Joe Satriani

Chickenfoot is an American rock supergroup consisting of former Van Halen members Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony , solo artist Joe Satriani and... Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith. The band released their self-titled debut album, Chickenfoot, on June 5, 2009. Regarding the band's status as a "supergroup", vocalist Sammy Hagar states: "We’re not a supergroup, we like hanging out together and the music is a bonus. We just happen to be in other groups." While the band's name and logo reference a disparaging term used to describe the peace symbol, the "footprint of the chicken", bassist Michael Anthony asserts that the name originated from initial jam sessions between Hagar, Smith and himself: "there are three talons on a chicken’s foot and there [were] three of us." Later Anthony stated: "it was just supposed to be a bullshit name that we’d used for a while, and then [when] the rumors spread about the band, everybody used that name so we thought, 'fuck it, let’s call it Chickenfoot' – it all comes down to the music anyway." Chickenfoot have recently finished their second album, Chickenfoot III, which was released on September 27, 2011.
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The Greg Kihn Band is an American band that was started by frontman Greg Kihn and bassist Steve Wright. Their most successful singles include "The... Breakup Song " and "Jeopardy" . The band's starting lineup also included Robbie Dunbar on lead guitar and Larry Lynch on drums. Kihn and Wright have been the only two permanent members since the band started in the 1970s. Gary Phillips joined in 1981. The band still performs about twice yearly at Kihn's "Kihncerts" and at the free Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk concert stage. The band's most recent high-profile activity was Hit Me, Baby, One More Time. Although the band lost the competition, they raised awareness, and subsequently money, for Operation Care and Comfort. They also added their cover of "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" to their regular set. In 2005 Greg's son Ry Kihn joined the band. In 2008, progressive bassist/song-writer Robert Berry joined the band.
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Sony Music Entertainment is the second-largest global recorded music company of the "big four" record companies and is controlled by Sony Corporation of America, the United States subsidiary of Japan's Sony Corporation. The company, which evolved into Sony Music, was founded in 1929 as the... American Record Corporation through the merger of several smaller record companies. In the depths of the Great Depression, the Columbia Phonograph Company in the U.S. was acquired by ARC in 1934. ARC was acquired in 1938 by the Columbia Broadcasting System . The Columbia Phonograph Company had international subsidiaries and affiliates such as the Columbia Graphophone Company in the United Kingdom, but they were sold off prior to CBS acquiring American Columbia. RCA Victor Records executive Ted Wallerstein convinced CBS head William S. Paley to buy ARC and Paley made Wallerstein head of the newly acquired record company. CBS made Columbia its flagship label with Okeh its subsidiary label while deemphasizing ARC's other labels.
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Relativity Records, often branded just Relativity, is an American record label founded by Barry Kobrin at the site of his company, Important Record Distribution in metro New York. Early on, as an indie label, Relativity released music in a variety of styles, including dance, jazz, punk, and... progressive rock. As it grew and became associated with Sony Music Entertainment, it became more known for its popular metal and hip-hop releases. Although it was reportedly established in 1985, there is evidence that the brand actually began c. 1982 as an in-house IRD label. In the 1980s, Relativity was mostly focused on rock music, including heavy metal. Releases in this genre were split among Relativity and its sister label Combat Records, which folded back into the main Relativity label in 1990. Artists signed during this period include Death, Exodus, Megadeth, Napalm Death, Impelliteri, Corrosion of Conformity, Circle Jerks, Murphy's Law, Jet Red, Joe Satriani, Shotgun Messiah, Scatterbrain, Scott Henderson, Sick of it All, Steve Vai, Stuart Hamm, Tigertailz, Dark Angel, Lucy's Fur Coat and Forbidden. In 1990, new management took over the label and it began to sign more hip-hop acts.
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Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and in the... United States. With roots in blues rock and psychedelic rock, the bands that created heavy metal developed a thick, massive sound, characterized by highly amplified distortion, extended guitar solos, emphatic beats, and overall loudness. Heavy metal lyrics and performance styles are generally associated with masculinity and machismo. The first heavy metal bands, such as Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Deep Purple, eventually attracted large audiences, though many were critically reviled , a status common throughout the history of the genre. In the mid-1970s Judas Priest helped spur the genre's evolution by discarding much of its blues influence; Motörhead introduced a punk rock sensibility and an increasing emphasis on speed. Bands in the New Wave of British Heavy Metal such as Iron Maiden followed in a similar vein. Before the end of the decade, heavy metal fans became known as "metalheads" or "headbangers".
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Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has... its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music. Rock music also drew strongly on a number of other genres such as blues and folk, and incorporated influences from jazz, classical and other musical sources. Musically, rock has centered around the electric guitar, usually as part of a rock group with bass guitar and drums. Typically, rock is song-based music usually with a 4/4 time signature utilizing a verse-chorus form, but the genre has become extremely diverse and common musical characteristics are difficult to define. Like pop music, lyrics often stress romantic love but also address a wide variety of other themes that are frequently social or political in emphasis. The dominance of rock by white, male musicians has been seen as one of the key factors shaping the themes explored in rock music. Rock places a higher degree of emphasis on musicianship, live performance, and an ideology of authenticity than pop music.
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