1.
Bristol
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Bristol is a city and county in South West England with a population of 449,300 in 2016. The district has the 10th largest population in England, while the Bristol metropolitan area is the 12th largest in the United Kingdom, the city borders North Somerset and South Gloucestershire, with the cities of Bath and Gloucester to the south-east and north-east, respectively. Iron Age hill forts and Roman villas were built near the confluence of the rivers Frome and Avon, Bristol received a royal charter in 1155 and was historically divided between Gloucestershire and Somerset until 1373, when it became a county of itself. From the 13th to the 18th century, Bristol was among the top three English cities after London in tax receipts, Bristol was surpassed by the rapid rise of Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham in the Industrial Revolution. Bristol was a place for early voyages of exploration to the New World. On a ship out of Bristol in 1497 John Cabot, a Venetian, in 1499 William Weston, a Bristol merchant, was the first Englishman to lead an exploration to North America. At the height of the Bristol slave trade, from 1700 to 1807, the Port of Bristol has since moved from Bristol Harbour in the city centre to the Severn Estuary at Avonmouth and Royal Portbury Dock. Bristols modern economy is built on the media, electronics and aerospace industries. The city has the largest circulating community currency in the U. K. - the Bristol pound, which is pegged to the Pound sterling. It is connected to London and other major UK cities by road, rail, sea and air by the M5 and M4, Bristol Temple Meads and Bristol Parkway mainline rail stations, and Bristol Airport. The Sunday Times named it as the best city in Britain in which to live in 2014 and 2017, the most ancient recorded name for Bristol is the archaic Welsh Caer Odor, which is consistent with modern understanding that early Bristol developed between the River Frome and Avon Gorge. It is most commonly stated that the Saxon name Bricstow was a calque of the existing Celtic name, with Bric a literal translation of Odor. Alternative etymologies are supported with the numerous variations in Medieval documents with Samuel Seyer enumerating 47 alternative forms. The Old English form Brycgstow is commonly used to derive the meaning place at the bridge, utilizing another form, Brastuile, Rev. Dr. Shaw derived the name from the Celtic words bras, or braos and tuile. The poet Thomas Chatterton popularised a derivation from Brictricstow linking the town to Brictric and it appears that the form Bricstow prevailed until 1204, and the Bristolian L is what eventually changed the name to Bristol. Iron Age hill forts near the city are at Leigh Woods and Clifton Down, on the side of the Avon Gorge, a Roman settlement, Abona, existed at what is now Sea Mills, another was at the present-day Inns Court. Isolated Roman villas and small forts and settlements were scattered throughout the area. Bristol was founded by 1000, by about 1020, it was a centre with a mint producing silver pennies bearing its name
2.
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
3.
Gothic rock
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Gothic rock is a musical subgenre of post-punk that formed during the late 1970s. Gothic rock bands grew from the ties they had to the English punk rock. Proto-gothic bands include Siouxsie and the Banshees, Joy Division, Bauhaus, the genre itself was defined as a separate movement from post-punk due to its darker music accompanied by introspective and romantic lyrics. Gothic rock then gave rise to a subculture that included clubs, fashion. Reynolds described the style as consisting of deep, droning alloys of Jim Morrison. Siouxsie and the Banshees tended to use flanging guitar effects, producing a brittle, cold, several acts used drum machines downplaying the rhythms backbeat. Gothic rock typically deals with dark themes addressed through lyrics and the musics atmosphere, the poetic sensibilities of the genre led gothic rock lyrics to exhibit literary romanticism, morbidity, existentialism, religious symbolism or supernatural mysticism. Musicians who initially shaped the aesthetics and musical conventions of gothic rock include Marc Bolan, the Velvet Underground, the Doors, David Bowie, Iggy Pop, journalist Kurt Loder would write that the song All Tomorrows Parties by the Velvet Underground is a mesmerizing gothic-rock masterpiece. However, Reynolds considers Alice Cooper as the true ungodly godfather of goth due to his theatrics, Nicos 1969 album The Marble Index is sometimes described as the first Goth album. With its stark sound, somber lyrics, and Nicos deliberate change in her look, J. G. Ballard was a strong lyrical influence for many of the early gothic rock groups, the Birthday Party drew on Arthur Rimbaud and Charles Baudelaire. In 1976, Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice was published, the main character, although dark, wanted companionship and love. The book, according to music journalist Dave Thompson, slowly created an audience for gothic rock by word of mouth, the same year saw the punk rock band the Damned debut. The groups vocalist, Dave Vanian, was a gravedigger who dressed like a vampire. Critic John Stickney used the gothic rock to describe the music of the Doors in October 1967. Stickney wrote that the band met the journalists in the gloomy vaulted wine cellar of the Delmonico hotel, the author noted that contrary to the pleasant, amusing hippies, there was violence in their music and a dark atmosphere on stage during their concerts. In the late 1970s, the gothic was used to describe the atmosphere of post-punk bands like Siouxsie. In March 1979, Kent used the adjective in his review of Magazines second album. Kent noted that there was a new sense of authority to their music
4.
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
5.
Cleopatra Records
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Cleopatra Records is an American, Los Angeles-based independent record label, founded in 1992 by entrepreneur and music fan Brian Perera. Most recently, Hypnotic has been the home of Blackburner, hip hop acts have also found a home at Cleopatra Records on the X-Ray imprint, which has released albums by SX-10, KRS-One, Westside Connection, and DMX. X-Ray Records achieved a first for Perera and the Cleopatra family in 2005 when its release Its Not a Game by Layzie Bone landed on the Billboard 200. In recent years, the Cleopatra label group has expanded in a variety of directions, working with Sly Stone and William Shatner. Blackburner has been releasing new music at a fast clip, most recently earning the top spot on Beatport’s Dubstep chart for the song “Drop Bass Not Bombs” from the album of the same name. Cleopatra, expanding its interest in punk, acquired the catalog of releases by New Red Archives. The Vibrators released their newest album Punk Mania - Back To The Roots on Cleopatra in late 2014, Cleopatra also released rare and previously unreleased recordings in 2014 by GBH, The Dickies, & The Gun Club amongst others. The label acquired the complete Wax Trax, recordings of Al Jourgensen, including several unreleased Ministry songs as well as albums by Revolting Cocks,1000 Homo DJs, PTP, Pailhead, and Acid Horse. A 7-CD box set of recordings was released in April 2015. Meanwhile, Cleopatra has continued to work with established artists such as Missing Persons’ Dale Bozzio, Thor, The Oak Ridge Boys, Shuggie Otis, Cleopatra owner Brian Perera has also been known as a champion of Hawkwind. Cleopatra released the album by original Hawkwind guitarist Huw Lloyd-Langton. The label is again working with another Hawkwind alum Nik Turner and his album Space Gypsy was released in September 2013. Finally, Cleopatra has another film project currently in development, a sequel to the 2012 horror musical The Devils Carnival, the sequel, entitled The Devils Carnival, Alleluia, will star Paul Sorvino and David Hasselhoff. In 2013, Eli Cook signed a contract with Cleopatra Records. The album was co-produced by Cook, Cleopatra Films is the film division of long time L. A. -based indie label Cleopatra Records, most known for promoting dark and experimental music. Beginning in 2015, the company has distributed, developed, the company has focused primarily on the home video market through partnerships with NY-based film distributor The Orchard as well as AMPED Music Distribution, and MVD Entertainment Group. However, recent projects have shown that the company is capable of theatrical distribution as well, Cleopatra Films officially began in 2015 with the U. S. release of the documentary/concert film about German heavy metal band Scorpions called Forever And A Day. This was followed in August of the year by the company’s first major production
6.
Sony Music
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Sony Music Entertainment is an American music company owned by Sony. It is incorporated as a partnership of Sony Music Holdings Inc. through Sony Entertainment. The company was first founded in 1929 as American Record Corporation and renamed Columbia Recording Corporation in 1938, in 1966, the company was reorganized to become CBS Records. Sony Corporation bought the company in 1987 and renamed it Sony Music Entertainment in 1991, the buyout led to the dissolution of BMG, which relaunched as BMG Rights Management. Sony Music Entertainment is one of the Big Three record companies, being the second largest after Universal Music Group, in 1929, ARC was founded through a merger of several record companies. In 1934, in the midst of Great Depression, the Columbia Phonograph Company, ARC was acquired in 1938 by the Columbia Broadcasting System, which, in turn, had been formed by the Columbia Phonograph Company, but then sold off. ARC was renamed Columbia Recording Corporation, RCA Victor Records executive Ted Wallerstein convinced CBS head William S. Paley to buy ARC and Paley made Wallerstein head of the newly acquired record company. The renamed company made Columbia its flagship label and Okeh its subsidiary label and this allowed ARCs leased labels Brunswick Records and Vocalion Records to revert to their former owner Warner Bros. which sold them to Decca Records. Columbia kept the Brunswick catalogue recorded from December 1931 onward on the Columbia label and he was succeeded by James Conkling as head of Columbia Records. In 1951, Columbia severed its ties with the EMI-owned record label of the same name, Okeh Records continued to be distributed by EMI on the Columbia label. Columbia founded Epic Records in 1953 and in 1956, Conkling left Columbia and he would help establish the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences before eventually becoming the first president of the newly launched Warner Bros. His successor, Goddard Lieberson began the first of two stints as head of the record company, and in 1958, Columbia founded another label, Date Records, which initially issued rockabilly music. In 1960, Columbia/CBS began negotiations with its international distributor Philips Records with the goal of starting its own global record company. Philips acquisition of US-based Mercury Records in 1961 paved the way for this, elsewhere, CBSs Mexican record company, Discos Columbia, was renamed Discos CBS by 1963. In 1964, Columbia set out acquiring record companies in countries for its CBS Records International Unit. EMI continued to distribute Epic and Okeh label material on the Columbia label in the UK until the deal with EMI expired in 1968 when CBS took over distribution. In late 1965, the Date subsidiary label was revived and this label released the first string of hits for Peaches & Herb and scored a few minor hits from various other artists. Dates biggest success was Time of the Season by the Zombies, the label was discontinued in 1970
7.
The Mission (band)
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The Mission are an English gothic rock band formed in 1986. Initially known as The Sisterhood, the band was started by frontman Wayne Hussey and bassist Craig Adams, soon adding drummer Mick Brown, aside from Hussey, the line-up has changed several times during the years and the band has been on hiatus twice. The bands catalogue consists of ten albums with several complementing albums, compilations. After an aborted recording session with Andrew Eldritch in the summer of 1985, Wayne Hussey, based in Leeds, the duo continued to work on various musical ideas and recorded them over the autumn. Dismissing the use of a drum-machine, Adams and Hussey asked Mick Brown to help out with the sessions, by the end of the year, he had joined the band on a permanent basis. With Hussey as both the frontman and principal songwriter, the trio required a second guitarist to facilitate a live set-up and they eventually recruited Simon Hinkler who also contributed keyboards and thus completed the four-piece. The name The Sisterhood was chosen with a nod to past, the new name quickly became a point of discussion in the English music-press, giving the four-piece significant amount of publicity. As The Sisterhood the band made their live-debut on January 20,1986 at the Alice in Wonderland, while the band were on tour as support to the Cult around Europe, Eldritch released a single as The Sisterhood. Back in England, Hinkler was briefly dismissed and reinstated for three UK dates where the band revealed their new name, The Mission, although Hussey and Adams were still under contract with WEA, manager Tony Perrin prepared their material for a release. In May the EP I appeared on the Chapter 22 label as the Expedition I tour took the band around Europe, two months later, II was released on the same label and supported by a number of festival slots that culminated in an appearance on the Reading Festival. Hussey and Adams were released from their WEA contracts and the signed a seven-album deal with Phonogram in July 1986. Their debut Gods Own Medicine was then recorded in six weeks with novice producer Tim Palmer, in October the single III was released, preceding the album that appeared the next month. The band set out on a three-month World Crusade I UK/European tour and they also appeared on British television a number of times and recorded a session for BBC radio. The single IV charted at #11 in January 1987, the World Crusade II tour brought the band to North America, where they were known as The Mission UK. The 41-date trek was characterised by substance abuse and led to the collapse of an inebriated Craig Adams in Los Angeles, in March 1987, the single V with a guest vocal from Julianne Regan was released. Back in England, Adams returned to the band to play a handful of European festivals, a live video entitled Crusade was released, capturing the band and their noisy audience at the early stage of their career. It coincided with the release of The First Chapter in June 1987, in the summer of 1987, Hussey spent some time writing new material that was first aired during the bands headlining slot at the Reading Festival. The Mission enlisted the help of John Paul Jones to produce their second album Children, in October of the same year, Hussey became a father to a girl named Hannah, an event that inspired much of the lyrical content
8.
The Sisters of Mercy
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The Sisters of Mercy are an English rock band, formed in 1980 in Leeds. Currently, the band is a touring outfit only, the group has released three original studio albums, of which the last was released in 1990. Each album was recorded by a different line-up, singer-songwriter Andrew Eldritch, Eldritch and Avalanche were also involved in the Sisterhood, a side-project connected with Eldritchs dispute with former members. The group ceased recording activity in 1993, when they went on strike against their record company Time Warner, although Time Warner released them from their contract in 1997, they have not signed to another label, despite showcasing numerous new songs in their live sets. Since 1985, when the original members left, the Sisters of Mercy has become the artistic vehicle of Eldritch. Former members of the established the bands Ghost Dance and the Mission. The Sisters of Mercy were formed in Leeds, England, in 1980 by two regulars of the F-club punk night—Gary Marx and Andrew Eldritch—to satisfy their desire to hear themselves on the radio. During this time band a single, Damage Done/Watch/Home of the Hit-men, was recorded and released, the name was influenced by Robert Altmans film McCabe & Mrs. Miller, which featured the Leonard Cohen song Sisters of Mercy —because the Captains of Industry wouldnt have been as funny. On the single Marx played guitar through an amplifier and Eldritch was on drums that he had bought from John Langford. The duo each wrote and sang on a song, Eldritch on Damage Done, the band regrouped with Craig Adams on bass, while Eldritchs drumming was replaced by a drum machine, leaving him to concentrate on vocals. The drum machine was christened Doktor Avalanche, and all of its numerous successors kept this moniker, Eldritch took over lyrics-writing, Doktor-programming, and record-producing duties, while co-writing the music with Marx and Adams. This became what is recognised as the first real Sisters line-up. It began with the Doktor/Eldritch/Marx/Adams incarnation of the playing a gig in the Riley Smith Hall of the Leeds University Union building in early 1980. Later in 1981, Ben Gunn was recruited as the Sisters second guitarist, Eldritchs melancholic baritone, Craig Adamss pulsating bass, Doktor Avalanches beat and Marxs flowing guitar led the band to early underground success. In 1982, the band recorded the The Body Electric b/w Adrenochrome single for the CNT label, the bands singles were regularly featured in UK independent charts, some became single of the week in various UK indie magazines. John Ashton of the Psychedelic Furs produced the early classic Alice, the Reptile House E. P. is another example of early Sisters work and marks the maturing songwriter Eldritch. Their live performances featured many versions, among those, a medley consisting of Sister Ray, Ghostrider. Only four of them, the Stooges 1969, the Rolling Stones Gimme Shelter, Hot Chocolates Emma, in late 1983, following the highly successful Temple of Love single, the band signed a contract with major record label WEA
9.
Pauline Murray
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Pauline Murray is best known as the lead singer of the punk rock band Penetration, originally formed in 1976. Pauline Murray was born in Waterhouses, County Durham, England and she left school at age sixteen, studied art at Darlington College and then worked at odd jobs. In May 1976 the 18-year-old Murray saw the Sex Pistols perform, in late 1976, Murray formed a band with friends Robert Blamire and Gary Smallman and named it after the Stooges song Penetration. They played their first gig in October 1976 at the Middlesbrough Rock Garden, the band debuted on vinyl with the single Dont Dictate, issued by Virgin in November of the same year. The band went on to two studio albums, Moving Targets and Coming Up for Air, as well as an official bootleg. Later there would be a Best of Penetration compilation album, after a measure of success during 1978/79, including a headline show at the Rainbow Theatre and a five-week American tour, they announced a split in October 1979. Penetration played a number of gigs around London in 2001-2002, leading to a band reunion, in 2015 the band announced they would release Resolution, a new studio album. John Maher from Buzzcocks also drummed for the band, the resulting album, Pauline Murray and The Invisible Girls, reached Number 25 on the UK Albums Chart in October 1980 and spawned the singles Dream Sequence and Mr. X. The album was received by critics. A reviewer for Melody Maker called it, Unquestionably a musical highpoint of this year or any other, an exciting new area of electronic pop where Motown meets the modern world. Murray also provided vocals for The Only Ones on their song Fools and backing vocals on Me, in 1989 Murray released the EP This Thing Called Love and the album Storm Clouds under her own name. In 2011 Murray established Polestar Studios with Robert Blamire in Byker where bands can rent out rehearsal, in 2013 she booked a number of solo acoustic dates around the North End in the UK. She said about the gigs, This is the first time in my career that I’ve done a solo set with just me. During the tour, she played a number of songs from her career. Murray was married to Peter Lloyd, Penetrations road manager, and she and Robert Blamire then became a couple and moved together to Liverpool. All UK releases except as noted
