This week’s first group is Heart an Arena Rock Group. I chose this group because they were some of rock music’s female pioneers and I thought it would be interesting to learn a little more about the Band. The band Heart was formed in 1974 with Ann and Nancy Wilson, Steve Fossen, and Mike Fisher. A year later Howard Leese joined the group. “Not only did the Wilson sisters lead the band, they wrote the songs and played the instruments too, making them the first women in rock to do so.” (Heart, 2015) With Ann contributing vocals, guitar, and flute; Nancy’s vocals, guitar, and mandolin; Steve on Guitar, Mike on Bass, and Howard on keyboards, synthesizer, guitar the group recorded their first album in 1976. The album was Dreamboat Annie, which included “Crazy on You” and “Magic Man”. In 1977 the group added Michael DeRosier as its drummer, and release two albums in the same year. The first was a partially completed album named Magazine, which released in early 1977 on their old Label Mushroom. The second was Little Queen, which was released on their new label Portrait. Despite both albums being solid it was Little Queen, which produced the group’s next hit “Barracuda”. The same year Roger left the band, the ladies were on the cover of Rolling stone, and the band won the lawsuit Mushroom filled against them. The 1980’s brought few more albums such as Bebe le Strange, which included hits like “Even It Up” and a cover ballad called “Tell It Like It Is”. They also released Private Audition and Passionworks. However, it was their Heart album, which went number 1, which included billboard hits “What About Love?” and “These Dreams”. Heart has released over 13 albums with their last album of new material being released in 2012.
This week’s second band is Blondie a punk rock group. I chose this group because it also had a leading lady. In Professional Writing I wrote my blog about female producers, I guess I like girl power. Regardless this Pop powerhouse was worth learning about. With hits like “One Way Or Another”, “Heart of Glass”, “Call on Me” and “Rapture”. Its line up includes Deborah Harry, Clem Burke, Jimmy Destri, Nigel Harrison, Frank Infante, Chris Stein, and Gary Valentine. While both Heart and Blondie have female lead singers Blondie was borderline New Wave or Pop. Heart uses a lot of hard rock grooves and rifts. While Blondie used more poppy electronic patterns and instruments. Both groups used a good mixture of harmonies while singing about love and life, selling millions of records worldwide.
Works Cited
Heart. (2015). About. Retrieved 02 11, 2016, from Heart-Music.com: http://www.heart-music.com/heart
Simon, S. &. (2016). Biography. Retrieved 02 12, 2016, from Rollingstone.com: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/blondie/biography
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, Inc. (2016). The Inductees. Retrieved 02 12, 2016, from Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: https://rockhall.com/inductees/heart/bio/
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, Inc. (2016). The Inductees. Retrieved 02 12, 2016, from Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum: https://rockhall.com/inductees/blondie/bio/
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ShanaBurwell 