(New ipod) The Best Frontmen in Rock History
No commentsBy Patrick Omari
Rock music is generally based on the sounds of an electric guitar and rhythm section. However, some of the best rock bands rely heavily on the charisma, style and voice of their frontman. The frontman will traditionally just sing vocals, although some have played instruments such as the guitar or moog synthesiser.
The perfect frontmen must be captivating and demand the audience’s attention with outrageous or intriguing behaviour. An example of this would be the Sex Pistol’s Johnny Rotten who would provoke the audience with aggressive language and threatening behaviour. This style of frontman worked wonderfully in punk rock but wouldn’t be as successful in rock.
One of the most successful frontmen in music history is The Rolling Stones’ main man, Dartford’s very own Mick Jagger. Jagger relied heavily on attitude, pomposity and rebelliousness and would often be contrasted with the clean-living Beatles, this was the early 1960s.
Jagger would strut across the stage with microphone stand in his hand, this distinctive would be copied and imitated for decades to come. Mick Jagger’s colourful private life only added to his reputation as a great frontman, as stories added to the rebel-image that had been created.
If the role of the frontman is to epitomise the band’s style, direction and attitude then Rage Against The Machine’s Zack de la Rocha is one of the very best. Rage AGainst The Machine produce politically-aggressive rap-rock with Rocha as the key spokesman. He personifies their beliefs and is the perfect voice for their outspoken views.
The best frontmen in history, not just music, would be David Lee Roth and Freddie Mercury. David Lee Roth is the frontman and lead singer of sensational rock band Van Halen. With guitars and tight trousers, Van Halen took the rock world by storm in the 1970s and 80s.
Roth was a flamboyant and charismatic frontman, perfect for the glam, colourful music that Van Halen were playing. Unfortunately, band members fell out with Roth about his behaviour and caricaturish persona, leading to him leaving in 1985. Roth recently rejoined the band as they took part in a massively successful universal world tour of North America.
Freddie Mercury fronted the overtly camp British rock band Queen until his death in 1991. Mercury possessed a powerful voice, capable of reaching notes that others couldn’t as well as an ability to demand attention. He performed with such enthusiasm and vigour, evoking similar emotions from the audience.
Mercury was perfection in the arena-filling pomp rock of Queen, but he rarely reached the dizzying heights of superstardom of Chad Kroeger. Kroeger is the bearded frontman of rock gods Nickelback. This post-grunge band, have taken all the best bits from Nirvana and added pop sensibilities to produce music that will live on for eternity.
Kroeger’s voice is a rasping, angelic growl that tugs on the heart strings while simultaneously making you weep with excitement. How You Remind Me and Rock Star are two of the best songs ever written but the recordings are nothing compared to the buzz and anticipation that Kroeger creates at live gigs. He is the best.
Patrick is an expert Research and Travel consultant. His current interest is in Luton airport hotels, Hilton Heathrow and Heathrow parking.
Board Games Based On Performance
By Victor Epand
With the huge popularity that exists nowadays with video games that can offer great music and graphics along with an interactive storyline, pressure is placed on traditional board games to keep the attention of the players as well as these games with controllers might provide. Games like Guitar Hero, which test not only the hand-eye coordination of players, but their musical skill, will often give players a world to escape into that makes time fly with the level of concentration that they give. Other games, like Dance Dance Revolution, give players something physical to compete with and this keeps all players active, holding their attention.
Board games are starting to get the message and are re-inventing themselves in ways that are designed to get players up and moving around, performing actions. This stops players from merely sitting around a table, using their intellects to win a game. Now, players are forced to use other skills as well in a variety of ways. This stimulation, both mental and physical, is good for anyone trying to enjoy themselves with a friendly competitive game and, as the popularity of these performance-based board games grow, more and more games will surely be moving in this direction.
The American Idol board game is one of these games that will test players in more ways than just a simple race around the board. Based on the hit television show where contestants compete against each other by singing various songs, this show is a competition determined to discover who the best singer out of the group is. The board game works much on the same level, having all of the players race around a board to collect points and move on to the finalist area. When two people reach the finalist area, they will each sing along to a song to determine who is the stronger singer and the winner of the game. While this game isn’t overly challenging, it gives players the chance to do something more than race around the board.
Stepping it up, however, the American Idol All-Star Challenge DVD game makes players work a little harder. Made by the same people who make the Scene It game, this game uses a DVD to help players complete the tasks and sing the songs they need to sing in order to compete. This game is all-around more inclusive, having players not only sing, but perform dance routines to earn performance stars, by which the game is judged. While points are not always rewarded on who actually sung the best, the game does allow people to actually get up and do something, making them work for the prize.
Other games also have heavy elements of performance involved. Cranium uses a number of factors during its competition, not simply trivia and knowledge. Players of this game could be forced to either draw or sculpt a clue out of clay or perhaps to make a performance for their team to guess. These performances can work like charades, where they have to silently act out a clue. They can take the form of a celebrity impersonation or even a musical clue, where they have to hum a song to make others guess it!
Victor Epand is an expert consultant for board games, chess boards, and dungeons and dragons miniatures. You will find all these things and more if you visit performance board games, chess boards, and dungeons and dragons miniatures.
Your Source For Online Ipod Information
CD Mastering, What Is It?
By Michael4 Jones4
Audio Mastering Improves Sound Quality
Audio mastering does a great deal in terms of good audio quality. While it may be new to the ear, or some may think it just another source of expense, audio mastering actually gives more benefit to the music or album produced. Several singers and bands simply put into CDs their songs without undertaking this procedure. Hence, the quality of their production is below commercial value.
Little do they know that their songs turn out bad even if they did an excellent job recording the song due to a lack or absence of audio mastering. As a result, the records do not sell well, or very few listen to their music. This can be improved if mastering had been done. The maximum profitability of the songs can be achieved if the audio quality is good, and this can be done through audio mastering.
For those who do not know, audio mastering is a process where the recorded audio is polished into perfection. It is done by enhancing the quality of sound of the song. The sequence is arranged providing enough spaces between each song. The noises are reduced, the clarity of the mixes are enhanced, the volume and tones are balanced, and many other improvements. Definitely, audio mastering is advantageous to every singer. Here are some benefits one can gain when the songs are audio mastered.
1. Audio mastering adds commercial value to the album. When the songs in an album are crystal clear, the mixes are perfect and no nuisance sound can be heard, people will tend to buy them. This can be achieved only if the audio has been mastered by a professional mastering engineer. The engineer will eliminate all unnecessary sound in each song.
2. Songs will sound more professional. Even songs performed by an amateur singer will be impressive; they will sound like the work of a professional singer. The sound will turn out to be of good quality people might think the performer is a professional singer or band.
3. There will be no overlapping of songs. Audio mastering ensures a smooth transition from one song to another in the album. No more long waiting for the next song or irritation at overlapping audios. Hence, the annoyance over these incidents will be removed and the album will be enjoyed more by the buyers.
4. Volume levels are maximized and balanced frequencies will be achieved. Each song in the album is treated equally if it underwent audio mastering. The songs will be of the same volume levels so no one song will be difficult to hear. The bass, trebles and mids are also of the same frequency to make the entire album consistently balanced.
Clearly, audio mastering improves the sound quality of each song and the entire album. The benefits are great that the extra money spent in audio mastering will be offset when the product turns out to be a good one. The expenses are worth it. After the final touches are applied, without a doubt the outcome will be great.
Michael Dominici is author of article written on Analog & Digital CD Mastering. For more information, please visit :www.musichousemastering.com
Thursday, October 30th, 2008 at 2:35 pm and is filed under music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
