Pet Shop Boys(park II)

Introspective, Behaviour and the Performance tour (1988-1992)

The duo's third studio album, Introspective, was released on October 10, 1988 and was followed by the Trevor Horn-produced single "Left to my own devices", and a cover version of the Sterling Void single "It's alright" in 1989. 1989 also saw the start of Pet Shop Boys' first tour, in which they performed in Hong Kong, Japan and Britain. The tour followed the ideas of the extravaganza that could not have been afforded earlier in their career. Derek Jarman returned to direct the performance, and he provided several films that were projected during the shows.

On September 24, 1990, a new single, "So hard," was released, and Pet Shop Boys' fourth studio album followed on October 22, 1990. Behaviour was recorded in Munich with producer Harold Faltermeyer. The album was never intended to be a dramatic change in mood to their earlier albums, but it is noticeably subdued. It included the fan-favourite "Being Boring," the second single from the album, which only reached number 20 in the UK singles chart, their lowest placing at the time. The song was inspired by a quote by Zelda Fitzgerald: "...she refused to be bored chiefly because she wasn’t boring" and was widely thought to be a commentary on the AIDS epidemic. The music video was directed by film-maker Bruce Weber. By this time, the duo had also parted ways with manager Tom Watkins, replacing him with Jill Carrington.[8]

In March 1991, a cover of U2's "Where the Streets Have No Name" as a medley with "Can't Take My Eyes Off You," the 1960s pop song by Frankie Valli/The Four Seasons, was released as a non-album single, followed by the duo's first world tour. Named "Performance", the tour kicked off in Tokyo on March 11, 1990. The tour also visited: the United States, Canada, France, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland and the United Kingdom. The shows were designed by David Alden and David Fielding, who had designed several sets for the London Opera.

Before taking a break in 1992, Pet Shop Boys released a greatest hits collection, Discography in 1991, which included two new singles: "DJ Culture" and "Was It Worth It?".

However, during this period, Pet Shop Boys continued to collaborate with many high-profile musicians. They worked again with Dusty Springfield on the singles "Nothing Has Been Proved" (which was a song written for their soundtrack for the film Scandal about the Profumo political scandal in Britain), and "In Private". The duo later went on to produce half of the tracks on her 1990 solo Reputation album. Pet Shop Boys were also asked to write and produce an album for Liza Minnelli in 1989. The album, Results, included the hit single "Losing My Mind," a cover version of the Stephen Sondheim song. The duo's own version of this appeared on the "Jealousy" single as a B-side. Neil Tennant also worked with Bernard Sumner and Johnny Marr on their first album as Electronic, whose first single, "Getting Away With It," co-written and co-produced by Neil Tennant, was released on December 4, 1989. Later, in 1991, Lowe also contributed to the Electronic project by working on the track "The Patience of a Saint" for their 1991 album; finally, in 1992, Tennant sang lead vocals on their non-album single "Disappointed", which was featured on the soundtrack to the movie Cool World. In addition, a remix of "So Hard" by notorious electronic music duo The KLF, released as a separate single, led to Tennant re-recording his vocals for the song entirely.

Pet Shop Boys set up the Spaghetti Records label in 1991. Their most successful release was the soundtrack to the 1992 film The Crying Game which featured Boy George performing the title song. The song was produced by Pet Shop Boys and featured Tennant on backing vocals. Other artists on the label included Scottish singer David Cicero, The Ignorants, and Masterboy.

The Very era (1993-1995)


In June 1993, Pet Shop Boys made a strong return to the UK Singles Chart with "Can you forgive her?". Taking its title from the Anthony Trollope novel of the same name, the single reached number 7 in the UK Singles Chart, and the iconic music video features the duo in orange body suits and tall dunce caps in a world of computer-generated imagery. The theme was continued with the follow-up single, a cover of the Village People single "Go West", which reached number 2 in the UK, with another computer-generated music video, this time inspired by the Soviet Union. The duo's fifth studio album, Very followed on September 27 and is the only Pet Shop Boys album to reach number one on the UK Albums Chart. It was produced by Pet Shop Boys and mixed with additional production by Stephen Hague who had produced their first album and subsequently produced records by New Order and Erasure. The other singles from Very, "I wouldn't normally do this kind of thing", "Liberation", and "Yesterday, when I was mad", continued the theme of computer-generated videos, peaking with the "Liberation" video, which contained almost no real-life elements at all. All these videos were directed by Howard Greenhalgh who continued to work with Pet Shop Boys well into the next decade.

In 1994, Pet Shop Boys offered to remix fellow Parlophone artist Blur's single "Girls & Boys"; it was a club hit throughout Europe and started a sporadic trend for Pet Shop Boys to remix other artists' music.

In 1994, Pet Shop Boys released the 1994 Comic Relief single, "Absolutely Fabulous". The song started when Tennant and Lowe were playing around with samples from the BBC sitcom Absolutely Fabulous in the studio. They wanted to release a single, so approached lead actors Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley, and suggested releasing it as a charity single. The single was released under the artist name of "Absolutely Fabulous". Tennant and Lowe do not consider it a Pet Shop Boys' single release and it was not included on their last compilation CD of singles, "PopArt". The video to the single featured clips from the sitcom along with newly recorded footage of Tennant and Lowe with the characters of Edina (Saunders) and Patsy (Lumley).

On September 12, Pet Shop Boys released the follow-up to their 1986 remix album Disco in the form of Disco 2. The album featured club remixes of the singles released from Very in a continuous megamix by Danny Rampling. Then, in October, Pet Shop Boys began their "Discovery" tour which would see them visit countries that they had never performed in before: Singapore, Australia, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Argentina and Brazil. The following year, a new version of the 1986 B-side to "Suburbia", "Paninaro", is released to promoted a B-side collection album, Alternative. The single, called "Paninaro '95" is based on the live version from the "Discovery" tour.

Bilingual, Nightlife, and the musical (1996-2001)
In November 1995, Neil Tennant saw David Bowie live at Wembley Stadium and met him backstage. Whilst discussing Bowie's recent album Outside, Tennant mentioned that his favourite track was "Hallo Spaceboy". Jokingly, Bowie said that Pet Shop Boys should remix the track, and, a week later, phoned Tennant asking for this to happen. The new version was completely re-recorded and featured Tennant on backing vocals, using additional lyrics from Bowie's first hit song, "Space Oddity". The single was released on February 19, 1996.

In April, Pet Shop Boys released a new single, "Before", leading up to their forthcoming album; the single reached number 7 in the UK Singles Chart. That same month, Tina Turner also released her Wildest Dreams album, which featured Pet Shop Boys-produced track "Confidential". In August, Pet Shop Boys released a follow-up single, "Se a vida é (That's the way life is)", a Latin American music-inspired track featuring a drum sample from a track called "Estrada Da Paixão" by Brazilian act Olodum. This preceded the sixth Pet Shop Boys album Bilingual which was released in September.

In December 1996, Neil appeared live with Suede singing the Suede song "Saturday Night" as a duet with Brett Anderson, and Pet Shop Boys track "Rent". Both live tracks were released with the Suede single "Filmstar" in July 1997.

Pet Shop Boys kicked off Summer 1997 with a sold-out three-week residency at the Savoy Theatre in London in June. Entitled "Somewhere" and being promoted by a cover version of the song "Somewhere" from the musical West Side Story, the shows used projections filmed by the artist Sam Taylor-Wood. Pet Shop Boys would later work with Sam Taylor-Wood again: in 1998, they recorded a version of "Je t'aime... moi non plus", originally by Serge Gainsbourg, with her, and in 2003 they covered the Donna Summer track "Love to Love You Baby" and gave it a limited edition release credited to Kiki Kokova, a pseudonym used by Taylor-Wood for this project.

The majority of 1998 was spent with a series of live dates and minor releases, including a charity album of Noel Coward songs called Twentieth Century Blues. The album included Pet Shop Boys' version of "Sail Away" along with songs performed by Elton John, Texas, Marianne Faithfull, The Divine Comedy, Suede, Damon Albarn, Vic Reeves and Robbie Williams. Tennant also co-produced the Williams track and provided backing vocals for Elton John. Tennant also provided backing vocals on Robbie Williams' "No Regrets" single along with Neil Hannon from The Divine Comedy. Meanwhile, the band switched managers again as Carrington resigned and was succeeded by Mitch Clark who had previously worked for EMI International as Head of Promotion.[9]

During this time, Pet Shop Boys also began to work with playwright Jonathan Harvey on a stage musical project. In 1999, many of the tracks recorded ended up on the duo's seventh studio album Nightlife which also included the singles "I don't know what you want but I can't give it any more", "New York City boy" and "You only tell me you love me when you're drunk" — as well a duet with Kylie Minogue, "In denial", about a father (Tennant) coming out to his daughter (Minogue). Minogue later performed the track live during her 2005 "Showgirl" tour, singing to a pre-recorded Neil Tennant. This is not the first time that Pet Shop Boys have worked with Minogue. In 1994, Pet Shop Boys wrote a song for inclusion on her Kylie Minogue album. "Falling" was based around an unreleased remix of "Go West" with new lyrics by Tennant. However, Minogue and her record company did not like the production sound of Pet Shop Boys' demo, and asked Farley & Heller to produce the track. 1999 ended with a world tour, this time with the stage sets designed by architect Zaha Hadid. They continued to work on their musical during 2000 and in May they started workshopping the project and finalising the plot and songs to be used.

The musical, Closer to Heaven, opened at the Arts Theatre in London in 2001 with financial backing from Andrew Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group. Reviews were mixed and, although the run was initially extended, it closed earlier than expected, due to poor ticket sales, in October 2001. Around the time of the London closure, Tennant said that they were in talks to take the musical to various locations in Europe (particularly Germany which is a big market for Pet Shop Boys) and to take it to New York. Nothing further has been issued by Pet Shop Boys or Really Useful Group regarding these performances; in 2005, a series of performances were done in the Brisbane Powerhouse, Australia, though they were independent to Pet Shop Boys and Really Useful Group.

Variety: Release and Battleship Potemkin (2002-2005)
After the mixed fortunes of Closer to Heaven, Pet Shop Boys returned to the studio to start work on their eighth studio album. After toying with genres including hip-hop, they went for a stripped back acoustic sound as a complete change to the over-the-top dance music of the musical. In 2002, they released Release. Most of the tracks were produced by the duo themselves and many of the tracks featured Johnny Marr on guitar. The first single, "Home and dry" featured a video directed by Wolfgang Tillmans, consisting entirely of footage of mice filmed in the London Underground. The follow-up single, "I get along", had a video filmed by Bruce Weber and following this they embarked on another world tour, although this time it was a stripped back affair with no dancers, backing singers, costumes or lavish sets.

A third single, "London", was only released in Germany, at the request of EMI Germany. It was never planned for release in the UK, although a promotional video was shot by the distinguished photographer Martin Parr and it was serviced to some UK radio stations. Following a live stint on the John Peel show on Radio 1, Pet Shop Boys released Disco 3 in February 2003. The album followed their previous Disco albums, but this one also included new songs as well as remixes.

In 2003, Pet Shop Boys launched two new labels, Olde English Vinyl and Lucky Kunst, their Spaghetti label being defunct. The first release on Olde English Vinyl was Atomizer's "Hooked on Radiation", followed by Pete Burns' "Jack and Jill Party" in 2004. The only Lucky Kunst release to date is Kiki Kokova's version of "Love to love you baby". They also remixed Yoko Ono's "Walking on Thin Ice" in 2003 and Rammstein's "Mein Teil" in 2004. Another new manager, David Dorrell, was brought on board to replace Clark.[10]

In November 2003, Pet Shop Boys released a second greatest hits album PopArt with two new singles "Miracles" and "Flamboyant".
Battleship Potemkin live in Trafalgar Square, September 2004
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Battleship Potemkin live in Trafalgar Square, September 2004

In September 2004, Pet Shop Boys appeared at a free concert in Trafalgar Square in London where they performed with the Dresdner Sinfoniker orchestra a new soundtrack to accompany the seminal 1925 silent film Battleship Potemkin. There were four further live performances of the work with the Dresdner Sinfoniker in Germany in September 2005, and the Battleship Potemkin soundtrack was released on September 5, 2005.

In November 2004, Pet Shop Boys played at the Prince's Trust concert called "Produced by Trevor Horn", a festival with artists who worked with famous British producer Trevor Horn. Other artists included Grace Jones, ABC, Seal and Frankie Goes To Hollywood.

In 2005, Pet Shop Boys was selected as the headline act for the Moscow Live 8 concert in Red Square. They were received extremely well by the crowd in Moscow. Also in 2005, Pet Shop Boys was asked to put together the twentieth release to the Back to Mine series, an ongoing anthology showcasing artists' favourite music selections, with an emphasis on afterhours chill out music. As a condition, Tennant and Lowe were given one disc each, whereas all previous and releases in the series were comprised of only a single disc per group. (See Back to Mine: Pet Shop Boys.)

Basically: Fundamental (2006 onwards)

Pet Shop Boys began 2006 remixing Madonna's single, "Sorry", for release in February. The single reached number one in the UK and Pet Shop Boys' remix included new back-up vocals performed by Tennant. Madonna subsequently used the Pet Shop Boys' remix, including Tennant's vocals, in her 2006 world tour production.

In April, Pet Shop Boys released a new single, "I'm with Stupid", a commentary on the relationship between George W. Bush and Tony Blair. The promo video featured Matt Lucas and David Walliams, better known as the team behind Little Britain. Lucas and Walliams portray Tennant and Lowe, parodying two of the duo's previous videos, "Go West" and "Can you forgive her?". The ninth Pet Shop Boys studio album, Fundamental, followed in May. The album was produced by Trevor Horn, who Pet Shop Boys had previously worked with on "Left to my own devices" in 1988. The album was also released with a limited edition remix album called Fundamentalism, which included a version of "In private", a song originally written and produced by Pet Shop Boys for Dusty Springfield, as a duet with Elton John and "Fugitive", a new track produced by Richard X.

The week that 'Fundamental' was a released, a documentary Pet Shop Boys - A Life In Pop was broadcast on Channel 4 and directed by George Scott and produced by Nick de Grunwald. The original broadcast was an hour long. In October 2006, a significantly expanded version lasting 175 minutes was released on DVD. The liner notes explain, 'From their trailblazing first single 'West End girls' to their current position as Britains foremost pop duo, A Life In Pop traces every ground-breaking step in the 20-year career of the Pet Shop Boys. Starting in the respective home towns in the north of England, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe retrace their remarkable journey in their own words. The film features some previously unseen live performances, rare television appearances (including their first ever from Belgium in 1984), and interviews with famous fans, collaborators and colleagues including Robbie Williams, Brandon Flowers, Tim Rice-Oxley, Jake Shears and Bruce Weber. A Life In Pop is a fascinating in-depth documentary film chronicling the Pet Shop Boys' enduring success.'

The second single to be taken from the album was "Minimal". The duo filmed the video to the single in Paris with Dan Cameron. The single was the first of theirs to be playlisted by London's biggest radio station Capital Radio in a decade.

Between June 15 and September 10, 2006, Pet Shop Boys played a series of concert dates across Europe mainly at assorted festivals and outdoor venues. These included two dates at The Tower of London on 28 and 29 June. These dates also included performances of Battleship Potemkin in Germany and Spain. On May 1, 2006, "Potemkin" was also performed at the Swan Hunter shipyard in Newcastle-upon-Tyne with Pet Shop Boys accompanied by the Northern Sinfonia orchestra.

On 3 October 2006, the long-delayed U.S. release of their PopArt hits package was issued (slightly renamed PopArt: The Hits) by Capitol Records.

Pet Shop Boys have also worked with Robbie Williams on his new album Rudebox. They have produced two tracks for Rudebox: a cover version of "We're the Pet Shop Boys" written by My Robot Friend (which they have also recorded themselves, and released as a B-side to "Miracles" in 2003) and "She's Madonna", a duet with Tennant allegedly about Guy Ritchie's affair with Tania Strecker prior to his relationship with Madonna.

On October 10, 2006, Pet Shop Boys embarked on an American tour in Montreal which took them through Canada, the USA and Mexico concluding on November 16th. Further concert dates in Europe, South America and Australia are under discussion for 2007.

On October 16, Catalogue from Thames & Hudson, a 336-page hardcover book written by Philip Hoare and Chris Heath, detailing their entire visual output (photography, as well as the design of record, video, tour, book and fan club magazine) from 1984 to 2004 was released. Neil Tennant comments in the book, "In the beginning we made a decision - and it was in our EMI contract - that that we would have control over how everything worked; that obviously the songs mattered hugely, but the way they were presented was going to matter hugely as well; and that we were never going to give up on that." Pet Shop Boys will be supporting the release of the book with signings in London and New York City.

Also on October 16th, the third single from Fundamental, "Numb" was released. It was written by Diane Warren, and is the only song on the album not written by the Boys.

On October 23, 2006, Concrete (originally titled "Concert" but changed at the last minute to the originally-planned title) was released. It is a double-CD of the complete Mermaid Theatre concert with the BBC Concert Orchestra, featuring guests Rufus Wainwright, Frances Barber and Robbie Williams. A 90 minute "director's cut" of the concert aired on BBC 6 Music on August 28, 2006. It was originally scheduled for release on September 25, but delayed due to "manufacturing and contractual reasons".[11].

A small exhibition of portraits of Pet Shop Boys opened in the Bookshop Gallery of London's National Portrait Gallery on October 30, 2006 and runs to February 28, 2007.

Pet Shop Boys will conclude 2006 and commence 2007 by performing at the Concert in the Gardens at Edinburgh's Hogmanay party.

Discography

Sexuality
Neil Tennant is openly gay, although he refused to confirm rumours about his sexuality in the 1980s until finally coming out shortly after the release of 1993's Very in Attitude, a UK gay lifestyle magazine. Lowe, meanwhile, has remained tight-lipped despite making several suggestive remarks on chat shows. The duo are sometimes incorrectly assumed to be a couple (in the 1990 biography Pet Shop Boys, Literally, Tennant recalls that even their ex-manager, Tom Watkins, was under this impression for a time).

Pet Shop Boys are seen as significant figures in gay culture for such songs as "Can you forgive her?", "It's a sin" (for which gay director Derek Jarman produced the video), "New York City Boy" and their cover of Village People's "Go West". They have written a song about a young male fan spending a night with a rapper, based on Eminem, called "The night I fell in love" and a song about coming out, "Metamorphosis". Their 1990s single "Being boring" dealt with the gay experience and the devastation wrought by the AIDS crisis; the song, and its supporting video filmed by Bruce Weber, remains one of their most popular. However, Neil Tennant has stated many times that his lyrics are not specifically gay. Many of their songs are written from an ambiguous view point that can be taken any way the listener perceives it, and this goes some way to explain why a large segment of their die-hard fans are heterosexual.

Pet Shop Boys have performed and worked with many artists considered to be gay icons such as Elton John, Liza Minnelli, Dusty Springfield and Kylie Minogue. Pet Shop Boys attempted to organise and perform in a planned 2001 tour of out gay musicians, entitled 'Wotapalava'. However, the plans were later put on hold and the idea seems to have been discarded.

Influence

Guns N' Roses singer Axl Rose was unapologetic in his praise of the Behaviour album as one of his all-time favourites, claiming that "November Rain" was partly inspired by album track "My October Symphony".

As of 2003, Pet Shop Boys were ranked by Billboard's Joel Whitburn (in his book Billboard's Hot Dance/Disco 1974-2003) as the number-four most successful act on the U.S. Dance/Club Play charts, behind only Madonna, Janet Jackson and Donna Summer.

In October 2005, a Swedish tribute band called West End Girls had a number-three hit single in their home country with a cover version of "Domino dancing". In January 2006 they released their version of "West End girls", and an album was released in June. Pet Shop Boys also have several tribute bands in the form of Birmingham-based Pet Shop Noise who have been performing locally for many years, and Seattle-based West End Boys.

Madonna's album Confessions on a Dance Floor, released November 2005, includes a track called "Jump" which has close similarities to "West End girls". An interview at www.popjustice.co.uk with Stuart Price, who produced Madonna's album, revealed the track "Jump" was a complete Chris Lowe inspiration. Apparently, while recording the album, Madonna blurted out at one point, "Pet Shop Boys! I fucking love them!". Pet Shop Boys remixed "Sorry", the second single from the album. Their mix has proven to be a favourite, as even Madonna is using their version in her 2006 Confessions tour. The history between Madonna and Pet Shop Boys goes back to 1988 with the song "Heart". It was composed by the duo with the idea of pitching it to Madonna to sing--but they were too shy to call her and offer her the song--so they recorded it themselves. The song ended up going to number one in the UK charts. Later, in 1991, Madonna was referenced in a tongue-in-cheek lyric in the song "DJ Culture," right after Madonna and Sean Penn had divorced. Tennant writes, "Like Liz before Betty / She after Sean / suddenly you're missing / then you're reborn". Tennant refers to the 'reinvention' Madonna was going through at the time. Madonna also paid tribute to Pet Shop Boys at the 2006 Brit Awards naming them as one of the British artists who had influenced her music, in her acceptance speech after being presented with the 'Best International Female' award by Neil Tennant.

Actor David Tennant, who currently plays Doctor Who, took his stage name from Neil Tennant. David's real surname is MacDonald, but he needed a stage name for Equity.

American cartoonist Thomas K. Dye, most famous for creating the satrical webcomic Newshounds, first attempted to make a comic book called The Boy Shop Pets, so called because the characters were animals. It was written between November 1991 to January 1992, but did not last.

See also

* Best selling music artists - World's top selling music artists chart.
* List of number-one hits (United States)
* List of artists who reached number one on the Hot 100 (U.S.)
* List of number-one dance hits (United States)
* List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance chart
* List of artists who reached number one in Ireland

Pet Shop Boys(park I)

Pet Shop Boys are an English electronic/pop music duo, consisting of Neil Tennant who provides main vocals, keyboards and very occasionally guitar, and Chris Lowe on keyboards and occasionally on vocals.

The longevity of their career is generally attributed to their ability to create melodic pop/dance music with intelligent lyrics and striking style. They are one of the most consistently successful duos in pop music, particularly in Europe. Since 1986, they have had 39 top 30 singles in the UK including four number ones: "West End girls", "It's a sin", "Always on my mind" and "Heart". They were very successful in the United States in the mid-1980s; however, their mainstream popularity waned by 1988 with their final top 40 single, "Domino Dancing", reaching number 18 on the US pop chart. They have continued to be successful worldwide since then, however, and their popularity is still prevalent through their very active and devoted fan base.

Their recent album, Fundamental, was released on the Parlophone label on 22 May 2006. The album so far has charted at number five in the UK and in the rest of Europe at number two marking a strong return to the charts. The album's first single, "I'm with Stupid" was released in the UK on 8 May 2006, reaching number eight in the UK Singles Chart. The second single to be taken from Fundamental was "Minimal", which received its first UK play on BBC Radio 1 on 19 May, and was released on 24 July, 2006. The third single from the album is 'Numb' written by Diane Warren with new production by Trevor Horn and was released on 16th October 2006. The single charted at No 23.

Sound and image

Music
Neil Tennant has consistently and sincerely labelled Pet Shop Boys' music as "disco." Their music's trademark sound is a combination of pure synthesised pop (which could qualify them as a New Wave group), with sometimes slightly over-the-top instrumentation, contrasting with Tennant's laconic vocals, sometimes spoken-word or rap. Despite a history of implementing current musical trends from the underground (house, electro, jungle, techno etc.) into their productions, they have always maintained their own specific and defined sound. Their lyrics (mainly written by Tennant) have been described as articulate, stylish and poetic. Among their musical trademarks is the combining of pop hooks with detailed chord structures and soundscapes.

One of the most frequent labels attached to the band is that of "ironists,"[1][2][3] referring to instances where their lyrics are used to exhibit veiled meanings or criticisms — shown, for example, by "Shopping" on Actually, an upbeat and catchy song hiding anti-Thatcherism sentiments.[3]

A defining element of Pet Shop Boys' style is their obsession with extended and remixed versions of their songs. As of 2006, they have been remixed by over 80 different DJs and producers. In many cases, Pet Shop Boys have used aspiring remixers who became well known later—they used Moby in 1991, Sasha in 1993, Tracy Young in 1995, Trouser Enthusiasts in 1997, and Eric Prydz in 2003. Their roster of remixers also includes The KLF, Brothers in Rhythm, David Morales, Frankie Knuckles, Rollo, Pink Noise, Basement Jaxx, Deep Dish, Blank and Jones, Scissor Sisters, Tiga, and Richard X. The vast array of Pet Shop Boys remixes have made them one of the most collectible bands in the world. Collectors relish the assortment of triple-vinyl limited editions, unique artwork sleeves, and multiple compact disc singles. One highly sought after item is a 1997 fan-club only release called "It doesn't often snow at Christmas," a CD single that is clear with a frosted snowflake on it that came in a PET film bubble sleeve (and interestingly, this song was included on a 2005 Elton John Christmas CD, sold exclusively at Starbucks Coffee shops in the United States). There is only one other artist who probably rivals Pet Shop Boys in this remix/collector category, and has used as many if not more remixers--Depeche Mode.

Band dynamic

The dynamic of Pet Shop Boys' image lies in the duo's distinct public personalities — Tennant is perceived as an erudite intellectual, articulate, and verbose in speech; while Lowe, now almost always seen in his trademark attire of hat and sunglasses (since as early as 1995),[4] appears as guarded and terse but nevertheless behaves as casual, flippant and fun-loving. They have even cultivated a pattern for interviews, in which Tennant is the primary speaker, answering questions at length, while occasionally being interrupted by brief, generally humorous interjections from Lowe[5][6] (comparable to the concept of a comedic double act).

They are also seen as willfully contrary, defying expectations of record labels and the music industry in terms of commercial image, self-promotion, and the nature of their music; it is said that the members of Pet Shop Boys are defined by the things they refuse to do. A 1986 quote by Lowe, taken from an Entertainment Tonight clip and subsequently sampled in their song "Paninaro," is often cited as the prime example of this:

Pet Shop Boys
I don't like country and western. I don't like rock music, I don't like rockabilly or rock and roll particularly. I don't like much, really, do I? But what I do like, I love passionately.

Pet Shop Boys

This also formed the foundation of the band's reputation as being anti-rock music (allying themselves with disco, positioned as a diametric opposite), which would later be built up in additional songs such as the 1993 single "Can you forgive her?" ("She's made you some kind of laughing stock / because you dance to disco and you don't like rock"), or the appropriately titled "How I learned to hate rock and roll." Eventually, however, these differences were reconciled — a process that symbolically culminated with Pet Shop Boys' performance at the 2000 Glastonbury Festival.

Image
This band dynamic has played a role in their public image as well. Early in their career, the duo were frequently accused of lacking stage presence, said to be a deliberate reaction to the hyper-cheerful music of the time demonstrated by bands such as Wham!. A typical early performance featured Lowe in the background hitting the occasional note on a Fairlight synthesiser keyboard and Tennant singing, but otherwise unanimated, in the foreground.

However, when they began touring in 1989, they were heavily influenced by opera and theatre staging. Derek Jarman staged their first tour, making a series of films to be projected behind the costumed singers and dancers. In 1991 they brought in David Alden and David Fielding from the English National Opera to create the staging and costume design for a show which made no attempt to involve or even acknowledge the audience, and pushed the choreography and staging centre stage. Subsequent tours have used artist Sam Taylor-Wood and architect Zaha Hadid for stage design. Their latest tour, ongoing in 2006, was conceived and designed by theatre designer Es Devlin with choreography by Hakeem Onibudo.

Traditionally, Pet Shop Boys have always favoured avant-garde tailored fashions. Tennant often references the designers of his suits in interviews, and Lowe has often sported outfits and glasses made by Issey Miyake and Stüssy. Presentation has always been a major theme, and Pet Shop Boys have dramatically "reinvented" their image twice in their career. In 1993, when promoting their Very album, they wore brightly coloured costumes and used state-of-the-art computer technology to place themselves in a modern computer graphic world. This concept of reinvention was again realized for the promotion of the Nightlife album, in which they transformed their look wearing wigs and glasses with very futuristic urban wardrobes. In 2006 both Tennant and Lowe were seen on stage and in photographs wearing clothes designed by Hedi Slimane/Dior Homme.

Importance of the aesthetic
The duo have always been very interested in the artwork, design and photography for their releases. Photographer Eric Watson helped create the original image of Pet Shop Boys, creating many of their photographs and videos from 1984 to 1991. In design they have primarily worked with Mark Farrow, who designed the cover of their first Parlophone album release in 1986. The collaboration between Mark Farrow and Pet Shop Boys is comparable to the designer-band relationship of Peter Saville and New Order or Anton Corbijn and Depeche Mode. Their record sleeves are quite often very minimal, and the attention to detail is obvious, down to the font type and style. In October 2006, they released a 400-page hardcover book entitled Catalogue, showcasing their accomplishments in artwork, design, and of course, music. This retrospective of work is certainly one of the most comprehensive anthologies any music artist could have.

Biography

A chance meeting (August 19, 1981)

Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe met in an electronics shop on Kings Road in Chelsea. Realizing they had a common interest in dance music, they began to work on material together in Tennant's flat in Chelsea and from 1982 in a small studio in Camden Town. It was during these early years that they first wrote several songs that would later appear on future albums, including "It's a sin," "West End girls," "Rent" and "Jealousy."

The Bobby 'O' Years (1981-1984)
Starting out, the two called themselves West End, because of their love of London's West End, but later they came up with the name Pet Shop Boys, a name derived from some friends who worked in a pet shop in Ealing. They said that Pet Shop Boys "sounded like an English rap group."

Their big break came in August 1983, when Tennant was assigned by Smash Hits to interview The Police in New York. The duo were obsessed with a stream of Hi-NRG records made by New York producer Bobby Orlando, known as Bobby 'O'. According to Tennant: "I thought well, if I've got to go and see The Police play then I'm also going to have lunch with Bobby 'O'." They shared a cheeseburger and carrot cake at a restaurant called the Apple Jack on August 19 (two years to the day since Tennant and Lowe had met) and Orlando suggested making a record with Pet Shop Boys after hearing a demo tape that Tennant had taken with him.[7] In April 1984, the Orlando-produced "West End girls" was released, becoming a club hit in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Though the track did not do well in the UK, it was a minor hit in France and Belgium.

Signing with Parlophone (1984-1986)
In March 1985, after long negotiations, Pet Shop Boys cut their contractual ties with Bobby O with a settlement giving Bobby 'O' significant royalties for future sales. Hiring manager Tom Watkins, they signed with the London-based Parlophone label. In April, Tennant left Smash Hits (where he had progressed to the position of deputy editor), and in July a new single, "Opportunities (Let's make lots of money)", was released, reaching number 116 in the UK. The B-side to this single, "In the night," was used as the theme for the UK television series The Clothes Show.

Unperturbed by the low chart position, the band returned to the studio in August to re-record "West End girls" with producer Stephen Hague. Released in October 1985, this new version initially entered the charts at a similarly low position, but began a slow rise so that by January 1986 it achieved number one. It was subsequently number one in the USA, Canada, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Lebanon, Israel, New Zealand and Norway, and sold an estimated 1.5 million copies worldwide. It remains the most-heard Pet Shop Boys song to date.

After the success of "West End girls", Pet Shop Boys released a follow-up single, "Love comes quickly", on February 24, 1986. The single reached number 19 in the UK singles chart and was followed by their debut album, Please on March 24. In June 1986, the band announced a European tour; however, their plans for a theatrical extravaganza proved to be too expensive and the tour was cancelled.

Please started Pet Shop Boys' penchant for choosing one-word album titles.

New versions of "Opportunities (Let's make lot's of money)" and album track "Suburbia" were also released in 1986, followed by a remix album, Disco, in November.


"Imperial phase" (1987-1988)
1987 started with Pet Shop Boys receiving both BPI and Ivor Novello Awards for "West End girls". Later, on June 15, they released what became their second number one single, "It's a sin". The single caused some controversy: Neil's school, St. Cuthbert's Grammar School in Newcastle upon Tyne, chastised him in the press, while Jonathan King accused them of plagarising the Cat Stevens song Wild World. Pet Shop Boys later sued King and won damages which were donated to charity. The video to "It's a sin" also saw their first collaboration with director Derek Jarman.
The continued success of "It's a sin" was followed by the release of "What have I done to deserve this?" on August 10. Co-written with Allee Willis and also featuring Dusty Springfield on vocals, the single reached number two on the UK Singles Chart, and the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. Although the duo had wanted to release this track on their debut album, they had been unable to track down Springfield and were reluctant to record it with any other female singer, despite their record company's suggestions. Springfield's manager finally contacted them in 1986, following the release of "Please" and towards the end of that year she travelled to London to record "What have I done to deserve this?" with them. It was the first track to be recorded for the duo's second album. Pet Shop Boys had been told that Springfield was "difficult" to work with and even that she could no longer sing; however her performance on the track put any such concerns to rest and they began a collaboration with her which lasted until the end of the decade. Included on their album Actually, the song became a massive worldwide hit and resurrected Springfield's career, leading to her 1990 album "Reputation", on which Pet Shops Boys were major contributing producers. This duet was also the start of a series of collaborations with high profile musicians throughout the band's career.

Also in August 1987, Pet Shop Boys appeared on Love Me Tender, a UK television programme on ITV commemorating the tenth anniversary of Elvis Presley's death. They were asked to perform one of their favourite Elvis tracks, and they narrowed it down to two options, "Baby Let's Play House" and "Always on My Mind," eventually settling on the latter. September 7, 1987 saw the release of the duo's second studio album, Actually, followed by the single "Rent" in October, which reached number 8 in the UK. The final song on the album, "King's Cross", was revealed to have a strange prescience when there was a fatal fire at the London underground section of the station in November of that year (part of the lyrics read: "Dead and wounded on either side/You know it's only a matter of time"). The Sun newspaper in the UK subsequently tried to get the track released as a charity single but Pet Shop Boys would not allow this.

Towards the end of 1987, Pet Shop Boys started work on an hour-long film that would incorporate the songs from Actually. Working with director Jack Bond, the short film grew into a full-scale movie, It Couldn't Happen Here, starring Barbara Windsor, Joss Ackland and Gareth Hunt. The film was eventually released in 1988 to mixed reviews. Footage from the film was also used for the music video to "Always on my mind," now released as a single on November 30; it became both the duo's third number one single in the UK and the Christmas number one single for 1987, infamously beating out "Fairytale of New York" by The Pogues.
1988 started with another collaboration. Patsy Kensit's band, Eighth Wonder, had the song "I'm not scared" written and produced for them by Pet Shop Boys. The song became her biggest hit single and Pet Shop Boys included their own version of the track on their Introspective later that year. March 1988 saw the duo achieve their fourth UK number one single (and their last to date) with a remixed edit of "Heart", different from the album version (NB: The single version is included in their Discography collection, whereas the album version is used in their "Pop Art" retrospective). The video to the single, directed by Jack Bond, was a retelling of the Dracula story, starring Ian McKellen as the vampire who steals Neil Tennant's wife. It was seen to be ironic since McKellen was a well-known gay figure at the time (he came out in the 1970s).

In the 1996 BBC Radio 1 documentary About Pet Shop Boys, Neil Tennant noted that their "Imperial Phase" ended in 1988. On September 12, 1988, Pet Shop Boys released a brand new single, "Domino dancing," and in the documentary Neil recounts his depression when hearing the news that the single had reached number 7 in the UK single chart. He felt that their major success was now over and that it was going to be a challenge to remain successful going forward.

1988 started with another collaboration. Patsy Kensit's band, Eighth Wonder, had the song "I'm not scared" written and produced for them by Pet Shop Boys. The song became her biggest hit single and Pet Shop Boys included their own version of the track on their Introspective later that year. March 1988 saw the duo achieve their fourth UK number one single (and their last to date) with a remixed edit of "Heart", different from the album version (NB: The single version is included in their Discography collection, whereas the album version is used in their "Pop Art" retrospective). The video to the single, directed by Jack Bond, was a retelling of the Dracula story, starring Ian McKellen as the vampire who steals Neil Tennant's wife. It was seen to be ironic since McKellen was a well-known gay figure at the time (he came out in the 1970s).

In the 1996 BBC Radio 1 documentary About Pet Shop Boys, Neil Tennant noted that their "Imperial Phase" ended in 1988. On September 12, 1988, Pet Shop Boys released a brand new single, "Domino dancing," and in the documentary Neil recounts his depression when hearing the news that the single had reached number 7 in the UK single chart. He felt that their major success was now over and that it was going to be a challenge to remain successful going forward.

Green Day (part II)

Future Plans

The video of Jesus of Suburbia is stated to be a prequel to their upcoming film, American Idiot: The Motion Picture. In an interview with Billboard magazine, Billie Joe Armstrong revealed that the group are still considering turning their punk rock opera into a film, in much the same spirit as the Beatles' Yellow Submarine, Marillion's Brave, Pink Floyd's The Wall and the Who's Tommy and Quadrophenia. The band has stated they have no intentions to act in the movie, although they may make an appearance. Lou Taylor Pucci and Kelli Garner from the "Jesus of Suburbia" music video could make an appearance if the motion picture does go into production. Frontman Billie Joe Armstrong has said "It's definitely unfolding. Every single week there's more ideas about doing a film for American Idiot, and it's definitely going to happen."[27]

The band's official website stated on September 1st that the band was back from their "summer vacation" and was back in the studio working on new material. On, Friday, September 8th, 2006, Green Day's web site announced that Green Day is teaming up with U2 and with producer Rick Rubin to record a cover of the song "The Saints Are Coming", originally recorded by The Skids. The song is to benefit Music Rising (musicrising.org), to raise money for musicians' instruments lost during Hurricane Katrina and to bring awareness on the eve of the one year anniversary of the disaster. This collaboration would likely be released separately by both bands, as both are planning new albums by the end of 2006 or in the autumn of 2007.


Musical style and influences

Green Day's sound is often compared to first wave punk rock bands such as the Ramones, The Clash, and the Buzzcocks.[28][19] The majority of their song catalogue is composed of distorted guitar, fast, manic drums, and low, heavy bass. Most of their songs are fast-paced and under the average song length of four minutes (4:00). Billie Joe Armstrong has however said his biggest influences are seminal alternative rock bands Hüsker Dü and The Replacements, and that their influence is particularly noted in the band's chord changes in songs.[19] In fact, Green Day has covered Hüsker Dü's "Don't Want to Know If You Are Lonely" as a b-side for the song "Warning", and the character "Mr. Whirly" in the song "Misery" is a reference to the Replacements song of the same name.[29] Armstrong's lyrics describe alientation, anger, angst ("Jesus of Suburbia"), insomnia, hysteria, and hallucinations ("Brain Stew/Jaded"), boredom, doing drugs and/or smoking ("Longview"), and purely having fun ("King For a Day"); The Ramones had similar lyrical themes, like drugs ("I Wanna Be Sedated") alienation ("Outsider"), and having fun ("Rockaway Beach", "Bop 'Till You Drop"). Green Day covered their song Outsider on the tribute album We're a Happy Family and they have also covered the Ramones' "Blitzkrieg Bop.".

Criticism and Controversy

Beginning with the release of Dookie, and the subsequent explosion of MTV Airplay it received, Green Day has received considerable criticism from those who prefer to see the punk genre as a social movement independent of corporate sponsorship. With the release of American Idiot and the subsequent draw of many new fans, much of this criticism has been revived.

One of the more contentious issues is genre labeling. In reaction to both the style of music and the background of the band, some fans and musicians have taken heavy objection to the usage of the term "punk" when applied to Green Day. This is evidenced by the following comments issued by John Lydon, former front man of both the 70s punk band the Sex Pistols and 80s post-punk act, Public Image Ltd.. [30]:

"Don't try and tell me Green Day are punk. They're not, they're plonk and they're bandwagoning on something they didn't come up with themselves. I think they are phony."

"So there we are fending off all that and it [really annoys me] that years later a [terrible] outfit like Green Day hop in and nick all that and attach it to themselves. They didn't earn their wings to do that and if they were true punk they wouldn't look anything like they do."

Steve Diggle of the Buzzcocks commented on the band after meeting them:

"I didn't have a clue who they were. And they're not punks."

Paul McPike, a grocery store clerk, recently filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Green Day claiming that he wrote the song "American Idiot" almost 15 years ago. He alleges that he performed the song at a high school and a recording of the song made it into the hands of Green Day. McPike is currently seeking a share of the album's profits. U.S. Magistrate Judge John Cooney attempted to dismiss the case last week, but it is expected that McPike will file an amended lawsuit, with additional evidence.


Related projects


Main article: Green Day related projects

Members

* Billie Joe Armstrong: Guitar, Lead Vocals (1989-present)
* Mike Dirnt: Bass, Backup Vocals (1989-present)
* Tré Cool: Drums, Backup Vocals (1990-present)

–

* Jason White: Guitar, Backup Vocals (1999-present)

Since 1999, Jason White has been a backing "4th" member of Green Day, providing backing vocals and guitar for the Warning: and American Idiot tours. Jason also was featured in Bullet in a Bible and is expected to join the band for their next tour.

Touring and session members

* Jason Freese: Piano, Keyboard, Trombone, Saxophone, Accordion, Acoustic Guitar, Backup Vocals (2004-present)
* Ronnie Blake: Trumpet, Timpani/Percussions, Backup Vocals (2004-present)
* Mike Pelino: Third Guitar, Backup Vocals (2004-present)[citation needed]
* Rob Cavallo: Piano (For the American Idiot recording sessions)
* Petra Haden Violin (For the nimrod. recording sessions)

Former members

* John Kiffmeyer, also known as Al Sobrante: Drums (1989-1990)


Discography

Main article: Green Day discography

Date of release Title Record label

April 1990 39/Smooth Lookout! Records
January 7, 1992 Kerplunk! Lookout! Records
February 1, 1994 Dookie Reprise Records
October 10, 1995 Insomniac Reprise Records
October 14, 1997 Nimrod. Reprise Records
October 3, 2000 Warning: Reprise Records
September 21, 2004 American Idiot Reprise Records

See also

* The Lookouts
* Punk rock
* Pop punk
* Alternative rock
* Best selling music artists

Green Day (part I)

Green Day is a musical trio from East Bay, California, consisting of Billie Joe Armstrong (guitar, lead vocals), Mike Dirnt (bass, back up vocals) and Tré Cool (drums). Their back up players on guitar and keyboards are Jason White and Jason Freese. Green Day is widely credited, along with fellow California bands The Offspring and Rancid, with reviving mainstream popular interest in punk rock in the United States during the mid 1990s.[1][2] Their success has influenced prominent pop punk bands like Sum 41 and Good Charlotte.[2]

The band has sold over 30 million albums in the United States, and over 85 million records worldwide,[3][4] making them the most successful punk band of all time.[5] Green Day currently has three Grammy Awards under their belt for Alternative Album for Dookie, Best Rock Album for American Idiot, and Record of the Year for their single Boulevard of Broken Dreams.



History

Formation and Lookout! years (1986–1992)

In 1986, childhood friends Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt (both 14 years old) formed the two person band Sweet Children. The first Sweet Children show was on October 17, 1988, at Rod's Hickory Pit in Vallejo, California where Armstrong's mother was working. In 1989, drummer Al Sobrante joined Armstrong and Dirnt after his band Isocracy broke up. The trio decided to form a new band[citation needed], allegedly they chose the name, Green Day, after a marijuana reference, and performed their first show in the courtyard of Contra Costa College, a junior college in San Pablo where Sobrante attended.

Larry Livermore, who played guitar for The Lookouts and ran the Berkeley, California independent label Lookout! Records, offered the band a record deal after hearing them play. The band, he said, played the show like "The Beatles at Shea Stadium"[6][7] In late 1989 they released their first EP, 1,000 Hours, and quickly followed it up with their first LP, 39/Smooth in early 1990.

I.R.S. Records made an attempt to sign Green Day, but the band made it clear that they were loyal to Lookout! Records, saying that I.R.S. was a cheesy and washed-up label[8] They recorded two more EPs later that year: Slappy and Sweet Children, the latter of which included some older songs for the Minneapolis, Minnesota indie label Skene! Records. In 1991, Lookout! Records released 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours, a compilation of the 39/Smooth, Slappy, and 1,000 Hours EPs. In late 1990, shortly after the band's first nationwide tour, Sobrante moved to Arcata, California to attend college. Lookouts drummer Tré Cool began filling in as a temporary replacement, and when it became clear that Sobrante did not plan on commiting to the band full time, Cool's position as Green Day's drummer became permanent.

In January 1991, Green Day wrote and recorded their second album, and first to feature Tré Cool on drums, Kerplunk!, it was released on Lookout! Records in 1992. The album included the track "Welcome to Paradise", which was re-recorded for Green Day's major-label debut, Dookie. The first track off of Kerplunk, "2000 Light Years Away", was also remixed with Reprise Records and was released on the Jerky Boys movie soundtrack. The band went on tour for most of 1992 and 1993, and played a stretch of shows overseas in Europe. The album sold about 50,000 copies in the U.S.,[9] which was considered quite a large amount for the independent punk scene in 1992. It eventually sold over 2 million albums worldwide.



Reprise Records and the '90s (1992–1999)


Kerplunk!'s underground success led to a wave of interest coming from major record labels, and eventually they left Lookout! on friendly terms and signed with Reprise Records after attracting the attention of producer Rob Cavallo, who would produce almost all of the band's albums from then on. Signing to Reprise caused many punk rock fans to regard Green Day as sellouts.[10] Reflecting on the period, Armstrong told SPIN magazine in 1999, "I couldn't go back to the punk scene, whether we were the biggest success in the world or the biggest failure ... The only thing I could do was get on my bike and go forward."[11] They then went to work on recording their major label debut, Dookie.

Released in February of 1994, and recorded in a mere 3 weeks, Dookie became a commercial sensation, helped by extensive MTV airplay for the videos "Longview", "When I Come Around", and "Basket Case", all of which sat in the #1 position on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. That year, Green Day embarked on a nationwide tour with queercore band Pansy Division as their opening act. The band also joined the lineups of both the Lollapalooza festival and Woodstock 1994, where they started in an infamous mud fight. During the concert, a security guard mistook bassist Mike Dirnt for a stage-invading fan and punched out some of his teeth. The Woodstock 1994 performance further aided Green Day's growing publicity and recognition,[12] and helped push their album to eventual diamond status.

Dookie had received a very positive response, with All Music calling it, "...a stellar piece of modern punk that many tried to emulate but nobody bettered."[13] Dookie appeared in the book 1,001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die,[14] and in Rolling Stone Magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time issue, Dookie was placed at number 193,[15] in the top 39%, and making it the highest placed punk album released since 1979. It beat out favorites such as Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd, and Black Sabbath's eponymous debut album.

In 1995, Dookie won the Best Alternative Album and the band was nominated for 9 MTV Video Music Awards including Video of the Year, Best Group Video, Best Hard Rock Video, Best Alternative Video, Breakthrough Video, Best Direction, Best Editing, Best Cinematography, and Viewer's Choice. Green Day won the Outstanding Album, Outstanding Bassist, Outstanding Drummer and Outstanding Group at the Bay Area Music in San Francisco at Warfield Theatre. The music video for "Longview" was nominated at the MTV Video Music Awards for Best Group Video, Best New Artist and Best Alternative Video.[16]

In 1995, a new single for the Angus soundtrack was released, titled J.A.R.. The single went straight to #1 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. The song was followed by their new album, Insomniac, which was released in the fall of 1995. Insomniac was a much darker response by the band, compared to the poppy, more melodic Dookie.[12] Insomniac opened to a warm critical reception, earning 4 out of 5 stars from Rolling Stone Magazine, raving "In punk, the good stuff actually unfolds and gains meaning as you listen without sacrificing any of its electric, haywire immediacy. And Green Day are as good as this stuff gets."[17]Insomniac used the a piece of art by Winston Smith intitled God told Me To Skin You Alive for its album cover. Smith said to drummer Tré Cool that if he ever needed album artwork, that he should call him. Singles released from Insomniac were "Geek Stink Breath", the radio-favorite double single "Brain Stew/Jaded", "Walking Contradiction", and "Stuck With Me" ("Stuck With Me"'s title should have gone to the b-side "Do Da Da", but was misprinted.) One track, "86," was a reference to the Gilman Street club refusing them entry after the release of Dookie, claiming that they had "gone too commercial." Though the album didn't approach the success of Dookie, it still sold seven million copies[10] in the United States. Insomniac won the band award nominations for Favorite Artist, Favorite Hard Rock Artist, and Favorite Alternative Artist at the 1996 American Music Awards, and the video for "Walking Contradiction" got the band a Grammy nomination for Best Video, Short Form, in addition to a Best Special Effects nomination at the MTV Video Music Awards.[18] After that, the band abruptly cancelled a European tour, claiming exhaustion.[19]

After taking break in 1996, Green Day was back in the studio by 1997, at work on a new album. The result was nimrod., an experimental deviation from the band's standard pop-punk brand of music. The new album was released in October 1997. It provided a variety of music, with everything from upbeat pop-punk, laid-back surfer rock, and peppy, silly ska, to an acoustic ballad. nimrod. entered the charts at number 10, thanks to the surprise hit "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)", an acoustic ballad. The success of "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" won the band an MTV Video Award for Best Alternative Video for the song's video, which depicted people undergoing major changes in their lives while Billie Joe Armstrong strummed his acoustic guitar.[20] Other singles released from nimrod. were Nice Guys Finish Last, Hitchin' a Ride and Redundant. nimrod. also featured one of the band's live staples, "King for a Day". Sometimes the when the song is played live, Billie Joe Armstrong wears a crown and/or cape and work in versions of Shout! as evidenced Bullet in a Bible the band's live DVD release. After the release of nimrod., Green Day took a two-year break, deciding to step back from the spotlight and spend some time with their new families.



The New Millennium (2000–Present)


In 2000, Green Day released Warning:, a step further in the style that they had hinted at with nimrod. Changes in their personal lives were reflected in the more mature and straightforward approach they took to their music, replacing nearly adolescent mantras of masturbation with more introspective statements. Critics' reviews of the album were fairly positive, although the album was greeted with mixed reviews within their fan base, who had grown accustomed to their 1990s pop punk sound. Though it produced the #1 hit "Minority" and a smaller hit with "Warning", some observers were coming to the conclusion that the band was losing relevance, and a decline in popularity followed. While all of Green Day's past albums had reached a status of at least double platinum, Warning: was only certified gold. Although the band felt this was some of their strongest work to date, the lack of success fueled questions regarding the band's future.

At the 2001 California Music Awards, Green Day won all eight awards that they were nominated for. They won the awards for Outstanding Album (Warning:), Outstanding Punk Rock/Ska Album (Warning:), Outstanding Group, Outstanding Male Vocalist, Outstanding Bassist, Outstanding Drummer, Outstanding Songwriter and Outstanding Artist.[21]

The release of a Greatest Hits compilation, International Superhits!, and the token complementary assemblage of B-sides, Shenanigans, only fueled the theory that Green Day's career was on the rocks. International Superhits and its companion collection of music videos, titled International Supervideos! sold reasonably well, going platinum in the U.S. Shenanigans sported the band's b-sides, including "Espionage" which was featured in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and was nominated for a Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. "Ha Ha You're Dead", recorded specifically for the Shenanigans, is seen as the highlight of the album.

In 2002, Green Day co-headlined the Pop Disaster Tour with blink-182 helped to resurrect some of the band's popularity, and earned the group many positive concert reviews. The band decided to take some more time off after the Pop Disaster Tour closed, to spend time with their families.

Fighting burnout after Warning:, the band went into a studio to write and record new material for a new album, believed to be tentatively titled Cigarettes and Valentines. After completing 20 tracks, the master tapes were stolen from the studio. The band, understandably upset, chose not to try to re-create the stolen album (Armstrong feared that it would take their fan base "back to about 50"), but instead started over with a vow to be even better than before. In addition, they underwent serious "band therapy," engaging in several long talks to work out the members' differences after accusations from Dirnt and Cool that Armstrong was "the band's Nazi"[22] and a show-off bent on taking the limelight from the other band members.

The resulting 2004 album, American Idiot, debuted at #1 on the Billboard charts, the band's first ever album to reach #1, backed by the success of the album's first single, "American Idiot." The album was billed as a "punk rock opera" which follows the journey of the fictitious "Jesus Of Suburbia".[23] Also the album marked a significant growth in the band as musicians. On the background of their pop punk landmark albums Kerplunk and Dookie, American Idiot was noted by critics as far more mature and musically eclectic than its predecessors and is often cited as their best work to date. American Idiot won the 2005 Grammy for "Best Rock Album" and the band swept the 2005 MTV music awards, winning a total of seven of the eight awards they were nominated for, including the coveted Viewer's Choice Award.[24]

American Idiot also marked a major change of the band's image. Before, they dyed their hair wacky colors like pink, or green, and were getting into mud fights with the audience. American Idiot saw the band dying their hair more bland colors, such as black or white, and wearing eyeliner and makeup to concerts. Another change was the band's wardrobe. Instead of wearing t-shirts, the band constantly wore black and red clothes after the release of American Idiot, leading many to accuse Green Day of stealing The Icarus Line's "anti"-fashion statement by wearing black clothes with red ties, or vice-versa, while others think the band is following up with the colors of American Idiot's cover.

Through 2005, the band toured, promoting the album with about 150 dates — their longest tour in their career — visiting Japan, Australia, South America and England, where they drew a crowd of 130,000 people over a span of two days - one of the largest crowds ever drawn for a rock concert. While touring for American Idiot, they filmed and recorded the two concerts at the Milton Keynes National Bowl in England, which was voted 'The Best Show On Earth' in a Kerrang! Magazine Poll. These recordings were released as a live CD and DVD called Bullet in a Bible on November 15, 2005. This CD/DVD featured hits from American Idiot as well as older songs from Dookie and nimrod., among others. The DVD featured behind-the-scenes footage of the band, and showed how the band prepared to put on the show. The final shows of their 2005 world tour were in Sydney, Australia, and Melbourne, Australia, on December 14 and 17 respectively. On January 10, 2006 the band was awarded with a People's Choice Award for favorite group.

On August 1, 2005, it was announced that Green Day had rescinded the master rights to their pre-Dookie material from Lookout! Records, citing breach of contract regarding unpaid royalties that had been ongoing for some time, and with other Lookout! bands as well. The pre-Dookie material is set to be reissued by their label, Reprise, on December 19, 2006.[25]

In 2006 Green Day won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year for "Boulevard of Broken Dreams"[26] which spent 16 weeks at the number one position of Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks, a record it shares along with Red Hot Chili Peppers' Scar Tissue and Staind's "It's Been Awhile". Green Day was also nominated for Best Rock Video for "Wake Me Up When September Ends" at the 2006 MTV Video Music awards, but lost to AFI's "Miss Murder".

My Chemical Romance (Part II)

Genre disputes and influences


The band has been described variously by the media as "emo"[10][11], "indie", "pop punk", "post-hardcore" and "punk revival"[12]. The band themselves have described their music as simply "rock" or "violent, dangerous pop", as well as rejecting the term "emo"[13] to describe their style. But another source quotes Gerard stating they are "What else you got emo".[1]

My Chemical Romance cite their main influences as Queen, Thursday, Iron Maiden, The Misfits, and Morrissey/The Smiths. Their first single from "The Black Parade" is clearly a homage to "Goodbye Silk City" by NJ's Suit of Lights.[14] Geoff Rickly, the lead singer of Thursday, has also compared them to Ink & Dagger.[1] Growing up, they were also very influenced by horror films and comic books, and therefore their music, lyrics, and image all have overt elements of fantasy, storytelling, horror, and theatricality.



Criticism

Fanbase


My Chemical Romance was initially lauded as a band with a strong "grassroots" or "cult" following. It was among the first bands to achieve prominence by offering free downloads through PureVolume[15] and the "social networking" site MySpace, where MCR gathered its first 100,000 fans.[16] The band has clearly grown well beyond those initial numbers, expanding their fan base beyond the typical fans of their musical style and direction [17], partially helped by the more mainstream sound of their 2004 album, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. MCR are sometimes maligned by the "grassroots" fans for the expanded fan base, due to attracting fans they claim are "teeny boppers", after the release of Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. Many critics say that My Chemical Romance and similar bands play generic, MTV-friendly music meant for mass consumption rather than artistic innovation. Due to the increased amount of new fans, some of the old fanbase considers the band a "sellout" and the new MCR fans "posers". The fans are particularly vocal on online forums. [18] [19]

Fan fiction about MCR has become common online on fansites, LiveJournal groups, fan fiction sites, and Quizilla. These stories are about the band members having some connection with the underworld or Hell, or dealing with various parts of life. However some if not most of these stories promote the band as "sex icons". These stories usually have the band having sexual relations, or relations in general, with either original characters, bandmates, or other bands (a common band mentioned in fan fiction would be The Used). However, some feel different, which led to a large feud among users of Iconator. The feud on Iconator was based on the fact that "the members of My Chemical Romance do not deserve to be treated like "sex icons", and do deserve to be treated like normal people, because that's what they are." [20]

Image

Much of My Chemical Romance's music is 'horror film' based, and their photos and art rather bloody. Due to this, MCR are often criticized for their appearance being emo.

The band Guttermouth was supposedly removed from the 2004 Warped Tour for insulting My Chemical Romance, stating that the band were more concerned about their clothing and making money, rather than the artistic merits of the music they make. This is denied by Guttermouth, who claim they left of their own accord and not due to a complaint by My Chemical Romance.

In October 2006, the British Indie Rock band Kasabian criticized My Chemical Romance, labelling them "clowns" and "emo kids" who "don't have anything positive to say" and "should get out more and try and have a good time instead."[21]

Bottled

My Chemical Romance played the main stage at the 2006 Reading and Leeds Festivals - this was the largest show they have ever played in the UK. They were not received warmly by the crowd at Reading, as the band was subjected to heavy concert bottling. Large sections of the audience threw bacon, tangerines, golf balls, and drink bottles filled with urine at the group as they played. This reportedly upset frontman Way, who then introduced a track saying, "This song is called Thanks For All The Bottles, Thanks For All The Piss, Thanks For All The Golf Balls, Thanks For All The Apples And Thanks For All The Sticky Shit." My Chemical Romance did, however, complete their set.[22]

Relationship with The Used

The Used is known to have both a personal and a professional relationship with My Chemical Romance. The lead singer Gerard Way and Bert McCracken were rumored to have been particularly close. My Chemical Romance and The Used have covered "Under Pressure" (originally by David Bowie and Queen) in concert on multiple occasions. Critics, however, have often criticized this relationship saying that My Chemical Romance used their relationship with The Used to gain a more international and wider audience.

In recent months, however, the two lead singers of both bands seem to have had a fallout due to disagreements over the addition of "Under Pressure" to In Love and Death. Most of this evidence comes from an interview with Bert and a recent song by My Chemical Romance entitled "Disenchanted". The dispute was settled, however, when Bert said in an article that he was "just messing around". The two bands' members are, to this day, good friends.[citation needed]

In the music video to My Chemical Romance's song "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)", it displays the line "If You've Ever Felt Used"

In The Used's song, "Take It Away", one line in the lyrics says "and I've lost all doubt in a chemical romance".

Tribute Acts

A number of tributes have been made to the work of My Chemical Romance. A one off project called "The Not Okay Kids" covered of a set of My Chemical Romance's songs from their first two albums. Another act that took on the task of creating a CD of tribute to the band was the Da Capo Chamber Players. They produced an album playing instrumental versions of a selection of tracks, again, from the bands first two albums.

My Chemical Romance (Part I)

My Chemical Romance (also known as My Chem, My Chemical or MCR) is an American band from New Jersey. Formed in 2001, the band consists of Gerard Way (lead vocals), Mikey Way (bass), Bob Bryar (drums), Frank Iero (rhythm guitar), and Ray Toro (lead guitar). The band members hail from Belleville and Kearny, New Jersey, except drummer Bob Bryar, who is from Chicago, Illinois. Bassist Mikey Way coined the band's name from a book entitled Ecstasy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance, by Irvine Welsh.



Biography

Early career (2001–2002)

The band was formed by frontman Gerard Way and ex-drummer Matt "Otter" Pelissier around a week after September 11, 2001 attacks. Gerard had witnessed the planes crashing into the World Trade Center, and it made him realize he should do something worthwhile with himself, and decided to start a band. The first song they wrote was Skylines and Turnstiles, which was written by Gerard about his feelings on September 11th. Shortly after, Ray Toro was called up and asked to join the band because Gerard couldn't sing and play the guitar at the same time.[1]

The first recording sessions were done in Matt's attic, where the songs Our Lady of Sorrows (then called "Bring More Knives") and Cubicles were recorded. Mikey Way, the younger brother of Gerard, loved the demo so much that he decided to learn to play the bass and join the band.[1] The band immediately started playing numerous local shows in basements in Montclair and New Brunswick, VFWs like Boonton Elks, and clubs such as the Loop Lounge in Passaic and the Bloomfield Ave. Cafe & Stage, in Montclair, New Jersey.[citation needed]

My Chemical Romance was signed with Eyeball Records and played in the same room as Pencey Prep and Thursday. It was there that the band met Frank Iero, the lead vocalist and guitarist for Pencey Prep. After Pencey Prep broke up in 2001 or 2002, Frank became a guitarist for My Chemical Romance, just days before the band's debut album was recorded.[1]

Just three months after the formation of the band they recorded their debut album, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love, subsequently released in 2002 on Eyeball Records. Despite only joining the band a few days before the album recording sessions began, Frank Iero played guitar on two of the tracks, one of them being "Early Sunsets Over Monroeville".


Major career (2003–2005)

The album cover for Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, the band's second album and their first on a major label
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The album cover for Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, the band's second album and their first on a major label

In 2003, the band signed a deal with Reprise Records. Following a tour with Avenged Sevenfold the band began work on their second album, entitled Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. Released in 2004, the album went platinum within a year. The band released three singles from the album: "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)", "Helena" and "The Ghost of You".

It was during this time that the band replaced their drummer, Matt Pelissier with Bob Bryar, after they went to Japan in August 2004. The true nature of Pelissier's departure has never been confirmed the band, but it has been speculated it was due to an argument with band member Ray Toro or as a result of mistakes made by the drummer during live performances.

At the start of 2005, the band were direct support on the first ever Taste of Chaos tour, and were also the opening act for Green Day on their American Idiot tour. Later that year they co-headlined and headlined their own tour,with Alkaline Trio and Reggie and the Full Effect around the country.

The same year My Chemical Romance and The Used collaborated on a cover of the David Bowie and Queen classic "Under Pressure" that was released as a benefit single on iTunes and other Internet outlets.


Recent and future plans (2006—)


On March 21, 2006, a 2 DVD/1 CD set entitled Life on the Murder Scene was released. It includes one DVD chronicling the band's history, and a second DVD with music videos, the making of their videos and a couple of live performances. An unauthorized biography DVD Things That Make You Go MMM! was also released, on June 27, 2006. The DVD does not actually feature any My Chemical Romance music clips or performances, but contains interviews with those who knew the band before much of their fame.[2]
The album cover for The Black Parade, the band's third studio album
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The album cover for The Black Parade, the band's third studio album

The band started recording their third studio album on April 10, 2006 with Rob Cavallo, producer of many of Green Day's albums.[3][4]

It was originally thought to be titled The Rise and Fall of My Chemical Romance, but in an interview with Kerrang! magazine Way suggested this was just the album's working title, stating "It was never the title of the album, more a spoof, or joke."[5] The title was eventually revealed to be The Black Parade.

On August 3, 2006, the band finished shooting the videos for their first two singles from The Black Parade, "Welcome to the Black Parade" and another as-yet-unconfirmed single. The video was directed by Sam Bayer, director of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and Green Day's American Idiot videos.[6]

During the shoot for "Welcome to the Black Parade", band members Gerard Way and Bob Bryar were injured. Way suffered a burn to the leg and torn ligaments in his ankle and Bryar a staph infection that needed constant monitoring in the hospital. Consequently the band was forced to cancel a couple of shows. While these injuries were reported by several news agencies to have been the result of a car accident, a statement released by the band on their website and MySpace has confirmed that these injuries occurred on the set of the video.[7][8]
"The Black Parade" outside of the Hammersmith Palais in London
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"The Black Parade" outside of the Hammersmith Palais in London

On August 22, 2006, the band played a special one-off show at the 1800-capacity London Hammersmith Palais. The show sold out in 15 minutes prompting tickets being sold on eBay well over the tickets' face value. The band is known to make an interesting creative appearance at these types of shows, such as arriving in coffins. The name of the album they promoted was announced and 20 people dressed in black capes with their faces obscured paraded around Hammersmith, followed by a large group of fans and street team members with signs saying "The Black Parade". Later during the show the album title and the UK release date were confirmed. Posters and stickers and a very small number of Black Parade T-Shirts were also given to people in the queue by the street team members. Prior to the band taking the stage it was announced that "My Chemical Romance" were unable to play, but they would be replaced by "The Black Parade." After initial crowd hostility it became clear the band were simply performing under a pseudonym in keeping with the theme of the album. When the set began, the backdrop art displayed the words "The Black Parade". New songs played included "House of Wolves", "The End", "Dead!", and live debuts for "I Don't Love You" and "Cancer".

On September 2nd 2006, My Chemical Romance posted "Welcome to the Black Parade" on their Myspace page and their purevolume page. It can also be heard on the official website. [7] "Welcome to the Black Parade" had its first radio airing on September 11th, 2006. On September 26, 2006 the "Welcome to the Black Parade" music video was released in the UK, and on September 27in the US. [5]

On October 9th, 2006, My Chemical Romance played at Spike TV's 2006 Scream Awards. Various street team members dressed up in white masks and others played drum cadences as the band was introduced. They played "Welcome to the Black Parade".
The new My Chemical Romance logo, also showing the band's new look
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The new My Chemical Romance logo, also showing the band's new look

On October 12th, 2006, My Chemical Romance made a rare in-store performance to 500 fans at Virgin Megastores on London's Oxford Street. During the bands 35 minute set, they played "House of Wolves", "Famous Last Words" and "Welcome to the Black Parade" from The Black Parade, alongside a handful of songs from the band's back catalogue. In order to get wristbands for the event, many fans slept outside the shop the previous night. British band Towers Of London caused trouble at the event when the Towers guitarist, Dirk Tourette, allegedly flicked a cigarette butt at Bob Bryar while he was performing.[9] After the live performance, the band met fans and signed records for several hours.

"Welcome to the Black Parade" reached number one on October 15th, 2006, in the UK, giving them their first number one.

October 21, 2006 marked their first appearance on Saturday Night Live as the musical guests.

The Black Parade was released on October 24th, 2006 in the USA and October 23rd, 2006 in the UK.

My Chemical Romance are playing six dates from January 19 to February 4, 2007 in the world renowned Big Day Out festival in Australia and New Zealand. They are billed alongside Tool, Muse, The Killers, and Jet

Kurt Cobain (Part II)

Nirvana

Main article: Nirvana (band)

Music samples:

* "Come as You Are" (file info) — play in browser (beta)
o "Come as You Are" from Nevermind.
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* "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (Live) (file info) — play in browser (beta)
o "Smells Like Teen Spirit" from From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah
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* "Dumb" (file info) — play in browser (beta)
o "Dumb" from In Utero
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Cobain received his first guitar from his uncle at age 14, who had bought it at bargain price from Rosevear's Music Center in Aberdeen, choosing it over a bicycle. From there, he tried to form bands with friends, generally noodling on songs by AC/DC and Led Zeppelin. In high school, he often found himself without anyone to jam with, as none of his friends had any particular musical talent. Later in high school, Cobain met Novoselic, a fellow devotee of punk rock, who lived across from the Young Street bridge. Novoselic's mother owned a hair salon (Maria's Hair Design) and they would practice there in the above room on occasion. A few years later, Cobain tried to convince Novoselic to form a band with him by lending him a copy of a home demo recorded by Cobain's earlier band, Fecal Matter. After months of prodding, Novoselic finally agreed to join Cobain, forming the beginnings of Nirvana.[15]

For the first few years of their playing together, Novoselic and Cobain found themselves host to a rotating list of drummers. Eventually, the band settled on Chad Channing, with whom Nirvana recorded the album Bleach, released on Sub Pop Records in 1989. Cobain, however, became dissatisfied with Channing's style, eventually leading the band to Dave Grohl. With Grohl, the band found their greatest success via their 1991 major-label debut, Nevermind.

Cobain struggled to reconcile the massive success of Nirvana with his underground roots. He also felt persecuted by the media, comparing himself to Frances Farmer, and harbored resentment for people who claimed to be fans of the band but who completely missed the point of the band's message. One incident particularly distressing to Cobain involved two men who raped a woman while singing the Nirvana song "Polly". Cobain condemned the episode in the liner notes of the US release of the album Incesticide: "Last year, a girl was raped by two wastes of sperm and eggs while they sang the lyrics to our song 'Polly.' I have a hard time carrying on knowing there are plankton like that in our audience. Sorry to be so anally P.C. but that's the way I feel."

Marriage

Courtney Love first saw Cobain perform in 1988. According to journalist Everett True, the pair were formally introduced at an L7 / Butthole Surfers concert in Los Angeles in May 1991. (Most biographies place the first meeting in Portland in 1989, but True insists the 1991 date is accurate, and points to a 1992 Cobain/Love interview with Sassy Magazine in which the pair noted that they met at an L7 / Butthole Surfers concert.) In the weeks that followed, after learning from Grohl that she and Cobain shared mutual crushes, Love began pursuing Cobain. After a few weeks of on-again, off-again courtship in the fall of 1991, the two found themselves together on a regular basis, often bonding through drug use. Kurt enjoyed being around Courtney because of her "up close and personal attitude." Kurt also later stated that when they first met, they exchanged punches. When Love became distraught during a backstage trash-the-dressing-room because of oil in her hair, because it reminded her of her painful high school career; Kurt told her that he would have never made fun of her in high school and then they exchanged kisses.

Around the time of Nirvana's 1992 performance on Saturday Night Live, Love discovered that she was pregnant with Cobain's child. A few days after the conclusion of Nirvana's Pacific Rim tour, on Monday, February 24, 1992, Cobain married Love on Waikiki Beach, Hawaii. On August 18, the couple's daughter, Frances Bean Cobain, was born. The unusual middle name was given to her because Cobain thought she looked like a kidney bean on the first sonogram he saw of her. Her namesake is Frances McKee of The Vaselines, of whom Cobain was a big fan, and not Frances Farmer as is sometimes reported.

In April 1992, the couple appeared together on the cover of the teen girl magazine Sassy. "In the last couple months I've gotten engaged and my attitude has changed drastically," Kurt told the reporter. "I can't believe how much happier I am. At times I even forget that I'm in a band, I'm so blinded by love. I know that sounds embarrassing, but it's true. I could give up the band right now. It doesn't matter, but I'm under contract."[16]

Love was somewhat unpopular with Nirvana fans; her harshest critics said she was merely using him as a vehicle to make herself famous. Critics who compared Cobain to John Lennon were also fond of comparing Love to Yoko Ono. Rumors persist that Cobain wrote most of the songs on the breakthrough album Live Through This of Love's band Hole, partially fueled by the 1996 appearance of a rough mix of "Asking for It" with Cobain singing backing vocals. However, there is no specific evidence to support the assertion.

At the same time, one Hole song was co-written by Cobain but entirely credited to Hole. The song "Old Age" appeared as a B-side on the 1993 single for Beautiful Son, credited to Hole. Initially, there was no reason to believe it was anything other than a Hole-penned song. However, in 1998, a boombox recording of the song performed by Nirvana (with significantly different lyrics) was surfaced by Seattle newspaper The Stranger. In the article that accompanied the clip, Novoselic confirmed that the recording was made in 1991 and that "Old Age" was a Nirvana song, leading to more speculation about Cobain's involvement in Hole's catalog. Nirvana had even attempted to record "Old Age" during the sessions for Nevermind, but it was left incomplete as Cobain had yet to finish the lyrics and the band had run out of studio time. (The incomplete recording appeared on the 2004 compilation With the Lights Out, credited to Cobain.) As for Hole's version, guitarist Eric Erlandson noted that he believed Cobain wrote the music for the song, but that Love had written the lyrics for their version. [1]

Eric Erlandson provided Courtney with company while she was pregnant in order for her to get away from Kurt's heroin addiction so she would not be tempted. Erlandson became a close personal friend of the Cobains and was included in their will.

In a 1992 article in Vanity Fair, Love admitted to using heroin while (unknowingly) pregnant, an admission that seriously damaged her public standing. Love, along with Cobain, claimed that Vanity Fair took her words out of context. While Cobain and Love's romance had always been something of a media attraction, the couple found themselves hounded by tabloid reporters after the article was published, many wanting to know if Frances was addicted to drugs at birth. As a result of the article, Los Angeles County Department of Children's Services took the Cobains to court, claiming that the couple's drug usage made them unfit parents. Two-week-old Frances Bean Cobain was ordered by the judge to be taken from their custody and placed with Courtney's sister Jamie for several weeks, after which the couple obtained custody, but had to submit to urine tests and a regular visit from a social worker. After months of legal wrangling, the couple were eventually granted full custody of their daughter. The stress of the legal affairs took heavy tolls on the Cobains. At one point Kurt and Courtney took Kurt's handgun and contemplated suicide but later decided against it because they wanted to be there for their daughter.

Drug addiction

Throughout most of his life, Cobain battled depression, chronic bronchitis, and intense physical pain due to an undiagnosed chronic stomach condition. This last condition wreaked an especially debilitating toll on his emotional welfare, and he spent years trying to find its source. However, none of the doctors he consulted was able to pinpoint the specific cause, guessing that it was either a result of Cobain's childhood scoliosis or related to the stresses of performing. Cobain self-medicated with heroin, although his condition was not the primary reason for his heroin use.

Cobain had his first taste of the drug sometime in 1986, thanks to a local drug dealer who had been supplying him with Percodans. Cobain used the drug sporadically for years, but it eventually developed into a full-fledged addiction. Toward the end of 1991, his use began affecting the band's support of Nevermind, with Cobain passing out during photo shoots. One memorable example came the day of the band's 1992 performance on Saturday Night Live, where Nirvana had a shoot with photographer Michael Levine. Having shot up beforehand, Cobain nodded off several times during the shoot. Regarding the shoot, Cobain related to biographer Michael Azerrad, "I mean, what are they supposed to do? They're not going to be able to tell me to stop. So I really didn't care. Obviously to them it was like practicing witchcraft or something. They didn't know anything about it so they thought that any second, I was going to die."[17] Cobain also overdosed on the same night, after performing on Saturday Night Live.

Cobain's heroin addiction worsened as the years progressed. Cobain made his first attempt at rehab in early 1992, not long after he and Love discovered they were going to become parents. Immediately after leaving rehab, Nirvana embarked on their Australian tour, with Cobain appearing pale and gaunt while suffering through withdrawals. Not long after returning home, Cobain's addiction resurfaced.

Prior to a performance at the New Music Seminar in New York City in July 1993, Cobain suffered a heroin overdose. Rather than calling for an ambulance, Love injected Cobain with illegally acquired Narcan to bring him out of his unconscious state. Cobain proceeded to perform with Nirvana on what later was recognized as one of their more memorable performances. The public was given no hint that anything out of the ordinary had taken place.

Cobain's final weeks
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Kurt Cobain suicide note

Following a tour stop at Terminal Eins in Munich, Germany, on March 1, 1994, Cobain was diagnosed with bronchitis and severe laryngitis. He flew to Rome the next day for medical treatment, and was joined there by his wife on March 3.

The next morning, Love awoke to find that Cobain had overdosed on a combination of champagne and Rohypnol (Love had a prescription for Rohypnol filled after arriving in Rome). Cobain was immediately rushed to the hospital, and spent the rest of the day unconscious. After five days in the hospital, Cobain was released and returned to Seattle.[18] Love later insisted publicly that the incident was Cobain's first suicide attempt.
The alleged suicide note.
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The alleged suicide note.

On March 18, Love phoned police to inform them that Cobain was suicidal and had locked himself in a room with a gun. Police arrived and confiscated several guns and a bottle of pills from Cobain, who insisted that he was not suicidal and had locked himself in the room to hide from Love. When questioned by police, Love admitted that Cobain had never mentioned that he was suicidal and that she had not seen him with a gun.[19]

On March 25, Love arranged an intervention concerning Cobain's drug use. The ten people involved included musician friends, record company executives, and one of Cobain's closest friends, Dylan Carlson. Former Nirvana manager Danny Goldberg described Cobain as being "extremely reluctant" and that he "denied that he was doing anything self-destructive." However, by the end of the day, Cobain had agreed to undergo a detox program.[20]

On March 30, Cobain arrived at the Exodus Recovery Center in Los Angeles, California. On the afternoon of April 1, one of Frances Bean's nannies brought her to the facility for an hour-long visit with Cobain. That night, Cobain walked outside to have a cigarette, then climbed over a six-foot-high fence to leave the facility. He took a taxi to the airport and flew back to Seattle. The next morning, he stopped by his Seattle home and had a conversation with Michael "Cali" DeWitt, who lived at Cobain's house. Over the next several days, Cobain was spotted in various locations around Seattle, but most of his friends and family were unaware of his whereabouts.

On April 3, Love contacted a private investigator, Tom Grant, and hired him to find Cobain. The next day, Love filed a missing person report under Cobain's mother's name without her permission. She added in the file that Cobain was suicidal and was in possession of a shotgun.[21]

On April 8, 1994, Cobain was discovered in the spare room above the garage (referred to as "the greenhouse") at his Lake Washington home by Veca Electric employee Gary Smith. Smith arrived at the house that morning to install security lighting and saw him lying inside. Apart from a minor amount of blood coming out of Cobain's ear, Smith reported seeing no visible signs of trauma, and initially believed that Cobain was asleep. Smith found what he thought might be a suicide note with a pen stuck through it beneath an overturned flowerpot. A shotgun, purchased for Cobain by Dylan Carlson, was found at Cobain's side. An autopsy report later concluded Cobain's death was a result of a "self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head." The report estimates Cobain to have died on April 5, 1994.

In the alleged suicide note, ostensibly written to Cobain's imaginary childhood friend "Boddah," Cobain quoted a lyric from Neil Young's song "Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)": "It's better to burn out than to fade away." Cobain's use of the lyric had a profound impact on Young, who recorded portions of his 1994 album Sleeps with Angels in Cobain's memory. The note also invoked the name of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, who Cobain felt could revel in the adoration of an audience in a way that Cobain himself could not.

Cobain's body was cremated, with one third of his ashes scattered at the Namgyal Tibetan buddhist monastery in Ithaca, New York, another third in the Wishkah River, and the rest left in Love's possession.

Suicide dispute

Kurt Cobain is legally recognized to have committed suicide. However, others contend that Cobain may have been murdered.

The first to publicly object to the report of suicide was Seattle public access host Richard Lee. A week after Cobain's death, Lee aired the first episode of an ongoing documentary covering Cobain's death called Kurt Cobain Was Murdered. Making note of several discrepancies in the police reports, including several changes in the nature of the shotgun blast, Lee insisted that Cobain was murdered. Lee acquired a video that was shot on April 8 from the tree outside Cobain's garage and showed the scene around Cobain's body, and noted an absence of blood for what was reported as a point-blank shotgun blast to the head. Several pathology experts have noted that a shotgun blast inside the mouth often results in less blood, unlike a shotgun blast to the head.[22] Lee's TV series continues to run, but often focuses on general issues regarding the Seattle Police Department.

In addition, Tom Grant, the private investigator employed by Love after Cobain's disappearance from rehab, adamantly believes that Cobain's death was a homicide. Grant was still under Love's employ when Cobain's body was found. Grant cites a figure published in an April 14, 1994, article by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, purportedly from the official toxicology report, which claimed, "the level of heroin in Cobain's bloodstream was 1.52 milligrams per liter."[23] Grant cites the figure as the key piece of evidence for murder. Grant argues that Cobain could not have injected himself with such a dose and still have been able to pull the trigger, an assertion supported by several notable experts on heroin addiction.[24] Grant does not believe that Cobain was killed by the heroin dose, however. He suggests that the heroin was used to incapacitate Cobain before the final shotgun blast was administered by the perpetrator. As to his first claim, critics point to several different studies on heroin use that note the difficulty in pinpointing the level of heroin that an addict can tolerate. In a 2004 story, Dateline NBC questioned five medical examiners about the figure from the toxicology report. Two of them noted the possibility that Cobain could have built up enough of a tolerance through repeated usage to have been able to pull the trigger himself, while the three others held that the information was inconclusive.[25]

Grant also believes that the apparent suicide note was actually a letter announcing his intent to leave Courtney Love, Seattle, and the music business. Grant believes that the few lines at the very bottom of the note, separate from the rest of it, are the only parts that sound like a suicide note. Grant and a number of handwriting experts point out that those lines are written in a style that varies from the rest of the letter. Grant also notes that the official report does not distinguish the questionable lines from the rest of the note, and simply concludes that Cobain wrote the note. However, when Dateline NBC sent a copy of the note to four different handwriting experts, one concluded that the entire note was in Cobain's hand, while the other three said the sample was inconclusive.[25]

In addition, Grant suggests that if the shotgun that Cobain used was positioned to match the findings of the autopsy report, his arm would have been too short for him to reach the trigger. Cobain would have had to fire the weapon with his toe, yet he was found with both shoes still in place.

Critics dismiss Grant's assertions, claiming that many of them are unproven hypotheses based on unconfirmable information. Critics also see Grant as an opportunist, pointing out that he sells "kits" about the alleged conspiracy (called "Case Study Manuals") via his website. Grant counters that any profit made from the kits goes to offset some of the costs of his investigation. As Grant related, "I wrestled with that ... but if I go broke, I'll have to give up my pursuit and Courtney wins."[26]
Kurt's cause of death is the subject of Nick Broomfield's documentary, Kurt & Courtney.
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Kurt's cause of death is the subject of Nick Broomfield's documentary, Kurt & Courtney.

Filmmaker Nick Broomfield decided to investigate the story for himself, and took a film crew to visit a number of people associated with Cobain and Love, including Love's father, Cobain's aunt, and one of the couple's former nannies. Broomfield also spoke to Mentors bandleader El Duce, who claimed that Love had offered him $50,000 to kill Cobain, and passed a polygraph administered by well-regarded polygraph expert Dr. Edward Gelb. Though El Duce noted that he knew who killed Kurt, he failed to mention a name. Broomfield inadvertently captured El Duce's last interview, as he died days later under mysterious circumstances, reportedly hit by a train while drunk. Broomfield titled the finished documentary Kurt & Courtney, and it was released in 1998. In the end, however, Broomfield felt he hadn't uncovered enough evidence to conclude the existence of a conspiracy. In a 1998 interview, Broomfield summed it up by saying, "I think that he committed suicide. I don't think that there's a smoking gun. And I think there's only one way you can explain a lot of things around his death. Not that he was murdered, but that there was just a lack of caring for him. I just think that Courtney had moved on, and he was expendable."[27]

Journalists Ian Halperin and Max Wallace took a similar path and attempted to investigate the conspiracy for themselves. Their initial work, the 1999 book Who Killed Kurt Cobain? drew a similar conclusion to Broomfield's film: while there wasn't enough evidence to prove a conspiracy, there was more than enough to demand that the case be reopened. A notable element of the book included their discussions with Grant, who had taped nearly every conversation that he had undertaken while he was in Love's employ. On their insistence, Grant played some of the tapes for the journalists to prove his claims. Over the next couple of years, Halperin and Wallace collaborated with Grant to write a second book, 2004's Love and Death: The Murder of Kurt Cobain, in which they claim to prove conclusively that Cobain was murdered.

After Cobain's death, Love insisted that Cobain's overdose in Rome was a suicide attempt. However, several people have contested the assertion. Dr. Osvaldo Galletta, who treated Cobain, told Newsday, "After [Cobain] woke up, he told me it was an accident. He said he had been confused. He had taken pharmaceuticals and alcohol together. He said it was just a mistake."[28] He further explained to Halperin and Wallace, "We can usually tell a suicide attempt. This didn't look like one to me." Galletta specifically denied Love's claim that 50 Rohypnol pills were removed from Cobain's stomach.[29]

Advocates of the official verdict of death (self-inflicted gunshot wound) cite Cobain's persistent drug addiction, clinical depression, and handwritten suicide note as conclusive proof. Members of Cobain's family have also noted patterns of depression in Kurt and instability before he achieved fame. Cobain himself mentioned that his stomach pains during Nirvana's 1991 European tour were so severe he became suicidal and that taking heroin was "my choice. I said, 'This is the only thing that's saving me from blowing my head off right now.'"[30] Sources close to him have also cited reasons such as the realized "artificiality" of stardom, the burdens of fame, Courtney's dominating presence and feelings of isolation. [citation needed] The contention is that Kurt saw suicide as a way out. [citation needed]

Many of Kurt's friends and associates, including Grohl and Novoselic, have remained silent on the matter. In August of 2005, however, Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon was asked about Kurt's death in an interview for UNCUT magazine. When asked what she thought to be Kurt's motive in committing suicide, Gordon replied, "I don't even know that he killed himself. There are people close to him who don't think that he did..." Asked if she thought someone else had killed him, Gordon answered, "I do, yes." [31]

Books on Cobain

Writer Charles R. Cross published a biography of Cobain titled Rocks biggest possers 3 - Cobain in 2001. For the book, as such, is possibly the most detailed account of Cobain's life on record, and is arguably the "definitive" Cobain biography. However, neither Dave Grohl nor Cobain's mother contributed to the book.

Additionally, many criticized Cross for including anything and everything related to Cobain, including details that were inaccurate. For example, Cross cited "On the Mountain" conclusively as the first working title for "You Know You're Right". In reality, "On the Mountain" was the result of an effort by fans in 1995 to decipher Grohl's introduction to the song on a 1993 live recording. When a clearer version of the recording surfaced some months later, it became clear that Grohl introduced the song as "All Apologies," since "You Know You're Right" was not on the written setlist that night. Cross was also heavily criticized for including an "artist's rendering" of Cobain's final days. Cross claimed in interviews that he felt he had learned enough about Cobain to reasonably guess his state of mind in the last week of his life. Many felt that the inclusion of fiction in what was supposed to be a non-fiction book was an insult to Cobain's memory.

Cobain wrote in a journal often, leaving 22 notebooks filled with his writing when he died. In November 2002, a sampling of these writings was published as Journals. The book is 280 pages with a simple black cover; the pages are arranged somewhat chronologically (although Cobain generally did not date them). The journal pages are reproduced in color, and there is a section added at the back that has explanations and transcripts of some of the less legible pages. The writings begin in the late 1980s, around the time the band started, and end in 1994. A paperback version of the book, released in 2003, included a handful of writings that were not offered in the initial release.

In the journals, Cobain talked about the ups and downs of life on the road, made lists of what music he was enjoying, and often scribbled down lyric ideas for future reference. Upon its release, reviewers and fans were conflicted about the collection. Many were elated to be able to learn more about Cobain and read his inner thoughts in his own words, but were disturbed by what was viewed as an invasion of his privacy.[32]

Prior to Cobain's death, writer Michael Azerrad published Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana, a book that chronicled Nirvana's career from its beginning, as well as the personal histories of the band members. The book explored Cobain's drug addiction, as well as the countless controversies surrounding the band. After Cobain's death, Azerrad re-published the book to include a final chapter discussing the last year of Cobain's life. The book is widely considered the definitive Nirvana biography, largely because of the involvement of the band members themselves. In 2006, Azerrad's taped conversations with Cobain were transformed into a documentary about Cobain, titled About a Son.


Musical influences

Kurt performing with Nirvana at the MTV Unplugged taping in November of 1993.
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Kurt performing with Nirvana at the MTV Unplugged taping in November of 1993.

Cobain was a devoted champion of early alternative rock acts. He would often make reference to his favorite bands in interviews, often placing a greater importance on the bands that influenced him than on his own music. Interviews with Cobain were often littered with references to obscure performers like The Vaselines, The Melvins, Daniel Johnston, The Meat Puppets, Young Marble Giants, The Wipers, Flipper, and The Raincoats. Cobain was eventually able to convince record companies to reissue albums by The Raincoats (Geffen) and The Vaselines (Sub Pop). Cobain also noted the influence of The Pixies, and commented that "Smells Like Teen Spirit" bore some similarities to their sound. Cobain told Melody Maker in 1992 that hearing Surfer Rosa for the first time convinced him to abandon his more Black Flag-influenced songwriting in favor of the "Iggy Pop / Aerosmith" type songwriting that appeared on Nevermind.[33]

Cobain also made efforts to include his favorite performers in his musical endeavors. In 1993, when he decided that he wanted a second guitarist to help him on stage, he recruited Pat Smear of the legendary L.A. punk band The Germs. When rehearsals of three Meat Puppets covers for Nirvana's 1993 performance for MTV Unplugged went awry, Cobain placed a call to the two lead members of the band, Curt and Cris Kirkwood, who ended up joining the band on stage to perform the songs.

Where Sonic Youth had served to help Nirvana gain wider success, Nirvana attempted to help other indie acts attain success. The band submitted the song "Oh, the Guilt" to a split single with Chicago's The Jesus Lizard, helping Nirvana's indie credibility while opening The Jesus Lizard to a wider audience.

The Beatles were an early and important musical influence on Cobain. Cobain expressed a particular fondness for John Lennon, whom he called his "idol" in his journals, and even admitted that the song "About a Girl" was essentially his attempt at writing a Beatles song. He also found himself heavily influenced by punk rock, and often credited bands such as Black Flag and the Sex Pistols for his artistic style and attitude.

Even with all of Cobain's indie influences, Nirvana's early style was influenced by the major rock bands of the 70s, including Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, KISS and Neil Young. In its early days, Nirvana made a habit of regularly playing cover songs by those bands, including Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song", "Dazed and Confused", "Heartbreaker", and a studio recording of KISS' "Do You Love Me?". He also talked about the influence of bands like The Knack, Boston, and The Bay City Rollers.

There were also earlier influences: Nirvana's MTV Unplugged concert ended with a version of "Where Did You Sleep Last Night", a song popularized by blues artist Leadbelly, whom Cobain called one of his favorite performers. Critic Greil Marcus suggested that Cobain's "Polly" was a descendent of "Pretty Polly", a murder ballad that might have been a century old when Dock Boggs recorded it in 1927.

Legacy

In 2005, a sign was put up in Aberdeen, Washington that read "Welcome to Aberdeen - Come As You Are" as a tribute to Cobain. The sign was paid for and created by the Kurt Cobain Memorial Committee, a non-profit organization created in May 2004 to honor Cobain. The Committee also planned to create a Kurt Cobain Memorial Park and a youth center in Aberdeen.

As Cobain has no gravesite, many Nirvana fans visit Viretta Park, near Cobain's former Lake Washington home, to pay tribute. On the anniversary of his death, fans gather in the park to celebrate his life and memory.

The mythic nature of Cobain's life even captured the eyes of filmmakers. Gus Van Sant based his 2005 movie Last Days on what might have happened in the final hours of Cobain's life.

Cobain's own words were used to narrate a documentary on his life, titled Kurt Cobain About a Son. Journalist Michael Azerrad interviewed the band extensively for his 1993 book Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana, and recorded twenty-five hours of tape with Cobain. Filmmaker AJ Schnack collaborated with Azerrad to use the tapes to tell the story. The film will debut at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival.

Years after his death, Cobain continues to intrigue and inspire fans. A full eight years after his death, Nirvana's final studio recording, "You Know You're Right", became a hit, bringing a new generation of Nirvana fans. "Nevermind" remains a watershed in alternative music, and consistently ranks in "best album" lists throughout the world.

In October 2006, Cobain's posthumous fame among mainstream media was revived when Forbes Magazine® ranked him as the top dollar-earning dead celebrity, earning an estimated $50 million from October 2005 to October 2006. In the six years of the list's publication, Elvis Presley had topped the list every year, but The King fell short of Cobain's earnings by about $8 million. This was the first time that Cobain appeared on the list, and according to Forbes writer Lacey Rose, "his debut atop the list is largely due to his widow, Courtney Love, who sold a 25% stake in his song catalog to publishing company Primary Wave for a reported $50 million." [34]

Many feel that Cobain's contributions to music history have permanently changed the landscape of popular music, marking him as one of the most influential songwriters in rock music history — even if that was never his intention.

See also

* List of drug-related deaths
* List of musical equipment used by Kurt Cobain
* List of people believed to have been affected by bipolar disorder
* List of known opiate addicts
* List of songs referencing Kurt Cobain
* Fender Jag-Stang