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This Side Of Paradise (Ric Ocasek Album)
''This Side of Paradise'' is the second solo studio album released by Ric Ocasek, lead singer and songwriter of the Cars. It was released in 1986 by Geffen Records. Though it was a solo album, other members of the Cars played significant roles. Greg Hawkes plays keyboards and bass throughout the album (he appears on most of Ocasek's solo albums), and also co-wrote "Hello Darkness" (most Cars albums feature one Ocasek/Hawkes tune). Benjamin Orr is on backing vocals for three songs. Along with Hawkes and Orr, the track "True To You" also features Elliot Easton on guitar. Both production and drumming were by Chris Hughes (formerly known as "Merrick", drummer for Adam and the Ants). Hughes was the recent producer of Tears for Fears most popular two albums. Steve Stevens from Billy Idol's band plays guitar on over half of the album. In addition, Roland Orzabal from Tears for Fears (guitar on " Emotion in Motion"), Tony Levin from King Crimson/Peter Gabriel, Tom Verlaine of Te ...
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Ric Ocasek
Richard Theodore Otcasek (March 23, 1944 – September 15, 2019), known as Ric Ocasek, was an American singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He was the primary co-lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, songwriter, and frontman for the rock band the Cars. In addition to his work with the Cars, Ocasek recorded seven solo albums, and his song " Emotion in Motion" was a top 20 hit in the United States in 1986. Ocasek also worked as a record producer for artists such as Motion City Soundtrack, Suicide, Bad Brains, Weezer, Nada Surf, Guided by Voices, and No Doubt. In 2018, Ocasek was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Cars. Early life Ocasek was born on March 23, 1944,Following Ocasek's death, there was some confusion about his date of birth. He had claimed to be five years younger than he actually was. and grew up in Baltimore, Maryland. When he was 16 years old, his family moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where his father worked as a systems analyst with ...
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Steve Stevens
Steve Stevens (born Steven Bruce Schneider; May 5, 1959) is an American guitarist. He is best known as Billy Idol's guitarist and songwriting collaborator, and for his lead guitar work on the theme to ''Top Gun'' – "Top Gun Anthem" – for which he won a Grammy Awards, Grammy in 1987: Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance, Best Pop Instrumental Performance. Stevens has played for Michael Jackson, Ric Ocasek, Robert Palmer (singer), Robert Palmer, and many others. Stevens was in Vince Neil's band from 1992 to 1994, touring and recording on his album ''Exposed (Vince Neil album), Exposed''. Stevens was a founding member of the supergroup Bozzio Levin Stevens, which released ''Black Light Syndrome'' in 1997 and ''Situation Dangerous'' in 2000. He brought Spanish flamenco guitar stylings to the song "Pistolero (song), Pistolero" (1999) for the trance group Juno Reactor. During 2012–2016, Stevens appeared with Kings of Chaos (band), Kings of Chaos. His "Steve Stev ...
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Tonight She Comes
"Tonight She Comes" is a 1985 song by American rock band the Cars from their ''Greatest Hits'' album. It was released as a single in October 1985, reaching number seven on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in January 1986. The song reached number one on the Top Rock Tracks chart, where it stayed for three weeks. Background "Tonight She Comes" was written by Cars singer and guitarist Ric Ocasek, who had originally intended to save the song for his solo career; however, the song was instead recorded as a standalone single. Ocasek recalled, "I was in the middle of recording my solo album and it was one of the songs I didn't use in the solo album at that point. That was like a one-off single that we just all came together and did." Composition It is a straightforward, diatonic song in F major, with a guitar solo by Cars guitarist Elliot Easton. The solo was transcribed by Steve Vai in the February 1986 issue of ''Guitar Player'' magazine as the centerpiece to an interview with Easton. In th ...
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Magic (The Cars Song)
"Magic" is a song by American rock band the Cars from their fifth studio album, '' Heartbeat City'' (1984). It was released on May 7, 1984, as the album's second single, reaching number 12 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and number one on the ''Billboard'' Top Tracks chart. The track was written by Ric Ocasek and produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange and the Cars. Ocasek sang lead vocals. Music video The music video for "Magic" is set at a pool party attended by an array of bizarre and comically deranged characters. It features Ocasek walking on the water of the swimming pool as the various characters gather to marvel at him. Toward the end of the video, some of the guests (perhaps in their own delusion) attempt to reach Ocasek by stepping onto the pool's surface believing that they too can walk on water, but only end up plunging into the pool. Ocasek remains standing (and dry) because, as the song title suggests, "it's magic". The Cars shot "Magic" at the Hilton family house in B ...
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You Might Think
"You Might Think" is a song by American rock band The Cars from their fifth studio album, ''Heartbeat City'' (1984). The track was written by Ric Ocasek and produced by Mutt Lange and the Cars, with Ocasek also providing the lead vocals. The song was released in February 1984, as the first single from ''Heartbeat City''. "You Might Think" peaked at number seven in the United States and number eight in Canada. It also reached number one on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart in the US, the band's first song to do so. In the United Kingdom, the song reached number 88. It was featured heavily, and served as a plot device, in the 2016 American television series ''BrainDead''. Music video The music video is one of the first to use computer graphics. The video features Ocasek and model Susan Gallagher in a series of quirky encounters. Ocasek appears in her bathroom mirror, inside a large periscope that pops up in her bathtub, in her mouth, as a fly, as King Kong on top of the Empire St ...
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Mainstream Rock Tracks
Mainstream Rock is a music chart in ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched in March 1981 as Rock Albums & Top Tracks, after which the name changed first to Top Rock Tracks, then to Album Rock Tracks, and finally to its current Mainstream Rock in 1996. History The Rock Albums & Top Tracks charts were introduced in the March 21, 1981, issue of ''Billboard''.Joel Whitburn. ''Joel Whitburn Presents Rock Tracks 1981–2008.'' Hal Leonard Corporation, 2008p. 6. The 50- and 60-position charts ranked airplay on album rock radio stations in the United States. Because album-oriented rock stations focused on playing tracks from albums rather than specifically released singles, these charts were designed to measure the airplay of any and all tracks from an album. Rock Albums was a survey of the top albums on American rock radio, ...
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Saturday Night Live Band
The Saturday Night Live Band (referred to in the closing credits as The Live Band) is the house band of the NBC television program ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL''). Role on ''Saturday Night Live'' The band consists of mostly jazz, R&B, and some rock musicians and features a strong horn section. They normally play the opening theme music (after the cold opening), musical pieces in between commercial breaks, and the closing theme music "Closing Theme (Waltz in A)," written by founding member Howard Shore. Often, the band will provide the music to a sketch when necessary. Band leaders and musical directors Musician and future Academy Award winning film composer Howard Shore was the original musical director and bandleader from 1975 until 1980. Singer and songwriter Kenny Vance (who appeared previously as a musical guest on the May 21, 1977 episode) became the musical director for the show's sixth season (1980–81). Original band member and trombonist Tom Malone took over ...
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Television (band)
Television is an American rock band from New York City, most notably active in the 1970s. The group was founded by Tom Verlaine, Richard Lloyd, Billy Ficca, and Richard Hell. An early fixture of CBGB and the 1970s New York rock scene, the band is considered influential in the development of punk and alternative music. Although they recorded in a stripped-down, guitar-based manner similar to their punk contemporaries, Television's music was by comparison clean, improvisational, and technically proficient, drawing influence from avant-garde jazz and 1960s rock. The group's debut album, ''Marquee Moon'', is considered one of the defining releases of the punk era. History Early history and formation Television's roots can be traced to the teenage friendship between Tom Verlaine and Richard Hell. The duo met at Sanford School in Hockessin, Delaware, from which they ran away. Both moved to New York, separately, in the early 1970s, aspiring to be poets. Their first group toge ...
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Tom Verlaine
Tom Verlaine (born Thomas Miller, December 13, 1949) is an American singer, guitarist and songwriter, best known as the frontman of the New York City rock band Television. Biography Verlaine was born Thomas Miller in Denville, New Jersey and moved to Wilmington, Delaware, with his family at age of six. He began studying piano at an early age, but switched to saxophone in middle school after hearing a record by Stan Getz. Verlaine initially was unimpressed with the role of the guitar in both rock music and jazz, but was inspired to take up the instrument after hearing the Rolling Stones' " 19th Nervous Breakdown" during his adolescence, at which point he began a long period of experimentation to develop a personal style. A later musical influence of Verlaine's became jazz musician Miles Davis' electric-period recordings, particularly the Japanese LPs '' Agharta'' (1975) and ''Dark Magus'' (1977), which he was able to obtain as imports. Verlaine also had an interest in writi ...
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Peter Gabriel
Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and activist. He rose to fame as the original lead singer of the progressive rock band Genesis. After leaving Genesis in 1975, he launched a successful solo career with "Solsbury Hill" as his first single. His fifth studio album, '' So'' (1986), is his best-selling release and is certified triple platinum in the UK and five times platinum in the US. The album's most successful single, " Sledgehammer", won a record nine MTV Awards at the 1987 MTV Video Music Awards and, according to a report in 2011, it was MTV's most played music video of all time. Gabriel has been a champion of world music for much of his career. He co-founded the WOMAD festival in 1982. He has continued to focus on producing and promoting world music through his Real World Records label. He has also pioneered digital distribution methods for music, co-founding OD2, one of the first online music download ...
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King Crimson
King Crimson are a progressive rock band formed in 1968 in London, England. The band draws inspiration from a wide variety of music, incorporating elements of classical, jazz, folk, heavy metal, gamelan, industrial, electronic, experimental music and new wave. They exerted a strong influence on the early 1970s progressive rock movement, including on contemporaries such as Yes and Genesis, and continue to inspire subsequent generations of artists across multiple genres. The band has earned a large cult following. Founded by Robert Fripp, Michael Giles, Greg Lake, Ian McDonald and lyricist Peter Sinfield, the band initially focused on a dramatic sound layered with Mellotron, McDonald's saxophone and flute, and Lake's powerful lead vocals. Their debut album, '' In the Court of the Crimson King'' (1969), remains their most commercially successful and influential release, with a potent mixture of jazz, classical and experimental music. Following the sudden simultaneous de ...
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Tony Levin
Anthony Frederick Levin (born June 6, 1946) is an American musician and composer, specializing in electric bass, Chapman Stick and upright bass. He also sings and plays synthesizer. Levin is best known for his work with King Crimson (since 1981) and Peter Gabriel (since 1977). He is also a member of Liquid Tension Experiment (1997–1999, 2008–2009, 2020–present), Bruford Levin Upper Extremities (1998–2000) and HoBoLeMa (2008–2010). He has led his own band, Stick Men, since 2010. A prolific session musician since the 1970s, Levin has played on over 500 albums. Some notable sessions include work with John Lennon, Sarah McLachlan, Paula Cole, Stevie Nicks, Pink Floyd, Paul Simon, Lou Reed, David Bowie, Joan Armatrading, Tom Waits, Buddy Rich, The Roches, Todd Rundgren, Seal, Warren Zevon, Bryan Ferry, Laurie Anderson, Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Gibonni, and Jean-Pierre Ferland. Tony has also toured with artists including Peter Gabriel, Paul Simon (with whom he appeared in ...
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