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Steve Zodiac
Steve Zodiac (Real name Stephen John Hepworth) is a guitarist and songwriter, who gained recognition in the early 1980s as frontman of new wave of British heavy metal band Vardis. He is credited as writer of heavy metal songs "If I Were King", "Lets Go", and "100mph"; and had a Fender Telecaster. He also experimented with bagpipes on the track "Police Patrol" from the 1982 album ''Quo Vardis'', worked with Jools Holland ( Squeeze), Andy Bown (Status Quo & Pink Floyd), Ron Asprey, Terry Horbury (Dirty Tricks) and Judd Lander. Steve is thought to have taken his last name from either Sylvia and Gerry Anderson's astronaut in 1960s television show ''Fireball XL5'', or his Selmer Zodiac 100-watt amplifier, which had to be used at full volume to get the distortion and sustain which was fundamental to his sound. Zodiac's work contributed greatly to modern heavy metal and inspired many heavy metal bands of today. He is directly quoted by giants like Metallica as a heavy influence. He ...
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Fireball XL5
''Fireball XL5'' is a 1960s British children's science-fiction puppet television series about the missions of ''Fireball XL5'', a vessel of the World Space Patrol that polices the cosmos in the year 2062. Commanded by Colonel Steve Zodiac, ''XL5'' defends Earth from interstellar threats while encountering a wide variety of alien civilisations. Inspired by the Space Race, ''Fireball XL5'' was created by the husband-and-wife team of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and filmed by their production company AP Films (APF) for ITC Entertainment. It was APF's final black-and-white series and the third to be made in what the Andersons dubbed " Supermarionation": a style of production in which the characters were played by electronic marionettes whose mouth movements were synchronised with the voice actors' pre-recorded dialogue. Zodiac was voiced by Paul Maxwell while two of his companions – ''XL5'' co-pilot Robert the Robot and "space doctor" Venus – were voiced by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson ...
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Status Quo (band)
Status Quo are a British rock band that formed in 1962. The group originated in London as The Scorpions and was founded by Francis Rossi and Alan Lancaster while they were still schoolboys. After a number of lineup changes, which included the introduction of Rick Parfitt in 1967, the band became The Status Quo in 1967 and Status Quo in 1969. As of 2022, the group have been active for 60 consecutive years (despite announcing a breakup in 1984, they would play Live Aid the following year and resume normal activities in 1986). They have had over 60 chart hits in the UK - more than any other rock band - including "Pictures of Matchstick Men", "Down Down", "Rockin' All Over the World", " Whatever You Want", " In the Army Now", and "What You're Proposing". Twenty-two of these reached the Top 10 in the UK Singles Chart, and fifty-seven reached the Top 40. They have released over 100 singles and 33 albums, most of which were bestsellers. Since reaching number 5 on the UK albums chart i ...
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New Wave Of British Heavy Metal
The new wave of British heavy metal (commonly abbreviated as NWOBHM) was a nationwide musical movement that started in England in the mid-1970s and achieved international attention by the early 1980s. Journalist Geoff Barton coined the term in a May 1979 issue of the British music newspaper ''Sounds'' to describe the emergence of new heavy metal bands in the mid to late 1970s, during the period of punk rock's decline and the dominance of new wave music. Although encompassing diverse mainstream and underground styles, the music of the NWOBHM is best remembered for drawing on the heavy metal of the 1970s and infusing it with the intensity of punk rock to produce fast and aggressive songs. The DIY attitude of the new metal bands led to the spread of raw-sounding, self-produced recordings and a proliferation of independent record labels. Song lyrics were usually about escapist themes, such as mythology, fantasy, horror and the rock lifestyle. The NWOBHM began as an underground ...
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Metallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrumentals and aggressive musicianship made them one of the founding "big four" bands of thrash metal, alongside Megadeth, Anthrax and Slayer. Metallica's current lineup comprises founding members and primary songwriters Hetfield and Ulrich, longtime lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo. Guitarist Dave Mustaine, who formed Megadeth after being fired from the band, and bassists Ron McGovney, Cliff Burton and Jason Newsted are former members of the band. Metallica first found commercial success with the release of its third album, ''Master of Puppets'' (1986), which is cited as one of the heaviest metal albums and the band's best work. The band's next album, '' ...And Justice for All'' (1988), gave Metallica its first Grammy Aw ...
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Gerry Anderson
Gerald Alexander Anderson (; 14 April 1929 – 26 December 2012) was an English television and film producer, director, writer and occasional voice artist. He remains famous for his futuristic television programmes, especially his 1960s productions filmed with " Supermarionation" (marionette puppets containing electric moving parts). Anderson's first television production was the 1957 Roberta Leigh children's series ''The Adventures of Twizzle'' (1957–58). ''Torchy the Battery Boy'' (1960), ''Four Feather Falls'' (1960), ''Supercar'' (1961–62) and ''Fireball XL5'' (1962–63) followed later, both series breaking into the U.S. television market in the early 1960s. In the mid-1960s Anderson produced his most successful series, '' Thunderbirds''. Other television productions of the 1960s include '' Stingray'', ''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'' and ''Joe 90''. Anderson also wrote and produced several feature films. Following a shift towards live-action productions in the ...
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Sylvia Anderson
Sylvia Beatrice Anderson (; 25 March 1927 – 15 March 2016) was an English television and film producer, writer, voice actress and costume designer, best known for her collaborations with Gerry Anderson, her husband between 1960 and 1981. In addition to serving as co-creator and co-writer on their TV series during the 1960s and early 1970s, Anderson's primary contribution was character development and costume design. She regularly directed the fortnightly voice recording sessions, and provided the voices of many female and child characters. She also helped develop the shows and characters, in particular creating the iconic characters of Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward, Lady Penelope and Aloysius Parker, Parker in ''Thunderbirds (TV series), Thunderbirds''. Early life Anderson was born in Camberwell, London, England on 25 March 1927. Her father, Sidney Thomas, was a champion boxer, and her mother, Beatrice (), a dressmaker. After graduating from the London School of Economics wit ...
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Judd Lander
Judd Lander (born 1 March 1948) is an English harmonicist. Originally from Liverpool, Lander was previously a member of the band The Hideaways. He has experienced success as a prolific session musician, record industry executive, and company director. Lander has played on hits such as Culture Club's "Karma Chameleon" as well as "Church of the Poison Mind" and the Spice Girls' hit "Say You'll Be There". He has played with many musicians including Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, ABC and Madness. Work as a Musician Lander was an intricate part of the late Mersey Beat scene, playing with well-known local band The Hideaways. The band were one of the first R&B groups in Liverpool and to this day hold the record for the most performances in the Cavern's history, surpassing The Beatles. In the mid 1960s Judd kindled a relationship with Sonny Boy Williamson II (Aleck Ford 'Rice' Miller) who taught Lander the intricacies of the Blues Harmonica. Landers playing technique became much in ...
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Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philosophical lyrics and elaborate Pink Floyd live performances, live shows. They became a leading band of the progressive rock genre, cited by some as the greatest progressive rock band of all time. Pink Floyd were founded in 1965 by Syd Barrett (guitar, lead vocals), Nick Mason (drums), Roger Waters (bass guitar, vocals), and Richard Wright (musician), Richard Wright (keyboards, vocals). Under Barrett's leadership, they released two charting singles and the successful debut album ''The Piper at the Gates of Dawn'' (1967). Guitarist and vocalist David Gilmour joined in December 1967; Barrett left in April 1968 due to deteriorating mental health. Waters became the primary lyricist and thematic leader, devising the concept album, concepts behind ...
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Squeeze (band)
Squeeze are an English rock band that came to prominence in the United Kingdom during the new wave period of the late 1970s, and continued recording in the 1980s, 1990s and 2010s. In the UK, their singles " Cool for Cats", "Up the Junction", and " Labelled with Love" were top-ten chart hits; "Pulling Mussels" only made it to 44 in the UK charts. Though not as commercially successful in the United States, Squeeze had American hits with " Tempted", " Black Coffee in Bed", and "Hourglass", and were considered a part of the Second British Invasion. The vast majority of their material is composed of lyrics by Chris Difford and music by Glenn Tilbrook, who are guitarists and vocalists in the band. The duo were hailed as "the heirs to Lennon and McCartney's throne" during the band's initial popularity in the late 1970s. The group formed in Deptford, London, in 1974, and first broke up in 1982. Squeeze then reformed in 1985, and disbanded again in 1999. The band reunited for tours t ...
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Guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strings against frets with the fingers of the opposite hand. A plectrum or individual finger picks may also be used to strike the strings. The sound of the guitar is projected either acoustically, by means of a resonant chamber on the instrument, or amplified by an electronic pickup and an amplifier. The guitar is classified as a chordophone – meaning the sound is produced by a vibrating string stretched between two fixed points. Historically, a guitar was constructed from wood with its strings made of catgut. Steel guitar strings were introduced near the end of the nineteenth century in the United States; nylon strings came in the 1940s. The guitar's ancestors include the gittern, the vihuela, the four- course Renaissance guitar, and the ...
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Jools Holland
Julian Miles Holland, (born 24 January 1958) is an English pianist, bandleader, singer, composer and television presenter. He was an original member of the band Squeeze and has worked with many artists including Jayne County, Sting, Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler, George Harrison, David Gilmour, Magazine, The The, Ringo Starr and Bono. From 1982 until 1987, he co-presented the Channel 4 music programme '' The Tube''. Since 1992, he has hosted '' Later... with Jools Holland'', a music-based show aired on BBC2, on which his annual show ''Hootenanny'' is based. Holland is a published author and appears on television shows besides his own and contributes to radio shows. In 2004 he collaborated with Tom Jones on an album of traditional R&B music. On BBC Radio 2 Holland also regularly hosts the weekly programme ''Jools Holland'', a mix of live and recorded music and general chat and features studio guests, along with members of his orchestra. Education Holland was educate ...
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Bagpipes
Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, Northern Africa, Western Asia, around the Persian Gulf and northern parts of South Asia. The term ''bagpipe'' is equally correct in the singular or the plural, though pipers usually refer to the bagpipes as "the pipes", "a set of pipes" or "a stand of pipes". Construction A set of bagpipes minimally consists of an air supply, a bag, a chanter, and usually at least one drone. Many bagpipes have more than one drone (and, sometimes, more than one chanter) in various combinations, held in place in stocks—sockets that fasten the various pipes to the bag. Air supply The most common method of supplying air to the bag is through blowing into a blowpipe or blowstick. In some pipes the player must cover the tip of the blowpipe with their t ...
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