Genre: Rock/Pop
Decades Active: 70s
Pub rock, the English roots rock movement of the early '70s, would never have earned a cult following if it wasn't for Brinsley Schwarz. Initially, Brinsley Schwarz was a rambling, neo-psychedelic folk-rock band that borrowed heavily from Crosby, Stills & Nash and the Grateful Dead. Following a disastrous publicity stunt to promote its debut... [+] Read More
Genre: Rock/Pop
Decades Active: 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s
Roots-rockers are seldom as purist as Dave Edmunds. Throughout his career, he stayed true to '50s and '60s rock & roll -- for Edmunds, rock & roll history stopped somewhere in 1963, after the Beach Boys' first singles but before the Beatles' hits. After establishing himself as a hotshot lead guitarist in the blues-rockers Love Sculpture, he... [+] Read More
Genre: Rock/Pop
Decades Active: 70s, 80s, 90s
Arriving during the waning days of pub rock, Eddie & the Hot Rods helped usher in punk rock in the United Kingdom. Working from the same bluesy, Stonesy three-chord foundation as contemporaries like Dr. Feelgood, the Hot Rods were faster, tougher, wilder and louder than any other pub-rock band. They also celebrated adolescent abandon, unlike... [+] Read More
Genre: Rock/Pop
Decades Active: 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s
In his 1999 memoir, A Cure for Gravity: A Musical Pilgrimage, Joe Jackson writes approvingly of George Gershwin as a musician who kept one foot in the popular and one in the classical realms of music. Like Gershwin, Jackson possesses a restless musical imagination that has found him straddling musical genres unapologetically, disinclined to pick... [+] Read More
Genre: Rock/Pop
Decades Active: 70s, 80s
The Kursaal Flyers bridged the gap between pub rock and power pop, turning out a handful of fine albums and great singles in their brief two-year career. Comprised of Paul Shuttleworth (vocals), Graeme Douglas (guitar), Vic Collins (guitar, steel guitar, vocals), Riche Bull (bass, vocals), and Will Birch (drums), the band released their first... [+] Read More
Genre: Rock/Pop
Decades Active: 70s, 80s
Formed in Surrey, England, in the summer of 1977, the Members were among the new wave of British bands jumping on the punk bandwagon. The band -- composed of Nicky Tesco (vocals), Jean-Marie Caroll (guitar), Gary Baker (guitar), Adrian Lillywhite (drums), and Chris Payne (bass) -- was among the first to successfully blend reggae rhythms with... [+] Read More
Genre: Rock/Pop
Decades Active: 70s, 80s
Like Dave Edmunds, guitarist/pianist/vocalist Mickey Jupp was a champion of traditional rock & roll during the late '70s, a time when it had been all but discarded. Unlike Edmunds, Jupp wrote the majority of his own material, which updated '50s rock & roll with a tongue-in-cheek irony.
Jupp began his career with the Essex-based...
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Genre: Rock/Pop
Decades Active: 70s, 80s
During the late '70s, Rockpile was the touring band for both Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe. Like Edmunds, the band was passionate about traditional rock & roll. Like Lowe, the band played with a reckless, trashy abandon. Driven by the powerful rhythm section of drummer Terry Williams and Lowe's bass, guitarists Billy Bremner and Edmunds were free... [+] Read More
Genre: Rock/Pop
Decades Active: 70s
Primarily known as the band Joe Strummer was in before he joined the Clash, the 101'ers were part of the last wave of British pub rock bands of the mid-'70s. The group never released any recordings while they were together, yet they were among the important transitional figures in the metamorphosis of pub rock into punk rock.
Joe...
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Genre: Rock/Pop
Decades Active: 70s, 80s
The Rumour are best known as Graham Parker's backing band during his heyday, but the band also took a stab at their own recording career. And even though they were overshadowed by their association with Parker and never received much attention for their efforts, they did manage to make three albums of really enjoyable music in the mold of a new... [+] Read More