Today in rock history: on this date in 1985, three-fourths of arguably the greatest ever goth rock band stepped out on their own to release a debut album. Daniel Ash, David J and Kevin Haskins, under the collective name of Love and Rockets, released their first full length record, Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven. The band’s ultra-modern rendition of the Temptations classic 1970 protest song “Ball of Confusion” preceded the album and was an alternative dance club smash. The band’s debut album showed depth and versatility and let the three musicians create their very own unique sound and style which allowed them to show how vital they still were after the demise of Bauhaus. “If There’s a Heaven Above” was the sole single released from the album, but the real gem on this fine record is the epic “Haunted When The Minutes Drag,” one of the band’s very finest moments of their vast and varied output.
Today in rock history: on this date in 1972, jazz heavyweight Miles Davis released On The Corner, an album that was a massive critical disappointment upon its release but has over time been revered for its forward thinking blending of styles and its vision. Attempting to win back a listener base that had moved on enjoy funk and rock and roll, Davis put together an album that meshed elements of jazz improvisation, fusion, funk and free jazz. Purists blasted Davis for attempting to modernize the genre that was so sacred to them, but that didn’t faze defiant and bold musician Miles Davis. Opting to concentrate more on his keyboard skills than his legendary trumpet playing, the four-song album, with its eye-catching artwork featuring caricatures, has gained a newfound respect and credibility in the more than 40 years that have passed since its release and has been credited with inspiring various modern musical styles like electronica, jungle and hip-hop.
Today in rock history: on this date in 1946, Daryl Hall was born in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. The wildly popular and successful singer has crossed musical lines and scored a pile of hit singles and albums on pop, soul and adult contemporary for the better part of 40 years as half of the most popular pop duo of all time, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees, Hall and Oates. The gifted blue-eyed soul singer has achieved great success as a solo artist as well, through his solo discography as well as host of the popular, long-running television musical performance program, Live From Daryl’s House.
Today in rock history: on this date in 1988, pioneering industrial/electronic/metal band Ministry released its third full length album, the raucous The Land of Rape and Honey. The album was a departure from the band’s earlier releases, most notably its synth-pop 1983 debut album With Sympathy. Opting for a harder, more aggressive sound, the record started a whole new chapter of the Chicago-based band’s sound and has been regularly cited as a massive influence on many of the bands who’d follow Ministry’s lead, inspiring bands like Nine Inch Nails and Fear Factory who owe a great debt to band leader Al Jourgensen and the chaotic blend of electronic based cacophony he’d created with this fine record. Titled after a slogan that hails from an area of the Saskatchewan province of Canada, whose greatest agricultural crops include rapeseed and honey, the controversial and bold record opened the doors for so many other bands and artists to follow and is considered an essential title in the rise of industrial music. Featuring the guitar-heavy, dark wave classic single “Stigmata,” this is supposedly lead singer Al Jourgensen’s favorite album of his own lengthy catalog and the same can be said about most of the band’s still loyal and faithful fans.
This article appears in Oct 5-12, 2017.