Genre: Punk, Alternative/Punk, Old-School Punk
Original Members: Steve Jones (guitar), Paul Cook (drums), Glen Matlock (bass) and Johnny Rotten (John Lydon, vocals)

Sex Pistol's career was extremely short-lived (lasting from November 1976 to January 1978), their impact on rock 'n' roll - and popular culture as a whole - is absolutely immeasurable. By now the story of their birth is legend. Manager Malcolm McLaren owned a small boutique, original bassist Glenn Matlock (later replaced by Sid Vicious) was an employee. Guitarist Steve Jones, drummer Paul Cook and vocalist Johnny Rotten were regulars. Soon the simple coupling of Jones' aggressive guitar work and Rotten's total irreverence for authority had galvanized a growing legion of disgruntled, lower class youth and earned them an official ban across their home country. More than that (and at risk of aligning them with Situationism, Marcus-style), the Pistols were an assault on the norm by its outcasts, a powerful force that made kids around the world (and, paradoxically, the corporate music establishment) feel OK about rebellion. They may not have invented Punk rock, nor operated on the principles that would later define it, but there wouldn't have been a Punk rock movement without them.
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Managed by Malcolm McLaren, owner of London boutique SEX (and briefly manager of The New York Dolls), the Pistols were formed in 1975 by shop assistant Glen Matlock and itinerant shoplifters Paul Cook and Steve Jones. Originally calling themselves The Swankers, they were soon renamed the Sex Pistols. A fan of the French Situationist art terrorists of 1968, McLaren wanted to insert a similarly provocative, anarchic presence into the cosy pipe-and-slippers world of rock music, which was then dominated by the hippy leftovers of British prog rock and American country-rock. To achieve the desired high-profile reaction, he knew he needed somebody quite extraordinary to front the band.

The search was concluded when McLaren's assistant (and future Clash manager) Bernie Rhodes spotted a green-haired Johnny Rotten (né Lydon) wearing a Pink Floyd T-shirt emblazoned with the legend "I Hate", and invited him along to audition for the band.

In the Roebuck pub near Malcolm's Kings Road shop, Lydon belted out a deliberately ridiculous version of Alice Cooper's "Eighteen", and an impressed McLaren invited him along to a rehearsal the following week at a Rotherhithe pub called The Crunchy Frog. The other band members, however, had taken an instant dislike to Lydon and, when he arrived to find they hadn't bothered turning up, he called McLaren and told him to "Fuck off!" It was hardly the most auspicious of beginnings, but somehow the band gelled into Malcolm's dream of the most stroppy, subversive and downright obnoxious rock band of all time. Rotten soon confirmed Malcolm's faith in him, bringing to the group an idiosyncratic sense of style and a quick-witted, vituperative personality that would make the Pistols a phenomenon rather than just a band.

Already equipped with top-range musical equipment courtesy of Cook and Jones's light fingers, the Pistols began playing London art colleges, and by early 1976 their rough rock sound and abrasive attitude was attracting a small but fervent following of exhibitionist misfits, the seeds of a scene in the making.

Centre stage at all times was Rotten. With few role models, he presented a persona of nihilistic, amphetamine-fuelled contempt that proved utterly compelling, with a vocal style best described as a ferocious sneer – not conventional star qualities, but ones destined to make himthedefinitive icon of punk rock. The on-stage anger transferred itself to the audience, and before long Sex Pistols gigs became marked by a pervasive undertow of violence – some caused by the band, some by those they'd succeeded in provoking. They were soon banned from London clubs such as Dingwalls and The Rock Garden, circumventing the ban by putting on their own gigs at unorthodox venues like Islington's Screen on the Green cinema, and even doing an inmates-only show for prisoners at Chelmsford Prison.

After headlining the 100 Club Punk Festival in September 1976, the band were signed to EMI a month later for a £40,000 advance. After the Grundy incident that December, their infamy was assured – as, too, was the inevitable backlash that followed. The Anarchy Tour – on which they were supported by The Clash, The Damned and the Heartbreakers – was all but wrecked by widespread cancellations, as their debut single "Anarchy In The UK" survived radio and retail blacklisting to reach #38 in the UK charts by the year's end.

After releasing one album in 1977, the band headed over to the U.S. for a tour in January of 1978; it lasted 14 days. Rotten left the band after their show at San Francisco's Winterland Ballroom on January 14, heading back to New York; he would form Public Image Limited later that year. McLaren tried to continue the band but Cook and Jones soon turned against him. In the two decades following the Sex Pistols' implosion, an endless stream of outtakes, demos, repackagings, and live shows were released on a variety of labels, which only helped their cult grow.

In 1996, to celebrate their impending twentieth anniversary, the Sex Pistols reunited, with original bassist Glen Matlock taking the place of the deceased Sid Vicious. The band embarked on an international tour in June of 1996, releasing the Filthy Lucre Live album the following month. Four years later, Julien Temple (who helmed the band's first movie, The Great Rock & Roll Swindle) directed the documentary film The Filth & the Fury.

Rock bands with real cultural significance are extremely rare, but the Sex Pistols were the genuine article. All aspects of youth culture, from music and manners to fashion and graphic design, were irrevocably altered in their wake. What's all the more remarkable is that, in the pre-promo video era, fewer people saw their original incarnation than might watch Travis play one medium-sized stadium today. The UK music scene, reflecting the national mood of the time, was stagnant and hidebound, crying out for a dose of something new, and the Sex Pistols duly obliged, re-establishing the moral panic that had once made pop so exciting to kids and alarming to their parents.

The original band reformed for a tour in 1996 and it was documented in another Julien Temple's film, The Filth And The Fury. They reunited again in 2002 and the reissued "God Save The Queen" went to UK #15.


(www.musiclegends.com)

NIRVANA

Nirvana has been called the quintessential alternative band of the 90s. The trio, Kurt Cobain, Dave Grohl, and Krist Novoselic formed in Washington and grew into one of the most influential bands of the decade. The formation of Nirvana started in 1985 when Cobain and Novoselic starting playing together in various bands.

Prior to Nirvana, alternative music was consigned to specialty sections of record stores and major labels considered it to be, at the very most, a tax write-off. After the band's second album, 1991's Nevermind, nothing was ever quite the same, for better and for worse. Nirvana popularized punk, post-punk, and indie rock, unintentionally bringing it into the American mainstream like no other band before it. While its sound was equal parts Black Sabbath (as learned by fellow Washington underground rockers the Melvins) and Cheap Trick, Nirvana's aesthetics were strictly indie rock. They covered Vaselines songs, they revived new wave cuts by Devo, and leader Kurt Cobain relentlessly pushed his favorite bands -- whether it was the art punk of the Raincoats or the country-fried hardcore of the Meat Puppets -- as if his favorite records were always more important than his own music.
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While Nirvana's ideology was indie rock and melodies were pop, the sonic rush of their records and live shows merged the post-industrial white noise with heavy metal grind. And that's what made the group an unprecedented multi-platinum sensation. Jane's Addiction and Soundgarden may have proven to the vast American heavy metal audience that alternative could rock, and the Pixies may have merged pop sensibilities with indie rock white noise, but Nirvana pulled at all together, creating a sound that was both fiery and melodic. Since Nirvana was rooted in the indie aesthetic, but loved pop music, they fought their stardom while courting it, becoming some of the most notorious anti-rock stars in history. The result was a conscious attempt to shed their audience with the abrasive In Utero, which only partially fulfilled the band's goal. But by that point, the fate of the band and Kurt Cobain had been sealed. Suffering from drug addiction and manic depression, Cobain had become destructive and suicidal, though his management and label were able to hide the extent of his problems from the public until April 8, 1994, when he was found dead of a self-inflicted shotgun wound. Cobain may not have been able to weather Nirvana's success, but the band's legacy stands as one of the most influential in rock & roll history.

Kurt Cobain (vocals, guitar) met Chris Novoselic (born Krist Novoselic) (bass) in 1985 in Aberdeen, WA, a

small logging town 100 miles away from Seattle. While Novoselic came from a relatively stable background, Cobain's childhood had been thrown into turmoil when his parents divorced when he was eight. Following the divorce, he lived at the homes of various relatives, developing a love for the Beatles and then heavy metal in the process. Eventually, American hardcore punk worked its way into dominating his listening habits and he met the Melvins, an Olympia-based underground heavy punk band. Cobain began playing in punk bands like Fecal Matter, often with the Melvins' bassist Dale Crover. Through the Melvins' leader Buzz Osborne, Cobain met Novoselic, who also had an intense interest in punk, which meant that he, like Cobain, felt alienated from the macho, redneck population of Aberdeen. The duo decided to form a band called the Stiff Woodies, with Cobain on drums, Novoselic on bass, and a rotating cast of guitarists and vocalists. The group went through name changes as quickly as guitarists, before deciding that Cobain would play guitar and sing. Renamed Skid Row, the new trio featured drummer Aaron Burkhart, who left the band by the end of 1986 and was replaced by Chad Channing. By 1987, the band was called Nirvana.

Nirvana began playing parties in Olympia, gaining a cult following. During 1987, the band made ten demos with producer Jack Endino, who played the recordings to Jonathan Poneman, one of the founders of the Seattle-based indie label Sub Pop. Poneman signed Nirvana, and in December of 1988, the band released their first single, a cover of Shocking Blue's "Love Buzz." Sub Pop orchestrated an effective marketing scheme, which painted the band as backwoods, logging-town hicks, which irritated Cobain and Novoselic. While "Love Buzz" was fairly well-received, the band's debut album, Bleach, was what began the ball rolling. Recorded for just over 600 dollars and released in the spring of 1989, Bleach slowly became a hit on college radio, due to the group's consistent touring. Though Jason Everman was credited as a second guitarist on the sleeve of Bleach, he didn't appear on the record; he only toured in support of the album before leaving the band at the end of the year to join Soundgarden and then Mindfunk. Bleach sold 35,000 copies and Nirvana became favorites of college radio, the British weekly music press, and Sonic Youth, Mudhoney, and Dinosaur Jr., which was enough to attract the attention of major labels.

During the summer, Nirvana released "Sliver"/"Dive," which was recorded with Mudhoney's

Dan Peters on drums and produced by Butch Vig. The band also made a six-song demo with Vig, which was shopped to major labels, who soon began competing to sign the group. By the end of the summer, Dave Grohl, formerly of the D.C.-based hardcore band Scream, had become Nirvana's drummer and the band signed with DGC for $287,000. Nirvana recorded their second album with Vig, completing the record in the summer. Following a European tour supporting Sonic Youth in the late summer, Nevermind was released in September, supported by a quick American tour. While DGC was expecting a moderately successful release, in the neighborhood of 100,000 copies, Nevermind immediately became a smash hit, quickly selling out its initial shipment of 50,000 copies and creating a shortage across America. What helped the record become a success was "Smells Like Teen Spirit," a blistering four-chord rocker that was accompanied by a video that shot into heavy MTV rotation. By the beginning of 1992, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" had climbed into the American Top Ten and Nevermind bumped Michael Jackson's much-touted comeback album Dangerous off the top of the album charts; it reached the British Top Ten shortly afterward. By February, the album had been certified triple platinum.

Nirvana's success took the music industry by surprise, Nirvana included. It soon become apparent that the band wasn't quite sure how to handle their success. Around the time of Nevermind's release, the band was into baiting their audience -- Cobain appeared on MTV's Headbanger's Ball in drag, the group mocked the tradition of miming on the BBC's Top of the Pops by Novoselic constantly throwing his bass into the air and Cobain singing his live vocals in the style of Ian Curtis, and their traditional live destruction of instruments was immortalized on a Saturday Night Live performance that ended with Novoselic and Grohl sharing a kiss -- but by the spring, questions had begun to arise about the band's stability. Cobain married Courtney Love, the leader of the indie rock/foxcore band Hole, in February of 1992, announcing that the couple was expecting a child in the fall. Shortly after the marriage, rumors that the couple were heavy heroin users began to circulate and the strength of the rumors only increased when Nirvana canceled several summer concerts and refused to mount a full-scale American tour during the summer. Cobain complained that he was suffering from chronic stomach troubles, which seemed to be confirmed when he was admitted to a Belfast hospital after a June concert. But, heroin rumors continued to surface, especially in the form of a late-summer Vanity Fair article which implied that Love was using during her pregnancy. Both Love and Cobain denied the article's allegations, and publicly harassed and threatened the article's author. Love delivered Frances Bean Cobain, a healthy baby girl, on August 18, 1992, but the couple soon battled with Los Angeles' children's services, who claimed they were unfit parents on the basis of the Vanity Fair article. The couple was granted custody of their child by the beginning of 1993.
Since Cobain was going through such well-documented personal problems, Nirvana was unable to record a follow-up to Nevermind until the spring of 1993. In the meantime, DGC released the odds-and-ends compilation Incesticide late in 1992; the album reached number 39 in the U.S. and number 14 U.K. As the group prepared to make their third album, they released "Oh, the Guilt" as a split-single with the Jesus Lizard on Touch & Go Records. Choosing Steve Albini (Pixies, the Breeders, Big Black, the Jesus Lizard) as their producer, Nirvana recorded their third album, In Utero, in two weeks during the spring of 1993. Following its completion, controversy began to surround Nirvana again. Cobain suffered a heroin overdose on May 2, but the event was hidden from the press. The following month, Love called police to their Seattle home after Cobain locked himself in the bathroom, threatening suicide. Prior to debuting In Utero material during the New Music Seminar at New York's Roseland Ballroom in July, Cobain had another covered-up overdose. By that time, reports began to circulate, including an article in Newsweek, that DGC was unhappy with the forthcoming album, accusing that the band deliberately made an uncommercial record. Both the band and the label denied such allegations. Deciding that Albini's production was too flat, Nirvana decided to remaster the album with R.E.M.'s producer, Scott Litt.

In Utero was released in September of 1993 to positive reviews and strong initial sales, debuting at the top of the U.S. and U.K. charts. Nirvana supported it with a fall American tour, hiring former Germs member Pat Smear as an auxiliary guitarist. While the album and the tour were both successful, sales weren't quite as strong as expected, with several shows not selling out until the week of the concert. As a result, the group agreed to play MTV's acoustic Unplugged show at the end of the year, and sales of In Utero picked up after its December airing. After wrapping up the U.S. tour on January 8, 1994, with a show at Center Arena in Seattle, Nirvana embarked on a European tour in February. Following a concert in Munich on February 29, Cobain stayed in Rome to vacation with Love. On March 4, she awakened to find that Cobain had attempted suicide by overdosing on the tranquilizer Rohypnol and drinking champagne. While the attempt was initially reported as an accidental overdose, it was known within the Nirvana camp that the vocalist had left behind a suicide note.

Cobain returned to Seattle within a week of his hospitalization and his mental illness began to grow. On March 18, the police had to again talk the singer out of suicide after he locked himself in a room threatening to kill himself. Love and Nirvana's management organized an intervention program that resulted in Cobain's admission to the Exodus Recovery Center in L.A. on March 30, but he escaped from the clinic on April 1, returning to Seattle. His mother filed a missing persons report on April 4. The following day, Cobain shot himself in the head at his Seattle home. His body wasn't discovered until April 8, when an electrician contracted to install an alarm system at the Cobain house stumbled upon the body. After his death, Kurt Cobain was quickly anointed as a spokesman for Generation X, as well as a symbol of its tortured angst.
Novoselic and Grohl planned to release a double-disc live album at the end of 1994, but sorting through the tapes proved to be too painful, so MTV Unplugged in New York appeared in its place. The album debuted at the top of the British and American charts, as a home video comprised of live performances and interviews from the band's Nevermind-era, titled Live! Tonight! Sold Out!, was issued at the same time (the project began prior to Cobain's passing and was completed by surviving bandmembers).

In 1996, its electric counterpart, From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah, was released, debuting at the top of the U.S. charts. Following Cobain's death, Grohl formed the Foo Fighters (early rumors that Novoselic would also be a member of the band ultimately proved to be false) -- releasing their self-titled debut album in 1995, followed by The Colour and the Shape in 1997 and There Is Nothing Left to Lose in 1999. Novoselic formed the trio Sweet 75, releasing their debut in the spring of 1997, and also appeared along with former Dead Kennedys' frontman Jello Biafra and former Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil on the 2000 live set Live From the Battle in Seattle under the name the No W.T.O. Combo.

By the late '90s, research began by Novoselic for a proposed box set of previously unreleased songs from throughout Nirvana's career. The project was supposed to surface in the fall of 2001 (to coincide with the tenth anniversary release of Nevermind), but legal problems began to surface. In 1997, Grohl and Novoselic formed the Nirvana L.L.C. partnership with Courtney Love (who manages Cobain's estate) -- a company that required a unanimous vote by all three regarding future albums, photos, and anything else Nirvana-related. When all three couldn't agree on the songs to be included on the box set, the matter was taken to court as Love attempted to dissolve the partnership. The project was ultimately shelved indefinitely as any legal decision was tied up in court.

Credit: Stephen Thomas Erlewine & Greg Prato, All Music Guide, VH1.com

The Beatles

About it:

The Beatles were the most influential, groundbreaking and successful popular music group of the rock era. No artists of any sort, with the arguable exception of Elvis Presley, have achieved the Beatles' combination of popular success, critical acclaim and broad cultural influence.
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The Beatles were John Lennon (lead singer/rhythm guitar/keyboards), Paul McCartney (lead singer/bass/piano/guitars), George Harrison (lead guitar/sitar), and Ringo Starr (drums), all from Liverpool, Merseyside, in England. Although Lennon and McCartney were initially the principal songwriters, Harrison and Starr made significant contributions as the band matured. George Martin produced almost all of the Beatles' recordings.

History:
Inspired by the "skiffle boom", a student at Quarry Bank School in Liverpool named John Lennon decided to form a group in 1957 which laid the foundation to what was to become the most famous rock band of all time. John's original name was "The Blackjacks". However, this name only lasted a week and John used the school name as inspiration for the later name "The Quarry Men" in March 1957. John sang and played guitar, Colin Hanton played drums, Eric Griffiths on guitar, Pete Shotton on washboard, Rod Davis on banjo and Bill Smith on tea-chest bass. Bill was soon replaced by Ivan Vaughan.

John was inspired by "Heartbreak Hotel" and became a fan of American rock 'n' roll music. He introduced songs by Buddy Holly , Carl Perkins, The Coasters, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Gene Vincent into their repertoire. On July 6, 1957, Ivan Vaughan invited Paul McCartney to see their gig at The Woolton Parish Church Fete. The fifteen-year-old McCartney was introduce to sixteen-year-old Lennon and a unique song writing partnership began.
The line-up of The Quarry Men increased to seven with Paul on guitar and vocals, John Lowe on piano and George Harrison on guitar and vocals. Soon Griffiths and another member would leave, leaving a five-piece band. The group appeared at several local talent contests but had very few gigs. By January 1959, the group wasn't operating. Although John and Paul kept in touch, George had joined the Les Stewart Quartet.

That might have been the end of The Quarry Men but they had a stroke of luck. The Les Stewart Quartet had been booked as a resident band at a new club called "The Casbah". It was run by Mrs. Mona Best to support her son's Pete and Rory. Stewart, upset because his guitarist Ken Brown help decorate the club, refused to play there. Ken and George walked out of the group and George contacted John and Paul, and The Quarry Men were reunited as a quartet. After about seven gigs at the club, Ken Brown left over a disagreement about money. From October 1959 to January 1960 John, Paul and George continued as a trio with Paul on drums. They called themselves "Johnny & the Moondogs".

By this time John was enrolled in The Liverpool College of Art. John knew that they needed a bass player so he asked two students if they would like the position. The two were Stuart Sutcliffe and Rod Murray. Both could not afford a guitar, so Rod started to make one by hand. However, Stuart was able to sell one of his paintings to a John Moores Exhibition and was able to buy a Hofner bass guitar and join the group in January, 1960. At this time the group had changed its name to "Silver Beetles". They also began shifting drummers around, the first was Tommy Moore who toured with them through Scotland and then left. The next was Norman Chapman but he left after only a few weeks. Finally, George suggested that Pete Best, the son of club owner Mrs. Mona Best, become the group's drummer.

Paul contacted Pete and offered him the drummer seat, he took it. The group had finally settled on "The Beatles" just before their first trip to Hamburg in August, 1960. Now John, Paul, George, Stuart and Pete would head off for Hamburg. At that time The Beatles weren't considered to be the leading group in Liverpool and in most cases were looked down upon. In Hamburg they pulled their act together musically. This was caused by the fact that they had to play such long hours and were bullied by the club owner Bruno Koschimider to "make a show". It wasn't just Hamburg that made them special. The fact that Liverpool had so many venues for local acts to play at, coupled with the rivalry between more than 300 Merseyside groups, continued to forge The Beatles until they were to be regarded as Liverpool's top band.

At the time, Pete Best was regarded as the most potent symbol in the band. After Hamburg, Stuart Sutcliffe had left and now The Beatles were a four-piece band and Paul took over as bass guitarist. John, Paul and George were the three front-line guitarists and they alternated as lead singers and also performed vocal harmony with either John and Paul or all three. Pete Best played drums and occasionally sang one song but he had developed a distinctive drum sound called "the atom beat" which many other drummers tried to copy.

By this time, The Beatles had hired Brian Epstein as their manager and he signed them up for an audition with Decca Records. The head of Decca Records told The Beatles manager, "Guitar groups are on their way out Mr. Epstein.". The Beatles were devastated by their failed audition but Epstien secured them a contract with Parlophone Records. George Martin became their A&R Man. In August of 1962, Pete Best was replaced by Ringo Starr.
Their first single "Love Me Do" was issued on October 5, 1962, and was a modest hit. 1963 and 1964 proved to be the most important years in their careers. In 1963 the "Beatlemania" craze had started in Britain and The Beatles were no longer support acts at concerts. Now they were starring in the Royal Variety Show and the highest rating TV show "Sunday Night At The London Palladium".

Their biggest year was 1964 when they conquered the biggest record market in the world - America. The group became symbols. America was mourning the death of President John F. Kennedy and The Beatles appeared on the scene to bring them fun and excitement and end their mourning. They also brought back rock 'n' roll to America. After Elvis had join the army, he lost much of his early rebelliousness. Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry were rocked by scandals and their careers suffered. Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens had been killed in an plane crash. The American media was promoting what The Beatles called "One-Hit-Wonders" such as Frankie Avalon, Tab Hunter, James Darren, etc.

Ed Sullivan had been at London airport when The Beatles return from Sweden and saw all the girls screaming, the boys cheering and the media taking pictures. He knew they were something special and he booked them on his TV show "The Ed Sullivan Show". That show received the highest ratings in the history of television up to then. That same year The Beatles toured America for the first time and starred in their first motion picture "A Hard Day's Night". In 1965, The Beatles second motion picture "HELP!" premiered. Later that year, The Beatles performed at Shea Stadium in New York to a crowd of 55,000 screaming fans. The largest live audience in history. Their tours did have their darker moments. The first being in Tokyo, Japan where The Beatles were locked up in their hotel and were not allowed to come out until show time. The next was in the Philippines when, on a day off, Madam Marcos asked them to attend a Royal dinner. The Beatles politely turned down the invitation and the public was furious. The Beatles quickly left.

In 1966, The Beatles were under heavy pressure from the press after John made a remark that The Beatles were more popular than Jesus. John had to apologize and explain himself several times. Not only that but their tour of America was plagued with mishaps. On August 19, 1966 they receive a death threat in Memphis and a firecracker went off during the show terrifying The Beatles. The next day in Cincinnati a concert promoter failed to provide a stage canopy and can't understand why The Beatles were unwilling to play electric guitars in a rainstorm. Paul becomes so agitated he becomes ill. On August 28, 1966 at Dodger Stadium, L.A. cops are seen beating teenage girls. Dozens are trampled in the chaos.

During the sixties, The Beatles not only became a musical phenomenon, they affected the styles and fashions of the decade. They transformed the record industry as well. They brought about royalties for artists and producers, revolutionized music tours, and started the Pop promo film or what we know today as "The Music Video". Everyone of their albums, from Please Please Me to Abbey Road were all popular and unique in their own way. But after the death of their long time manager Brian Epstein, things would start to fall apart for The Beatles.

Due to outside interests the group focused less and less and the band. In late 1964 they were introduced to marijuana and would experiment with more drugs such as LSD which they were first introduced to in late 1965. The Beatles played their last concert at Candlestick Park in San Francisco on August 29, 1966. In 1967, their manager Brian Epstein died of a accidental drug overdose. Some friction was caused between John and Paul because Paul was trying to become the leader of the group after Brian's death. Ties were still strong at this point between the band members despite Ringo leaving the band for a short time during The White Album because he felt left out. When Ringo decided to return he found his drum kit decked with flowers and the others tried to include him more.

After The White Album they embarked on the "Let It Be" project. The idea was to see The Beatles jam, rehearse and record a whole new album of songs. At the end they would give a concert from some spectacular place. Tensions were high between Paul and George as they started recording at Twickenham Film Studios. John was off in his land of love with Yoko and Ringo was left in the background. One day George walked out on a session after a disagreement with Paul. George came back to finish up the album but as John would later explain, "We couldn't play the game anymore, we just couldn't do it".

The Beatles gave their last public appearance on top of the Apple building on January 30, 1969. However their "Let It Be" album was deemed un-releasable. It was handed over to Phil Spector who added lush orchestrations to such songs as "The Long and Winding Road", infuriating Paul. Despite all of this, The Beatles decided to get together to make one final album "Abbey Road" which would go on to become their biggest selling record in history. It was mainly Paul who kept the group together this long, encouraging them to make Magical Mystery Tour back in 1967 after Brian's death and trying to get them all excited about recording and performing. Recording yes, performing no. From Sgt. Pepper's through Abbey Road these were considered to be their "studio years" where they rarely got together except to record. The Let It Be album was finally released on May 8, 1970 less than a month after Paul publicly announced he was no longer a member of the group.

In the end, The Beatles became true legends. Their music touched all our lives. The Beatles wanted more than just to "Be Beatles", they wanted happiness. A happiness that they once had back when they first became successful. John found happiness with his one true love Yoko, his Plastic Ono Band, and son Sean; Paul found happiness with Linda, his children, and Wings; George found happiness with his solo career, Olivia, and his son Dhani; and Ringo found happiness with his solo career, acting career, Barbara, and his sons. They will always be the greatest rock 'n' roll band in history.\

(www.numberonestars.com/musiclegends/thebeatles.htm)

Bob Marley

A legend whose political convictions shone as brightly as his music, Bob Marley spread the message of "one love" on an almost global level. With his vocal group The Wailers in tow, he embraced Jamaican reggae, ska and soul through the mid-Sixties, later moving towards the emerging rocksteady sound and a lyricism preoccupied with justice, independence and peace. It was to be a few years later, during collaborations with Lee Perry, that his sound reached its full maturity - and in 1975 he achieved his first UK chart hit with No Woman No Cry. After surviving an assassination attempt in 1976, a minor football injury initiated cancer which continued to spread throughout his body, claiming his life in 1981. He was just 36 years old.

In memory of Tun Mustapha

In memory of Tun Mustapha
STORY AND PHOTOS BY NORMIMIE DUIN

TALENTED: Tun Mustapha playing his violin to entertain an Indonesian cultural troupe at his residence on May 14, 1968.

A violin used by one of Malaysia's founding fathers Tun Datu Mustapha Datu Harun to entertain special guests and friends is among items on display at a gallery set up by Yayasan Sabah.
The Tun Mustapha Gallery was set up in memory of the charismatic though sometimes controversial Sabah leader.
Pictures of the former office boy, who went on to lead Sabah into independence and become the state's first Yang Di Pertua Negeri (Head of State) and later Chief Minister, adorns the walls of the gallery in the atrium of the 30-storey suspended tower, Menara Tun Mustapha, one of only four such buildings in the world.
The gallery, with a vast collection information of Mustapha, also charts the various development projects undertaken by the leader during his tenure as Sabah Chief Minister between 1967 and 1976.
Among other exhibits are pictures of him joining Umno, paintings, pictorials, artefacts, clothing, newspaper clippings, articles and publications featuring his life.
Mustapha is credited to have set up Yayasan Sabah, which has over years helped provide socio-economic and educational development for the people through harnessing the state's timber resources.
Today, Menara Tun Mustapha is a tourist attraction and Yayasan Sabah hopes to woo more visitors to the building by setting up the gallery.
"Menara Tun Mustapha is already drawing large numbers of tourists to snap pictures of the building.
"Now, with the gallery, tourists will be able to learn more about the building and the man behind it," said Yayasan Sabah deputy director Datuk Johan Ariffin Samad.
Johan, who invited tourism players and hoteliers to visit the gallery set up earlier this year, said it was a source of information for researchers, particularly in regard to Mustapha's political struggles and contributions to nation building.
Mustapha became Sabah's first Head of State when the state gained independence on Sept 16, 1963, and later was the state's third Chief Minister from 1967 and 1976.
In 1991, he dissolved his Usno party to pave the way for Umno's entry into Sabah.
He died in 1995 at the age of 78.

OVERSEAS TOUR: The late Tun Mustapha and his late
wife Toh Puan Hajah Rahmah with their family in London.

MY T@LENT

This picture taken during my rehearsal in the studio...