Cult bands from '69. How did the modern classics of metal, blues, and Russian rock come about?
In the same year in different hemispheres of our planet there were formed musical bands, which for many forever became the most favorite, whose music evokes the most vivid memories. The metal sound of UFO. Or the groovy blues of ZZ Top? And if you're not a ZZ Top fan, maybe you like Time Machine? One thing's for sure, you've heard them or about them at some point. Today, let's talk about how these famous bands from 1969 came to be, and how their musical career started.
Aliens have arrived
London in the late '60s was the place where music was born. It was the city where all the singers and musicians aspired to conquer. The public's tastes were changing by the day, new genres were constantly appearing: it seemed that they just got used to psychedelics, and then heavy metal appeared. This is one of the bands that picked up the idea of heavy metal we are talking about.
UFO originated in London. The band was founded by guitarist Mick Bolton, bassist Pete Way and drummer Tick Torazzo. The band had a real inspiration for the names, one more beautiful than the other: "Hocus Pocus", "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly", "Acid". You have to agree, it's hard to stop at one thing.
Eventually, Torazzo (drums) drops out, Colin Turner is hired to replace him, and Turner is then replaced by Andy Parker. At that time Andi was not yet 18, his parents refused to sign him to the band, so for a while Andi was on "bird's rights". However, this line-up was maintained 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 (it reminds at once of the numbered Led Zeppelin albums I, II, II, IV), it became popular only in Japan, but in the main world music arenas - USA and Great Britain - the band was not yet noticed. But this is 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 in the US charts.
Back to future
Everyone is likely to be familiar with the band Mashina Vremeni, and many people remember by heart not one, but many songs by the band, which became a classic of Russian rock.
Before there was Mashina Vremeni, there was a band called The Kids, which Andrey Makarevich "built up" back in high school. There were Mikhail Yashin, the son of the poet Alexander Yashin and two female vocalists: Larisa Kashperko and Nina Baranova. The girls were in the group because 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. The Atlanta Underground Beat Band came to school. It was acquaintance with them that inspired Andrei to make changes. Moreover, the Atlantes let them play on their equipment. That's how the guys got acquainted with the bass guitar for the first time.
After that the band changed its name to Time Machines, again in English and in the plural, thus making a "reverence" to The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. At that time the band consisted of Makarevich, Igor Mazaev, Yuri Borzov, Alexander Ivanov, Pavel Rubin, and Sergei Kavagoe.
The official date of the band's foundation is May 27, '69, when they played their first concert. In the same 1969 the first album, "Time Machines", in English, was released.
I must say that listening to familiar voices singing in another language is very, very unusual!
That li'l ol' band from Texas
That li'l ol' band from Texas - that's what the members of the iconic Texas band ZZ Top call themselves, something like "the good old band from Texas.
Like the Mashina Vremeni, ZZ Top has a permanent leader - Billy Gibbons. In fact, the lineup of the band almost never changed. There has always been and always will be a recognizable trio: Billy, Dusty Hill and Frank Beard.
Before ZZ Top, Gibbons was a member of The Moving Sidewalks, a psychedelic band. Once, when they were opening for The Doors, Billy was spotted by promoter Bill Ham. We owe a lot to him for the gorgeous beards and flamboyant style of ZZ Top. After the breakup of The Moving Sidewalks, Billy formed a new band, ZZ Top.
Few people know that at the very beginning the band included bassist and keyboardist Anthony Barajas and drummer Peter Perez, but the guys were in the band for such a short time that their participation is almost never mentioned.
The same 1969, when the band was formed, their first single "Salt Lick" was released, the only one recorded by the early line-up. The style is also quite unusual, we are already used to hearing another ZZ Top, but this is where it all started.
