrets from the dead

and last but not the least the sweeping line at the bottom means opening the way or the sum of all things in the universe which is basically also represents Page's Guitar

Now how was that Phew,pretty amazin huh it sure is .........

Music Then & Now!!!!!!!!!!!

Heylo guys how have you been, all these days I have been giving you knowledge and snippets on bands artists etc,today I thought for a change let me share my views on how the music world is today.....

Hmmmm where to start, Music……… what does it mean, has anyone ever thought of this………I must say a melange of thoughts feelings and emotions of one or more people combined with harmony and melody...I think I’ve gone too far… getting to the point what I see today is that people's talents in the field of Music have been taken over by technology.We have people running synthesized loops and then playing their music over it,frankly speaking I see very few artists really expressing themselves...

Going back to the 60's or the 70's people expressed their views with music for whatever they wanted to convey out to the public and the masses,music took over peoples lives.Nowadays all I see is people interested in videos than music.

Let me tell you something that a while back.Around 1 year back I came across the song Break it Down Again by Tears for Fears ,I was hooked the first time I heard it,the keys vocals percussions gr, one better that the other,then a few months back I just came across the video and I was shocked that I could like such a song as it had the most meaningless video,low budget looks like it was done in a day!!!!!
I realised how much I had liked the song without even seeing the video..... So basically people hardly made that many videos and even if they did they didn’t concentrate on the quality of videos as what they cared about is the music

Lets take Ray Manzereck of The Doors for all those who don't know Ray he is the organ player(keyboard) for Doors one of the talented people I have come across, basically because of him playing two instruments moreover the thought that came into his head.The Doors were regularly playing at night clubs without a bassist and people kept complaining about that the sound lacks energy a.k.a a bassist.Ray had come across a Fender Rhodes bass piano in one of the music shops but never had seen anyone play it as most of the bands had bassist's. And as he made use of it The Doors musical style took such a different turn as he was able to generate the bass sound in songs that needed the power and a different bass melody for slower songs.... and if you get a chance to see one of their videos just concentrate on Ray and see talent at its best.......

Just like Ray we had many artists who displayed their talents in various ways ,John Paul Jones of Led Zepp,Pete Townshend of The Who ,Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull,Mark Knopfler and many many more.....

All these people squeezed out every ounce of their talents onto their music and generated and created songs that even kids who go to school today hear and enjoy

All we see nowdays in a rock concerts is guitarists trying to impersonate another famous guitarists style, I have noticed very few musicians with their own style and I must say those few are gifted but most important is that they know how to nurture their gift ,The Gift of being a Musician....


So a message to all the young budding musicians who want to be like their famous rockstars ... no problem in idolizing them or worshiping them but try to understand what music meant to them and try creating your own style of music and innovative ways of variation as you would be really appreciated by all.....

"There are things known and things unknown and in between are The Doors"

Hey guys been a very long time,newez lemme start,"There are things known and things unknown and in between are The Doors",the following inspired Jim Morrison to start something never knew would rock the world till today.

Sometime in the summer of '65 on a beach somewhere in Venice,Jim Morrison recited the following to Ray Manzerek


Let's swim to the moon, uh huh
Let's climb through the tide
Penetrate the evenin' that the
City sleeps to hide
Let's swim out tonight, love
It's our turn to try
Parked beside the ocean
On our moonlight drive

Ray was dumbstruck and told Jim that he had some great poetry there,and asked Jim to try singing it. REST IS HISTORY...........

James(Jim) Douglas Morrison born 8th Dec a writer poet and the charismatic frontman of one of the biggest bands in the US in the late 60's.Jim was very mysterious by nature and lot of rumors surrounding him about the same even till today.People never believed the fact that he died,they thought he fled to another place.

Jim and Ray studied together in UCLA film school and graduated majoring in film,but even they didn't have a clue on what they would be embarking on.Ray a genius at work in film or music recognized Jim's talent and he told him,"Jim can you Sing",Morrison said "No im not much of a singer",Ray told him just to give a try when Jim recited Moonlight Drive to Ray.Ray was hooked and mentioned to Jim that he knew a drummer and a Guitarist and told Jim that lets make a band and then it all began..............

Somewhere in the summer of '65 Ray,Jim,Robby,John started.They started with Moonlight Drive but were stuck on a chord for while,then one day Robby comes over and says that he wrote something last night,and strumming his guitar he sings.Ray asks Robby what are the chords on that and says "guys gimme a moment" and bamm The Doors No. 1 song to hit top of the charts "Light My Fire".Ironically there first hit single was written by Robby Kreiger.Likewise Jim wrote many great songs himself the famous ones being Riders on the Storm and the most controversial The Ghost Song.

According to Jim what inspired him to write the song(Ghost Song) is the something that happened on one of his family trips to New Mexico.

The first time I discovered death ... me and my mother and father, and my grandmother and grandfather, were driving through the desert at dawn. A truckload of Indians had either hit another car or something — there were Indians scattered all over the highway, bleeding to death. I was just a kid, so I had to stay in the car while my father and grandfather went to check it out. I didn't see nothing — all I saw was funny red paint and people lying around, but I knew something was happening, because I could dig the vibrations of the people around me, and all of a sudden I realized that they didn't know what was happening any more than I did. That was the first time I tasted fear ... and I do think, at that moment, the souls of those dead Indians — maybe one or two of them — were just running around, freaking out, and just landed in my soul, and I was like a sponge, ready to sit there and absorb it.

Indians scattered on dawn's highway bleeding / Ghosts crowd the young child's fragile egg–shell mind."

Even when I heard the song for the first time,I was like what kinda song is this and stopped the song sumwhere halfway through.Then after a while once when the music was on and it played after one of the other 'Doors' songs it caught my mind,was ver captivating and i wondered what went into making this song.The very fact of it being one of my Fav Doors would be firstly because of the lyrics,what they mean and the way they are sung or may i say the way they are recited,secondly the harmonics played on the guitar by Robby which really sounds very psychedelic,no wonder the genre is classified as Acid Rock which would mean consuming acid which would be LSD and making music,but we all know that in thosetimes the primary driving force for musicians was drugs,to all those thinking The Beatles was a pop band FYI The Magical Mystery tour was completely composed by the band under the influence of LSD.


Anyways shifting our focus to Ray Manzerek(Raymond Daniel Manczerek) also graduated out of UCLA film school and also directed one or 2 plays.Was a very talented artist in terms of music was a master on keys.Have any one of you ever wondered while listening to their songs whos playing the 'BASS',Jim on vocals,Robby on leads and rythms,John on drums and the bass.......Ray!!!!!.Yes, If you have noticed in any of their videos you would see Ray playing the normal keyboard with one hand and with the other hand he would be playing a smaller looking one,and that would be a Fender Rhodes Bass Piano,and thats how most of the songs have basslines inspite of having no bassist.The other band making use of the same concept was John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin.

And now the hidden talent behind the band,its starnge but notice every band has a very talented musician but that musician is never noticed,like George Harrison of The Beatles was not as well known as Lennon and Mc Cartney similarly John Paul Jones also in Zeppelin,and here in The Doors it was Robby Krieger.Krieger was a great guitar player,it is said that in his younger days he tuned a ukulele like a flamenco guitar to learn the flamenco.Once he had mastered the flamenco he switched to guitars .We notice that the music style is very unique and eclectic.And his work is phenomenal while he was with The Doors,also the first hit which went no 1 was Light My Fire written by none other than Robby.


And finally John Densmore the drummer is also one of the members who is not so much remebered,though several rumors heard were that Jim hated John and couldn't stand him and as mentioned by Ray that he once had to talk Jim into not firing John.Though John has contributed very well to the band in many of the songs.

We Didnt Start The Fire - Billy Joel

Oh mi GOD is all that i can say when i came across how this song has been written,if you have heard this song by billy joel read the following while listening to the song see the relevance and u gotta appreciate how the song has been made............




1949

* Harry Truman: Truman is inaugurated as president after being elected in 1948 to his own term; previously he was sworn in following the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt.
* Doris Day: entered the public spotlight with "My Dream Is Yours" and "It's a Great Feeling"; divorced her second husband.
* Red China: the Communist Party of China wins the Chinese Civil War, establishing the People's Republic of China.
* Johnnie Ray: signs his first recording contract with Okeh Records, although he won't become popular for another two years.
* South Pacific: opens on Broadway on April 7
* Walter Winchell: an aggressive radio and newspaper journalist credited with inventing the gossip column.
* Joe DiMaggio: injured much of the season DiMaggio made a comeback in June and led the New York Yankees to win the World Series.

1950

* Joe McCarthy: McCarthy gains national attention and begins his anti-communist crusade with his Lincoln Day speech
* Richard Nixon: Nixon is first elected to the United States Senate
* Studebaker: a popular car company that was beginning its financial downfall at this time
* Television: widespread black-and-white TV becomes the most popular means of advertising
* North Korea, South Korea: North Korea attacks South Korea on June 25, beginning the Korean War
* Marilyn Monroe: soars in popularity with five new movies including The Asphalt Jungle and All About Eve; attempts suicide after death of lover Johnny Hyde. Monroe also married for a time to Joe DiMaggio, with whose name in the prior verse hers rhymes here.



1951

* Rosenbergs: alleged communists spying for the Soviet Union begin their highly publicized trial on March 6
* H-Bomb: the middle of the hydrogen bomb development program, announced in early 1950 and first tested in late 1952
* Sugar Ray (Robinson): the boxer obtains the world's Middleweight title
* Panmunjeom: the border village where the Korean War cease-fire is signed in

1953
* (Marlon) Brando: nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for the first time for his famous role in A Streetcar Named Desire
* The King and I: opened on Broadway on March 29
* and The Catcher in the Rye: first published in 1951



1952

* (Dwight D.) Eisenhower: First elected as U.S. president by a landslide.
* Vaccine: Jonas Salk privately tests the first polio vaccine.
* England's got a new Queen: Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.
* (Rocky) Marciano: defeats Jersey Joe Walcott, becoming the World's Heavyweight Champion.
* Liberace: a musical entertainer with a popular 1950s television show.
* Santayana good-bye: George Santayana dies on September 26.



1953

* Joseph Stalin: dies on March 5, yielding his position as leader of the Soviet Union.
* (Georgy Maksimilianovich) Malenkov: succeeds Stalin for six months following his death.
* (Gamal Abdel) Nasser: as Muhammad Naguib's minister of the interior, Nasser acts as the true power behind the new Egyptian nation.
* and (Sergei) Prokofiev: the composer, dies on March 5, the same day as Stalin.
* (Winthrop) Rockefeller: moves to Arkansas, the state in which he will be elected Governor.
* (Roy) Campanella: a baseball catcher, who receives the Most Valuable Player award for the second time.
* Communist bloc: a group of communist nations dominated by the Soviet Union at this time.



1954

* Roy Cohn: Joseph McCarthy's chief counsel; resigns and enters private practice with the fall of McCarthy
* Juan Perón: spends his last full year as President of Argentina before a September 1955 coup
* (Arturo) Toscanini: the famous conductor is at the height of his fame, performing regularly with the NBC Symphony Orchestra on national radio.
* Dacron: an early artificial fiber made from the same plastic as polyester
* Dien Bien Phu falls: the Vietnamese town falls to Viet Minh forces under Vo Nguyen Giap, leading to the creation of North Vietnam and South Vietnam
* "Rock Around the Clock": Bill Haley and his Comets release the hit single "(We're Gonna) Rock Around the Clock", spurring worldwide interest in rock and roll.



1955

* (Albert) Einstein: dies on April 18.
* James Dean: achieves success with East of Eden and Rebel Without a Cause, gets nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor, and dies in a car accident on September 30.
* Brooklyn's got a winning team: Brooklyn Dodgers win the World Series for the only time.
* Davy Crockett: television series.
* Peter Pan: Disney's 1953 film based on the classic Peter Pan character becomes a hit.
* Elvis Presley: Elvis signs with RCA Records on November 21, beginning his pop career.
* Disneyland: Disney's first theme park opens on July 17.



1956

* (Brigitte) Bardot: French sex symbol Bardot is popular internationally at this time.
* Budapest: the 1956 Hungarian Revolution.
* Alabama: the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
* (Nikita) Khrushchev: makes his famous Secret Speech denouncing Stalin's "cult of personality" on February 23.
* Princess Grace (Grace Kelly): releases her last film High Society and marries Prince Rainier III of Monaco.
* Peyton Place: the best-selling novel by Grace Metalious is published.
* Trouble in the Suez: Egypt nationalizes the Suez Canal on October 29, beginning the Suez Crisis.


1957

* Little Rock: Orval Faubus stops the Little Rock Nine from attending Little Rock Central High School; Eisenhower deploys the 101st Airborne Division to counteract him.
* (Boris) Pasternak: the Russian author publishes his famous novel Doctor Zhivago.
* Mickey Mantle: the famous baseball player is in the middle of his career, an American League All-Star for the sixth year in a row. Mantle was capable of getting to first base in three seconds.
* (Jack) Kerouac: publishes his first novel in seven years, On the Road.
* Sputnik: the first artificial satellite is launched on October 4.
* Chou En-lai: in the middle of his reign as Premier of the People's Republic of China.
* Bridge on the River Kwai: the film adaptation of the 1954 novel is released, receiving seven Academy Awards.



1958

* Lebanon: Lebanon Crisis of 1958.
* Charles de Gaulle: during war of independence in Algeria, France's Fourth Republic collapses and de Gaulle is elected in November to lead the new Fifth Republic.
* California baseball: the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants move to California and become the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants, becoming the first major league teams west of Kansas City.
* Starkweather homicide: the serial killer Charles Starkweather is at large, killing eleven people before he is caught.
* Children of thalidomide: sleeping aid and antiemetic, used to treat morning sickness as well, later found to cause birth defects, is for sale around the world, except America, where the FDA didn't allow it to be distributed.



1959

* Buddy Holly: died in a plane crash on February 3 with Ritchie Valens and J. P. Richardson, "The Big Bopper".
* Ben-Hur: is an award-winning film set in Ancient Rome starring Charlton Heston.
* Space monkey: Able and Baker became the first living beings to successfully return to Earth from space aboard the Jupiter AM-18.
* Mafia: organized crime of an historically Sicilian/American origin is referred to as the Mafia. The Mafia Monograph, a detailed history of the sicilian mafia in the U.S., had been created by the FBI in 1958.
* Hula hoops: The hula hoop is invented in 1959 and becomes the latest fad.
* (Fidel) Castro: comes to power after a revolution in Cuba and visits the United States later that year on an unofficial twelve-day tour.
* Edsel is a no-go: the 1960 model of this marketing disaster has production cut short in November 1959.



1960

* U-2: an American U-2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union, causing the U-2 Crisis of 1960.
* Syngman Rhee: was rescued by the CIA after being forced to resign as leader of South Korea for allegedly fixing an election and embezzling more than twenty million U.S. dollars.
* Payola: was publicized due to Dick Clark's testimony before Congress and Alan Freed's public disgrace.
* and (John F.) Kennedy: beats Richard Nixon in the November 8 general election amongst allegations of vote fraud.
* Chubby Checker: popularizes the dance The Twist with his song of the same name.
* Psycho: an Alfred Hitchcock thriller, based on a pulp novel by Robert Bloch and adapted by Joseph Stefano, which becomes a landmark in graphic violence and cinema sensationalism. The screeching violins heard briefly in the background are a trademark of the film's soundtrack.
* Belgians in the Congo: The Democratic Republic of the Congo was declared independent on June 30, with Joseph Kasavubu as President and Patrice Lumumba as Prime Minister.



1961

* (Ernest) Hemingway: commits suicide on July 2 after a long battle with depression.
* (Adolf) Eichmann: is captured by Mossad agents in Argentina and tried for crimes against humanity.
* Stranger in a Strange Land: written by Robert A. Heinlein, is a breakthrough best-seller with themes of sexual freedom and liberation.
* (Bob) Dylan: after a New York Times review by critic Robert Shelton, Dylan is signed to Columbia Records.
* Berlin: The Berlin Wall, which separates West Berlin from East Berlin and the rest of East Germany, is constructed.
* Bay of Pigs Invasion: failed attempt by United States-trained Cuban exiles to invade Cuba and overthrow Fidel Castro.



1962

* Lawrence of Arabia: the Academy Award-winning film based on the life of T. E. Lawrence starring Peter O'Toole premiers in America on December 16.
* British Beatlemania: The Beatles gain Ringo Starr as drummer and Brian Epstein as manager, and join the EMI's Parlophone label.
* Ole Miss: James Meredith integrates the University of Mississippi.
* John Glenn: flew the first American manned orbital mission termed "Friendship 7" on February 20.
* Liston beats Patterson: Sonny Liston and Floyd Patterson fight for the world heavyweight championship on September 25, ending in a round-one knockout.



1963

* Pope Paul (VI): is elected to the papacy.
* Malcolm X: makes infamous statements about agreeing with the Kennedy assassination, thus causing the Nation of Islam to censure him.
* British Politician Sex: the Profumo Affair.
* JFK blown away, what else do I have to say?: President Kennedy is assassinated on November 22.



1964–1989

* Birth control: in the early 1960s, oral contraceptives, popularly known as "the pill", first go on the market and are extremely popular. In 1968, Pope Paul VI released a document entitled Humanae Vitae which declared most birth control a sin.
* Ho Chi Minh: a Vietnamese Communist, who served as President of Vietnam from 1954–1969.
* Richard Nixon back again: Nixon is elected in the 1968 presidential election of the United States.
* Moon shot: refers to the Apollo 11, the first manned lunar landing.
* Woodstock: famous rock and roll festival of 1969 that came to represent the epitome of the counterculture movement.
* Watergate: political scandal involving a hotel break-in, eventually leading to President Nixon's resignation in 1974.
* Punk rock: the Sex Pistols and their new sound become popular.
* (Menachem) Begin: becomes Prime Minister of Israel in 1977 and negotiates the Camp David Accords with Egypt's president in 1978.
* (Ronald) Reagan: served as President of the United States throughout most of the 1980s with incredible popularity.
* Palestine: the Palestine Liberation Organization is formed and attacks Israel; see history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
* Terror on the airline: during the mid-80s, numerous aircraft hijackings were shown on the news.
* Ayatollahs in Iran: during the Iranian Revolution of 1979, the West-backed and U.S.-installed Shah is overthrown as the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini gains power after years in exile.
* Russians in Afghanistan: Soviet forces fight a ten-year war in Afghanistan, from 1979 to 1989.
* Wheel of Fortune: a hit television game show which has been TV's highest-rated syndicated program since 1983
* Sally Ride: in 1983 she becomes the first American woman in space.
* Heavy metal suicide: There is considerable debate among fans about whether this is intended to be interpreted as one or two items ("heavy metal, suicide"). On one hand, in the 1980s both Ozzy Osbourne and the band Judas Priest were brought to court by parents who accused the musicians of hiding subliminal pro-suicide messages in their music. On the other hand, "heavy metal" may be an isolated reference like "punk rock" above, and "suicide" merely in reference to some well-known suicide or trend of suicides reported at the time.
* Foreign debts. Persistent US trade deficits lead to substantial foreign debt in the eyes of the 1980s period, particularly to Japan.
* Homeless vets. Veterans of the Vietnam war are homeless and impoverished.
* AIDS: infectious disease which begins to spread rapidly on a global scale during the 80s
* Crack: Refers to crack cocaine, a popular drug in the mid-to-late 1980s.
* Bernie Goetz: On December 22, 1984, Goetz becomes a vigilante after being mugged four times; he shoots four black youths who attack him on a New York City subway and was later acquitted on grounds of self-defense.
* Hypodermics on the shore: medical waste was found washed up on beaches in New Jersey after being illegally dumped at sea.
* China's under martial law: On May 20, 1989, China declares martial law, enabling them to use force of arms to end the Tiananmen Square protests.
* Rock and roller cola wars, I can't take it anymore!: soda giants Coke and Pepsi each run marketing campaigns using popular music stars to reach the young adult demographic.

Over The Hills And Far Away - John Paul Jones

John Paul Jones hmmmmmm few of you must have heard of him and some you wouldn't have but i can surely tell you that he was the key man behind Led Zeppelin.Im pretty sure many of you must have heard the signature classic and timless song that still plays in a lotta pubs rock shows and homes "Stairway To Heaven" but if you hear it clearly you hear a bass sound but there aint no bass,how is that you mite wonder.Its none other than Jones playing an overdubbed Bass on Keyboards.Lets not forget this was way back in the late 60's and early 70's no processors.He is undoubtley the hidden talent in the band.Though most of the focus was on Panzy Plant,and Guitar God Page. (Picture-Clockwise from top Jimmy Page,Robert Plant,Jones,Bonham)

John Paul Jones stage name for John Bladwin,son of Joe Baldwin who was a pianist and arranger for many orchestras in the 40's and 50's.His mother was in the music business and the family toured together and which let him perform with his parents.He studied music at Christ College in Kent his birthplace and he plays almost 9 instruments few being the guitars,mandolin,banjo,Koto an ancient Japanese string instrument,cello,mellotron,organ PHEW!!!! and is the primary composer in Led Zeppelin

His first band was The Deltas at the age of 15,the was taken into The New Yardbirds the first band of Jimmy Page which later became Led Zeppelin.His famous works with Zeppelin would be the unforgettable KASHMIR having a very eastern touch to music.The great intro bassline in Dazed And Confused keyboard solo in No Quarter and Stairway To Heaven as i mentioned before.Let me give you a fact bout the song if you have ever noticed the lyrics closely you mite or mite not get the meaning behind it,its a song bout a woman who goes to buy heroin to get high.Again Jones work on the lyrics.

His work was kept undisclosed and kept private so no one would know it as mentioned by Jones in the later years.His diversity for the group also extended to other instruments, which included unusual double and even triple necked mandolins.You can see brilliant work on the Mandolin in Going to California

After the breakup of Led Zeppelin he also collaborated with R.E.M,Heart,Ben E King,a number of video sessions with Paul Mc Cartney and also worked with Foo Fighters on one of their albums.Led Zepp might be be no more but JPJ will never go unoticed again.