HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

I WISH YOU ALL A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Say "Hi" to Smashing Pumpkins!!!

Hi everyone. Excuse me for being very late, but you all now that we all 've been very busy since there were many exams. Anyway, here I am again, with my new post about the Smashing Pumpkins. Well, you've probably never heard of the Smashing Pumpkins, but I'm sure that you'll like their songs, especially if you are Depeche Mode fan. The Smashing Pumpkins is an American alternative rock band that was formed in Chicago in 1988 by Billy Corgan (vocals/guitar), James Iha (guitar/backing vocals), D'arcy Wretzky (bass guitar/backing vocals), and Jimmy Chamberlin (drums/percussion). Different than the other bands, The Smashing Pumpkins includes gothic rock, heavy metal, dream pop, psychedelic rock, arena rock and electronica in their songs. The Smashing Pumpkins earned recognition with their second album, Siamese Dream (1993). Their marvellous success continued with their double album “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness” (1995), which has got the first place in Billboard charts. However, some problems among the group which was mostly caused by drugs, caused the 2000 break-up. In April 2006, the band officially announced that they were recording a new album. Yet, they went on a tour in 2007 with the returning members Jeff Schroeder, Ginger Reyes and Lisa Harriton for supporting their new album, “Zeitgeist”.

The Canadian Style Of Rock: 3 Days Grace

Three Days Grace is a Canadian alternative rock band which I haven't heard before I started Koç. As I learned from my friends in Koç, many of them are fans of Three Days Grace. That is actually the reason I wanted to write about the band. I downloaded some songs of the rock band. They are really good songs, indeed. So now, I'm one of the Three Days Grace Fans too:D. The band was formed under the name of Groundswell in Ontario, Canada in 1992. The band consists of Adam Gontier, Neil Sanderson, Brad Walst, and Barry Stock. After years of success, in 2005 Adam Gontier was sent into rehab because of his addiction to Oxycodone. The song, "Gone Forever" is written about the Gontier's life without the drug. During rehab, Gontier had written several songs and once he returned to the band in 2006, they released the album One-X. It includes "Pain", "Animal I Have Become", "Riot", "Never Too Late", "Over and Over"
In 2007, Gontier recorded a song called "I Don't Care" with the band Apocalyptica. The entire band was recently on tour with Breaking Benjamin, Seether, Skillet, Red and Econoline Crush. Also, live, Gontier has sung with Seether in the song "Broken". He sings it as a duet by singing Amy Lee's part. In addition, Gontier teamed with Breaking Benjamin's Benjamin Burnley to sing "Dance With the Devil" on tour.
WHO'S NEXT?
SMASHING PUMPKINS

James Blunt, The Soft Voice Of The Rock World...

James Blunt, the 34 year old folk rock singer-songwriter is known as one of the most successful young musicians of the world. Young girls know him with his good looking and of course his legendary song, "You're Beautiful" which brought James Blunt in fame in 2005. His style is a mix of rock and folk. Along with vocals, James Blunt performs a variety of instruments, including piano and guitar. As a consequence of his bright success, he was nominated for the Grammy Awards in 2006. Before his music carreer, Blunt was an officer in the British Army, and served under NATO in Kosovo during the conflict in 1999. While working in to Kosovo, Blunt was introduced to the work of Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) (Doctors Without Borders), a humanitarian aid group best known for its emergency medical care in problematic regions. Since then, Blunt has supported MSF by holding "meet-and-greet" auctions at many of his concerts. I didn't know this and it is a really interesting fact about him in my opinion. Blunt is living in the Spansih island of Ibiza at the moment where he wrote many of the songs of his second album.

WHO'S NEXT?

3 DAYS GRACE!!

The Newest Release: "Chinese Democracy"

Guns N' Roses, one of my favourite bands, is an American hard rock band, which was formed in 1985 in LA.

Guns N' Roses has sold over 100 million albums worldwide, including over 42 million in the United States. 1991's Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II debuted on the two highest spots on the Billboard 200 and have sold a combined 14 million copies in the United States alone.

The band has finally released its new album "Chinese Democracy", which is the sixth studio album of the band. The album was released just a week ago on the 23rd of November. It is the band's first studio album since 1993's "The Spaghetti Incident?", and their first album of original studio material since the release of Use Your Illusion I and II in September 1991.

WHO'S NEXT?

JAMES BLUNT!!

The Legendary "Queen"...

Queen is a real legend in all the parts of the world I must say. The famous names that formed the band can not be underestimated. The English rock band that was formed in 1970, was formed by many famous musicians: Brian May, Freddie Mercury (who then released his own album), Roger Taylor and John Deacon. Queen has always been known with its impressive live performances. That is why the band was voted the best live rock performance of all time in an industry poll. Queen have released fifteen studio albums, five live albums, and numerous compilation albums throughout its history and eighteen of these have reached number one on charts around the world. Following Mercury's death in 1991 and Deacon's retirement in 1997, Brian May and Roger Taylor have performed infrequently under the Queen name. Since 2005 they have been collaborating with Paul Rodgers, under the nickname Queen + Paul Rodgers.

WHO'S NEXT?

GUNS N'ROSES

Muse Or The "Rocket Baby Dolls" Of Years...

Muse is an English rock band that I discovered a year ago while one of my friends was listening to the song "Sunburn". It was such a great song and the thing that caught my attention was that the band included classical music melodies in their rock songs which is definitely interesting in my opinion. Other than classical music, electronica is alos included. These are, infact the most important differences of Muse from the other rock bands. An important fact about the band is that it was called “Rocket Baby Dolls” when the band was first formed. Matthew Bellamy, Christopher Wolstenholme and Dominic Howard have released four albums with their first, “Showbiz”, released in 1999, followed by “Origin of Symmetry” in 2001 and “Absolution” in 2003. The most recent, “Black Holes & Revelations” which was released in 2006, was also one of the most successful albums of the band that Muse was nominated to Mercury Prize and got the third place in the NME Albums of the Year list for 2006. Throughout their carreer, Muse have won significantly many awards including 5 MTV Europe Music Awards, 5 Q Awards, 4 NME Awards and 2 Brit awards as a consequence of their unbelievable success.

WHO'S NEXT?
QUEEN!!

Placebo - The Return?!

Placebo is finally back in the studio working on a new album! After finishing the last USA tour in 2007 with Linkin Park and My Chemical Romance, they have been writing and demoing their new album in London. In order to present their new album, Placebo is going to organize a European Tour named TBA, that Turkey is going to be included. The most important innovation of the band at the present is their new drummer: Mr Steve Forrest! Coming from Modesto, California, he was previously the drummer of the American rock band, ‘Evaline’.

WHO'S NEXT?
MUSE!!

The Final Countdown!

There are only 5 days left for the "MTV EMA'08" which is going to be in Liverpool this year. So I'm waiting for the results with excitement. As I've learned from its official website, Europe's Favourite Act Top 5 is as follows;

Emre Aydın-Turkey

Finley-Italy

Shiri Maimon-Israel

Leona Lewis-UK&Ireland

Nightwish-Finland

In my opinion these are all great singers and bands. Yet, I haven't heard of Shiri Maimon before. What do you think of Emre Aydın, the strongest nominee from Turkey?

Don't forget to vote on http://ema.mtv.co.uk/vote/ .

Depeche Mode, Once Again?!

Today, I want to share the great news I've read on the official web site of "Depeche Mode" with you. When the band came to Turkey for a concert in 2006, I couldn't go although I had my tickets. However, I learned that "Depeche Mode" has decided to organize a European tour named "Tour Of The Universe 2009" which includes 29 countries. The Istanbul concert is going to be on the 14th of May and the tickets will be on sale on the 1st of December. Eventhough it isn't for sure, the concert is planned to be in Kuruçeşme Arena. "Depeche Mode" has significantly many fans in Turkey, especially in Istanbul. Accordingly, many people will go to the Biletix stores at night on the 31st of November and sleep in front of the store for a night as I've read in the Turkish website of "Depeche Mode". So, are you ready for this great concert?? I really want to know if there are "Depeche Mode" fans in our school!! By the way, who do you want to read in my blog as my next post? Please comment and tell me who you want.

A Rising Star: Coldplay

As you were all following, the winner of the blog's poll is Coldplay. Accordingly, I thougt you'd all want to read a bit about Coldplay and their legendary song "Viva La Vida" today.

Coldplay is an alternative rock band from London, that was formed in 1998. The group is formed by vocalist/pianist/guitarist Chris Martin, lead guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, and drummer/multi-instrumentalist Will Champion. Coldplay has sold over 40 million albums worldwide. Furhermore, the band is well-known with its hit singles like "Yellow", "The Scientist", "Speed of Sound", "Fix You", "Viva la Vida" and the Grammy Award-winning "Clocks". Coldplay achieved worldwide recognition after releasing their first single "Yellow“.,The following-up album “A Rush of Blood to the Head “(2002) won various awards such as NME’s Album of the Year. Their next release, “X&Y” (2005) hasn’T got as much attention as the previous albums.The band's fourth studio album, “Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends” (2008), was Coldplay’s most successful album and the song “Viva La Vida” is a nominee of MTV EMA 2008.

The Unforgetable One: "Nirvana"

Whenever I listen to a song of Nirvana, I still enjoy a lot eventhough thinking of the death of Kurt Cobain makes me really sad. If he was still alive, I'm sure that Nirvana would still be one of the best bands of the world. Accordingly, in order to remember the group and inform the ones who don't know much about Nirvana, today I want to write a brief summary of the bands' history.
Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by the singer Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Washington. Its one of the bands which made a subgenre of Alternative Rock called grunge in the USA with its songs such as "Smells Like Teen Spirit" which was released in 1991. In 2002, "You Know You're Right", an unfinished demo from the band's final recording session, topped radio playlists around the world. Since their debut, the band has sold over twenty five million albums in the US (the other countries are not included) and over fifty million albums were sold in the entire world. Nirvana is often regarded as one of the legendary bands of the recent years.
I'll be putting the videos of some of their songs on the blog.

"The MTV EMA'08 Liverpool" is on the way...

The MTV Europe Music Awards 2008 will take place on November 6, 2008 in Liverpool, UK

The nominations were officially announced on September 8th, 2008.Here are the MTV Europe Music Awards 2008 Nominees


Rock Out
30 Seconds To Mars
Linkin Park
Metallica
Paramore
Slipknot

Ultimate Urban
Alicia Keys
Beyonce
Chris Brown
Kanye West
Lil Wayne

Europe’s Favourite
to be announced

Most Addictive
Coldplay - Viva La Vida
Duffy - Mercy
Katy Perry - I Kissed A Girl
Kid Rock - All Summer Long
P!nk - So What

Headliner
Foo Fighters
Linkin Park
Metallica
The Cure
Tokio Hotel

Album
Alicia Keys - As I Am
Britney Spears - Black Out
Coldplay - Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends
Duffy - Rockferry
Leona Lewis - Spirit

Video Star
to be announced

Act of 2008
Amy Winehouse
Britney Spears
Coldplay
Leona Lewis
Rihanna

New Act
Duffy
Jonas Brothers
Katy Perry
Miley Cyrus
OneRepublic

Best Act Ever
to be announced

PS. I'll be following the new events of the competetion and if you want to vote, click ema.mtv.co.uk.

WHO DO YOU THINK MUST BE THE WINNERS OF EACH CATEGORY?

Salutes from Metallica...

Today, I'm posting something which is not related to rock actually. Many Metallica fans wanted me to write about their new album. Accordingly, I'm doing so.

Death Magnetic, which is the ninth studio album of the American heavy metal band Metallica was released on September 10, 2008. Death Magnetic marks the first time in the band's history in which all band members contributed to each song on an album. Moreover, it is the first album that includes an instrumental track since the 1980s. The album is the band's fifth release to debut at number one on the Billboard 200 in the United States. That made Metallica the first band ever to achieve five number one debuts.

Here is the complete track listing;
That Was Just Your Life
The End Of The Line
Broken, Beat & Scarred
The Day That Never Comes
All Nightmare Long
Cyanide
The Unforgiven III
The Judas Kiss
Suicide & Redemption
My Apocalypse

PS. Death Magnetic is 24,32 YTL in D&R music stores.

VH1 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock

Today, I'm posting the ranking of "VH1 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock", (but just the first 20.)There are many bands that I really like in this list. Who do you think the first three must have been?

1.Led Zeppelin
2.Black Sabbath
3.Jimi Hendrix
4.AC/DC
5.Metallica
6.Nirvana
7.Van Halen
8.The Who
9.Guns N' Roses
10.KISS
11.Aerosmith
12.The Sex Pistols
13.Queen
14.Soundgarden
15.Pink Floyd
16.Cream
17.The Ramones
18.Ozzy Osbourne
19.The Clash
20. Alice Cooper

Any AC/DC Fans Over There?

"Black Ice" is the upcoming album of the Australian rock band AC/DC. The album is planned to be released on the 20th of October. Black Ice is going to be their first album since the release of "Stiff Upper Lip" in 2000 and its goingto be their fifteenth album. "Rock n' Roll Train" which is the first song of the band's album was released on August 28. That day also saw the release of the ablum's second single, "War Machine". Several days after the availability of the original version of the album, the band's website store listed two more diffrent cover artworks available for the CD in addition to the original red logo which were a yellow logo and a silver logo. All these versions contain the exact same music and a content with a black background. Yet, the gray designs behind the band's logo are different. There is also a hardcover Deluxe Edition (blue logo) available which will contain a 30-page booklet with exclusive new illustrations, studio and live photographs of AC/DC.

PS. Black Ice will be in D&R Stores on the 20th of October.

A Dream Comes True: REM Makes Istanbul Debut!!

A dream will soon come true! REM is going to be in "Kuruçeşme Arena" in the 4th of October @ 15:00. Many Turkish REM fans, like me have been waiting for this concert for a long time.
The band is famous with its songs like “Losing my Religion”, “Shiny Happy People”, “Everybody Hurts” and “The One I Love”. I'll try to release some of their songs on the blog. The legendary rock group returned to the spotlight after a 10 year break, at the end of 2004 when they joined Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam and Bright Eyes on the “Vote for Change” tour. I suggest you to get ready for this great concert.
Ticket prices: 90 YTL

Welcome To My Music Blog Dear Visitors!

Hi everyone;
I'm Orhun Gural and this is the first blog that I create. I'm a bit inexpert about blogging I shall say. Yet, I will improve my skills as a blogger as the time passes with your helps. This blog will be mostly about rock groups.

The blog will contain many options. I'll create contests and a "top ten" list every month. I'm planning to release any kinds of informations about the famous rock bands and I'll start posting after a while. In addition, I'll try to add some of the best music videos on the blog but first, I must know what my visitors' favourite music bands and songs are. I hope I'll improve my skills as a blogger with your helps. If you come out with some ideas, please share them with me.