10 years after their breakthrough success, Green Day decided to write a rock opera. Disenchanted by President George W. Bush, the record told a story of an American teen dealing with the aftermath of 9/11 and the Iraq War. The album was so big that five years later it was turned into a very successful…
For their third album, Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora brought in Desmond Child to help write songs. They came up with 30 songs and whittled it down to the 10 that make the album. Two of the songs would go on to become #1 hits and a third would hit the Top 10. It…
After Mother Love Bone singer Andrew Wood died of a heroin overdose, Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament started to put together a new band. Hearing a demo from San Diego singer Eddie Vedder, the band soon formed Pearl Jam. A lot of the instrumental tracks on Ten were written and Vedder added lyrics that dealt with…
Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons created Def Jam Recordings in the early ’80s and signed the Beastie Boys right away. The band was booed off the stage while touring with Madonna, but things would change as soon as this record was released in late 1986. The album became one of the biggest hip hop records…
Three divorces, countless arguments and a million dollars spent in the period that it took to record Metallica’s break through album. One of the original thrash metal bands, they changed their sound for this work to become more mainstream. They worked with Mötley Crüe producer Bob Rock who had them try a number of different…
Bon Scott died in early 1980, right after the band had their big commercial breakthrough with 1979’s Highway to Hell. Instead of packing it in, the band quickly hired Brian Johnson and started writing. The band didn’t stray from what made them famous with most of the songs either about sex, rock and roll or…
The second album from the Seattle based grunge band that changed the face of music as we know it. Taking a cue from the Pixies while also combining the punk sounds of Black Flag with the pop hooks of the Beatles, Nirvana created an album that famously knocked Michael Jackson out of the number 1…