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Buddy Rich

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American jazz drummer, composer, director, and bandleader Bernard “Buddy” Rich (September 30, 1917 – April 2, 1987). He has a reputation for being a groundbreaking drummer.

Rich is a native New Yorker who grew up in the borough of Brooklyn. He started playing the drums when he was two years old and developed his love for jazz music at an early age. He debuted on the jazz scene in 1937, performing with artists like Bunny Berigan, Artie Shaw, Tommy Dorsey, Count Basie, and Harry James. Rich was a member of the United States Marine Corps from 1942 until 1944. For three years, from 1945 to 1948, he was at the helm of the Buddy Rich Orchestra. Songs from West Side Story were arranged by him in a big band format and released in 1966. By 1966[citation required], he had established permanent success with the Buddy Rich Big Band, popularly known as the Buddy Rich Band and The Big Band Machine.

To say that Rich had virtuosic skill, power, and speed would be an understatement.

His preference was for the conventional grip, although he did use the matched grip on the toms on occasion. Commercially successful and musically talented as he was, Rich never learned to read sheet music, instead opting to memorize drum parts by listening to them.

Foo Fighters

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Foo Fighters is a Seattle, Washington, American rock band that was created in 1994. Dave Grohl, once of Nirvana, started Foo Fighters as a solo effort. Grohl (lead vocals, guitar) recruited Nate Mendel (bass guitar), William Goldsmith (drums), and Pat Smear (guitar) after the success of their self-titled first album in 1995. (guitar). Goldsmith and Smear left the band, and by 1999 the core lineup of Grohl, Mendel, Chris Shiflett (guitar), and Taylor Hawkins had been established (drums). Smear came back in 2005, and in 2017 Rami Jaffee (keys) joined the group.

Grohl enlisted Mendel and Goldsmith, previously of Sunny Day Real Estate, and Smear, a veteran of Nirvana’s touring band, to join the Foo Fighters before the release of their first album. Portland, Oregon was the band’s first stop. The Colour and the Shape (1997) was recorded without Goldsmith on drums; Grohl re-recorded the majority of the drum tracks. Almost immediately after, Smear left the band, but he continued to make periodic guest appearances beginning in 2005. He eventually came back in 2010.

Franz Stahl and Taylor Hawkins took over for Smear and Goldsmith, but Stahl was let go before the trio could record their third album, There Is Nothing Left to Lose (1999). After finishing There Is Nothing Left to Lose, the band remained a trio for a while until welcoming guitarist Chris Shiflett. Foo Fighters’ fourth album, titled One by One, was released in 2002. The subsequent two-disc set, In Your Honor (2005), had both acoustic and harder music. Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace was Foo Fighters’ sixth studio album, released in 2007.

Smear rejoined the Foo Fighters for their seventh studio album, Wasting Light (2011), produced by Butch Vig. In 2014, Grohl released Sonic Highways as the score to his TV movie. Featuring veteran session and touring keyboardist Rami Jaffee as a full member, Concrete and Gold (2017) was the second Foo Fighters album to debut at number one in the United States. Hawkins’ death in March 2022 meant that he would not be included on the band’s last album, Medicine at Midnight (2021).

Foo Fighters have been one of the most successful rock groups in Grammy history, winning 15 total Grammys and five times for Best Rock Album.

[4] At the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards, the group was presented with the first “Global Icon” award. In 2021, their first year of eligibility, they were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Taylor Hawkins

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Oliver Taylor Hawkins, was born on February 17, 1972 and died on March 25, 2022. He was a drummer for the rock band Foo Fighters, with whom he released eight studio albums between 1999 and 2021. He had previously toured with Sass Jordan, Alanis Morissette, and advanced experimental band Sylvia before joining the band in 1997.
Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders, a side band in which Hawkins plays drums and sings, was established in 2004, and they have released three albums between 2006 and 2019.

He founded the supergroup NHC with Jane’s Addiction members Dave Navarro and Chris Chaney in 2020, where he also took on main vocal and drummer responsibilities. 

In 2021, Hawkins and the Foo Fighters were honored by being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

In 2005, he won “Best Rock Drummer” from the readers of Rhythm, a drumming magazine published in Britain. On March 25, 2022, at age 50, he passed away in Bogotá, Colombia.

Earlier years
Oliver Taylor Hawkins was born in Fort Worth, Texas, on February 17, 1972.

Hawkins spent his formative years at Laguna Beach, California, when his family relocated there in 1976.
Hawkins has two elder siblings, Jason and Heather. Friend and current Yes lead singer Jon Davison were classmates of his at Laguna Beach High School [9] from which he graduated in 1990.

James Hetfield

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James Alan Hetfield is a famous American rock star who was born on August 3, 1963. He’s the frontman for Metallica, as well as a co-founder and primary composer for the band and a rhythm guitarist. Though his forte is sophisticated rhythm work, he also takes on lead guitar responsibilities and solos on occasion, both in concert and in the studio. In October of 1981, Hetfield and Lars Ulrich, the band’s drummer, placed an ad in The Recycler newspaper in Los Angeles. Metallica has published 10 studio albums, three live albums, four extended plays, and twenty-four singles, in addition to winning nine Grammy Awards. Hetfield is widely considered to be one of the best heavy metal rhythm guitarists of all time.

Both Joel McIver’s book “The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists of All Time” and Hit Parader’s “100 Greatest Metal Vocalists of All Time” put Hetfield highly in 2009. Hit Parader placed Hetfield at No. 24. Guitar World ranked Hetfield as the 19th best guitarist of all time, and the magazine’s list of the 100 greatest metal guitarists ranked him second (tied with Metallica’s lead guitarist Kirk Hammett). The magazine Rolling Stone ranked him as the 87th best guitarist of all time.

Metallica

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Heavy metal band Metallica hails from the United States. James Hetfield (vocals/guitar) and Lars Ulrich (drums) started the band in Los Angeles in 1981, however the group has spent the most of its existence in the Bay Area. One of the “big four” bands of thrash metal along with Megadeth, Anthrax, and Slayer due to their rapid tempos, instrumentals, and violent musicianship. Hetfield and Ulrich, the band’s original members, create the majority of the songs, while veteran lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo round out the current roster. They’ve had guitarist Dave Mustaine, who established Megadeth after being dismissed, and bassists Ron McGovney, Cliff Burton, and Jason Newsted.

In 1986, Metallica released Master of Puppets, widely considered their finest album and one of the hardest metal albums of all time. Metallica received their first Grammy Award nomination for their album…And Justice for All (1988). Metallica’s self-titled fifth album from 1991 was their first not to be primarily rooted in thrash metal, and it was a huge financial success, selling over 16 million copies in the United States to date and becoming the best-selling album of the SoundScan period. Metallica’s ninth studio album, Death Magnetic (2008), saw the band return to its thrash metal origins and was received with the same critical acclaim as the band’s earlier releases despite the band’s experimentation with new genres and directions in previous releases. After this, in 2016, they released Hardwired… to Self-Destruct, and in 2023, they plan to release 72 Seasons, their 11th studio album.

In 2000, Metallica spearheaded a lawsuit against the P2P file-sharing site Napster, in which the band and other artists accused Napster of illegally distributing their copyright-protected work without permission. Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, a critically praised documentary released in 2004, followed the band during the turbulent development of their eighth studio album, St. Anger (2003), and the band’s internal issues at the time. Metallica entered the Hall of Fame in 2009, and their music is considered classic rock. Metallica: Through the Never was a concert film released in 2013 that featured the band performing live against a fictitious thriller scenario, and in which the band members also produced the screenplay and appeared with Dane DeHaan.

Metallica has put out 10 studio albums, 4 live albums (2 of which feature the San Francisco Symphony), 12 video albums, a cover album, 2 EPs, 37 singles, and 39 music videos. The band’s past six studio albums (starting with Metallica) have all debuted at the top of the Billboard 200. They have won nine Grammy Awards out of a total of twenty-three nominations. As of 2018, Metallica has sold over 125 million records worldwide, making them one of the most commercially successful bands of all time. Publications like Rolling Stone have included Metallica on their lists of the best artists of all time, placing them at number 61 on their own 100 Greatest Artists of All Time list. According to Nielsen SoundScan, Metallica has sold 58 million albums in the United States since the company began keeping sales records in 1991. This makes them the third best-selling music artist of all time.

Twisted Sister

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Heavy metal band Twisted Sister formed in Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey, and eventually relocated to Long Island, New York. Both “We’re Not Gonna Take It” and “I Wanna Rock” are among their most well-known songs, and their accompanying music videos are legendary for their comical antics.

Silver Star was the precursor to the eventual lineup of Jay Jay French (guitar), Eddie “Fingers” Ojeda (guitar), Dee Snider (lead vocals), Mark “The Animal” Mendoza (bass), and A. J. Pero (drums) in 1982. This lineup is responsible for the band’s first four albums. Under the Blade (1982) and You Can’t Stop Rock ‘n’ Roll (1983) were Twisted Sister’s first two studio albums, and they were both highly acclaimed and helped make the band famous in the underground. With the release of their third album Stay Hungry (1984) and the accompanying song “We’re Not Gonna Take It,” the band finally broke through to the public. Twisted Sister’s subsequent albums, 1985’s Come Out and Play and 1987’s Love Is for Suckers, failed to equal the success of Stay Hungry, and the band broke up in 1988.

The band reformed for a short time in the late ’90s, and then again in 2003 for good. Still Hungry (2004), a re-recording of their third album, and A Twisted Christmas (2005), a Christmas album, were the next two albums released by the band (2006). They went on one last tour following Pero’s passing in 2015, and then they all went their own ways in 2016.

Snider dislikes the label “glam metal,” which is commonly applied to Twisted Sister because of the band’s members’ penchant for wearing cosmetics.

According to VH1, Twisted Sister is the 73rd best hard rock band of all time.

Peter Criss

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Peter Criss’s parents, Loretta and Joseph Criscuola, were devout Roman Catholics and gave their five kids a strong faith in God. He was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. The ancestors of Joseph Criscuola were from Scafati, Salerno, Italy. Criss is a native of Brooklyn and a lifelong pal of Jerry Nolan, the future drummer for the New York Dolls. He was a serious art student and a huge fan of swing music. Criss was able to learn from his hero Gene Krupa at New York’s Metropole Club thanks to his time spent performing with bandleader Joey Greco.
During the middle to late 1960s, Criss played in a number of groups. During this period, Criss became a member of Chelsea, a band that at the time was releasing its debut self-titled album (1970) as part of a two-album deal with Decca Records. After the release of Lips in August 1971, they never released another album (a trio consisting of Criss and his Chelsea bandmates Michael Benvenga and Stan Penridge). By early 1972, Lips had dwindled to Criss and Penridge.

Post-Chelsea Michael Benvenga and pre-Kiss Gene Simmons were featured on an unreleased album recorded by Pete Shepley and Mike Brand in 1973. Session musicians Peter Criss and Gene Simmons. Captain Sanity was the name of the character in it.
Criss advertised in the East Coast version of Rolling Stone after the breakup of his band Lips, saying:

EXPD. ROCK & roll drummer looking for orig. grp. doing soft & hard music. Peter, Brooklyn.

Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, who were wanting to expand their band, responded to the ad. It wasn’t until December of 1972 that Ace Frehley joined the band, and it wasn’t until later that month that they changed their name to Kiss. In his book Kiss and Make-Up, Simmons, however, writes of his first encounter with Criss as follows:

While flipping through Rolling Stone one afternoon, I saw an ad that read, “Drummer available – Will do anything.” I phoned him up while he was in the midst of a get-together, and he answered. I introduced myself and told him that I was part of a band that was just getting started and that they needed a drummer and would he be willing to try anything to make it. According to him, he was at once.

In a later section of the chapter, Simmons tells of meeting the drummer at a quaint Italian Club in Brooklyn “The drummer broke into song with a voice reminiscent of Wilson Pickett’s. Both Paul and I agreed, “That guy right there is our drummer.” The man’s name was Peter Criscuola.”

In February of 1974, Kiss released their debut album, simply titled Kiss. Criss led the singing on several Kiss songs, including “Black Diamond,” “Hard Luck Woman,” and “Beth,” the band’s first big hit.

Kiss’ ballad “Beth” was co-written by Criss, and it reached number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1976. Although “Disco Duck” also won the People’s Choice Award for “Young People’s Favorite New Song” in 1977, “Love Gun” remains Kiss’s most successful single in the United States. This tune was composed by Criss while he was still a member of Chelsea, before he joined Kiss. The song’s melody was conceived by Criss on a train ride from the band’s practice space in New Jersey to New York City. Together, he and Penridge composed the tune.

In 1971, the song was demoed.

Go Time

Go Time

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Welcome to Music PPF; a project site dedicated to building the internet’s most robust site with one singular focus: the music industry.

Our hope is to connect music lovers with the world’s talented musicians and performers.

We intend to collaborate with music venues, recording studios, record labels, and the many various music industry professionals.

For now, until the site grows and gains traction, the Feeds page is probably the most interactive page on this site.

Testament

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The Berkeley, California-based thrash metal band Testament is an American institution. Originally forming in 1983, the current Legacy lineup consists of rhythm guitarist Eric Peterson, lead singer Chuck Billy, lead guitarist Alex Skolnick, bassist Steve Di Giorgio, and drummer Dave Lombardo. Peterson is the last surviving founding member of Testament, however one of the band’s composers, Skolnick, who left in 1992 and did not return until 2005, has now returned. In 1986, Billy replaced founding vocalist Steve “Zetro” Souza, who had replaced Paul Baloff in Exodus, and thus began his tenure with Testament. He and Peterson are the only continuous members of Testament, with Peterson being the only one to feature on every studio album.

Considered one of the “big six” bands (together with Exodus, Death Angel, Lz Rockit, Forbidden, and Vio-lence) that helped define the thrash metal sound of the 1980s in the San Francisco Bay Area, The band formed in 1983. Testament is widely recognized as a pioneering band of the second wave of thrash metal, which emerged in the late ’80s, and a cultural phenomenon in its own right. [7][8] Along with Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Anthrax, Exodus, Overkill, and Death Angel, they are often considered one of the “big eight” of thrash metal. Since the inception of the SoundScan system, the band has sold over 1.4 million records in the United States. and more than 14 million copies sold throughout the globe. As of now, Testament has produced three DVDs, twelve singles, four live albums, five compilation albums, and thirteen studio albums (one of which is a collection of re-recorded songs).

After signing to Atlantic Records in 1986 under the name Legacy, the band changed its name to Testament and released its self-titled debut album in 1987. The following year, they released The New Order, which also received widespread critical acclaim and was widely covered in the press, particularly in heavy metal music magazines. Testament’s third album, Practice What You Preach (1989), was their first to break into the Top 100 on the Billboard 200 list, marking the beginning of the band’s mainstream success. [19] A series of critically and commercially acclaimed albums were produced in the early to mid-1990s. These included Souls of Black (1990), The Ritual (1992), and Low (1994). [19] Testament, who had been experimenting with a groove/death metal-influenced sound by the time Atlantic dismissed them in 1995, kept recording and performing until their extended sabbatical in 2001, when Billy was stricken with cancer. His disease had gone into remission by 2005, and he and Testament were back at it, recording the live album Live in London with the original lineup from The Legacy. Since then, Testament’s fame has skyrocketed; the band has released four albums in the Top 100 on the Billboard 200 (2008’s The Formation of Damnation, 2012’s Dark Roots of Earth, 2016’s Brotherhood of the Snake, and 2020’s Titans of Creation), and they have been on the road nonstop since. The band’s fourteenth studio album is now under production, with a release date set for 2023.

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