1.
Single (music)
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In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a song recording of fewer tracks than an LP record, an album or an EP record. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats, in most cases, a single is a song that is released separately from an album, although it usually also appears on an album. Typically, these are the songs from albums that are released separately for promotional uses such as digital download or commercial radio airplay and are expected to be the most popular, in other cases a recording released as a single may not appear on an album. As digital downloading and audio streaming have become prevalent, it is often possible for every track on an album to also be available separately. Nevertheless, the concept of a single for an album has been retained as an identification of a heavily promoted or more popular song within an album collection. Despite being referred to as a single, singles can include up to as many as three tracks on them. The biggest digital music distributor, iTunes, accepts as many as three tracks less than ten minutes each as a single, as well as popular music player Spotify also following in this trend. Any more than three tracks on a release or longer than thirty minutes in total running time is either an Extended Play or if over six tracks long. The basic specifications of the single were made in the late 19th century. Gramophone discs were manufactured with a range of speeds and in several sizes. By about 1910, however, the 10-inch,78 rpm shellac disc had become the most commonly used format, the inherent technical limitations of the gramophone disc defined the standard format for commercial recordings in the early 20th century.26 rpm. With these factors applied to the 10-inch format, songwriters and performers increasingly tailored their output to fit the new medium, the breakthrough came with Bob Dylans Like a Rolling Stone. Singles have been issued in various formats, including 7-inch, 10-inch, other, less common, formats include singles on digital compact cassette, DVD, and LD, as well as many non-standard sizes of vinyl disc. Some artist release singles on records, a more common in musical subcultures. The most common form of the single is the 45 or 7-inch. The names are derived from its speed,45 rpm. The 7-inch 45 rpm record was released 31 March 1949 by RCA Victor as a smaller, more durable, the first 45 rpm records were monaural, with recordings on both sides of the disc. As stereo recordings became popular in the 1960s, almost all 45 rpm records were produced in stereo by the early 1970s
2.
Poison (American band)
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Poison is an American rock band that achieved great commercial success in the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s. Poison has sold over 50 million records worldwide and has sold 15 million records in the United States alone. The band has also charted ten singles to the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100, including six Top 10 singles and the Hot 100 number-one, Every Rose Has Its Thorn. The bands breakthrough album, the multi-platinum Look What the Cat Dragged In, was released in 1986 and they hit their peak with the second album, Open Up. Ahh. which became the bands most successful album, being certified 5x platinum in the US, the popularity continued into the new decade with their third consecutive multi-platinum selling album, Flesh & Blood. In the 2000s, with the line up back together. The band began the new decade with the release of the long-awaited Crack a Smile. followed by the Power to the People album. The band toured almost every year to sold out stadiums and arenas, Band members have released several solo albums and starred in successful reality TV shows. After 25 years, the band is still recording music and performing, since their debut in 1986, they have released seven studio albums, four live albums, five compilation albums, and have issued 28 singles to radio. In 2012 VH1 ranked them at #1 on their list of the Top 5 Hair Bands of the 80s, Poison was formed in 1983, in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania and consisted of lead vocalist Bret Michaels, guitarist Matt Smith, bassist Bobby Dall and drummer Rikki Rockett. Michaels began his career with a basement band called Laser and, then, in 1979. In 1980, Michaels and Rockett teamed up with Smith and Dall to form the band Paris, arriving in Los Angeles, the group struggled to survive away from home with no family and no money, but the band was determined to make it. Poison promoted themselves up and made the rounds performing in the local clubs. During this period, Poisons manager negotiated a deal under which the West Hollywood club, at this time, Smith, who was about to become a father and was concerned about the bands future, left the band to return home to Pennsylvania. C. Although Michaels and Dall did not initially get along with him, Michaels, Rockett, Dall, and DeVille signed to independent label Enigma Records in 1986 for approximately $30,000. Their debut album, Look What the Cat Dragged In, was released August 2,1986. With heavy rotation on MTV, their debut earned the band tours with fellow glam rockers Ratt, Cinderella, the album ultimately sold 4 million copies worldwide. In 1987 the band recorded a cover of the Kiss song Rock, Poisons second album, Open Up and Say. Ahh. was released May 21,1988
3.
Flesh & Blood (Poison album)
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Flesh & Blood is the third studio album by American glam metal band Poison, released in 1990 through the Enigma label of Capitol Records. The album peaked at #2 on the Billboard charts and it sold over 7.2 million copies worldwide. The album spawned two top 10 singles, Unskinny Bop and Something to Believe In, as well as three other hit singles, Ride The Wind, Life Goes On, and Sacrifice, Flesh & Blood was certified Platinum in 1990 and Triple Platinum in 1991 by the RIAA. It has also certified by CAN 4x platinum and by BPI gold. The album was recorded and mixed at Little Mountain Sound Studios, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with Canadian producer Bruce Fairbairn, the front cover of the album featured the Poison logo and album title as a tattoo on Rikki Rocketts arm. The cover was originally planned to have a different version of the tattoo cover that featured the tattoo after being freshly inked. This showed the skin as red and inflamed with dripping ink or blood and this cover was pulled though and instead a cleaned up tattoo was shown. The original cover was released for the initial pressing in Japan but was removed from all later pressings. The record’s marketing reflected the end of the extreme elements in Poison’s glam image, including its excessive make-up and teased, girlish hair. Parts of the album reflected a darker, more serious side to the band, touching themes such as times and overcoming them, missing loved ones, long-term relationships. The fun side of the band remained intact, however, in dealing with sex, exhilaration from music or motorbikes. The meaning of Unskinny Bop, one of the bands most popular songs, has always shrouded in obscurity. DeVille later confessed that the phrase unskinny bop has no particular meaning and he invented it as a temporary measure while writing the song, before vocalist Bret Michaels had begun working on the lyrics. The phrase was used on the basis that it was suited to the music. The song was played to producer Fairbairn, who stated that although he did not know what an unskinny bop was. Flesh & Blood was voted Best Album in Circus magazines 1990 Readers Poll, while Something to Believe In was voted Best Single. The album was connected to three Metal Edge Readers Choice Awards in 1990, when the readers voted it for Album of the Year and Something to Believe In for Song of the Year. All songs written & arranged by Poison, Flesh, Blood, & Videotape is the second video compilation released by Poison, featuring the music videos from Flesh & Blood
4.
Glam metal
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Glam metal is a subgenre of heavy metal which features pop-influenced hooks and guitar riffs, and borrows from the fashion of 1970s glam rock. Glam metal can be traced back to acts like Alice Cooper, Boston, Cheap Trick, Kiss, The New York Dolls. It was popular throughout the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s, bringing to prominence bands including Poison, Skid Row, Cinderella, Glam metal was associated with flashy clothing and makeup. Poison, for example, had long shaggy or backcombed hair, accessories, metal studs, leather, Glam metal lost mainstream interest in the early 1990s as the perceived excesses of glam metal created a backlash against the genre. A factor in the decline of metal was the rise of grunge in the early 1990s, which had a stripped-down aesthetic. Musically, glam metal combines a traditional metal sound with elements of hard rock and punk rock, adding pop-influenced catchy hooks. Like other heavy metal songs of the 1980s, they often feature shred guitar solos and they also include extensive use of harmonies, particularly in the characteristic power ballads – slow, emotional songs that gradually build to a strong finale. These were among the most commercially successful singles in the genre, lyrical themes often deal with love and lust, with songs often directed at a particular woman. Aesthetically glam metal draws heavily on the rock or glitter rock of the 1970s, often with very long backcombed hair, use of make-up, gaudy clothing. The visual aspects of glam metal appealed to television producers, particularly MTV. Glam metal performers became infamous for their debauched lifestyles of drugs, strippers and late-night parties, sociologist Deena Weinstein points to the large number of terms used to describe more commercial forms of heavy metal, which she groups together as lite metal. Use of the derogatory term hair metal started in the early 1990s, Music journalist Stephen Davis claims the influences of the style can be traced back to acts like Aerosmith, Kiss, Boston, Cheap Trick, and The New York Dolls. Kiss and to a lesser extent Alice Cooper, were influences on the genre. Finnish band Hanoi Rocks, heavily influenced themselves by the New York Dolls, have been credited with setting a blueprint for the look of hair metal. Van Halen has been seen as influential on the movement, emerging in 1978 from the Los Angeles music scene on Sunset Strip. He popularized a technique of two‐handed hammer‐ons and pull‐offs called tapping. This sound, and lead singer David Lee Roths stage antics, would be influential on glam metal. In the early 1980s, a number of bands from across the United States began to move towards what would become the glam metal sound
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Capitol Records
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Capitol Records, LLC is an American record label which operates as a division of the Capitol Music Group. The label was founded as the first West Coast-based record label in the United States in 1942 by three industry insiders named Johnny Mercer, Buddy DeSylva and Glenn Wallichs, in 1955, the label was acquired by the British music conglomerate EMI as its North American subsidiary. EMI was later acquired by Universal Music Group in 2012 and was merged with the company in 2013, making Capitol Records, Capitol Records circular headquarter building located in Los Angeles is a recognized landmark of California. Mercer first raised the idea of starting a company while golfing with Harold Arlen. By 1941, Mercer was a songwriter and a singer with multiple successful releases. Mercer next suggested the idea to Wallichs while visiting his record store, Wallichs expressed interest in the idea and the pair negotiated an agreement whereby Mercer would run the company and identify their artists, while Wallichs managed the business side. On February 2,1942, Mercer and Wallichs met with DeSylva at a Hollywood restaurant to inquire about the possibility of investment of the company from Paramount Pictures, while DeSylva declined the proposal, he handed the pair a check worth $15,000. On March 27,1942, the three men incorporated as Liberty Records, in May 1942, the application was amended to change the companys name to Capitol Records. On April 6,1942, Mercer supervised Capitols first recording session where Martha Tilton recorded the song Moon Dreams, on May 5, Bobby Sherwood and his orchestra recorded two tracks in the studio. On May 21, Freddie Slack and his orchestra recorded three tracks in the studio, one with the orchestra, one with Ella Mae Morse called Cow-Cow Boogie, on June 4,1942, Capitol opened its first office in a second-floor room south of Sunset Boulevard. On that same day, Wallichs presented the companys first free record to Los Angeles disc jockey Peter Potter, on June 5,1942, Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra recorded four songs at the studio. On June 12, the recorded five more songs in the studio. On June 11, Tex Ritter recorded Jingle Jangle Jingle and Goodbye My Little Cherokee for his first Capitol recording session, and the songs formed Capitols 110th produced record. 133 - Get On Board Little Chillun - July 31,1942 - is a Freddie Slack/Ella Mae Morse/Mellowaires recording that might be the first rock n roll record and she has sometimes been called the first rock n roll singer. A good example is her 1942 recording of song which, with strong gospel, blues, boogie. Bone Walker recorded Mean Old World a pioneering example of the use of electric guitar. The earliest recording artists included co-owner Mercer, Whiteman, Tilton, Morse, Margaret Whiting, Jo Stafford, the Pied Pipers, Johnnie Johnston, Tex Ritter, Capitols first gold single was Morses Cow Cow Boogie in 1942. Capitols first album was Capitol Presents Songs By Johnny Mercer, a three 78-rpm disc set with recordings by Mercer, Stafford and the Pied Pipers, all with Westons Orchestra
6.
Songwriter
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A songwriter is an individual who writes the lyrics, melodies and chord progressions for songs, typically for a popular music genre such as rock or country music. A songwriter can also be called a composer, although the term tends to be used mainly for individuals from the classical music genre. The pressure from the industry to produce popular hits means that songwriting is often an activity for which the tasks are distributed between a number of people. For example, a songwriter who excels at writing lyrics might be paired with a songwriter with a gift for creating original melodies, pop songs may be written by group members from the band or by staff writers – songwriters directly employed by music publishers. Some songwriters serve as their own publishers, while others have outside publishers. The old-style apprenticeship approach to learning how to write songs is being supplemented by university degrees and college diplomas, a knowledge of modern music technology, songwriting elements and business skills are necessary requirements to make a songwriting career in the 2010s. Several music colleges offer songwriting diplomas and degrees with music business modules, the legal power to grant these permissions may be bought, sold or transferred. This is governed by international copyright law, song pitching can be done on a songwriters behalf by their publisher or independently using tip sheets like RowFax, the MusicRow publication and SongQuarters. Skills associated with song-writing include entrepreneurism and creativity, songwriters who sign an exclusive songwriting agreement with a publisher are called staff writers. In the Nashville country music scene, there is a staff writer culture where contracted writers work normal 9-to-5 hours at the publishing office and are paid a regular salary. This salary is in effect the writers draw, an advance on future earnings, the publisher owns the copyright of songs written during the term of the agreement for a designated period, after which the songwriter can reclaim the copyright. In an interview with HitQuarters, songwriter Dave Berg extolled the benefits of the set-up, unlike contracted writers, some staff writers operate as employees for their respective publishers. Under the terms of work for hire agreements, the compositions created are fully owned by the publisher. In Nashville, young writers are often encouraged to avoid these types of contracts. Staff writers are common across the industry, but without the more office-like working arrangements favored in Nashville. All the major publishers employ writers under contract, songwriter Allan Eshuijs described his staff writer contract at Universal Music Publishing as a starter deal. His success under the arrangement eventually allowed him to found his own publishing company, so that he could. keep as much as possible, songwriters are also often skilled musicians. In addition to selling their songs and musical concepts for other artists to sing, songwriters need to create a number of elements for a song
7.
Rikki Rockett
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Richard Allan Ream, better known by the stage name Rikki Rockett, is an American drummer for glam metal band, Poison. The band have sold over 45 million records worldwide and have sold 15 million records in the United States alone. The band has also charted ten singles to the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100, including six Top 10 singles, richard Allan Ream was born on August 8,1961 in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, the youngest of two children of Norman and Margaret Ream. He attended Cedar Cliff High School in Camp Hill, before founding Poison with vocalist Bret Michaels, Rockett worked as a hairdresser, lifeguard, dishwasher, Emergency Medical Technician and a suit salesman. Rockett was always a part of Poisons success featuring on every Poison album ever released. The tattoo photo featured on Poisons 1990 album Flesh and Blood is Rocketts right shoulder, the logo was already done a couple of years prior but he added Flesh and Blood in support of the title. The original album still has the blood running from the new tattoo though it was airbrushed out soon after its release. In late-1993, Rockett discovered that the then guitarist Richie Kotzen of Poison was having a relationship with Rocketts fiancee at the time, Kotzen was fired due to this incident. In VH1s Behind The Music, singer Bret Michaels said he never wanted to speak to Kotzen again, Rockett and Brian Cocivera joined forces creating custom built drum kits called the Chop Shop Custom Drum Company. After almost twenty years with Poison, Rockett released his first solo album, the album was a tribute to 1970s glam rock. He also guested on Britny Foxs Bite Down Hard, in 2004 Rikki founded the Brit Iron Rebels, a vintage and modern retro motorcycle Internet-based group dedicated to the British Rocker motorcycle culture of the 50s & 60s. On April 26,2007, Rockett announced the creation of Rockett Drum Works Inc and it is a drum manufacturing company, specializing in the creation of ultra custom drum kits, snare drums and custom accessories. Prior to setting up his enterprise, Rockett worked for Chop Shop Custom Drum and he departed after conflicting opinions with Chop Shop founder Brian Cocivera. Rockett recruited most of the staff from Chop Shop along with some staff members. In conjunction with the 30th anniversary of Star Wars in May 2007, Rockett wore a Star Wars patch on his vest in Poisons Fallen Angel music video and he said that his favorite character is C-3PO. On September 19,2007, Bosphorus Cymbals unveiled the Rockett Ride, in 2015 Rockett co formed a new rock supergroup the Devil City Angels with guitarist Tracii Guns, bassist Eric Brittingham and vocalist and rhythm guitarist Brandon Gibbs. Their self-titled debut album was officially released September 11,2015, in October 2008 Rockett married longtime girlfriend Melanie Martel. On July 14,2009, they had their first child, on March 2,2013, Rikki and Melaine welcomed their second child, a daughter named Lucy Sky
