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When David Gilmour sings about the sun going down, there's something simple about it. But when I saw them at Blazes with Gram, I could see this was a radical turn. He just made that one fatal mistake taking that one hit after he cleaned up, still thinking he could take the same amount. Listen to "This Can't Be Life," a track I did for Jay-Z's Dynasty album, and then listen to "Xxplosive." Shirley Alston Reeves, who did most of the group's lead vocals, wasn't a gospel shouter like Arlene Smith of the Chantels. But they had 8-tracks. And they are as intense and inventive as ever. If you love Elvis Costello, it's because you love what he's thinking the depth and breadth of his notice is astounding. What's more, he's still devoted to the analogue cause, telling MusicRadar earlier this year: Ive got nothing against digital synths, but I just happen to prefer the real thing. We carried each other's gear in, because back then, that's what you did. And what they wanted was Jackie Wilson. It might be Jordan Rudess who dominates the conversation when it comes to Dream Theater and keyboards these days - more on that later - but Sherinian was actually on synth duty for the band first. Hargus "Pig" Robbins, a member of Nashville's A-team of session players who added keyboards and piano to albums by Dolly Parton, Bob Dylan, Kenny Rogers, Miranda Lambert, Ween, and many more,. he took that country-picking thing into the rock world. People don't realize how unique that is. Even Elvis Presley knew why Wilson was called "Mr. I see more and more people getting into his music today. Some DJs wouldn't play that song or "Flash Light," because a fight would start: The crazy motherfuckers at parties would become real crazy. It presented this facade that everything around us is solid and real and going to be here forever, even though we know we created it. James is so fine. Metallica are fucking rad! It sounds like a clich now, that rock music was born out of cornfields and honky- tonks, but with Carl it was all true. Tina has the ability to dream, get out, get over and get on with it. There was nothing else I could do. Then Green came around, and suddenly this band was on a major label, playing arenas, and every human in America with two ears and access to radio was being demanded to "Stand." My big awakening happened when I was 14 years old. When I was learning to produce, working in a home studio in my mother's crib, I tried to make beats that sounded exactly like Timbaland's, DJ Premier's, Pete Rock's and, especially, Dr. Dre's. Whether it's the Cult or the Red Hot Chili Peppers, I apply the same basic formula: Keep it sparse. Known these days as much for his sardonic wit as his musicianship, it's easy to forget that Rick Wakeman is, first an foremost, a bonafide keyboard legend. The riff in "Walk This Way" is just us trying to explore the blues in the Yardbirds model. The well-known music magazine Rolling Stone in its September 18, 2003, issue 931 published a list of the 100 best guitarists of all time. It was like they were weaving a beautiful piece of cloth. There's a direct line you can draw back from today's metal, through Eighties bands like Iron Maiden, back to Sabbath. The Police matured really quickly. By the time Lydon's vocal came in, I definitely wanted to destroy my past and create something new for myself. I think I was at a girl's house. They would always pick me out of the audience with a spotlight, trying to get me up to the stage. His piano and keyboard work has been heard on the works of Eric Clapton, The Rolling Stones, John Mayer, The Black Crowes, George Harrison, The Allman Brothers Band, The Indigo Girls, Blues Traveler, Train, Montgomery-Gentry, Lee Ann Womack and many, many more. Soon after that, they broke up, which to me marked the end of Seventies rock. My first Aerosmith concert was in 1978, at a festival with Van Halen they were incredibly loud and I barely recognized a note, but it was still the most bitchin' thing I'd ever seen. It's a great trick it's impossibly catchy, people play it at their weddings, but it's a stalker song. The difference between John Lydon and a lot of other punk singers is that they can only emulate what he was doing naturally. The combination sounded so powerful. But all of them talked bad about each other, calling everyone "motherfucker." Who are we to argue? They knew he knew. Their melodies and harmonies have always been instantly familiar. But being a person who's made 14 records, you see how big a deal it is. It's one of the greatest rites of passage for any artist, and it's something that touches us most deeply. Equally adept on the piano, Hammond organ and synthesizer, Emerson became a household name with ELP, before setting out on a solo career. He'd crawl around, jump around. Back in the '70s, Jon Lord's full-on rock style was a refreshing antidote to the prog peddled by the likes of Keith Emerson and Rick Wakeman, with his overdriven Hammond organ sound becoming a true sonic signature during his Deep Purple days. "Bohemian Rhapsody" is arguably the greatest song ever written. "Not having a bass player made me play more . Most artists now just aren't smart enough to write that, or honest enough to write a line like, "I ain't a killer but don't push me." That integration was a sign of things to come. There's so little adornment. The day of those bands, that wild stepping out, is gone. We waited all day for them to arrive. I find the lyrics really calming. Fogerty plays what I would if I was 22, more talented and into the blues. I remember hearing those boot stomps to "Holidays in the Sun." Carl was that good. The emotion is all in that groove. His songs weren't as political as Marvin Gaye and Donny Hathaway. Pain and hurt can be a muse for great art. Laurence Fishburne told me once that he didn't like Tupac. We want to hear it. We had never met or really spoken, so I was a little intimidated. I read that an interviewer once asked Dave if he thought the Kinks had gone heavy metal in the Eighties. Being the best has got to wear you out. There was a real tradition of great singers in the group: Clyde McPhatter, Johnny Moore, Ben E. King and Rudy Lewis. After three or four albums, Lynyrd Skynyrd transcended the Southern-rock tag. His lyrics were a big part of it like Woody Guthrie and Merle Haggard before him, Ronnie knew how to cut to the chase. To this day, it simply doesn't get any better than that guitar riff from "Life in the Fast Lane.". Everyone focuses on the magic of Jerry's guitar playing and the vulnerability of his voice, but his sense of melody and chord changes was unbelievable. You can grasp the chord progressions and melodies the first time you hear them. It's significant that Hank learned to play guitar from an elderly black musician: Hank is the ultimate hillbilly, but there's other stuff going on. The Rolling Stones' Studio Keyboard Players. But it's "Xxplosive," off 2001, that I got my entire sound from if you listen to the track, it's got a soul beat, but it's done with those heavy Dre drums. Like Nick Rhodes, Greg Phillinganes bestrode the '80s and '90s like a keyboard colossus, playing on all of Michael Jackson's albums from Off The Wall through to Dangerous, while also finding time to jam with Eric Clapton, Chaka Khan, Mick Jagger and well, pretty much everyone else. And they got the street that Muddy lived on most of his life named after him. They were the shit to us, out of all the British bands in the Sixties. Then there's Jack Bruce probably the most musically gifted bass player who's ever been. No, man, he had all that action. I have experienced the thrill of collaborating with him numerous times as we have invited each other into our respective albums. They could take those great songs and give them sound. People are born to do certain things, and Al was born to make us smile. Allen Toussaint Southern Nights. Zappa gave me the faith that anything in music was possible. Tina doesn't seem to have a beginning or an end. Then, years later, I went to the White House (back when Clinton was in office), and Al was there performing. It was '77. MCA was always the mature one, but he could be a fool when it was time to be a fool. Rolling Stone also says Kurt Cobain is the fifth greatest guitarist of all time while David Gilmore is like 87 or some shit. I'd later become friends with David Ruffin when our bands would play in Detroit, Ruffin would come to every show and we'd sing "(I Know) I'm Losing You," a Temptations cover off my album Every Picture Tells a Story. He knew his stuff before he met us. Keep on chooglin'. Could it have been anyone else? She had such a strong sexuality, but she didn't feel the need to deny that part of her in order to be taken seriously. In a way, that upheaval may be part of the reason they recorded so many immortal songs over such a long period. Cream were very innovative within the context of all the music coming from the West Coast of the U.S. at that time, from bands like the Doors and Love. Clapton has followed in the footsteps of his mentors: He's become a journeyman. 1. A five-minute-long bass solo is a sure ticket to commercial success. Their songs are universal they're part of all of our lives. The things that Lydon wrote about back in '76 and '77 are totally relevant to what's going on right now. That song was "Fight Fire With Fire." When I'm producing a rock band, I try to create albums that sound as powerful as Highway to Hell. But that's also when I fell in love with David Ruffin's tenor it jumped out of the speakers and ravished my soul. 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What about those people we done forgot about, like Wolf? If I tell you you can't play, then you're gonna bring it on." In both songs, I had the horn section play the guitar solos, note for note. Matter of fact, the first time I met him, I started tapping my feet as he was talking. It didn't seem like the sunset was happening in some king's country, in some other world. We had a friend, Henry Smith, who had been our manager for a while, and he had gone to school there. fan, happy to venture beyond the pale of the radio singles, was a rare thing. There was violence a crazed woman once shot him as well as tax problems, drugs, divorce and mob associations that made demands he couldn't refuse. I loved the way Tom's Florida swamp-dog voice sounded in cahoots with Mike Campbell's guitar and Benmont Tench's keyboards. It was a tribute to how great they were. But you have to say, they did pretty well. You know when I did "Shaft," with those 16th notes on the high-hat? Everything about the songs was great, even the intros every one of them had a distinctive, memorable intro, which was a hook in and of itself. At first I was star-struck, but within 30 minutes I was begging him to mix my next album. They were definitely going for a hit single with the song "(Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth." It's incredible how much he wrote how much he documented. But all the guys were very, very close. After I released my first solo album, I was doing a TV special in Memphis, and I called him and asked if he'd grace us with his presence. But I've noticed that there's been a rediscovery of the haunting quality of Hank Williams' music. Clapton was so moved by Johnson's music that he wanted to write and sing with the same passion, clarity and truth. When Muddy died, they interviewed me on television, and they asked me, "What should be done?" She's transformed herself into an international sensation an elegant powerhouse. Around the same time, Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett were encouraging him to write and sing. He looked young and on fire. BIO. He was just a stunning and singular musician who was gone way too soon. The Chronic is still the hip-hop equivalent of Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life. Al, he was a crooner. I was simply staggered by the amount of equipment they had: by Ginger Baker's double bass drum, by Jack Bruce's two 4-by-12 Marshall amps and by all of Eric Clapton's gear. When he soloed, he wrote wonderful symphonies from classic blues licks in that fantastic tone, with all of the resonance that comes from distortion. It was a voice that could play roadhouses without amplification, that could cut through barroom crowds. Intellectually, Clapton was a purist, although there was little evidence of it in the beginning. Guns n' Roses revived our kind of rock. I had the honor of inducting Jackie Wilson into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. When I was 11 or so, my first group was an early version of what would become the Miracles. When you're up on that stage or when you record, you want to be a tool that light shines through to everybody.". The Kinks slipped into rock history through the back door. Till a flash of a badge or the wave of a ribbon can be seen from the farthest table, and he knows: This is it. But the reality is that life never threw her anything that she couldn't handle. The Top Ten 1 Dave Greenfield (The Stranglers) He said, "They may not know who I am." Her melodies are about shapes. Paul Cook was an amazing drummer with a distinct sound, right up there with Keith Moon or Charlie Watts. But he would also work very hard harder than I ever did on honing it down. Through it all, the Drifters always had this exquisite vocal blend. He once told me, "Tom, I like you so much if I lived by you, I'd cut your grass." So, who fucking cares what they say? When you're in a band and you find something that breaks every rule, it gives you creative hope. I was lucky enough to see the Allmans up close in the beginning. There was a mutual musical sensibility and a serious mutual respect. There are very few performers who can grab you like that the first time only the greats. It makes you want to get your girlfriend and go to a dance in your lowrider. And Santana is the light. And, of course, there were two other wonderful singers in the Supremes, Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard. It burned with the abandon of the blues singer and an almost feminine longing, at once powerful and deeply personal. Ray Manzarek 3. The title song of Sabbath Bloody Sabbath has all of the stuff I'm talking about: It's rebellious and dark and wicked, but it's also gorgeous. When I played his songs early on, I used to get really sick of everyone in the crowd yelling "yee-haw" all the way through. But it still held together as a bitchin'-ass song. You can hear how good he is at both on Eric Clapton, the album he made with them, as well as his change in tone from Gibson-dirty to Stratocaster-clean. Each of the nominees had their merits and we should be grateful to all of them for lighting up our musical lives, but finally, we can count down the top 10 and reveal who youve voted the greatest keyboard player of all time. My father thought that all of us kids were asleep; I immediately assumed that he would shut the radio off. There have been solo albums and countless guest appearances too, though, and he's even found time to start his own music software company. He called me and said, "Steven, the Yardbirds are playing here, and you can open up." fan meant being part of a tiny community. And to me, that's what the best music is made of. Our waiter, Blixa Bargeld, leaned in to me and whispered, "The music is a birthday surprise for Lou. I think he was the best electric-guitar player, other than Jimi Hendrix. It was precise and explosive and heavy. There are a lot of Deadheads who were completely different people before they connected with the Grateful Dead. Songs like "Paradise City" and "Welcome to the Jungle" were just simple enough; the chorus lines came right when you wanted them. Carl himself was a very bright guy, and very funny. On The Stooges and Fun House, while his brother Ron, the guitarist, was playing these loud bar-chord progressions, Scott was making the band rev and swing. Neil Young was there that night, and he was shaking his head. Eminem does for his audience what Dylan did for his: He writes how he feels. Black Sabbath's rhythm section doesn't get enough props. Al Kooper 10. When she did it, it was a fluffy time pretty girls singing about pretty things. From his records, it sounded like he was projecting from a completely different place in his body. Basically, we hung around together, like musicians do. When Cream came out, everybody started a power trio. I really related to that, because I never had a big, boisterous, American Idol showstopping voice. There's not a fake bone in his body. We've reached the end - find out who'll be taking their place in our fantasy GOAT band. That was their thing. Anyone who has ever been to a Metallica show, and banged their head, and thrown up the devil horns, has been a part of something great. So whenever I had to do a solo, I would just play that. But I still gave him a look like he was bugging. They rapped about shit they knew about: skateboarding, going to White Castle, angel dust and television. We both loved that melancholy, high-lonesome shit. But it was always Booker T. and the MGs playing. With his adventurous chord voicings, incredible touch and superb improvisation skills, Hancock is a supreme player, and is still pushing boundaries and influencing new generations of musicians (his next album is set to feature the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg and Common). Songs such as the Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" and Ike and Tina Turner's "River Deep, Mountain High" had wonderful singers, but they were tiles. When I started getting calls to come and play on some cuts behind him, I'd think, "Oh, shit, I better play right." The first song of theirs that I vividly remember hearing was "Take It Easy." That was him telling the world, "This is who I am." But it was organic with Carl. Listen to "Somebody," a song I wrote for Aerosmith's first album: It's all from the Yardbirds. Along with the Beatles, they gave those of us entering the business at that time something to aspire to that wasn't pop but was still popular. My parents had basically nine vinyl albums, all greatest hits: the Beatles' red/blue albums, Carpenters, Neil Diamond, Elton John, the Beach Boys' Endless Summer, Jim Croce, Gordon Lightfoot and Creedence Gold. The first time we toured with the Beastie Boys was the Raising Hell tour in 1986: Run-DMC, Whodini, LL Cool J and the Beastie Boys.