1.
Coventry
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Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. Historically part of Warwickshire, Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and it is the second largest city in the West Midlands region, after Birmingham, with a population of 345,385 in 2015. Coventry is 95 miles northwest of central London,19 miles east-south-east of Birmingham,24 miles southwest of Leicester and 11 miles north of Warwick. Coventry Cathedral was built after the destruction of the 14th century cathedral church of Saint Michael by the German Luftwaffe in the Coventry Blitz of 14 November 1940, Coventry motor companies have contributed significantly to the British motor industry. The city has two universities, Coventry University in the city centre and the University of Warwick on the southern outskirts. The Romans founded a settlement in Baginton, next to the River Sowe, and another formed around a Saxon nunnery, founded c. AD700 by St Osburga, that was later left in ruins by King Canutes invading Danish army in 1016. Earl Leofric of Mercia and his wife Lady Godiva built on the remains of the nunnery, in time, a market was established at the abbey gates and the settlement expanded. By the 14th century, Coventry was an important centre of the cloth trade, the bishops of Lichfield were often referred to as bishops of Coventry and Lichfield, or Lichfield and Coventry. Coventry claimed the status of a city by ancient prescriptive usage, was granted a charter of incorporation in 1345, the plays that William Shakespeare witnessed in Coventry during his boyhood or teens may have influenced how his plays, such as Hamlet, came about. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Coventry became one of the three main British centres of watch and clock manufacture and ranked alongside Prescot, in Lancashire, in the late 19th century, Coventry became a major centre of bicycle manufacture. The industry energised by the invention by James Starley and his nephew John Kemp Starley of the Rover safety bicycle, by the early 20th century, bicycle manufacture had evolved into motor manufacture, and Coventry became a major centre of the British motor industry. Jaguar is owned by the Indian company, Tata Motors, with many of the citys older properties becoming increasingly unfit for habitation, the first council houses were let to their tenants in 1917. With Coventrys industrial base continuing to soar after the end of the Great War a year later, numerous private and council housing developments took place across the city in the 1920s and 1930s. The development of a southern by-pass around the city, starting in the 1930s and being completed in 1940, Coventry suffered severe bomb damage during the Second World War. There was a massive Luftwaffe air raid, part of the Coventry Blitz, firebombing on this date led to severe damage to large areas of the city centre and to Coventrys historic cathedral, leaving only a shell and the spire. More than 4,000 houses were damaged or destroyed, along with three quarters of the citys industrial plants. More than 800 people were killed, with injured and homeless. Aside from London, Hull and Plymouth, Coventry suffered more damage than any other British city during the Luftwaffe attacks, following the raids, the majority of Coventrys historic buildings could not be saved as they were in ruinous states or were deemed unsafe for any future use
2.
West Midlands (county)
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The West Midlands is a metropolitan county in western central England with a 2014 estimated population of 2,808,356, making it the second most populous county in England. It came into existence as a county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. The county itself is a NUTS2 region within the wider NUTS1 region of the same name. The county consists of seven boroughs, the City of Birmingham, the City of Coventry, and the City of Wolverhampton, as well as Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull. The metropolitan county exists in law and as a frame of reference. And as a county it has a Lord Lieutenant and a High Sheriff. A new administrative body for the county, the West Midlands Combined Authority was created in June 2016, there will be a directly elected Mayor of the West Midlands from May 2017. Other county-wide bodies include the West Midlands Police, the West Midlands Fire Service, the county is sometimes described as the West Midlands metropolitan area or the West Midlands conurbation, although these have different, and less clearly defined, boundaries. The main conurbation, or urban area, does not include Coventry for example, Coventry was one of Englands most important cities during the Middle Ages, with its prosperity built upon wool and cloth manufacture. Birmingham and Wolverhampton have a tradition of dating back to the 16th century. Birmingham was known for its manufacture of arms, whereas Wolverhampton became a centre of lock manufacture. The coal and iron ore deposits of the Black Country area provided a source of raw materials. The area grew rapidly during the Industrial Revolution, and by the 20th century had grown into one large conurbation, Coventry was slower to develop, but by the early 20th century, it had become an important centre of bicycle and car manufacture. Around the periphery of this area, three towns remained separate, while Aldridge and Brownhills joined to form a single unit. The West Midlands Passenger Transport Authority was established in 1968, in 1974, the Local Government Act 1972 came into effect, creating the metropolitan county of West Midlands. This area was based on the seven county boroughs and the other non-county boroughs, the new area consisted of seven new metropolitan boroughs, with Aldridge-Brownhills added to Walsall, Halesowen and Stourbridge to Dudley and Sutton Coldfield to Birmingham. A new borough of Sandwell was formed by the merger of West Bromwich, the 1974 reform created the West Midlands County Council that covered the entire area and dealt with strategic issues. Between 1974 and 1986, the county had a system of local government
3.
Indie rock
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Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United States and the United Kingdom in the 1980s. Originally used to independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produced and was initially used interchangeably with alternative rock. In the mid-1980s, the term began to be used to describe the music produced on punk and post-punk labels. Some prominent indie rock record labels were founded during the 1980s, during the 1990s, Grunge bands broke into the mainstream, and the term alternative lost its original counter-cultural meaning. The term indie rock became associated with the bands and genres that remained dedicated to their independent status, by the end of the 1990s indie rock developed subgenres and related styles including lo-fi, noise pop, emo, slowcore, post-rock and math rock. In the 2000s, changes in the industry and in music technology enabled a new wave of indie rock bands to achieve mainstream success. In the early 2000s, a new group of bands played a stripped-down. The commercial breakthrough from these scenes was led by four bands, The Strokes, The White Stripes, The Hives, emo also broke into mainstream culture in the early 2000s. By the end of the 2000s the proliferation of bands was being referred to as indie landfill. The term indie rock, which comes from independent, describes the small and relatively low-budget labels on which it is released, the influences and styles of the artists have been extremely diverse, including punk, psychedelia, post-punk and country. Allmusic identifies indie rock as including a number of varying musical approaches compatible with mainstream tastes, in fact, there is an everlasting list of genres and subgenres of indie rock. Many countries have developed a local indie scene, flourishing with bands with enough popularity to survive inside the respective country. However, there are still indie bands that start off locally, Indie rock has been identified as a reaction against the macho culture that developed in alternative rock in the aftermath of Nirvanas success. However, Cortney Harding pointed out that this sense of equality is not reflected in the number of women running indie labels. The BBC documentary Music for Misfits, The Story of Indie pinpoints the birth of indie as the 1977 self-publication of the Spiral Scratch EP by Manchester band Buzzcocks, Indie pop and indie were originally synonymous. In the mid-1980s, indie began to be used to describe the music produced on post-punk labels rather than the labels themselves. The indie rock scene in the US was prefigured by the rock that dominated college radio playlists. In the United States, the term was associated with the abrasive, distortion-heavy sounds of the Pixies, Hüsker Dü, Minutemen, Meat Puppets, Dinosaur Jr
4.
Punk rock
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Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed in the early to mid-1970s in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in 1960s garage rock and other forms of what is now known as proto-punk music, Punk bands typically produced short or fast-paced songs, with hard-edged melodies and singing styles, stripped-down instrumentation, and often political, anti-establishment lyrics. Punk embraces a DIY ethic, many bands self-produce recordings and distribute them through informal channels, the term punk was first used in relation to rock music by some American critics in the early 1970s, to describe garage bands and their devotees. The following year saw punk rock spreading around the world, for the most part, punk took root in local scenes that tended to reject association with the mainstream. An associated punk subculture emerged, expressing youthful rebellion and characterized by distinctive styles of clothing and adornment, by the beginning of the 1980s, faster, more aggressive styles such as hardcore and street punk had become the predominant mode of punk rock. Musicians identifying with or inspired by punk also pursued a range of other variations, giving rise to post-punk. At the end of the 20th century, punk rock had been adopted by the mainstream, as pop punk and punk bands such as Green Day. The first wave of rock was aggressively modern, distancing itself from the bombast. According to Ramones drummer Tommy Ramone, In its initial form, unfortunately, what happens is that people who could not hold a candle to the likes of Hendrix started noodling away. Soon you had endless solos that went nowhere, by 1973, I knew that what was needed was some pure, stripped down, no bullshit rock n roll. In critic Robert Christgaus description, It was also a subculture that rejected the political idealism. Technical accessibility and a DIY spirit are prized in punk rock, in the early days of punk rock, this ethic stood in marked contrast to what those in the scene regarded as the ostentatious musical effects and technological demands of many mainstream rock bands. Musical virtuosity was often looked on with suspicion, according to Holmstrom, punk rock was rock and roll by people who didnt have very many skills as musicians but still felt the need to express themselves through music. In December 1976, the English fanzine Sideburns published an illustration of three chords, captioned This is a chord, this is another, this is a third. The title of a 1980 single by the New York punk band Stimulators, inscribed a catchphrase for punks basic musical approach. The previous year, when the rock revolution began in Great Britain, was to be both a musical and a cultural Year Zero. As a Clash associate describes singer Joe Strummers outlook, Punk rock is meant to be our freedom, were meant to be able to do what we want to do. Scholar Daniel S. Traber argues that attaining authenticity in the identity can be difficult, as the punk scene matured, he observes
5.
Alternative rock
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Alternative rock is a genre of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular in the 1990s and 2000s. In this instance, the word refers to the genres distinction from mainstream rock music. The terms original meaning was broader, referring to a generation of musicians unified by their debt to either the musical style or simply the independent. Ethos of punk rock, which in the late 1970s laid the groundwork for alternative music, Alternative rock is a broad umbrella term consisting of music that differs greatly in terms of its sound, its social context, and its regional roots. Most of these subgenres had achieved minor mainstream notice and a few bands representing them, such as Hüsker Dü, with the breakthrough of Nirvana and the popularity of the grunge and Britpop movements in the 1990s, alternative rock entered the musical mainstream and many alternative bands became successful. By the end of the decade, alternative rocks mainstream prominence declined due to a number of events that caused grunge and Britpop to fade, emo attracted attention in the larger alternative rock world, and the term was applied to a variety of artists, including multi-platinum acts. Post-punk revival artists such as Modest Mouse and The Killers had commercial success in the early, before the term alternative rock came into common usage around 1990, the sort of music to which it refers was known by a variety of terms. In 1979, Terry Tolkin used the term Alternative Music to describe the groups he was writing about, in 1979 Dallas radio station KZEW had a late night new wave show entitled Rock and Roll Alternative. College rock was used in the United States to describe the music during the 1980s due to its links to the radio circuit. In the United Kingdom, dozens of small do it yourself record labels emerged as a result of the punk subculture, according to the founder of one of these labels, Cherry Red, NME and Sounds magazines published charts based on small record stores called Alternative Charts. The first national chart based on distribution called the Indie Chart was published in January 1980, at the time, the term indie was used literally to describe independently distributed records. By 1985, indie had come to mean a particular genre, or group of subgenres, at first the term referred to intentionally non–mainstream rock acts that were not influenced by heavy metal ballads, rarefied new wave and high-energy dance anthems. The use of alternative gained further exposure due to the success of Lollapalooza, for which festival founder, in the late 1990s, the definition again became more specific. Defining music as alternative is often difficult because of two conflicting applications of the word, the name alternative rock essentially serves as an umbrella term for underground music that has emerged in the wake of punk rock since the mid-1980s. Alternative bands during the 1980s generally played in clubs, recorded for indie labels. Sounds range from the gloomy soundscapes of gothic rock to the guitars of indie pop to the dirty guitars of grunge to the 1960s/1970s revivalism of Britpop. This approach to lyrics developed as a reflection of the social and economic strains in the United States and United Kingdom of the 1980s, by 1984, a majority of groups signed to independent record labels mined from a variety of rock and particularly 1960s rock influences. This represented a break from the futuristic, hyper-rational post-punk years
6.
Cooking Vinyl
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Cooking Vinyl is a UK-based independent record company, founded in 1986 by former manager and booking agent Martin Goldschmidt and business partner Pete Lawrence. Goldschmidt remains the current owner and managing director, the company is based in Acton, London. Established in 1986, Cooking Vinyl has developed a reputation as one of Europes most innovative independent labels, key to the companys longevity is its emphasis on artist-driven deals with its pioneering introduction of bespoke services-only contracts that claim no stake in artists copyrights. The first such deal drawn up in 1993 with Billy Bragg who has since re-signed to the label a total of seven times, as for recent years,2015 and 2016 were remarkable for the label, described by Uncut magazine “a template for modern independent record companies”. After topping the charts in 2015 with The Prodigy’s “The Day is My Enemy”, both records qualified for a silver disc in the UK. This same year, Richard Ashcroft reached the UK top 3 with “These People”, in these years, Cooking Vinyl Australia notched up a number 1 album with Parkway Drive, and top 5 entries with City and Colour and Kate Miller-Heidke. In 1986 Cooking Vinyl famously recorded a live performance around a campfire at a folk festival by the singer Michelle Shocked. One of its first releases, Cooking Vinyl released the recording as The Campfire Tapes, as well as its more traditional royalty agreements, Cooking Vinyl is widely regarded as a pioneer of ‘artist services’ deals where the artist retains ownership of the copyrights. The company’s first such deal came in 1993 with a reissue of Billy Braggs Back To Basics compilation, since then, Bragg has re-signed to Cooking Vinyl a total of six times, most recently in 2013 for the release of studio album Tooth And Nail. Cooking Vinyl has consistently been in the forefront of the digital revolution and it was the first European label to do a deal with the MP3 download site eMusic and the first to enter negotiations with the peer to peer file-sharing company Kazaa. In 2005 Cooking Vinyl set up its own distribution company, Uploader. Who were in turn bought by The Orchard, Cooking Vinyl has had international success from the start with Michelle Shocked The Texas Campfire Tapes selling 250,000 worldwide. Other notable releases include the Cowboy Junkies Trinity Sessions and Ryan Adams debut solo studio album Heartbreaker in 2000, the album was funded through a high-profile Kickstarter campaign that raised over $1.2 million in 30 days. Another notable campaign from that year was the release of Marilyn Manson’s Born Villain under a partnership between Mansons own label Hell, etc. and Cooking Vinyl. The album was a success charting at #5 in Germany, #10 in the US. Across the rest of Europe the album peaked at #4 in Austria, #6 in France, in the UK Manson reached #14 in the Official Albums Chart and #1 in the UK Rock Albums Chart. Cooking Vinyl is noted for its long relationships with many of its artists, the Pixies Charles Thompson was signed in 2000 and has had 17 releases to date with the label as Frank Black and Black Francis. Since 1994, former Doll By Doll man Jackie Leven has had 23 releases, RED, the Sony Music UK artist and label services division, announced the acquisition of Essential Music and Marketing in March 2016
7.
Stiff Records
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Stiff Records is a British independent record label formed in London, England, by Dave Robinson and Jake Riviera. Originally active from 1976 to 1986, the label was reactivated in 2007, Robinson and Riviera were well-known London music business characters. The label was started with a loan of £400 from Lee Brilleaux of Dr. Feelgood and its first release, on 14 August 1976, was a single by Nick Lowe, So It Goes, B-side Heart Of The City, with the striking catalogue number BUY1. That record sold 10,000 copies, but Stiffs next release, Between The Lines by Pink Fairies, november 1976 also saw the release of a single by Nottingham-based band Plummet Airlines Silver Shirt/This is the World. Plummet Airlines then went on to be featured on the John Peel show in May and August 1977, early in 1977, Stiff Records picked up speed, signing Wreckless Eric, Ian Dury, and Elvis Costello. Bigger sales followed, and a deal with Island Records. A similar deal with CBS Records was set up for Stiff releases in the United States, rivieras departure coincided with the end of the 5 Live Stiffs Tour, which showcased emerging star Ian Dury. Durys album New Boots & Panties had raced up the charts and its sales kept the label in business over the following months, in 1979, Robinson signed Madness, whose considerable commercial success, both in Britain and abroad, would keep Stiff afloat for several years. Stiff expanded rapidly and moved its premises twice and it also continued to release dozens of obscure and uncommercial releases. At the end of 1983, Island Records bought 50% of Stiff, Island was very short of money at the time and Robinson had to lend it £1,000,000 to fund the share purchase and pay the payroll. Nonetheless, Robinson led Island through their best year ever, with, among others releases by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Legend by Bob Marley, Stiff signed The Pogues, but then Madness left under a cloud. The Island deal failed and Dave Robinson regained control of the independent label in 1985. Warner Music Group holds the currently to Stiffs masters and most are reissued through Rhino Entertainment. In 2007, ZTT and its parent company SPZ Group reactivated the label, Stiff quickly broke one of the UKs hottest new indie acts, The Enemy. It then released a string of well-received albums of new work from legacy Stiff artists, including as Wreckless Eric, Henry Priestman, Any Trouble, brand new acts signed to the label included The Tranzmitors and Eskimo Disco. Swedish designer Tobbe Stuhre was appointed official Stiff Records designer, in 2008, Union Square Music released The Big Stiff Box Set. This detailed catalogue release contained 98 tracks across four CDs and the 100-page The Big Stiff Book by music journalist and Stiff expert, Robinson and Riviera had arranged package tours ‒ such as the 1975 Naughty Rhythms tour ‒ for acts they managed before forming Stiff. Having signed all the artists as individuals, bands had to be formed in order to tour
8.
Entertainment One Music
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Entertainment One Music, a primary division of Entertainment One, is an independent record label in the United States. It has garnered the most Billboard hits of any independently owned music label in history and it is also distributed by the Universal Music Group in Europe under the name eOne Universal. On January 22,2009, Koch Records was officially branded as E1 Music by parent company Entertainment One, E1 Entertainment acquired KOCH Entertainment in June 2005, and renamed the company E1 Music. Since its inception as KOCH Records, E1 Music has charted over 100 albums on Billboards Independent Chart, E1 Music has been the number one independent label according to Billboard for the last six years and quickly grew to become North Americas largest independently owned and distributed record label. E1 Music covers all genres from adult-contemporary to rock, hip hop/urban to country. E1 Music was formed in January 1987 as Koch Records to serve as the North American umbrella for Koch Entertainment. They would sign many country, classical, and rock acts including Ringo Starr, Joan Baez, Chris Brubeck, Bob James, the label soon began to gain ground on the other independent record labels in the United States. In the 2000s, they began to sign hip hop acts. They signed various distribution deals with labels like Open Bar Entertainment, Terror Squad, D-Block Records, in 2004, they were able to sign a deal with Snoop Dogg and his Doggystyle Records along with Mobb Deep. They hired Snoop Dogg on to head up their western spin off Koch West, Koch also added onto their roster, Camron and his Diplomat Records. Diplomat rapper, Jim Jones would rise to prominence on the label through the deal, Koch later signed Yonkers rapper, J-Hood and his label On Da Grind Ent. Koch has also had releases from 2Pac, Tha Dogg Pound, Kurupt, Daz Dillinger and Gangsta Advisory. In 2007, when they signed J-Hood they gave him a big position in their Koch East division, J-Hood never released this album and he was booted from D-Block. In 2007, they signed a deal with Foxy Brown and her Black Rose Entertainment, as well as with Ray J. Slim Thug was signed to the label along with his Boss Hoggs label in late 2005. Latin Thug Records was formed by CEO Reyes to build a business with his brother and acting VP of A&R Mellow Man Ace that would focus on releasing personal projects. The label represents the extended Latin Thug family, including projects from Sen and Mellow and collaborations with B Real, Soul Assassins. In March 2008, the company signed neo-soul singer Dwele to their lineup, in October 2008, they signed also pop-jazz singer Basia, and released her comeback album Its That Girl Again a year later. Koch Records also releases music, such as Pokémon, Barney, Sesame Street, The Wiggles
9.
Tom Clarke (musician)
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Tom Clarke is an English multi-instrumentalist known as the lead vocalist of the British indie rock band The Enemy. Clarke has performed on albums, playing guitar, piano and strings on Well Live and Die in These Towns. He appeared as guest on Noel Fieldings team on the first episode of series 23 of Never Mind the Buzzcocks, on 14 April 2009 The Sun newspaper reported that Tom Clarke had purchased a 1972 Jaguar E Type because it reminded him of his grandfather. The singer said in 1972 my granddad used to work in Jaguars Browns Lane plant in Coventry, in January 2010 Gigwise reported that Clarke had acquired a ridiculous farm and was taking a short break from music to decorate. Clarke stated that the band was rehearsing and was writing new Enemy material prolifically, Monster Energy, one of the rally sponsors, awarded Clarke and his co driver and fellow band member Tom Boddy, The 2009 Monster Energy Award for Bad Behaviour. On 29 August 2010 The Sun Newspaper reported that Clarke had totalled his new sports car just days after getting it, the newspaper report said that the singer was not injured, and Clarke compared the crash to the feeling of falling over when trying to put your boxers on. He also urged festival goers to drive safely, in March 2009 The Enemy were forced to cancel a performance in Tunbridge Wells when Clarke sustained a hand injury whilst riding his motorcycle. In June 2010 Tom Clarke backed an art gallerys bid to win the UKs largest single arts prize, the Herbert Art Gallery in Coventry was shortlisted for the £100,000 prize. The singer said winning the award would make The Herbert Art Gallery, Clarke said, The Herbert means a lot to me personally, as we did one of our first ever gigs downstairs. No band had played here before us, and not many knew the gallery was here. On 27 February Tom Clarke participated in the Race For Heroes alongside stars of British motor-sport, the six-hour endurance race aimed to raise money and awareness for the charity, which is a charity formed to help those who have been wounded in Britains current conflicts. In September 2007, Alex Zane, presenter of the XFM Breakfast show broadcast a statement declaring that the band would not be played on his show again. After playing their single Youre Not Alone for seven seconds, he reasoned that altercations between himself and the band over a television interview meant that they would no longer be played by him and he stated that Clarke said disgusting, offensive, hateful things. However, during the Xfm Review of 2008, the presenters Sunta Templeton and Matt Dyson commented on the band, Gigwise article – Tom Clarke acquires a farm 4. The Sun – Tom Clarke crashes his new sports car 5, gumball 3000 Rally news – Tom Clarke 6. Monster Energy Award for “Bad Behaviour”, Tom Clarke & Tom Boddy of The Enemy –2009 Jaguar XKR7, the Sun – Tom Clarke bought an E Type Jag to remind him of his granddad 8. Tom Clarke backs art fund – Coventry Telegraph 9, http, //www. imdb. com/news/ni0703894/ Clarke Sustains Hand Injury Riding Motorcycle
10.
We'll Live and Die in These Towns
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Well Live And Die In These Towns is the debut album of British indie rock band The Enemy, released on 9 July 2007. It went to number #1 on its first week of release in the British album charts and it peaked at #34 on the World Album Chart. The album reached #75 in the UK end of year chart selling around 222,000 copies in 2007, in February 2008 it was given platinum certification meaning sales of over 300,000 copies. A low-quality version of the album was leaked on 3 July. For the single release of This Song it was renamed This Song Is About You, the song Aggro is featured in the game Guitar Hero World Tour. Critical response to Well Live and Die in These Towns tended toward the positive, at Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 61, based on 11 reviews. The album Well Live And Die In These Towns went to number 1 on 15 July
11.
UK Albums Chart
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The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts Company on Fridays and it is broadcast on BBC Radio 1 and published in Music Week magazine, and on the OCC website. To qualify for the Official Albums Chart the album must be the correct length and it must be more than three tracks or 20 minutes long and not be classed as a budget album. A budget album costs between £0.50 and £3.75, additionally, various artist compilations – which until January 1989 were included in the main album listing – are now listed separately in a compilations chart. Full details of the rules can be found on the OCC website. In the 1970s the new chart was revealed at 12,45 pm on Thursdays on BBC Radio 1. Since October 1993 it has included in The Official Chart show from 4,00 –5,45 pm on Fridays. A weekly Album Chart show was licensed out to BBC Radio 2 and presented by Simon Mayo,2005 saw a record number of artist album sales with 126.2 million sold in the UK. In February 2015, it was announced that, due to the sales of albums and rise in popularity of audio streaming. Under the revised methodology, the Official Charts Company takes the 12 most streamed tracks from one album, the total of these streams is divided by 1000 and added to the pure sales of the album. This calculation was designed to ensure that the chart continues to reflect the popularity of the albums themselves. The final number one album on the UK Albums Chart to be based purely on sales alone was Smoke + Mirrors by Imagine Dragons, on 1 March 2015, In the Lonely Hour by Sam Smith became the first album to top the new streaming-incorporated Official Albums Chart. The most successful artists in the charts depends on the criteria used, as of February 2016, Queen albums have spent more time on the British album charts than any other musical act, followed by The Beatles, Elvis Presley, U2 and ABBA. By most weeks at one, however, The Beatles lead with a total of 174 weeks. The male solo artist with the most weeks at one is Presley with a total of 66 weeks. Presley also holds the record for the most number one albums by a solo artist and most top ten albums by any artist. Madonna has the most number one albums by a female artist in the UK, though this includes the Evita film soundtrack which was a cast recording, Adele is the female solo artist with the most weeks at number one, with a total of 37 weeks. Queens Greatest Hits is the album in UK chart history with 6 million copies sold as of February 2014
12.
Music for the People (The Enemy album)
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Music for the People is the second studio album by Coventry-based indie rock band The Enemy, which was released 27 April 2009. It entered the UK charts at two, losing out on the number one spot to Bob Dylans Together Through Life. Following a short break, the spent the majority of autumn 2008 recording in rural Wales at Monnow Valley Studio in South Wales with producer Jim Anderson. Whilst the plan was to capitalise on the buzz from their debut and we totally took our time, Clarke stated. In early 2009, The Enemy completed the recording of the album, the single was officially released on 13 April, with the album following a fortnight later on 27 April. As part of the promotion for the album, the played a number of gigs in small, intimate venues throughout February 2009, in Lincoln, York, Dundee, Wakefield, Tunbridge Wells. The video for the single, Sing When Youre In Love, was debuted on T4 on 9 May 2009. The third single, Be Somebody, was used as music for the video game by EA Sports, FIFA10. The album received mixed reviews scoring 4. 5/10 at aggregator website AnyDecentMusic. NME gave the album 5 out of 10 stars in its review, stating that Tom Clarkes lot aim for the stars but sadly fall painfully short. John Earls of Planet Sound saw the LP as a progression from the debut album. The album was pilloried for its alleged plagiarism, commenting on the opening track Elephant Song, Drowned In Sound noticed its similarity to Led Zeppelins Kashmir. Last Goodbye and its use of strings was compared to The Verve, the BBC described the album as terrible, asking, What did the people ever do to deserve this. Drowned In Sound concluded, Never has reaching the end of a record been met such a massive sigh of relief. This Song Is About You –5,3312, well Live And Die In These Towns –3,00
13.
Streets in the Sky
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This is an article about the third studio album by UK rock band The Enemy. For the building structure, see Tower block#Streets in the sky, streets In The Sky is the third studio album by Coventry-based indie rock band The Enemy, released on 21 May 2012 through Cooking Vinyl and eOne Music. It entered the UK Albums Chart at no,9, and met with largely negative reviews. Critical reception was generally negative reception, with Album of the Year rating it as the worst album of 2012 as reviewed by critics, the NME wrote that The Enemy have never sounded more fully themselves than they do here. 1,2,3,4 Gimme the Sign Saturday Saturday Like a Dancer REVIEW, The Enemy single Saturday
14.
Birmingham
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Birmingham is a major city and metropolitan borough of West Midlands, England lying on the River Rea, a small river that runs through Birmingham. It is the largest and most populous British city outside London, the city is in the West Midlands Built-up Area, the third most populous urban area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2,440,986 at the 2011 census. Birminghams metropolitan area is the second most populous in the UK with a population of 3.8 million and this also makes Birmingham the 8th most populous metropolitan area in Europe. By 1791 it was being hailed as the first manufacturing town in the world, perhaps the most important invention in British history, the industrial steam engine, was invented in Birmingham. From the summer of 1940 to the spring of 1943, Birmingham was bombed heavily by the German Luftwaffe in what is known as the Birmingham Blitz. The damage done to the infrastructure, in addition to a deliberate policy of demolition and new building by planners, led to extensive demolition. Today Birminghams economy is dominated by the service sector and its metropolitan economy is the second largest in the United Kingdom with a GDP of $121. 1bn, and its six universities make it the largest centre of higher education in the country outside London. Birmingham is the fourth-most visited city in the UK by foreign visitors, Birminghams sporting heritage can be felt worldwide, with the concept of the Football League and lawn tennis both originating from the city. Its most successful football club Aston Villa has won seven league titles, people from Birmingham are called Brummies, a term derived from the citys nickname of Brum. This originates from the citys name, Brummagem, which may in turn have been derived from one of the citys earlier names. There is a distinctive Brummie accent and dialect, Birminghams early history is that of a remote and marginal area. The main centres of population, power and wealth in the pre-industrial English Midlands lay in the fertile and accessible river valleys of the Trent, the Severn and the Avon. The area of modern Birmingham lay in between, on the upland Birmingham Plateau and within the wooded and sparsely populated Forest of Arden. Birmingham as a settlement dates from the Anglo-Saxon era, within a century of the charter Birmingham had grown into a prosperous urban centre of merchants and craftsmen. By 1327 it was the third-largest town in Warwickshire, a position it would retain for the next 200 years, by 1700 Birminghams population had increased fifteenfold and the town was the fifth-largest in England and Wales. The importance of the manufacture of goods to Birminghams economy was recognised as early as 1538. Equally significant was the emerging role as a centre for the iron merchants who organised finance, supplied raw materials. The 18th century saw this tradition of free-thinking and collaboration blossom into the phenomenon now known as the Midlands Enlightenment
15.
Finham Park School
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Finham Park School is a secondary school and sixth form with academy status. It is situated on Green Lane in Finham, Coventry, England, in September 2003, it became the first Mathematics and Computing College in Coventry. The head teacher is Mr. Mark Bailie, with Deputy Head teachers Mr. R. Plester, the previous headteacher had been Mr. Paul Logan who was head between 2002 and 2009. The school has 1,500 students across the five mandatory years, the student intake is from the Finham, Styvechale, Cheylesmore, Green Lane, Gibbett Hill and Fenside districts of the city, plus parts of Earlsdon. Finham Park School opened in 1970, but construction of the school buildings was not completed until late 1971. Before Finham Park School opened, pupils in the area went to a variety of Coventry schools, a sixth-form block was opened in 2006 and the old sixth-form block became the Personalised Learning Center, used for Supportive Studies for the main school. In 2005, Finham Park School became the first school in Coventry to offer the IB Diploma Programme, upper sixth form students, the first to take the IB diploma from the school, sat their IB examinations in May 2007. As of 2008, Finham is still the school in Coventry that offers the IB diploma. In 2007, Finham Park was one of the first schools in England to test out the Biometric Cashless system when buying food, students have their thumbprint scan converted into an 11 digit number, and can then pay by having their thumbprint scanned into a system. Students parents can top-up their childs account by using ParentPay - an on-line payment system allowing payments for lunches, trips, in 2012 the main school buildings were all painted blue. In January 2014, the opened a fitness suite for use by students during and after the school day as well as by staff before. The suite was opened by Coventry born athlete, David Moorcroft OBE on Friday 17 January 2014. Bishop Ullathorne RC School is close by, towards the A45, the school gates of the two schools are between 5 and 10 munites walking distance. The school now has four colleges, Each pupil belongs to one of the colleges and participates in events to earn points for their house. These school houses were split into Newton, Ada, Whittle, and Galileo. Originally the school was divided into eight Houses, Stretton, Leasowes, Manor, Ryton, Styvechale, Waverley, Kingswood, and Cryfield
16.
Balsall Common
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It is currently undergoing gradual suburbanisation and is increasingly considered as a small town in terms of its population. It also lies on the Heart of England Way, the village is of recent origin, most of the houses and shops were built in the 20th century. Previously, the village consisted of a couple of hamlets of about six to twelve houses each, in the 1930s there began the development which linked these isolated buildings, but it was not until after World War II that the village really began to grow. In fact Coton-in-the-Elms in south Derbyshire holds this designation, situated 23.5 miles to the north, nevetheless, Balsall Commons secondary school is named the Heart of England School. The local primary school is named Balsall Common Primary School and it is served by Berkswell railway station on the Coventry-Birmingham line, and by bus to Solihull. Other nearby towns and villages include Knowle, Kenilworth, Warwick, Hampton-in-Arden, since the late-1990s, plans for a bypass, a large national supermarket and larger swathes of new housing have so far been circumvented. A new Tesco Metro store opened in December 2014 on Station Road, several Premiership and Championship footballers live in Balsall Common, especially those playing with Birmingham City, Aston Villa and Coventry City. These include John Sillett, Trond Egil Soltvedt, Trevor Francis in the late 1970s, Lee Carsley, other famous sporting residents include, former England cricket captain Bob Wyatt and Wimbledon ladies single champion Maud Watson. Former England international goalkeeper Peter Shilton briefly lived in the village from late-1995 to early-1996, another notable resident is Paddy Doyle, who holds numerous endurance world records. BalsallCom. Com - community website with forums run by local people, a brief history of Balsall Common grid reference SP238771 Centre Stage - amateur dramatic group Media related to Balsall Common at Wikimedia Commons
17.
Godiva Festival
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The Godiva Festival is a free three day music festival held each year in the War Memorial Park, Coventry, England, named after the citys famous former inhabitant Lady Godiva. It first appeared as an event in 1997 and became a 3-day event the following year in 1998. It is the largest free music festival in the UK. The modern three-day music festival is a non-profit making event organised by Coventry City Council and it is widely marketed as the biggest free family music festival in the UK. The festival attracted 148,0000 visits in 2016 to a 12-acre site in Coventrys War Memorial Park, saturdays Rhythm Tent has seen acts such as Fuse ODG, JME, Big Narstie and D Double E. Other features of the include the Family Field, an Acoustic Stage, a Paradise Tent, food stalls, a Hilltop bar, craft stalls, an Urban Youth Tent, a vintage market. Godiva Festival is a festival, and anyone can attend. Godiva Festival 2017 was confirmed in January 2017 for 7–9 July, on 8 February 2017, The Darkness was announced as the Sunday headline act. On 20 February 2017, The Stranglers were confirmed as the Friday night headline act, Coventry Godiva Festival 2016 was confirmed in January 2016, and took place on 1-3 July in the War Memorial Park. The Friday night headline was the Boomtown Rats supported by Space, the Saturday headline was The Charlatans supported by Mystery Jets. The Sunday headline was Scouting for Girls, who were supported by The Pigeon Detectives, the weekend saw Godiva Festival visited over 148,000 times and was the most successful festival to date. The 2015 Godiva Festival took place from 3 to 5 July, the headline act for Friday was Fun Lovin Criminals, Saturday The Wombats and Sunday Embrace. The 2014 Godiva Festival took place from 4 to 6 July, the headline act was the Happy Mondays. The 2013 Godiva Festival took place from 5 to 7 July 2013, Friday was headlined by Echo & the Bunnymen who were to headline in the 2012 cancelled event. Saturday was headlined by Maxïmo Park and Sunday starred the Loveable Rogues, the festival claimed to have broken attendance records with over 125,000 visits being estimated over the three days. The 2012 festival was scheduled to take place Friday 30 June to Sunday 1 July, Friday was scheduled to be headlined by Echo & the Bunnymen with Space in support. Saturday was scheduled with Cast as headliners, with support from The View, Sunday evening was scheduled to link in with the arrival of the Olympic Torch Relay and the lighting of the Olympic Beacon in the park. The festival was cancelled by Coventry City Council on 29 June 2012, the Olympic Torch procession continued unaffected
18.
NME
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New Musical Express is a British music journalism magazine published since 1952. It was the first British paper to include a singles chart, in the 1970s it became the best-selling British music newspaper. It started as a newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s and 1990s. An online version of NME, NME. com, was launched in 1996 and it became the worlds biggest standalone music site, with over seven million users per month. With newsstand sales falling across the UK magazine sector, the paid circulation in the first half of 2014 was 15,830. In 2013, the list of NMEs The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, NME magazine was relaunched in September 2015 as a nationally distributed free publication. NMEs headquarters are in Southwark, London, England, the brands editor-in-chief is Mike Williams, who replaced Krissi Murison in 2012. The paper was established in 1952, the Accordion Times and Musical Express was bought by London music promoter Maurice Kinn, for the sum of £1,000, just 15 minutes before it was due to be officially closed. It was relaunched as the New Musical Express, and was published in a non-glossy tabloid format on standard newsprint. On 14 November 1952, taking its cue from the US magazine Billboard, it created the first UK Singles Chart, the first of these was, in contrast to more recent charts, a top twelve sourced by the magazine itself from sales in regional stores around the UK. The first number one was Here in My Heart by Al Martino, during the 1960s the paper championed the new British groups emerging at the time. The NME circulation peaked under Andy Gray, Editor 1957–1972, with a figure of 306,881 for the period from January to June 1964, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones were frequently featured on the front cover. These and other artists appeared at the NME Poll Winners Concert. The concert also featured a ceremony where the winners would collect their awards. The NME Poll Winners Concerts took place between 1959 and 1972, from 1964 onwards they were filmed, edited and transmitted on British television a few weeks after they had taken place. The latter part of the 1960s saw the chart the rise of psychedelia. During this period some sections of pop music began to be designated as rock, in early 1972 the paper found itself on the verge of closure by its owner IPC. Alan Smith was made editor and in 1972 was told by IPC to turn things around quickly or face closure, according to The Economist, the New Musical Express started to champion underground, up-and-coming music. NME became the gateway to a more rebellious world
19.
Oasis (band)
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Oasis were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1991. Developed from a group, the Rain, the band originally consisted of Liam Gallagher, Paul Bonehead Arthurs, Paul Guigsy McGuigan. They were later joined by Liams older brother Noel Gallagher as a fifth member, Oasis signed to independent record label Creation Records in 1993 and released their record-setting debut album Definitely Maybe. The following year the band recorded Morning Glory. with drummer Alan White, formerly of Starclub, McGuigan and Arthurs left Oasis in 1999 as the band went on to record and release Standing on the Shoulder of Giants. Their fifth studio album Heathen Chemistry saw Noel Gallaghers releasing strict creative control in the output with all members contributing songs. Following the recording of the seventh album Dig Out Your Soul in May 2008, Starkey departed the band and with Chris Sharrock as touring member. Liam Gallagher will release his debut album As You Were in 2017, by 2009, Oasis had sold over 70 million records worldwide. The band were listed in the Guinness World Records book in 2010 for Longest Top 10 UK Chart Run by a Group after a run of 22 top 10 hits in the UK. The band also holds the Guinness World Record for being the most successful act in the UK between the years 1995 and 2005, spending 765 weeks in the top 75 singles and albums charts. Oasis evolved from a band called the Rain, composed of Paul McGuigan, Paul Arthurs, Tony McCarroll. Unsatisfied with Hutton, Arthurs invited and auditioned acquaintance Liam Gallagher as a replacement, Liam suggested that the band name be changed to Oasis. This change was inspired by an Inspiral Carpets tour poster that hung in the Gallagher brothers bedroom, one of the venues the poster listed was the Oasis Leisure Centre in Swindon, Wiltshire. Oasis played their first ever gig on 18 August 1991 at the Boardwalk club in Manchester. Liams brother Noel Gallagher, who was a roadie for Inspiral Carpets, Noel approached the group about joining with the proviso that he would become the bands sole songwriter and leader, and that they would commit to an earnest pursuit of commercial success. He had loads of stuff written, Arthurs recalled, when he walked in, we were a band making a racket with four tunes. All of a sudden, there were loads of ideas, after over a year of live shows, rehearsals and a recording of a proper demo, the bands big break came in May 1993 when they were spotted by Creation Records co-owner Alan McGee. Oasis were invited to play a gig at King Tuts Wah Wah Hut club in Glasgow, Scotland, by a band called Sister Lovers, Oasis, along with a group of friends, found the money to hire a van and make the journey to Glasgow. When they arrived, they were refused entry to the club as they were not on that nights set list and they were given the opening slot and impressed McGee, who was there to see 18 Wheeler, one of his own bands, that night
20.
The Fratellis
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The Fratellis are a Scottish rock band from Glasgow, formed in 2005. The band consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Jon Fratelli, bass guitarist Barry Fratelli and their singles Chelsea Dagger and Whistle For The Choir were both top ten hits in the UK charts. The Fratellis have released four albums, Costello Music, Here We Stand, We Need Medicine and Eyes Wide, the bands name came from the criminal family in The Goonies. They were signed by Fallout Records, the Fratellis EP was released on 3 April 2006, featuring the tracks Stacie Anne and The Gutterati. Creepin Up the Backstairs was never a single released by the band and it was not eligible for the charts. The first single released by the band was Henrietta, which was released on 12 June 2006, Costello Music was the debut album for the Fratellis and was released on 11 September 2006. It charted at number two in the UK album charts for three weeks, the success of the album led to the Fratellis winning the Brit Award for British Breakthrough Act in 2007, an award that was voted for by BBC Radio One listeners. The Fratellis supported Kasabian in December 2006 on their UK tour before playing 10 dates by themselves in February, the locations included Nottingham, Manchester, Glasgow, Birmingham and London. They also opened for The Police Reunion Tour in the summer of 2007 in some of the North America dates, the band released their first live DVD, Edgy In Brixton, in the UK on 1 October 2007, which was recorded at the Brixton Academy in London. The DVD contains a live performance of the debut album Costello Music, B-sides from various singles. Extras on the DVD include the band being asked questions by members of the Fratellis website and it was released in the United States on 30 October 2007. On 10 February 2009, three songs from the album Costello Music- Creepin Up the Backstairs, Flathead and Henrietta- were made available as content for the video game Rock Band 2. The bands second album, Here We Stand, was first mentioned in November 2007 on the Fratellis official website, the band said that they were self-producing the album and had their own studio to record in. Recording finished on 13 January 2008, on 22 February 2008, they played a small show for fans at Queen Margaret Union to debut new songs from the upcoming album. About eight new songs from their new album were played, including Mistress Mabel, Acid Jazz Singer and this performance introduced two new touring members, a guitarist, Robin Peringer and a keyboard player, Will Foster. However, after the Teenage Cancer Trust show in 2008, Robin departed the tour for unknown reasons, will Foster subsequently played both keyboard and guitar during live performances. The album, was released on 9 June 2008 in the UK and 10 June 2008 in the United States, the band marked the US release of the album with sold-out shows in New York City, Boston, and Los Angeles. The first single from the album, Mistress Mabel, was released on 26 May 2008, the next single, Look Out Sunshine
21.
Kasabian
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Kasabian are an English rock band formed in Leicester in 1997. The bands original members consisted of vocalist Tom Meighan, guitarist and vocalist Sergio Pizzorno, guitarist Chris Karloff, the bands line-up was completed by drummer Ian Matthews in 2004 after a string of session drummers. Karloff left the band in 2006 and founded a new band called Black Onassis, Jay Mehler joined as touring lead guitarist in 2006. Mehler left the band for Liam Gallaghers Beady Eye in 2013, in 2010 and 2014, Kasabian won the Q Awards for Best Act in the World Today, while they were also named Best Live Act at the 2014 Q Awards and the 2007 NME Awards. The bands music is described as indie rock, but Pizzorno has said he hates indie bands. Kasabian have released five studio albums – Kasabian, Empire, West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum and they are due to release their sixth album, For Crying Out Loud, in 2017. The bands music has been described as a mix between The Stone Roses and Primal Scream with the swagger of Oasis, the band was formerly called Saracuse and started recording at Bedrock Studios in Leicester where Chris Edwards worked as an engineer. The original band members all hailed from Countesthorpe and Blaby, the first demo EP was produced by Scott Gilbert and handed to the band late on 24 December 1998. Three songs were recorded live, Whats Going On, Life of Luxury and their first public appearance was at the Vipers Rugby Club to celebrate Edwards 18th birthday with family and friends. The band was signed to BMG by London DJ and producer Sam Young and changed their name to Kasabian, after Linda Kasabian. In an interview with Ukula, bassist Chris Edwards explained how former guitarist Chris Karloff picked the name, Reading up on Charles Manson, the Kasabian name stuck with Karloff. He just thought the word was cool, it took about a minute after the rest of us heard it. So it was decided, says Edwards, Kasabian is a common Armenian surname, from the dialectal Armenian ղասաբ ġasab taken from Arabic butcher and the patronymic ending յան -yan. Sam Young had been working at small independent label Concept Music when the bands manager dropped the Saracuse demo on his desk, EMI were interested in the band as well. The band and Sam Young fell out and their eponymous debut album was released in the UK on 13 September 2004, receiving good sales and generally positive reviews. During the recording, the band lived in a farmhouse near Rutland Water to avoid being disturbed, Kasabian featured at Glastonbury Festival 2005 on the Other Stage. During this period, various drummers played with Kasabian, including current keyboard player Ben Kealey, DJ Dan Ralph Martin, brothers Mitch and Ryan Glovers and some others. While recording in Bristol, the band met Ian Matthews, who plays on Processed Beats, Butcher Blues, Beneficial Herbs and possibly some other songs on the debut album and he was asked to tour with them in 2004 and became a permanent member in April 2005
22.
The Paddingtons
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The Paddingtons are an English indie rock band from Hull. Composed of Tom Atkin, Stuee Bevan, Josh Hubbard, and brothers Lloyd and Grant Dobbs and they originally made their name touring in and around the Hull area, at such venues as the Welly Club, The New Adelphi Club, and the Railway pub in Cottingham. Favoured by ex-Libertines frontman Pete Doherty, they toured with Babyshambles in 2005 and their debut album, First Comes First, was produced by Owen Morris, producer of Oasis Definitely Maybe. In November 2006, they headed out on a small scale national tour to road test new material and they appeared alongside The Cribs at the Birmingham Academy. The Paddingtons have also appeared with Dirty Pretty Things at The Forum in May, on a holiday in Taipei, Carl Barat of Dirty Pretty Things broke his collarbone, so they recruited the help of Hubbard to play guitar while Barats injury healed. In December 2007, they appeared alongside The Neat and The View at Hull City Hall, during the same month they also played a free gig on Christmas Eve to raise money to refurbish the toilets in the New Adelphi Club. Their live sets have included a version of The Clashs song. The bands second album, No Mundane Options, was released on 3 November 2008, the first single from the album, Stand Down, was released on the Mama Bear Records label, on 4 August 2008. In December 2009, the announced plans to release a new EP The Lady Boy Tapes. 2005 - First Comes First 2008 - No Mundane Options 2004 - Bring Your Own Poison - The Rhythm Factory Sessions -. com
23.
Ash (band)
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Ash is a Northern Irish alternative rock band, formed in Downpatrick in 1992 by vocalist and guitarist Tim Wheeler, bassist Mark Hamilton and drummer Rick McMurray. As a three-piece, they released mini-album Trailer in 1994, followed by 1977 in 1996 and this 1996 release was named by NME as one of the 500 greatest albums of all time. After the success of their debut the band recruited Charlotte Hatherley as a guitarist and vocalist. After narrowly avoiding bankruptcy the band released Free All Angels in 2001, after five conventional albums the band released 26 singles in The A-Z Series in 2009, one every two weeks. The band have had one silver, two gold and two platinum-selling records in the United Kingdom, as well as 18 songs in the top 40 of the UK Singles Chart, in 2015, they released a sixth studio album, entitled Kablammo. They were associated with Britpop, though as that musical movement emphasised Britishness which is a state in Northern Ireland. Ash officially formed in 1992, reportedly having taken the name from the first word they liked in the dictionary, prior to this, Wheeler and Hamilton were in an Iron Maiden cover band called Vietnam, which had formed in 1989. The new band created three demo tapes that year – Solar Happy in June, Shed in September, and the Home Demo in November. In 1993 the band recorded the Garage Girl demo tape, which featured Jack Names the Planets and Intense Thing, taken from Shed, and new tracks, including Petrol. Following Garage Girl, Ash released a demo tape, Pipe Smokin Brick later that year. Downpatrick musician Ray Valentine recorded Ashs demos at his studio, Cosmic Rays, at that time, the band were known as Genuine Real Teenagers, because they were so young when recording their early material. The demo tapes did not gain attention at that time. Taverner put up the money to press 1,000 7″ copies of Jack Names the Planets on his own LaLaLand record label, Taverner subsequently became the bands full-time manager. Ash released the album, Trailer, in October 1994. Airplay by Steve Lamacq followed on BBC Radio 1 and the single was followed by Petrol and Uncle Pat. In 1995, Ash left school and released the breakthrough singles Kung Fu, Girl From Mars, the movie Angus was released, which featured two Ash songs, Jack Names the Planets and Kung Fu, and served to introduce Ash to American audiences. The band had offered two other tracks that were not used, as well as Pansy Divisions Deep Water, which made the soundtrack but was cut from the due to time constraints. Ash marked the end of their year by releasing a cover of The Temptations Get Ready
24.
Manic Street Preachers
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Manic Street Preachers are a Welsh rock band formed in 1986 in Blackwood, Wales and consisting of James Dean Bradfield, Nicky Wire and Sean Moore. They are often known as The Manics. After the release of their first single, Suicide Alley, Richey Edwards joined the band as co-lyricist, despite the albums failure to meet this level of success, the band carried on with their career. The group later became a trio when Edwards disappeared on 1 February 1995, Bradfield, Moore and Wire went on to gain critical and commercial success. The band have released albums and three compilations, Forever Delayed, Lipstick Traces and National Treasures – The Complete Singles. The bands later albums retained a leftist politicisation and intellectual lyrical style while adopting a broader alternative rock sound, to date, they have sold more than 10 million albums worldwide. Over their career the Manics have headlined several festivals including Glastonbury, T in the Park, V Festival and they have won eleven NME Awards, eight Q Awards and four BRIT Awards. The Manics were also nominated for the Mercury Prize in 1996 and 1999, Manic Street Preachers formed in 1986 at Oakdale Comprehensive School, Blackwood, South Wales. During this time, Bradfield, alongside the classically trained Sean Moore, Original bassist Flicker left the band in early 1988, reportedly because he believed that the band were moving away from their punk roots. The band continued as a three-piece, with Wire switching from guitar to bass, the Manics intended to restore revolution to rock and roll at a time when Britain was dominated by shoegaze and acid house. The NME magazine gave Suicide Alley an enthusiastic review, citing a press release by Richey Edwards, in 1990 the Manic Street Preachers signed a deal with label Damaged Goods Records for one EP. The four-track New Art Riot E. P. attracted as much media interest for its attacks on fellow musicians as for the actual music, with the help of Hall or Nothing management, the Manics signed to indie label Heavenly Records. The band recorded their first single for the label, entitled Motown Junk and their next single, You Love Us, sampled Krzysztof Pendereckis Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima as well as Iggy Pop. The video featured Nicky Wire in drag as Marilyn Monroe and contained references to the film Betty Blue. In a now legendary interview with then-NME journalist Steve Lamacq, Edwards carved the phrase 4REAL into his arm with a blade to prove their sincerity. He was taken to hospital and received seventeen stitches, as a result of their controversial behaviour, the Manics quickly became favourites of the British music press, which helped them build a rabidly dedicated following. Columbia Records of Sony Music UK signed the band shortly afterwards, the bands debut album, Generation Terrorists, was released in 1992 on the Columbia Records imprint. The liner notes contained a quote for each of the albums eighteen songs
25.
The Rolling Stones
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The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. The original line-up consisted of Brian Jones, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts, Stewart was removed from the official line-up in 1963 but continued as a touring member until his death in 1985. Jones left the less than a month prior to his death in 1969, having already been replaced by Mick Taylor. After Taylor left the band, Ronnie Wood took his place in 1975 and has been on guitar in tandem with Richards ever since, following Wymans departure in 1993, Darryl Jones joined as their touring bassist. Other touring keyboardists for the band have been Nicky Hopkins, Billy Preston, the band was first led by Jones, but after teaming as the bands songwriters, Jagger and Richards assumed leadership while Jones dealt with legal and personal troubles. The Rolling Stones were at the forefront of the British Invasion of bands that became popular in the US in 1964, and identified with the youthful and rebellious counterculture of the 1960s. Rooted in blues and early rock and roll, the group began a period of musical experimentation in the mid-1960s that peaked with the psychedelic album Their Satanic Majesties Request. During this period, they were first introduced on stage as The Worlds Greatest Rock, the band continued to release commercially successful records in the 1970s and sold many albums, including Some Girls and Tattoo You, which were their most popular albums worldwide. From 1983 to 1987, tensions between Jagger and Richards almost caused the band to split, however, they managed to patch up their friendship in 1987. They separated temporarily to work on projects and experienced a comeback with Steel Wheels. Since the 1990s, new recorded material from the group has been increasingly less well-received, despite this, the Rolling Stones have continued to be a huge attraction on the live circuit, with stadium tours in the 1990s and 2000s. By 2007, the band had four of the top five highest-grossing concert tours of all time, Voodoo Lounge Tour, Bridges to Babylon Tour, Licks Tour and A Bigger Bang Tour. The Rolling Stones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989, Rolling Stone magazine ranked them fourth on the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time list and their estimated album sales are above 250 million. They have released 30 studio albums,18 live albums and numerous compilations, Let It Bleed was their first of five consecutive number one studio and live albums in the UK. Sticky Fingers was the first of eight number one studio albums in the US. In 2008, the band ranked 10th on the Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists chart, in 2012, the band celebrated its 50th anniversary. Keith Richards and Mick Jagger were childhood friends and classmates in Dartford, Kent, Jagger had formed a garage band with Dick Taylor, mainly playing Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Howlin Wolf and Bo Diddley material. Jagger met Richards again in 1960 on platform two of Dartford railway station, the Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters records that Jagger carried revealed a common interest that prompted their musical partnership
26.
Stereophonics
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Stereophonics are a Welsh rock band that formed in 1992 in the village of Cwmaman in Cynon Valley. The band consists of Kelly Jones, Richard Jones, Adam Zindani, Jamie Morrison, the group previously included Stuart Cable and Javier Weyler on drums. Stereophonics have released nine albums, including six UK number one albums. A successful compilation album, Decade in the Sun, was released in November 2008, described as classic UK rock delivered with whiskey vocals, the band have been summarised as possessing a sound akin to the genres of alternative rock and British traditional rock. The band reached success with the release of Performance and Cocktails in 1999 and have achieved a total of ten top-ten singles as well as one number one. Having sold around 10 million copies worldwide, Stereophonics are one of the most successful Welsh rock acts, upon their release of Pull the Pin, they became the eighth group to achieve five consecutive UK number one albums. The band is part of the Cardiff music scene, Kelly Jones and Stuart Cable lived on the same street in the village of Cwmaman. Jones heard Cable played drums so asked if he wanted to jam together, after some time practising in Jones dads garage, Nicholas Geek joined in on guitar. Later, Jones invited Paul Rosser and Chris Davies to play on guitar and keyboards. Cable recalls he was the one who suggested that Jones be the singer, in 1986 the band recorded a demo under the name Zephyr. When Jones went on holiday the band played a gig without him, Jones, Rosser and Davies formed their own R&B band called Silent Runner while Cable joined a glam-rock band named King Catwalk on drums. A few years later, Cable got sacked from the band and it was the first contact they had since Zephyr had broken up. Two weeks later, Jones and Cable started speaking again in the Ivy Bush and they agreed to give the band another go but Cable only wanted to play their own songs, to which Jones agreed. The duo invited Mark Everett to play for them on bass guitar, Everett went on holiday for two weeks but Jones and Cable wanted to continue rehearsing, so Jones invited long-time friend Richard Jones to fill in for Everett. Stunned by Richards appearance and bass playing, Cable convinced Kelly to keep him instead of Everett, the band decided they needed another member to play lead guitar. Simon Collier was the first guitarist brought in, but didnt stay in the band, he did, however, the band tried hiring two other guitarists, another Richard Jones and Glenn Hyde. Hyde did however play harmonica on Rooftop for the bands 2001 album Just Enough Education to Perform, after Hyde left, the band stuck as a three-piece act. Kelly, Richard and Cable began writing and performing music in working mens clubs together in 1992 as a known as Tragic Love Company
27.
Glastonbury Festival
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Glastonbury Festival is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place near Pilton, Somerset. In addition to music, the festival hosts dance, comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret. Leading pop and rock artists have headlined, alongside thousands of others appearing on smaller stages, films and albums recorded at Glastonbury have been released, and the festival receives extensive television and newspaper coverage. The majority of staff are volunteers, helping the festival to raise millions of pounds for good causes, regarded as a major event in British culture, the festival is inspired by the ethos of the hippie, counterculture, and free festival movements. It retains vestiges of these traditions, such as the Green Fields area, after the 1970s, the festival took place almost every year and grew in size, with the number of attendees sometimes being swollen by gatecrashers. Michael Eavis hosted the first festival, then called Pilton Festival, after seeing an open-air Led Zeppelin concert at the 1970 Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music. They featured works by composers, sponsored by the Clark family, as well as a wide range of traditional works, from Everyman to James Shirleys Cupid. The festival retains vestiges of this such as the Green Fields area, encompassing the Green Futures. The first festival at Worthy Farm was the Pilton Pop, Blues & Folk Festival, mounted by Michael Eavis on Saturday 19 September 1970, and attended by 1,500 people. The original headline acts were The Kinks and Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders but these acts were replaced at short notice by Tyrannosaurus Rex, Other billed acts of note were Quintessence, Stackridge, and Al Stewart. The 1971 festival featured the first incarnation of the Pyramid Stage, conceived by Bill Harkin the stage was a one-tenth replica of the Great Pyramid of Giza built from scaffolding and metal sheeting and positioned over a blind spring which was found by dowsing. Performers included David Bowie, Mighty Baby, Traffic, Fairport Convention, Gong, Hawkwind, Skin Alley, The Worthy Farm Windfuckers and Melanie. It was paid for by its supporters and advocates of its ideal, and embraced a mediaeval tradition of music, dance, poetry, theatre, lights, the 1971 festival was filmed by Nicolas Roeg and David Puttnam and was released as a film called simply Glastonbury Fayre. The 1980s saw the festival become a fixture, barring periodic fallow years. In 1981, Michael Eavis took control of the festival, and that year a new Pyramid Stage was constructed from telegraph poles and metal sheeting, a permanent structure which doubled as a hay-barn and cow-shed during the winter. In the 1980s, the area of the festival became the starting point for a new childrens charity called Childrens World. 1981 was the first year that the festival profits. Since 1983, large festivals have required licences from local authorities and this led to certain restrictions being placed on the festival, including a crowd limit and specified times during which the stages could operate
28.
T in the Park
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T in the Park festival is a major Scottish music festival that has been held annually since 1994. It is named after its sponsor, the brewing company Tennents. The event was held at Strathclyde Park, Lanarkshire but was held at the disused Balado airfield. In 2015 the festival moved to Strathallan Castle, Strathallan, Perthshire, originally a two-day event, the festival became a three-day event in 2007. Promoted by DF Concerts, the event attracts up to 255,000 people, the festival was founded in 1994 by Stuart Clumpas and Geoff Ellis, as part of a joint venture between DF Concerts and Tennents Lager with some help from Irish promotions company MCD Productions. Stuart Clumpas left as an organiser in 2001, selling his interests in the concert. Current festival director Geoff Ellis was involved from the start, Ellis came to Scotland in 1992 to manage King Tuts Wah Wah Hut in Glasgow. He organised the first T in the Park festival in 1994 with a smattering of bands playing to 17,000 people at its site at Strathclyde Park. The festival was held there for three years until 1997, where it was held at the disused Balado airfield, Kinross-shire. After moving to Balado the festival grew larger and by 2003, the festival was originally a two-day event until 2007, when the Friday became a mainstay event for live music. However, the 2007 festival was sullied for many festival-goers who missed acts on the Friday due to traffic jams of 10 miles on the A91. To prevent a repeat of the chaos, in 2008 organisers allowed a limited number of campers to pitch up on the Thursday in order to cut the number of cars on the roads on the Friday. As of 2013, it attracted up to 255,000 people over three days, drawing fans from across Britain and Europe, according to DF Concerts, 20% of the crowd is made up of visitors from outside Scotland, with about 2% attending from overseas. In recent years, the festival has shared much of its line-up with Oxegen, acts usually play T in the Park one day and Oxegen the next, or vice versa. In an attempt to boost ticket sales, the 2014 festival saw an extension of the duration on stage. On the Friday, the acts were scheduled to start around lunchtime as opposed to 5 pm, the 2014 festival was the last to take place at the Balado site. Despite having run on the site since 1997, safety concerns were expressed about the Forties Pipeline. In 2015 the festival moved 20.54 miles to the Strathallan Castle Estate in the county of Perthshire
29.
Lethal Bizzle
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Maxwell Ansah, known by his stage name Lethal Bizzle, is an English rapper and actor from Walthamstow, London. He emerged in 2002 as a grime MC as part of More Fire Crew and his debut solo single Pow attracted attention for its aggressive content, charting at number 11 despite being banned from airplay and clubs. Although known notably for his releases, Lethal Bizzle released his debut studio album, Against All Oddz, in 2005. Throughout his career Lethal Bizzle has experimented with blending mainstream chart genres such as music with grime. He is known for his singles Pow, outside of music, Bizzle is a prominent social media personality through platforms Twitter and Snapchat, which have been used to promote his music independently. In 2012, he launched a brand titled Stay Dench based on his popular British slang phrases. In 2000, Lethal Bizzle formed the grime collective More Fire Crew, consisting of himself, Neeko and their debut single, Oi. was released in 2002 and charted at number 7 on the UK Singles Chart. It was one of the first grime songs to chart in the top 10 and their sole studio album, More Fire Crew C. V. was released the following year. Their follow-up single, Back Then, peaked at number 45, soon after, the crew disbanded and Lethal Bizzle pursued a solo career. In early July 2005, Lethal Bizzle appeared on stage at the final Live 8 concert in Edinburgh. In December 2004, he released the single Pow, also known as Forward Riddim which was banned from airplay by some radio stations because it contained some lyrics about gun culture. It entered the UK Singles Chart at number 11 in its first week on the chart in 2005 and he won a MOBO for Pow as Best Single, and was nominated at the same awards as Best Newcomer. Bizzles debut album, Against All Oddz, was released on 15 August 2005, the album peaked at number 86 on the UK Albums Chart. After releasing no singles for two years, Lethal Bizzle returned with Go Hard featuring Donaeo, as the single off his third album Go Hard. The album was released on 5 October 2009, on 18 November 2010, Lethal was interviewed by Grime Daily. Bizzle revealed, The whole Pow 2011 thing started as a joke, I was on Twitter one day and I said You know what. And bare people retweeted it and someone was like Bizz you should do a version to go with it. Lethal said, I felt the original was still relevant,6 years on its one of the biggest club tunes
30.
The Wombats
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The Wombats are an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 2003. The band comprises native Liverpudlians Matthew Murphy, Daniel Haggis and Norwegian-born Tord Øverland Knudsen, the band is signed to 14th Floor Records in the United Kingdom and Bright Antenna in the United States. The Wombats have sold over 1 million copies worldwide, Matthew Murph Murphy attended Liverpool College, then moved on to LIPA. The three band members met in 2003 at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts, soon becoming friends, over the course of 2004 to 2005 the band released many EPs such as The Hangover Sessions, No.3 and The Daring Adventures of Sgt. In 2006, the released their debut album Girls, Boys. This was followed by then bands first full single Kill the Director in late July. Their debut album, entitled A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation, coincided with the release of Lets Dance to Joy Division in October 2007 and it was followed by a European tour ending with a thanksgiving party at Liverpool Academy. The band started 2008 as the act at the opening ceremony of Liverpool. Moving to New York was re-released on 14 January 2008 and reached number 13 in the UK Singles Chart, on 28 February 2008 the band was awarded Best Dancefloor Filler for their single Lets Dance to Joy Division at the NME Awards. In April 2008 the band put out their first US release on Bright Antenna, following this release the band went on a full UK tour, as well as playing dates in Europe and Japan. The band also played for Jo Whiley on BBC Radio 1 where they covered the Take That song Patience, as well as the Postman Pat theme tune, which Tord sang in his native Norwegian language. The summer of 2008 saw the band live at a number of major festivals including Glastonbury Festival in June and T in the Park in July. They also played Reading and Leeds Festival on the Saturday and Friday respectively on the Radio 1/NME Stage supporting Babyshambles, in September 2008 the band were filmed for a cameo appearance on Australian soap Neighbours. The band also announced via their MySpace blog that they would be releasing two singles, a seasonal Anti-Christmas themed Is This Christmas, on 15 December 2008, followed by a track titled My Circuitboard City on 3 March 2009. In September 2010, the announced they were near to completing their second studio album, This Modern Glitch in the MRG Recording Studio in Los Angeles. The band worked with producers Eric Valentine and Jackknife Lee, the accompanying music video was shot in Los Angeles, CA during August 2010 and was directed by The General Assembly. Following the rumoured release of Techno Fan as the single from the album. Anti-D was the single, with the album following two weeks later
31.
Jersey Live
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Jersey Live Music Festival was a music festival held annually at The Royal Jersey Showground in the parish of Trinity, Jersey between 2004 and 2016. Tickets for the performance were sold on the Jersey Live official website, the festival took place over two days and grew in size each year, with six stages featuring live music, DJs and as of 2013, comedy and spoken word. Jersey Live had capacity for an attendance of 10,000 people per day, the organisers expressed a desire to expand the capacity, and include on-site camping. The festival was sponsored each year by local telecommunications company JT, the other five stages are the Main Stage, Dance Stage, Family Field Stage, Hospitality Stage and Full Flow Locale DJ Tent. The festival had featured performances from a number of stars of indie and dance music since 2004 including Paul Weller, The Prodigy, Kasabian, Dizzee Rascal. Jersey Live had been described as Surreal, sexy and super cool by Kasbians Tom Meighan, Jersey Live was attended by locals and visitors to the island, with non-locals accounting for a quarter of the attendance. Set in the heart of the island of Jersey, Channel Islands, only 14 miles from the coast of France. On 26 January 2017, the announced that Jersey Live was cancelled for 2017. Warren Holt and Warren Le Sueur had decided to end their adventure, since 2009, the festival typically had the following stages, Main stage Dance stage Family Field stage Hospitality stage – entry restricted to specific ticket types. JT stage Fullflow Locale DJ stage A festival was held on the weekend of 30 August and 31 August 2014, a festival was held on the weekend of 31 August and 1 September 2013. For the first time, the festival was granted permission to provide a campsite, however, the provision of camping was cancelled by the festival organisers due to a lack of demand. The festival was held on 1 and 2 September 2012, the table below lists the acts that performed. In May, Trinitys Constable John Gallichan declared that festival goers below the age of 16 would have to be accompanied by an adult, at the 2012 event, the 2011 festival was held on 3 and 4 September 2011, and sponsored by Jersey Telecom. The attendance was 10,000 per day, there were disputed reports of excessive drinking by under-age people. Jersey Telecom renewed their agreement of Jersey Live for a fifth year. Around 9,000 people attended in 2009, in 2006,7,500 people attended the festival. Jersey Folklore Festival Music of the Channel Islands
32.
The O2 Arena
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It is named after its primary sponsor, the telecommunications company O2. The closest underground station to the venue is the North Greenwich station on the Jubilee line, following the closure of the Millennium Experience at the end of 2000, the Millennium Dome was leased to Meridian Delta Ltd. in 2001, for redevelopment as an entertainment complex. This included plans for an indoor arena, construction of the arena started in 2003 and finished in 2007. Owing to the impossibility of using cranes inside the dome structure, the arena buildings structure was then built around the roof. The arena building, which houses the arena and the concourse, is independent from all other buildings in the O2. The arena building itself takes up 40% of the dome structure. The seating arrangement throughout the arena can be modified, similar to the Manchester Arena. The ground surface can also be changed between ice rink, basketball court, exhibition space, conference venue, private hire venue, the arena was built to reduce echoing, a common problem among London music venues. By 2008 it had become the worlds busiest venue with sales of more two million, taking the crown from MEN Arena. Since 2009 the arena has hosted the prestigious ATP World Tour Finals, in 2015 it was announced that the tournament would extend its deal to hold the tournament until 2018. The venue has hosted the event for the second longest tenure, during the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, The O2 Arena was referred as the North Greenwich Arena due to Olympics regulations regarding corporate sponsorship of event sites. On 25 September 2013, Christine McVie joined Fleetwood Mac on stage and she later re-joined the band officially in January 2014. In 2014, the O2 arena hit controversy when guests were prevented from bringing food on site because they represented a terror threat, however, staff reportedly said that the food was banned because the food outlets were not making enough money. On 16 January 2016, the O2 arena hosted the fight of former heavyweight champion David Haye. As of 2015, the O2 Arena is the busiest music arena in the world in terms of ticket sales, handling 1,819,487 tickets. com Profile London 2012 Olympics profile
33.
Alex Zane
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Alex Zane is an English television presenter and DJ. Zane began his career at the age of 18 when he became a finalist on a competition called So You Think Youre Funny. He moved to London to concentrate on his career, and before leaving medical school and he also presented on Wired FM, which led to his own show on London alternative/Indie station Xfm. His radio show was heard by MTV producers, who signed him up to present shows such as Screenplay. From April 2007 to April 2009 he presented the weekday breakfast show on Xfm, Zane and his team were suspended from the show in August 2008 after he broadcast a self-created song about rape, deemed to be offensive by the station. All three returned a week later, with Zane accusing Xfm of over-reacting in the extreme and claiming that his song had been misinterpreted, Zane left Xfm in April 2009, with the station stating that his sudden departure was by mutual agreement. In April 2010 it was announced Alex would jointly present a Friday evening radio show on NME Radio with the creator of the club night Propaganda. The Show launched 30 April and has a 6pm-8pm time slot, the show is presented live and blends Alex and DJ Dans taste in music with the NME Radio playlist. In 2010 Alex performed at the Edinburgh Festival with his stand-up show Just One More Thing, in 2006 Zane was signed by Channel 4 under an exclusive contract. He co-presented Popworld and the accompanying Popworld Radio podcast with Alexa Chung until the programme ended in July 2007. He has narrated an E4 television show, Princess Nikki, and made appearances on Channel 4 entertainment programmes such as The Law of the Playground,8 out of 10 cats and Balls of Steel. He presented E4s coverage of Channel 4s hoax reality show Space Cadets, as well as Death Wish Live, the BT Digital Music Awards in 2005 and 2006 and Carling Live 24. He has also presented coverage of several large scale music events, including the V Festival. He presented Celebrity Scissorhands first on BBC Three, then on BBC One and he has presented Channel 4s variety show based on YouTube videos, Rude Tube, four times. Music awards 2008 with Cristina Scabbia of Lacuna Coil and he has done promotional presenting work with BBC Blast including a piece on what creativity means. Between 2008 and 2011 Zane also hosted a show, Alex Zanes Guest List. In early 2010 he appeared with Bill Bailey as a captain on birdwatching show Bill Baileys Birdwatching Bonanza for Sky 1. Additionally, he also does the voice-over for Channel 4 TV show Ultimate Traveller, a Best of Rube Tube DVD, presented by Alex Zane, was released on 21 November 2011
34.
London Astoria
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The London Astoria was a music venue, located at 157 Charing Cross Road, in London, England. It had been leased and run by Festival Republic since 2000 and it was closed on 15 January 2009 and has since been demolished. The venue is still today as an iconic music establishment, as it helped to launch the careers of many British rock bands. It was also a venue in Britains LGBT scene, for holding Londons biggest gay new year parties along with G-A-Y. Originally a warehouse during the 1920s, the became a cinema. It was converted for use as a theatre in the 1970s, after further conversion, the building re-opened in the mid-1980s, as a night club and live music venue for well-known musical acts. There were half a dozen smaller music and gay clubs in the adjacent buildings within the neighbourhood, in 2009 the venue closed, and was demolished as part of the development plans of the Crossrail project. The Astoria was built on the site of a former Crosse & Blackwell warehouse and it was designed by Edward A. Stone, who also designed subsequent Astoria venues at Brixton, Old Kent Road, Finsbury Park and Streatham. When first constructed, the building was four storeys tall with a decorative frieze cornice surrounding its exterior, from 1928, the basement was used as a ballroom dancing salon. The venues interior was re-designed with a plainer, modern style in 1968, in 1977 it was converted for theatrical use. The venue went through period of conversion when the theatre closed in 1984. It reopened in 1985 as a nightclub and live music venue with a capacity for 2,000 people, a booklet was published called The History of the Astoria by Nigel Crewe to commemorate its evolving uses. It was the venue for the last live performance by Richey Edwards of Manic Street Preachers, mean Fiddler acquired the lease for the London Astoria in May 2000, securing the future of live music at one of London’s most famous rock ‘n’ roll venues. It was also connected to Astoria 2 so that the two venues could function as a venue when needed. The Astoria continued to operate in this format until its closure in 2009. The Smashing Pumpkins recorded and filmed the live performances of their songs Soma and these videos and recordings appears on Vieuphoria DVD and the Earphoria CD. The Cranberries recorded a concert on 14 January 1994 and they released it on DVD in 2005. The Groundhogs recorded their Live At The Astoria album at the venue in 1999, feeder recorded a matinee show with a live audience in 1999 at the venue to be shown on Fuji TV, a Japanese television station
35.
Kaiser Chiefs
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Their album Employment enjoyed critical and commercial success with over three million copies sold. It has won the band three Brit Awards, including the award for Best British Group, a NME award for Best Album, in 2008, they had a UK number 5 hit with the Post-Punk Revival track Never Miss a Beat. In total the band has sold over 1.1 million singles combined up to their 5th album and their latest top 40 single, Coming Home hit number 31 in 2014. Their album Education, Education, Education & War hit number one in the chart also in 2014. When they were around eleven years old, Nick Hodgson, Nick Baines and Simon Rix met in the class at St. Marys Catholic High School, Menston. After leaving school, Rix and Baines left for university in 1996 whereas Hodgson remained in the Leeds area, Hodgson, White and Wilson formed the band Runston Parva, its name a deliberate misspelling of a small East Yorkshire hamlet called Ruston Parva. After Runston Parva failed to secure a deal, the group re-formed as Parva upon the return of Rix. Parvas career went beyond the boundaries of Leeds, and the band was able to both a record and publishing deal. However, after Beggars Banquet closed the Mantra label, Parva were dropped and left desolate and without any direction after the release of an album and three singles. According to manager James Sandom in an interview with HitQuarters, as a band they had become damaged goods. A lot of people used their history against them, the band decided that they would aim for a longer term record deal and started afresh with new songs and a new name, Kaiser Chiefs. The new name was taken from South African football club Kaizer Chiefs, manager James Sandom was tipped off about the band by Drowned in Sound founder Sean Adams and persuaded him to go and see them live. Sandom said, I went to see a couple of shows, soon after Sandom became their manager, Kaiser Chiefs signed to B-Unique Records. Atlantic Records had also made an offer for the band, in July 2004, while still relatively unknown inside the UK, Kaiser Chiefs performed their first festival outside the UK at a festival in Moscow. One of the factors in the bands breakthrough in 2005 was their involvement in the NME Awards Tour at the beginning of the year. Like Coldplay and Franz Ferdinand before them, their position as opening act proved an influential one, the groups debut album Employment was released in March 2005, being primarily inspired by new wave and punk rock music of the late 1970s and 1980s. The album was received by music critics, described as thrilling from beginning to end and quintessentially British, without pretension and most importantly. It reached number two on the UK albums chart, and was certified five times platinum, in 2005, Employment was shortlisted for the Mercury Prize, an annual music prize awarded for the best British or Irish album from the previous year
36.
War Memorial Park, Coventry
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The War Memorial Park is a large park of about 48.5 hectares situated in southern Coventry. The park was opened in July 1921 as a tribute to the 2,587 Coventrians who died between 1914 and 1918 fighting in the First World War. Coventry Council bought the land from the Lords of Styvechale Manor, the Gregory-Hood family, the landscaped gardens and sports areas were originally created in the late-1920s and 1930s, and the most prominent construction in the park is the Coventry war memorial monument, built in 1927. A perimeter path lies just inside the boundaries, and now encircles the entire park following completion of groundwork on the south-western segment in the summer of 2006. Visitors may park their cars in the main car park. The park is the venue for a number of events including the Godiva Festival, Donkey Derby, Caribbean Festival. The park also holds weekly parkruns – free, timed 5km runs – that attract over 300 people to the park every Saturday, in July 2013 the park gained green flag status. The park was opened in July 1921 as a tribute to the 2,587 Coventrians who died between 1914 and 1918 fighting in the First World War. In 2013, the park was listed at grade II on the statutory Register of Historic Parks, the memorial itself is a grade II* listed building in its own right. At around 90 feet high, the war monument is the most prominent construction in the park. It was designed by local architect T. F. Tickner and it was built in 1927 and dedicated by Field Marshal Douglas Haig on 8 October 1927. It is made of Portland stone, and was built by John Gray who also built the Courtaulds works at Foleshill and a number of housing estates. Work started on 16 August 2010 on a multi-million pound refurbishment project for the park, the work is being funded by a £2.8 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Big Lottery Fund together with money from Coventry City Council. Additionally a grant of £50,000 was awarded in February 2011 to create a new play area in the park. The main car park is a large tarmaced area with access from Kenilworth Road, travel de Courcey operates a Park and ride scheme between this car park and Coventry city centre. There is also a smaller car park on Coat of Arms Bridge Road on the southern side of the park. The main car park Features in the park Coventry City Council – Events in Coventry Parks in 2007 Godiva Festival
37.
Twisted Wheel (band)
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Twisted Wheel are a former indie rock band from Saddleworth, Greater Manchester, England. Twisted Wheel formed in February 2007 in Saddleworth, Greater Manchester by guitarist and singer Jonny Brown and bassist Rick Lees, Twisted Wheel were booked as one of the support acts for Oasiss 2009 Heaton Park concerts. They were labelled as punk rock although influences span folk and 1950s/1960s bands too, Twisted Wheel cite Davy Graham, Bob Dylan, The Stooges The Small Faces, The Who, The Jam, The Rolling Stones and Oasis among their main influences. The band signed to Columbia Records in January 2008 and their first single, Shes A Weapon, was released in April 2008 to high acclaim by Radio 1s Zane Lowe, NME and Q. Their follow-up record, a four-track EP entitled You Stole The Sun, was released in July 2008, the bands debut album Twisted Wheel, produced in Los Angeles by Dave Sardy was recorded in June 2008 and released on 13 April 2009. The first single from the album, Lucy The Castle, was released in November 2008, with the follow-up, We Are Us, the album received mixed reviews, but has gained them a following throughout the UK, at a headline gig at Manchesters Academy 1 in particular. The band have spent the last three years on the building an audience without major radio play. Despite no immediate follow-up to the album, the fan base has continued to grow, Twisted Wheel have supported heavyweight rock bands like Kasabian, The View, The Enemy and were the main support acts of Oasis in the homecoming tour of 2009. They have supported Paul Weller on tours and played at Reading, Leeds, T in the Park, Glastonbury, the band have toured Japan, as support with Jet as well as on headline shows. They were voted PRS second most gigged band in 2009, the band drifted from the mainstream attention after their mad 2009. During this time, all left the band. Eoghan Clifford took over on drums and Stephen Evans played bass, the band created more hardcore rock n roll punk melodies for their second album. The band continued to new material under a new style. Some of these songs were debuted during their tours of late 2010 to 2011, Twisted Wheel released their second album, Do It Again, in September 2012. Brown described the album as Nothing but pure as can be classy, the third track, Ride, has since been released as a single and for free download on the bands official site. The band broke up on 13 July 2014, this was announced to fans via the bands Twitter account, since October 2014 Jonny Brown has embarked on a solo acoustic tour. Their sound has been described as old school gritty rock n roll reminiscent of the early Jam, the band have been noted as a breath of fresh air by Liam Gallagher. They also have a fan in Paul Weller, who came to them at Londons 100 Club
38.
Kid British
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Kid British, often styled as KiD BRiTiSH, were a six-piece British band from Manchester, United Kingdom. The band was composed of Adio Marchant, Simeon McLean, Sean Mbaya, Dominick Allen, Mykey Wilson, former members were James Mayer, Tom Peek who both left due to personal reasons. Adio Marchant has since developed his own indie pop side project called Bipolar Sunshine and his debut EP, Aesthetics, was released on 18 June 2013, and the single Rivers was iTunes free single of the week, in the week commencing 14 July 2013. The four core members were joined in the band by musicians Tom Peek, Dominick Allen, the band received regular airplay from BBC Radio Ones Chris Moyles and also played support slots with The Enemy, The Specials & UB40. Recording of their proposed first album continued during this period, an array of high-profile producers were sporadically employed on this long, protracted project, including Stephen Street. The band released the single Our House Is Dadless, which samples the Madness track Our House on 7 July 2009, peaking at number 63 in the UK Singles Chart in its first week of release. The bands It Was This Or Football First Half EP reached number 67 in the UK in its first week of release, in February 2010, the band announced that they were recording new tracks for the album and that it was now planned to be released in Summer 2010. The band released the single Winner on 28 June, less than 12 hours after the England football teams 4-1 defeat to Germany in the World Cup which resulted in their elimination from the competition and it was their first release since being dropped by Mercury Records. It failed to reach the top 100 of the singles chart, in 2011 they released an E. Back with a new line up, on 24 June 2012 they are due to release an E. P called You Cant Please Them All on LAB Records with a tour due to follow later this year. On 27 March 2012, it was confirmed that Kid British would support The Stone Roses at their Heaton Park concert in Manchester on 29 June 2012. It was confirmed on 29 June 2012 that Kid British will be doing an intimate UK tour called You Cant Please Them All with 6 dates taking place, Glasgow, York, London, Southampton, Birmingham & the last date being at their hometown of Manchester. A statement was released along with their final ever Kid British video for the new single You Against The World on 17 September 2012 that they were going their separate ways. Having to cancel three of their dates on the You Cant Please Them All tour in Glasgow, York & Southampton due to personal reasons, Kid British played their final gig in Manchester December 2012. With their witty social commentary and lively performances, Kid British were often compared to the likes of The Specials, Madness, Blur & The Streets. The band combine indie rock, ska and hip hop, and were described by the Daily Mail as think Blur or The Specials crossed with OutKast and De La Soul. Arwa Haider of Metro described their sound as a very modern mishmash of styles – indie rock, rnb, rap, ska revival – and bring a cuddly blokeishness to their jaunty tunes
39.
No Time for Tears
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No Time for Tears is a song by The Enemy from their second album Music for the People. The song debuted on BBC Radio 1 at 7pm on 16 February 2009, following the premier of the song, the band were interviewed to discuss their New Punk Sound. The song entered the UK Singles Chart at #16 on 19 April 2009, despite it only reaching this position, it is the bands fastest selling single, selling 12,606 units in its first week. All songs written by Tom Clarke
40.
Reverend and The Makers
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Reverend and The Makers are an English rock band based in Sheffield, Yorkshire. They are signed to Wall of Sound, the band is fronted by Jon McClure, nicknamed The Reverend. The bands debut album The State of Things helped them gain success in Britain, the band released their second album, A French Kiss in the Chaos, which led to the band being invited to support Oasis on their final tour, playing venues such as Wembley Stadium. The bands third album, @Reverend Makers, was released in 2012. In late 2005, McClure brought several musicians together for Reverend, like his previous bands, The Makers included co-songwriter Ed Cosens, this time playing bass. The rest of The Makers consisted of Dave Sanderson, Joe Moskow, Richy Westley and Laura Manuel, Sanderson was dismissed in July 2006 after the band completed their first headline UK tour and replaced by Gledhill guitarist Tom Jarvis. McClure declined the offer, and decided to do everything his own way, managing to sell out The Plug in Sheffield twice and it was not until the following year that McClure met Mark Jones in a club in London when he asked him for a lighter. The two got talking and Mark Jones came to see Reverend and the Makers at the next show, Jones reportedly proclaimed the band as the best band in the world and signed them to his label Wall of Sound Records. Reverend and The Makers released a 9-track demo in 2006, entitled Ten Songs, the artwork included a track list with ten songs, track 10 being Paris at Night. However this song was not made available for download, it surfaced on the internet in August 2007. Reverend and the Makers music is a mix of guitar pop, electronica. Some of the demos feature members of other notable Sheffield musicians such as Alex Turner, Tim Hampton. One of Reverends inspirations is Manchester performance poet John Cooper Clarke and Reverend often performs his own poems, of a similar style, in between songs during his live sets. One of the B-sides to the debut single Heavyweight Champion of the World is a poem entitled Last Resort in which John Cooper Clarke and this poem was also duetted live when the band played live at Shoreditchs Spread Eagle in the first tour in May 2006. In April 2006, Reverend and The Makers were support to the Arctic Monkeys on their sold out UK tour, exposing the band to larger audiences and bigger venues. This was followed by their own first UK tour in May and June, selling out dates in Shoreditch, London, a second tour followed in October 2006, showing great progression as a band. The sound was much tighter and far more advanced than on their previous tour, in January 2008, Reverend and The Makers toured Australia. Their first release was Heavyweight Champion of the World on 28 May 2007 and featured the B-Sides 18–30, the single takes its name from a line in A Kestrel for a Knave a novel by Barry Hines and a favourite book of McClure
41.
The Bronx
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The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City, within the U. S. state of New York. Since 1914, the Bronx has had the boundaries as Bronx County, a county of New York. The Bronx is divided by the Bronx River into a section in the west, closer to Manhattan. East and west street addresses are divided by Jerome Avenue—the continuation of Manhattans Fifth Avenue, the West Bronx was annexed to New York City in 1874, and the areas east of the Bronx River in 1895. Bronx County was separated from New York County in 1914, about a quarter of the Bronxs area is open space, including Woodlawn Cemetery, Van Cortlandt Park, Pelham Bay Park, the New York Botanical Garden, and the Bronx Zoo in the boroughs north and center. These open spaces are situated primarily on land reserved in the late 19th century as urban development progressed north. The name Bronx originated with Jonas Bronck, who established the first settlement in the area as part of the New Netherland colony in 1639, the native Lenape were displaced after 1643 by settlers. This cultural mix has made the Bronx a wellspring of both Latin music and hip hop. The Bronx, particularly the South Bronx, saw a decline in population, livable housing, and the quality of life in the late 1960s. Since then the communities have shown significant redevelopment starting in the late 1980s before picking up pace from the 1990s until today, the Bronx was called Rananchqua by the native Siwanoy band of Lenape, while other Native Americans knew the Bronx as Keskeskeck. It was divided by the Aquahung River, the origin of Jonas Bronck is contested. Some sources claim he was a Swedish born emigrant from Komstad, Norra Ljunga parish in Småland, Sweden, who arrived in New Netherland during the spring of 1639. Bronck became the first recorded European settler in the now known as the Bronx and built a farm named Emmanus close to what today is the corner of Willis Avenue. He leased land from the Dutch West India Company on the neck of the mainland north of the Dutch settlement in Harlem. He eventually accumulated 500 acres between the Harlem River and the Aquahung, which known as Broncks River or the Bronx. Dutch and English settlers referred to the area as Broncks Land, the American poet William Bronk was a descendant of Pieter Bronck, either Jonas Broncks son or his younger brother. More recent research indicates that Pieter was probably Jonas nephew or cousin, the Bronx is referred to with the definite article as The Bronx, both legally and colloquially. The region was named after the Bronx River and first appeared in the Annexed District of The Bronx created in 1874 out of part of Westchester County
42.
London
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London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area
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Los Angeles
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Los Angeles, officially the City of Los Angeles and often known by its initials L. A. is the cultural, financial, and commercial center of Southern California. With a census-estimated 2015 population of 3,971,883, it is the second-most populous city in the United States, Los Angeles is also the seat of Los Angeles County, the most populated county in the United States. The citys inhabitants are referred to as Angelenos, historically home to the Chumash and Tongva, Los Angeles was claimed by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo for Spain in 1542 along with the rest of what would become Alta California. The city was founded on September 4,1781, by Spanish governor Felipe de Neve. It became a part of Mexico in 1821 following the Mexican War of Independence, in 1848, at the end of the Mexican–American War, Los Angeles and the rest of California were purchased as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, thereby becoming part of the United States. Los Angeles was incorporated as a municipality on April 4,1850, the discovery of oil in the 1890s brought rapid growth to the city. The completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913, delivering water from Eastern California, nicknamed the City of Angels, Los Angeles is known for its Mediterranean climate, ethnic diversity, and sprawling metropolis. Los Angeles also has an economy in culture, media, fashion, science, sports, technology, education, medicine. A global city, it has been ranked 6th in the Global Cities Index, the city is home to renowned institutions covering a broad range of professional and cultural fields, and is one of the most substantial economic engines within the United States. The Los Angeles combined statistical area has a gross metropolitan product of $831 billion, making it the third-largest in the world, after the Greater Tokyo and New York metropolitan areas. The city has hosted the Summer Olympic Games in 1932 and 1984 and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics and thus become the second city after London to have hosted the Games three times. The Los Angeles area also hosted the 1994 FIFA mens World Cup final match as well as the 1999 FIFA womens World Cup final match, the mens event was watched on television by over 700 million people worldwide. The Los Angeles coastal area was first settled by the Tongva, a Gabrielino settlement in the area was called iyáangẚ, meaning poison oak place. Gaspar de Portolà and Franciscan missionary Juan Crespí, reached the present site of Los Angeles on August 2,1769, in 1771, Franciscan friar Junípero Serra directed the building of the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, the first mission in the area. The Queen of the Angels is an honorific of the Virgin Mary, two-thirds of the settlers were mestizo or mulatto with a mixture of African, indigenous and European ancestry. The settlement remained a small town for decades, but by 1820. Today, the pueblo is commemorated in the district of Los Angeles Pueblo Plaza and Olvera Street. New Spain achieved its independence from the Spanish Empire in 1821, during Mexican rule, Governor Pío Pico made Los Angeles Alta Californias regional capital
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Coventry Cathedral
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Coventry Cathedral, also known as St Michaels Cathedral, is the seat of the Bishop of Coventry and the Diocese of Coventry, in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The current bishop is Christopher Cocksworth and the current Dean is John Witcombe, the city has had three cathedrals. The first was St Marys, a building, of which only a few ruins remain. The second was St Michaels, a 14th-century Gothic church later designated cathedral, the third is the new St Michaels Cathedral, built after the destruction of the former. Leofric was probably buried within the original Saxon church in Coventry, however, records suggest that Godiva was buried at Evesham Abbey, alongside her father confessor, Prior Aefic. St Michaels Church was largely constructed between the late 14th century and early 15th century and it was one of the largest parish churches in England when, in 1918, it was elevated to cathedral status on the creation of Coventry Diocese. This St Michaels Cathedral now stands ruined, bombed almost to destruction during the Coventry Blitz of 14 November 1940 by the German Luftwaffe, only the tower, spire, the outer wall and the bronze effigy and tomb of its first bishop, Huyshe Yeatman-Biggs, survived. The ruins of this cathedral remain hallowed ground and are listed at Grade I. Following the bombing of the cathedral in 1940, Provost Richard Howard had the words Father Forgive inscribed on the wall behind the altar of the ruined building. The spire rises to 90 m and is the tallest structure in the city and it is also the third tallest cathedral spire in England, with only Salisbury and Norwich cathedrals rising higher. The current St Michaels Cathedral, built next to the remains of the old, was designed by Basil Spence and Arup, built by John Laing and is a Grade I listed building. The selection of Spence for the work was a result of a competition held in 1950 to find an architect for the new Coventry Cathedral, the use of Hollington sandstone for the new Coventry Cathedral provides an element of unity between the buildings. The foundation stone of the new cathedral was laid by Elizabeth II on 23 March 1956, the unconventional spire is 80 feet tall and was lowered onto the flat roof by a helicopter, flown by Wing Commander John Dowling in April 1962. The cathedral was consecrated on 25 May 1962, and Benjamin Brittens War Requiem, coventrys modernist design caused much discussion, but on opening to the public it rapidly became a hugely popular symbol of reconciliation in post-war Britain. The stained glass windows in the Nave, by Lawrence Lee, Keith New and Geoffrey Clarke, also worthy of note is the Great West Window known as the Screen of Saints and Angels, engraved directly onto the screen in expressionist style by John Hutton. As the cathedral was built on the site of a Benedictine monastery, a number of the cathedral staff become third order Benedictines and there are often cathedral retreats to Burford Priory. Since the opening of the new cathedral in 1962 there has been a gentle evangelical emphasis, the cathedral has a strong emphasis on the Bible and aims to be a centre for good preaching and training for the diocese. It runs regular events such as the innovative Spirit of Life days where over 2,000 local residents are encouraged to explore their faith in God through Christian spirituality
