Europe

Overview

The first incarnation of the band was named Force and came together in 1979, in Upplands Väsby, Stockholm, and was integrated by vocalist and keyboardist Joey Tempest, guitarist John Norum, bassist Peter Olsson and drummer Tony Reno. "I remember when we started the band Force we were playing covers in the rehearsal room, because we just wanted to learn our instruments, like all bands," Tempest said, "Then one day I said maybe we should do our own stuff. Nobody had any ideas, so I brought mine into the rehearsal room, and that is when we started writing our own stuff.

The band sent several demos to record companies, but were told that in order to be published they had to cut their hair and sing in Swedish. Two years later, Olsson left the band and was replaced by John Levén. Just a couple of months later, Levén joined Yngwie J. Malmsteen's band Rising Force, and Malmsteen's former bassist, Marcel Jacob joined Force. This only lasted for three months, though; Levén apparently had issues with Malmsteen, so he and Jacob traded places again.

In 1982, Joey Tempest's girlfriend entered Force in the Swedish rock talent contest Rock-SM. Competing against 4000 bands, they won the contest thanks to two songs, "In the Future to Come" and "The King Will Return". Their rewards being a record deal with Hot Records. Tempest won the individual award for Best Lead Singer, and Norum won the award for Best Guitarist. During the contest, Force changed their name to Europe. Their self-titled debut album was released the following year, and sold well both in Sweden and Japan. The single "Seven Doors Hotel" became a Top 10 hit in Japan.

The second album, Wings of Tomorrow was released one year later, and the single "Open Your Heart" got CBS Records interested in the band, offering them an international contract in 1985. "I think one of the most important albums for the band was Wings of Tomorrow," Joey Tempest said, "We were learning how to write songs and John started playing some really cool stuff on the guitar. We became a better band and that was a good period for the band." Keyboardist Mic Michaeli was soon recruited to play in live concerts, and became an official member of the band shortly after. At the same time, Tony Reno was fired because of his lack of motivation and alleged slacking off on rehearsals. His replacement was Ian Haugland.

In 1985 Europe recorded the soundtrack for youth movie On the Loose, which gave them the hit "Rock the Night". Several months later, Joey Tempest was asked to write a song for the charity project Swedish Metal Aid. He wrote "Give A Helping Hand", which would feature the biggest stars of Swedish rock and metal. The income from the sales of the single, which was produced by Easy Action guitarist Kee Marcello, was donated to the starving people of Ethiopia.

At the end of the year they began the recording of their next album with Journey producer Kevin Elson. The result was The Final Countdown. Released on May 26, 1986, the album gave the band their international breakthrough, was certified Triple Platinum in the USA[7] and reached number 8 on the Billboard 200 chart. The title track, which had been based on a keyboard riff composed by Tempest as early as 1981-82, was released as the first single and became a worldwide success, peaking at number 1 in countries such as the UK, France and Germany. The power ballad "Carrie", which peaked at number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, "Cherokee" and a re-recorded "Rock the Night" were other hits from the album.

Not satisfied with the album's keyboard-dominated production nor the band's commercialized image, John Norum decided to leave Europe in November 1986 to pursue a solo career. "'The Final Countdown' was mixed in L.A. with Kevin and none of us were involved in the process," vocalist Joey Tempest said, "We liked the album, of course, but we also realised that it was very keyboard oriented and featured less guitars. That was definitely a reason for John to start thinking, 'I wonder where this is heading - I don't think I can do this.'"

Kee Marcello was asked to replace him, and after some consideration decided to join the band. Marcello joined the band at their commercial peak, no less than three singles from The Final Countdown reaching the US Top 40. The following year included successful tours through Europe and the USA.

The follow-up to The Final Countdown was entitled Out of This World and was released in 1988. The biggest hit from the album was "Superstitious" which peaked at number 31 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 9 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks. "Superstitious" would be the last song to chart in the USA. The album was certified platinum in the States and peaked at number 19 on the Billboard 200 chart. More touring followed, including an American tour with Def Leppard and a festival gig at the National Bowl in Milton Keynes, England with Bon Jovi, Skid Row and Vixen.

In September 1989, Europe did a gig at the Whisky a Go Go club in West Hollywood, California, under the pseudonym Le Baron Boys. That name would later be used as a title for a much-circulated Europe bootleg, which contained demo recordings from 1989-90. Two years later, the album Prisoners in Paradise was released, but received limited media attention due to the "boom" of the grunge movement, started by Nirvana, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam. Although the sales were low compared to previous albums, the single "I'll Cry for You" managed to hit number 28 on the UK charts. On New Year's Eve 1991, Europe kicked off a new tour with a show at the Tokyo Dome, in which Tesla, Thunder and Metallica also performed. The show was called "Final Countdown '91".

After ten years of living, recording and touring together, Europe decided to take a long break when the tour ended in 1992. "I remember in the tour bus afterwards, we were talking about where the whole thing was going, and I think at the time the consensus amongst the band was that we really felt ready for a break," Joey Tempest said, "We felt that it was time to put some roots down, and I was really into the idea of making my own solo album." In that time, Joey Tempest and Kee Marcello released solo albums, while the other members participated in several different projects and bands.

For the millennium celebrations, Europe was asked to do a concert in Stockholm on New Year's Eve. That would be their first concert with two lead guitarists, since both John Norum and Kee Marcello had accepted to play. They played "Rock the Night" and "The Final Countdown". This was not a full-time reunion, however; just a one-off event.

Over the years, there were several reunion rumors, and on October 2, 2003 it was made official: Europe announced plans for a new album and world tour. "In the beginning of 2003 we had a band meeting, and from then on it was just a matter of moving forward and writing songs for the new album," Tempest said, "That was always our intention. We thought that if we were gonna make a comeback, we wanted to do it properly, and that meant we wanted to write and record some new songs, a new album." The band then switched back to the classic The Final Countdown line-up, with John Norum as the only lead guitarist. "There was no doubt that we wanted John back, and John wanted to get back," Tempest said, "For me it was important to get that spark going again that we had before." Kee Marcello claimed that he was too busy with his own projects. "I told them I didn't want to participate in a [new] studio album because musically, I want to go in a different kind of direction than the music Europe stands for," Kee Marcello said, "Then we talked for a while about doing a six-piece tour – it didn't turn out that way because of different reasons."

In the summer of 2004 Europe went on a festival tour through the European continent. The concert setlists included several old classics, but also introduced the title track from their brand new album - Start from the Dark. Start from the Dark was released September 22, 2004; the same day John Norum became a father. The album received good reviews from music critics. The album featured a different sound and style compared to their older albums. "We just wanted to make something fresh," Tempest said, "The music and the lyrics just happened, but that was one decision we made – that we wanted to be relevant now." Eventually, the album sold in excess of 600,000 copies worldwide.

Europe released their latest album, Secret Society on October 26, 2006, and the world tour started the same day in Lund, Sweden, and ended September 1, 2007 with two performances at the Dalhalla in Rättvik, Sweden. The band performed in Sibiu, Romania, to celebrate New Year's Eve with a one-hour live show, and on January 26, 2008 they performed at the Nalen, in Stockholm, in a special event called Almost Unplugged, their first acoustic live show, during which they played some of their old and new never played live songs, and some covers from the bands that have influenced them in the years: Pink Floyd, UFO, Led Zeppelin and Thin Lizzy. The show was webcast on their official website.

After some summer festivals, the band will be ready to record the new album, expected for Spring 2009. It will be followed by a world tour.

Members
Current members
* Joey Tempest - lead vocals, acoustic & rhythm guitar¹, keyboards² (1979-1992, 2003-present)
* John Norum - lead & rhythm guitars, backing vocals (1979-1986, 2003-present)
* John Levén - bass (1981-1992, 2003-present)
* Mic Michaeli - keyboards, backing vocals, rhythm guitar³ (1984-1992, 2003-present)
* Ian Haugland - drums, percussion, backing vocals (1984-1992, 2003-present)

Former members
* Kee Marcello - lead & rhythm guitars, backing vocals (1986-1992, December 31, 1999)
* Tony Reno - drums, percussion (1979-1984)
* Peter Olsson - bass (1979-1981)
* Marcel Jacob - bass (1982)

Discography
* 1983 Europe Hot Records
* 1984 Wings of Tomorrow
* 1986 The Final Countdown
* 1988 Out of This World
* 1991 Prisoners in Paradise
* 2004 Start from the Dark
* 2006 Secret Society
* 2009 TBA

Downloads
Carrie The Final Countdown

Queen

Overview
The band officially formed in the early 1970s after May and Taylor’s former band Smile split after having released an album and single. Freddie replaced Tim Staffell as vocalist, and John Deacon joined in February of 1971, playing bass for the band that Freddie renamed “Queen.”

Queen’s first self titled album was released in 1973 and received little attention from the general public. They shortly followed it with a second album which still lacked much interest from music fans all over Britain. Despite this, the band began developing a huge following in Japan and witnessed their popularity for themselves when they visited the country, mainly in 1975, to promote their fourth and most famous album “A Night at the Opera”, featuring the epic Bohemian Rhapsody.

Queen’s popularity grew strongly throughout the 70s as they released album after album. Fans continued to worship the band right through the 80s and into the early 90s before Mercury’s death On 24 November 1991. The official cause of death was bronchial pneumonia resulting from AIDS.

Over the course of their 30 year career, the band did sound tracks for two films (Flash Gordon and Highlander), released a string of live and studio albums, and became idols to many people across the world.

In recent times (this written in August 2006), remaining members Brian May and Roger Taylor (John Deacon no longer wishes to be a part of Queen on stage) have toured with Free and Bad Company’s Paul Rodgers as collaboration Queen + Paul Rodgers. At this moment the band is writing for a new album with Paul Rodgers. Queen has toured extensively over the past 18 months with Rodgers, with DVD and CD releases from the tour available.

This will be their second post-Freddie recording - “Made in Heaven”, released in 1995, saw the surviving band members in the studio completing or reworking unused vocals, unreleased variations of Freddie solo material (a “Queen” version of “I Was Born To Love You” for example), and tracks where Brian and Roger added lyrics to flesh out a song (“Mother Love”). The upcoming recordings with Rodgers will likely include the one or two songs written by the group while on tour. Queen With Paul Rodgers recently released a track entitled “Say It’s Not True” as a free download on World AIDS Day.

Members
* Freddie Mercury
* Brian May
* John Deacon
* Roger Taylor

Discography
Studio Albums
* Queen
* Queen II
* Sheer Heart Attack
* A Night at the Opera
* A Day at the Races
* News of the World
* Jazz
* The Game
* Flash Gordon
* Hot Space
* The Works
* A Kind of Magic
* The Miracle
* Innuendo
* Made in Heaven
* The Cosmos Rocks

Live Albums
* At the Beeb
* Live Killers
* Live Magic
* Live at Wembley '86
* Queen on Fire - Live at the Bowl
* Return of the Champions (w/ Paul Rodgers)
* Queen Rock Montreal

Compilations
* Greatest Hits
* Greatest Hits II
* Classic Queen
* The 12" Collection
* Queen Rocks
* Greatest Hits III
* Stone Cold Classics
* The A-Z of Queen, Volume 1

Download
We Will Rock You

Def Leppard

Overview

Def Leppard in many ways were the definitive hard rock band of the ’80s. There were many bands that rocked harder and were more dangerous than the Sheffield quintet but few others captured the spirit of the times quite as well. Emerging in the late ’70s as part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, the group actually owed more to the glam rock and metal of the early ’70s — their sound was equal parts T. Rex, Mott the Hoople, Queen, and Led Zeppelin. By toning down their heavy riffs and emphasizing melody, Def Leppard were poised for crossover success by 1983’s Pyromania, but skillfully used the fledgling MTV network to their advantage. The group was already blessed with photogenic good looks, but they also crafted a series of innovative, exciting videos that made them into stars. They intended to follow Pyromania quickly but were derailed when their drummer lost an arm in a car accident, the first of many problems that plagued the group’s career. Def Leppard managed to pull through such tragedies, and they even expanded their large audience with 1987’s blockbuster Hysteria. As the ’90s began, mainstream hard rock shifted away from Leppard’s signature pop-metal and toward edgier, louder bands, yet the group maintained a sizable audience into the late ’90s and were one of only a handful of ’80s metal groups to survive the decade more or less intact.

Def Leppard had their origins in a Sheffield-based group Rick Savage (bass) and Pete Willis (guitar) formed in their late teens in 1977. A few months later, vocalist Joe Elliott, a fanatic follower of Mott the Hoople and T. Rex, joined the band, bringing the name Deaf Leopard. After a spelling change, the trio, augmented by Tony Kenning (drummer), began playing local Sheffield pubs, and within a year they had added guitarist Steve Clark, as well as a new drummer. Later in 1978, they recorded their debut EP, Getcha Rocks Off, and released it on their own label, Bludgeon Riffola. The EP became a word-of-mouth success, earning airplay on the BBC. The group members were still in their teens.

Following the release of Getcha Rocks Off, Rick Allen was added as the band’s permanent drummer, and Def Leppard quickly became the subject of the British music weeklies. Soon, they signed with AC/DC’s manager, Petter Mensch, who helped them secure a contract with Mercury. On Through the Night, the band’s full-length debut, was released in 1980 and instantly became a hit in the U.K., also earning significant airplay in the U.S., where it reached number 51 on the charts. Over the course of the year, Def Leppard relentlessly toured Britain and America, including opening slots for Ozzy Osbourne, Sammy Hagar, and Judas Priest. High ‘n’ Dry followed in 1981, and it became the group’s first platinum album in the U.S., thanks to MTV’s strong rotation of “Bringin’ on the Heartbreak.” MTV would be vital to the band’s success in the ’80s.

As the band recorded the follow-up to High ‘n’ Dry with producer Mutt Lange, Pete Willis was fired from the band for alcoholism, and Phil Collen, a former guitarist for Girl, was hired to replace him. The resulting album, 1983’s Pyromania, became an unexpected blockbuster, due not only to Def Leppard’s skillful, melodic metal, but also to MTV’s relentless airing of “Photograph” and “Rock of Ages.” Pyromania went on to sell ten million copies, establishing Def Leppard as one of the most popular bands in the world. Despite their success, the band was about to enter a trying time for their career. Following an extensive international tour, the group re-entered the studio to record the follow-up, but producer Lange was unavailable, so they began sessions with Jim Steinman, the man responsible for Meat Loaf’s Bat Out of Hell. The pairing turned out to be ill-advised, so the group turned to its former engineer, Nigel Green. One month into recording, Allen lost his left arm in a New Year’s Eve car accident. The arm was reattached, but it had to be amputated once an infection set in.

Without a drummer, Def Leppard’s future looked cloudy, but by the spring of 1985 — just a few months after his accident — Allen began learning to play a custom-made electronic kit assembled for him by Simmons. Soon, the band resumed recording, and within a few months Lange was back on board, but once he joined the team, he judged the existing tapes inferior and had the band begin work all over again. The recording continued throughout 1986, and that summer, the group returned to the stage for the European Monsters of Rock tour. Def Leppard finally completed their fourth album, now titled Hysteria, early in 1987, releasing it that spring to lukewarm reviews; many critics felt that the album compromised Leppard’s metal roots for sweet pop flourishes. The record was slow out of the starting gates — “Women,” the first single, failed to really take hold. But with the second single, “Animal,” Hysteria began to take off. It became the group’s first Top 40 hit in the U.K., but more importantly, it began a string of six straight Top 20 hits in the U.S., which also included “Hysteria,” “Pour Some Sugar on Me,” “Love Bites,” “Armageddon It,” and “Rocket,” the latter of which arrived in 1989, a full two years after the release of Hysteria. During those two years, Def Leppard was unavoidable — they were the kings of high-school metal, ruling the pop charts and MTV, and teenagers and bands alike replicated their teased hair and ripped jeans, even when the grimy hard rock of Guns N’ Roses took hold in 1988.

Hysteria proved to be the peak of Leppard’s popularity, yet their follow-up remained eagerly awaited in the early ’90s as the band set to work on the record. During the recording, Steve Clark died from an overdose of alcohol and painkillers combined (whilst recovering from an injury). Clark had long had a problem with alcohol, and following the Hysteria heyday, the band forced him to take a sabbatical; he did enter rehab, but to no apparent effect. In fact, his abuse was so crippling that Collen had to play the majority of the guitar leads on Hysteria. Following Clark’s death, Def Leppard resolved to finish their forthcoming album as a quartet, releasing Adrenalize in the spring of 1992. Adrenalize was greeted with mixed reviews, and even though the album debuted at number one and contained several hit singles, including “Let’s Get Rocked,” “Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad,” and “Make Love Like a Man,” the record was a commercial disappointment in the wake of Pyromania and Hysteria. After the release of Adrenalize, the group added former Whitesnake guitarist Vivian Campbell.

In 1993, Def Leppard released the rarities collection Retro Active, featuring a new single, “Miss You in a Heartbeat,” which scraped the lower reaches of the Top 40. Two years later, the group released the greatest-hits collection Vault while preparing their sixth album. Slang arrived in the spring of 1996, and while it was more adventurous than its predecessor, it was greeted with indifference, proving that Leppard’s heyday had indeed passed, and they were now simply a very popular cult band. Undaunted, Leppard soldiered on, returning to their patented pop-metal sound for Euphoria, which was released in June of 1999. Despite a hard push from both band and label, the record failed to produce a hit, resulting in a return to adult pop balladry on 2002’s X. The two-disc Rock of Ages: The Definitive Collection arrived in 2005, followed in 2006 by Yeah!, a collection of covers.

Def Leppard has recently toured with Journey, on VH1’s Legends Tour.

Members
* Joe Elliott - lead vocals, additional guitars, keyboards (1977–present)
* Phil Collen - guitars, backing vocals (1982–present)
* Vivian Campbell - guitars, backing vocals (1992–present)
* Rick Savage - bass, keyboards, additional guitars, backing vocals (1977–present)
* Rick Allen - drums, percussion, backing vocals (1978–present)

Discography
Studio albums
* On Through the Night
* High 'n' Dry
* Pyromania
* Hysteria
* Adrenalize
* Slang
* Euphoria
* X
* Yeah!
* Songs from the Sparkle Lounge

Compilations
* Retro Active
* Vault: Def Leppard Greatest Hits (1980-1995)
* Best of Def Leppard
* Rock of Ages: The Definitive Collection

Download
Two Steps Behind Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad

Bad English

Overview

The members decided on a name for the band while playing pool. John Waite missed a shot and Jonathan Cain made a comment on how bad his "english" was (referring to the spin a player puts on the cue ball) and the band decided to use the phrase. This official story differs from the urban legend suggesting that "Bad English" was chosen to mock the name of some of the members' previous band, The Babys, a name which is obviously misspelled.

Jonathan Cain and guitarist Neal Schon, who had enjoyed enormous success in Journey, continued on to form Bad English with Waite after Journey disbanded. The first album, eponymously titled, was a big seller with two hit singles (including the number one hit When I See You Smile written by Diane Warren) and top 10 hit "Price of Love" , but the second album’s single "Straight To Your Heart" didn’t crack the Top 40.

The song "Best of What I Got" was featured in the soundtrack to 1989's Tango and Cash.

Ricky Phillips writes on his website that the group had parted company before the second album had been mixed.

The band had enjoyed a brief but rewarding experience of playing glam metal. The second album, Backlash, was released well after the group had disbanded and many members of the public failed to hear some high quality musicianship and sensitive songwriting.

In later interviews Waite revealed that although he loved playing to stadium sized audiences, he was uncomfortable with the corporate rock image that he felt the band had presented, and has been a solo artist ever since.

Bad English drummer Deen Castronovo later went on to join a reformed Journey with singer Steve Augeri, Neal Schon, Jonathan Cain, and Ross Valory. He also played on Ozzy Osbourne's album Ozzmosis in 1995.

Members
* John Waite
* Neal Schon
* Jonathan Cain
* Ricky Phillips
* Deen Castronovo

Discography
* Bad English (1989) #21 US
* Backlash (1991) #72 US
* The Lost tapes (2002)

Downloads
When I See You Smile The Time Alone With You