Vocalist Harriet Wheeler and guitarist David Gavurin had met as students at Bristol University in the mid-1980s. Wheeler was from Reading , the daughter of an architect and a teacher, and studied English literature. Gavurin was from Wembley and actively pursued a degree in the Romance languages , particularly French…
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After playing mostly around the New York area, the band signed with Enigma . The single ” Blood and Roses ” from their first album was included on the soundtrack for Dangerously Close , and the music video got moderate rotation on MTV. “Blood and Roses” was also featured on…
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During the 1980s, each of the future members of Tool moved to Los Angeles. Both Paul D’Amour and Adam Jones wanted to enter the film industry, while Maynard James Keenan, who had studied visual arts in Michigan, worked as a pet store remodeler. Danny Carey and Keenan performed for Green…
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After a flexi-disc debut, the Flexible Membrane EP in 1980, they released the debut single proper “Muscles” in 1982, which was raved over by both the music press and John Peel . That record’s success saw the band sign a deal with Rondelet Records who issued a follow-up, the Pin…
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They first gained attention for their song “Bloodstains”, originally appearing on their self-released debut 7-inch EP in 1980. A demo version of the song was given to Rodney Bingenheimer , a DJ at Pasadena radio station KROQ-FM , who placed it on his seminal 1980 compilation album, Rodney on the…
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The Wipers first album, Is This Real? , was issued in January 1980 on Park Avenue Records, a label that the band hoped would gain them wider distribution. It was originally recorded on a 4-track in the band’s rehearsal studio, but the label insisted that the band use a professional…
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Hatred of the band reached such a level that a petition calling on them to split up was launched by a jealous young Julian Cope resulting from a rivalry with the Crucial Three . Displayed in local shop Probe Records , the petition gathered numerous signatures, including those of the…
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Wickett was replaced by Roger Taylor’s friend and former singer of The Scent Organs Jeff Thomas. In early 1980, they became the resident band at the city’s Rum Runner nightclub.They worked at the club and regularly rehearsed and performed there. Curtis was unhappy with the Rum Runner club scene and…
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Subsequently, Duran Duran struggled to escape the teen idol image and gain respect among critics with more complex music. The new serious image was not accepted at first and their popularity began to wane. Rolling Stone said, “In their search for musical maturity, the surviving Durans have lost a good…
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Formed in Dayton, Ohio , in the early 1980s, Guided by Voices began their career as a bar band working the local scene. As lineups and day-jobs shifted, however, Pollard moved the band towards a studio-only orientation. Guided by Voices’ recording career began with a stream of self-financed, independent releases…
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