Cult bands from '69. How did the modern classics of metal, blues and Russian rock come about?
Содержание
In one and the same year in different hemispheres of our planet musical bands were formed, which for many people have forever become the most favourite, whose music evokes the most vivid memories. The metallic sound of UFO. Or ZZ Top blues? And if you're not a fan of ZZ Top, maybe you like Time Machine? One thing's for sure: you've heard them or about them at some point. Today we'll tell you how these famous bands of 1969 came to be, and how their musical career started.
The aliens have arrived
London in the late 60s was the place where music was born. It was the city that all singers and musicians were trying to conquer. The tastes of the public were changing by the day, and new genres were constantly emerging: it seemed that we had just got used to psychedelic music, and then heavy metal appeared. Here we are talking about one of the bands that picked up the idea of heavy metal.
UFO (UFO English) originated in London. The band was founded by guitarist Mick Bolton, bassist Pete Way and drummer Tick Torazzo. The band had a true inspiration for the names, one more beautiful than the other: "Hocus Pocus", "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly", "Acid". It's hard to stop at one thing.
In the end, Torazzo (drums) drops out, Colin Turner takes his place, and Turner is then replaced by Andy Parker. At that time, Andy was not yet 18, his parents refused to sign a contract with the band, so for some time Andy was on "bird's rights". However, this line-up remained in place for a long time. Also, the band finally decided on a name, and they called themselves UFO, which stands for "Unidentified Flying Object".
Their debut album was released a year later, in 1970, it was called UFO 1 (immediately reminds of the numbered Led Zeppelin I, II, II, IV albums), it became popular only in Japan, but in the main arena of the music world - USA and UK - the band was not noticed yet. But that's only for the time being.
The success that allowed the band to reach the international level came only after several years of hard work. In 1975, their fourth album "Force It" was released, which reached number 71 on the US charts.
Back to future
Most probably everybody is familiar with the band "Mashina Vremeni", and many people remember by heart not one, but many songs of the band, which became a classic of Russian rock.
Before there was Mashina Vremeni, there was a band called The Kids, which Andrei Makarevich "formed" when he was still at school. In addition to Andrei, there was Mikhail Yashin, son of the poet Alexander Yashin, and two female vocalists: Larisa Kashperko and Nina Baranova. The girls were in the band for the reason that Andrei thought his voice was not beautiful enough (funny). At that time the repertoire of the group consisted of songs in English.
Then something happened. An underground beat band called the Atlanteans came to the school. It was meeting them that inspired Andrei to change. Moreover, the Atlanteans let them play on their equipment. That's how the boys first got acquainted with the bass guitar.
After that, the band changed its name to Time Machines, again in English and in the plural, thus making a "curtsy" to The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. At the time, the band consisted of Makarevich, Igor Mazaev, Yuri Borzov, Alexander Ivanov, Pavel Rubin and Sergey Kavagoe.
The official date of the band's foundation is 27 May '69, when they performed their first concert. In the same 1969 the first album, "Time Machines", was released in English.
It has to be said that hearing familiar voices singing in another language is very, very special!
That li'l ol' band from Texas
That li'l ol' band from Texas is exactly what the members of the iconic Texas band ZZ Top call themselves, something like "the good old gang from Texas."
Like the Time Machine, ZZ Top has a permanent leader - Billy Gibbons. In fact, the line-up of the band has almost never changed. There has always been and always will be a recognisable trio: Billy, Dusty Hill and Frank Beard.
Before ZZ Top, Gibbons was a member of The Moving Sidewalks, a psychedelic band. One day, when they were opening for The Doors, Billy was spotted by promoter Bill Ham. It was to him that we owe much of the luxurious beards and colourful style of ZZ Top. After The Moving Sidewalks broke up, Billy organised a new band, ZZ Top.
Few people know that in the beginning the band included bassist and keyboardist Anthony Barajas and drummer Peter Perez, but the guys stayed in the band for such a short time that their participation is almost never mentioned.
In the same 1969, when the band formed, their first single "Salt Lick" was released, the only one recorded by the early line-up. The style is also quite unfamiliar, we are already used to hearing a different ZZ Top, but it started with this one.
