Showing 1 - of
Artist: Guru
Rapper/composer Guru (real name Keith Elam) first rose to prominence as the "lyrical half" of the hip-hop duo Gang Starr, one of the first outfits that attempted to fuse jazz with rap. After three albums by Gang Starr hit record store shelves (1989's No More Mr. Nice Guy, 1991's Step in the Arena, and 1992's Daily Operation), Guru launched his... [+] Read More
Artist: Moonlight Circus
Italian progressive metal group Moonlight Circus was born when former Black Jester members Paolo Viani (guitar) and Alberto Masiero (drums) teamed up with Alex Secchi (vocals), Gianluca Tassi (bass), and Daniele Soravia (keyboards). Their first album, Outskirts of Reality, arrived in the year 2000 and was followed by a long silence, but the band... [+] Read More
Artist: Elvira Madigan
Not a band, not a woman, but a one-man performing, recording, art-designing, and album-releasing (on his very own Northlore label) operation, Elvira Madigan is the work of Stockholm, Sweden's Marcus Hammarström, formerly the vocalist for Andalucia and bassist with Ethonicide. Gradually conceived during his stint with the aforementioned acts,... [+] Read More
Artist: Angel Dust
Hailing from Dortmund, Germany, heavy metal quintet Angel Dust originally began life in the '80s as a thrash outfit. They recorded two albums, 1988's Into the Dark Past and 1989's To Dust You Will Decay, before disbanding due to personality conflicts. However, the band's rhythm section -- drummer Dirk Assmuth and bassist Frank Banx --... [+] Read More
Artist: Ozzy Osbourne
Though many bands have succeeded in earning the hatred of parents and media worldwide throughout the past few decades, arguably only such acts as Alice Cooper, Judas Priest, and Marilyn Manson have tied the controversial record of Ozzy Osbourne. The former Black Sabbath frontman has been ridiculed over his career, mostly due to rumors denouncing... [+] Read More
Artist: Macabre
This long-lived Chicago trio became a cult favorite among death metal fans with their perverse themes that inspire just about as much boyish giggling as they do shock. Though Macabre was one of the first bands to ever experiment with the themes and songwriting that would eventually become widely known as death metal, the group remained primarily... [+] Read More
Artist: Los Temerarios
Los Temerarios' bubblegum ranchera has been the romantic soundtrack of millions of Mexican and Mexican-American youths' lives during the '90s. Combining elements of traditional Mexican ranchera music with keyboards, electric bass and stately percussion, they created a sound whose appeal frequently took them to the top tier of Billboard's Latin... [+] Read More
Artist: Mercyside
The modern rock/dream pop outfit Mercyside formed when Jennifer Brunetti opted for another career turn. This inspiring singer/songwriter was already an award-winning filmmaker, but this Detroit-born, classically trained artist in the making yearned to make music. She earned a degree from Boston's prestigious Berklee College of Music and got into... [+] Read More
Artist: Solace
The New Jersey metal group Solace was formed in 1996 by bassist Rob Hultz and guitarist Tommy Southard, neither of them new to the heavy rock music world. Both were one-time members of the band Cathedral and the metal thrash group known as Godspeed. With the release of only one album, Ride, Godspeed met an early demise, but Southard and Hultz... [+] Read More
Artist: Tribal Tech
The virtuoso jazz fusion unit Tribal Tech was formed in 1984 by guitarist Scott Henderson and bassist Gary Willis, debuting a year later with Spears. Over the course of subsequent efforts including 1987's Dr. Hee, 1990's Nomad and 1992's Illicit, both Henderson and Willis emerged among the most acclaimed instrumentalists in contemporary jazz,... [+] Read More
Artist: The Berzerker
The Berzerker unleashes intense, death-grind metal music that thrashes everything in its path with a mix of industrial, noise, and unstoppably heavy riffs. The misanthropic Australian band that prefers to remain shrouded in mystery and beneath mutant masks began as a studio solo project in Melbourne in 1995. In 1998, the Berzerker signed with... [+] Read More
Artist: Kinito Mendez
Dominican merengue star Kinito Méndez (born José del Carmen Ramírez) got involved in popular music at the age of nine while participating in a band called Pequeños del Ritmo. In 1988, he formed a tropical act called Cocoband along with Alfonso "Pochi" Vásquez. After that, he formed the group Rikarena, his second project. In the early '90s,... [+] Read More
Artist: Kung Fu Killers
The Kung Fu Killers are to hardcore punk what the Wu-Tung Clan is to hardcore rap: a group that employs a lot of martial arts imagery and obviously has a thing for Asian martial arts films of the '70s. In fact, the Kung Fu Killers' EP Game of Death is named after one of the late Bruce Lee's '70s films. But the Killers don't sound anything like... [+] Read More
Artist: Denim
After over a decade fronting low-key, elegant guitar pop outfit Felt -- which was prominently influenced by Television -- enigmatic visionary Lawrence Hayward (who tends to shed the surname) moved on to Denim. For the new project, the Birmingham, England, native left behind the cascading guitar figures of ally Maurice Deebank for sweet, crunchy... [+] Read More
Artist: Flickerstick
Flickerstick's curious road to rock & roll "stardom" began in 1997, in Denton, TX. Aspiring frontman Brandin Lea met guitarist Cory Kreig, and with the help of Brandin's brother Fletcher, guitarist Rex Ewing, and area drummer Dominic Weir, Flickerstick was born. Mining a familiar, if unremarkable sound somewhere between Brit-pop and modern rock,... [+] Read More
Artist: Manntis
Metalcore continued to rage in the mid-2000s, and Manntis fueled the fire. Active since 2000 in and around southern California, Manntis didn't gain a foothold nationally until 2004 and the band's participation in MTV's Battle for Ozzfest, a reality contest that pitted up-and-coming metal hopefuls against each other in competition for a record... [+] Read More
Artist: Denny Almonde
Biography: Ingenious swiss sound alchemist and researcher of computer music. Denis Ghitti a.k.a. Denny Almonde has been working within the field of experimental electronic music since the end of the 80's. He's now one of the few interesting young artists in the new "crossing borderline" scene. In the last years has been working with a 'personal... [+] Read More
Artist: Mohair
Watford, England's Mohair feature Pete Baker (drums, brass), Tom Billington (guitar, vocals), Alex Richards (keyboards, vocals), and Tim Slade (bass, vocals). The members of the rollicking rock quartet have played in various bands since their early teens, most notably a Commitments cover band. By 2000, Mohair were born and the four childhood... [+] Read More
Artist: Mirror Reveals
The ethereal/darkwave duo The Mirror Reveals consists of vocalist Kit Messick and songwriter James Babbo. Messick sang with the NY-based group Under Ashes in the late '90s and also sings on the city's cabaret circuit; Babbo also works with bands like Hellpop and Reality Inversion. They began the Mirror Reveals in 1999, after Under Ashes broke up... [+] Read More
Artist: Natural
Brought to the masses by the same people responsible for the Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync, Natural represented Trans Continental's next venture into manufactured boy bands. Unlike the two aforementioned teen sensations, though, Natural wasn't so much a dance-pop act as it was a real band. The five boys actually play their own instruments and... [+] Read More
Artist: Cella Dwellas
The CDs first created a buzz with the single "Land of the Lost" which originally appeared on Nudder Budders, a Loud Records sampler in 1994. The duo was originally thought to be a part of the burgeoning mid-'90s horrorcore sound popularized by groups like the Gravediggaz. However, the horrorcore-esque "Land of the Lost" was just the tip of the... [+] Read More
Artist: Cori Yarckin
Even as a little girl, Cori Yarckin was most comfortable in the spotlight. Growing up in the Orlando area, she danced in Disney specials, sang children's opera, and even studied theater. 2000 was a big year for Yarckin. She landed the role of Camille Ruiz on the short-lived Nickelodeon kid comedy Noah Knows Best, and made a few fleeting... [+] Read More
Artist: Parkway
The CCM group Parkway features founding members Damian Horne and Lance Black, along with touring members Rod Schuler (also of Reality Check) and Matt and Jessie Fein. Horne and Black (previously a member of the Dove Award-nominated group Silage) met in junior high and discovered they shared a love of music as well as a strong religious faith.... [+] Read More
Artist: Lil' Kim
After making her presence known on Junior M.A.F.I.A.'s debut album, Conspiracy, Lil' Kim launched a solo career in 1996 with the release of her first record, Hard Core. As the album's title implies, Kim was a rarity among female rappers -- one who not only concentrated on edgy hardcore rap but also explicit sexuality, two territories that had... [+] Read More
Artist: Seven Doors Down
Following the footsteps of their Christian rock predecessors (Audio Adrenaline, Squad Five-O, Allstar United, and Reality Check), 7 Doors Down has been honing their musical craft since 1995, while still studying at Southwestern Oklahoma State University. Vocalist Scott Floyd teamed up with Jeff Ditz (guitar), Ryan Traffanstedt (bass), and Jason... [+] Read More