Thursday Thirteen #6 - My Favorite Bands

I totally love rock and roll music! I especially love the classics. Here is a list of my top 13 bands or solo artists:

1.) Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
My very favorite band and solo artist all rolled up into one. Damn the Torpedos - released in 1979 - was the band's 3rd album and includes: "Refugee" and "Here Comes My Girl"
Full Moon Fever - released in 1989 - is the first solo album by Tom Petty and my favorite. It includes: "Free Fallin", "Won't Back Down", "Yer So Bad", "Runnin Down A Dream" and "Zombie Zoo". These songs were written with Jeff Lynne of ELO and The Traveling Wiburys fame.


2.) Heart
Ann and Nancy Wilson make up the band Heart. Little Queen - released in 1977 - is the groups 3rd album and includes: "Barracuda", "Kick It Out" and the title song "Little Queen". Heart - their 8th album - was released in 1985 and with the exception of their greatest hits, is my favorite album. It inclues: "If Looks Could Kill", "What About Love", "Never", and "These Dreams" (written by Bernie Taupin). Nancy Wilson is married to writer/director Cameron Crowe.

3.) Meatloaf
Bat Out of Hell - released in 1977 - is the 1st album by Meatloaf, songwriter Jim Steinman and producer Todd Rundgren. It includes: "Two Out of Three Ain't Bad", "Paradise By the Dashboard Lights" and the self-titled "Bat Out of Hell".
Bat of Hell II: Back Into Hell - released in 1993 - includes: "I'd Do Anything For Love", "Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through", Good Girls Go to Heaven", and "Objects In the Rearview Mirror ...".

4.) Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon was released in 1973 and includes: "Speak To Me", "The Great Gig in the Sky", "Brain Damage", "Eclipse" and "Money". This album spent 741 consecutive weeks on the Top 10 List (14+ years). The rock opera, The Wall, was released in 1979 and includes: "Another Brick in the Wall", "Goodbye Blue Sky", "Is There Anyone Out There", and "Comfortably Numb". The film version of The Wall was released in 1982.

5.) Moody Blues
The Moody Blues 1st album - Days of Future Passed - was released in 1967 and inlcudes: "Nights in White Satin" and "The Day Begins". The Other Side of Life was released in 1986 and includs the hits: "Your Wildest Dreams", "Rock 'N Roll Over You", and the self-titled "The Other Side of Life".

6.) Jethro Tull
Let's get this clear up front, there is NO person named Jethro Tull. Jethro Tull is a British rock band that features the distinctive vocal style and lead flute work of front man Ian Anderson. Released in 1971, Aqualung is the bands 4th studio release and includes: "Cross-eyed Mary", "Locomotive Breath", "Mother Goose", and the self-titled "Aqualung". Thick As A Brick - released in 1972 - was a concept album built around a poem written by a fictitious boy, "Gerald Bostock" a.k.a. "Little Milton" (Ian Anderson himself). This popular album includes "Thick As A Brick Part One" and "Thick As A Brick Part Two".

7.) Def Leppard
Another British hard rock band, Def Leppard released Pyromania in 1983 as their 3rd studio album. It included: "Photograph", "Too Late for Love", "Foolin", "Billy's Got a Gun", and "Rock of Ages".
In 1987 they released, Hysteria which includes: "Rocket", "Love Bites", "Pour Some Sugar On Me", and the self-titled "Hysteria". On an interesting note in 1984, drummer Rick Allen lost his left arm in a car crash - it has not effected his drumming ability.

8.) ELO (Electric Light Orchestra)
ELO is the brain-child of Jeff Lynne, who wrote and arranged the songs and music and produced every album. Released in 1977, Out of the Blue is a double album Lynne wrote in 3 1/2 weeks and it became the band's most commerically sucessful albums. It includes: "Turn to Stone", "Sweet Talkin Woman", "Big Wheels", Standin in the Rain", and my youngest daughter's favorite song, "Mr. Blue Sky".
Zoom, their most recent album, released in 2001, includes: "Moment in Paradise", "Easy Money", "All She Wanted", and "Lonesome Lullaby".

9.) Genesis
There is Genesis with Peter Gabriel and there is Genesis without Peter Gabriel; I prefer the latter, although I do enjoy Trick of the Tail released in 1976. Released in 1980, Duke is the 10th studio album and it includes: "Duchess", "Misunderstanding", "Turn It Around", and "Alone Tonight".
My favorite album is Invisible Touch released in 1986. It includes: "Land of Confusion", "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight", "In Too Deep", and the self-titled "Invisible Touch". It also includes "Throwing It All Away" written by guitarist Mike Rutherford, founder of Mike and the Mechanics - my favorite member of the band.

10.) Journey
A purely American rock band, Journey again came to the forefront after their song "Don't Stop Believing" was featured in the series finale of The Sopranos. Escape, their 7th studio album, was released in 1981 and includes: "Who's Crying Now", "Open Arms", "Stone in Love", and "Don't Stop Believing".
The 1996 release of Trial by Fire includes: "When You Love A Woman", "When I Think of You", "If He Should Break Your Heart" and the self-titled "Trial by Fire". In 2009, Steve Perry - the band's best-known lead vocalist - will be eligible for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

11.) Green Day
This fairly new rock band was formed in 1987 and was originally part of the punk rock scene. But Green Day didn't hit my radar until the 2004 release of American Idiot, which was their 7th studio album. American Idiot is a rock opera that criticizes the contemporary political climate of the United States. It includes: "Jesus of Suburbia", "Holiday", "Wake Me Up When September Ends", and the self-titled "American Idiot". They are currently working on their untitled 8th album.

12.) My Chemical Romance
My Chemical Romance is another new band I've learned to like, thanks again to my daughter. Formed in 2001, they released their first album - I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love in 2002. But the album that hooked me was 2004's Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge. It includes: "Helena", "Give'em Hell Kid", "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)", "The Ghost of You", and "I Never Told You What I Do For a Living".
In 2006 they released The Black Parade, but I never acquired the taste for the songs on this album, always falling back to my favorite on Sweet Revenge.

13.) SugarCult
SugarCult is a new band - formed in 1998 - that is quickly becoming my favorite band. Typically I don't like the new artist on the market, many of them being fly-by-night, one-hit wonders. However, when my youngest daughter turned me on to SugarCult, there was just something about their songs and music that strike a chord in me. Start Static - released in 2001 - is the first album I heard. It includes: "You're the One", "Hate Every Beautiful Day", "Stuck in America", "Bouncing off the Walls", and "Daddy's Little Defect". Palm Trees and Powerlines - released in 2004 - is my favorite album; it helped me get through the painful loss of my baby sister. It includes: "She's the Blade", "Memory", "Crying", and "Back to California".
Lights Out - their current studio album - was released in 2006 and includes: "Do It Alone", "Los Angeles", "Riot", "Out of Phase", and the self-titled "Lights Out".