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GRAMMYs

Sex Pistols

Photo: John Mead/Mirrorpix/Getty Images

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Sex Pistols 'Never Mind …' | For The Record sex-pistols-never-mind-bollocks-heres-sex-pistols-record

Sex Pistols 'Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols' | For The Record

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Credited with kicking off the punk phenomenon in the U.K., this GRAMMY Hall Of Fame album ignited controversy and censorship
Philip Merrill
GRAMMYs
Aug 23, 2018 - 5:09 pm

In the year 1977, the Sex Pistols' album Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols arrived world-wide, surrounded by violence, controversy and censorship in the United Kingdom. The lineup of drummer Paul Cook, guitarist Steve Jones, frontman Johnny Rotten, and replacement bass player Sid Vicious ushered in the era of British Punk with an amateurish and confrontational sound and attitude. In the end, the LP influenced nearly everything done subsequently in rock and is hailed as one of the genre's greatest albums of all time.

Sex Pistols 'Never Mind …' | For The Record

"God Save The Queen" was the first single that preceded release of the album. The title provides the first four words of the song, followed by the lyric "the fascist regime." For many offended Brits, the song was all downhill from there.  As the band continued work on their album that year — recording "Holidays In The Sun" on June 18 — they adjourned that night to a pub and got beat up badly enough to make the newspapers. Like the lyrics to that lead single, the action became even more intense thereafter.

The album's producer, Chris Thomas, has since shaped many rockers' sounds, winning one of his GRAMMYs at the 48th GRAMMY Awards when U2's How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb took Album Of The Year. His detailed overdubs on Never Mind The Bollocks…, punching in and out patiently with Cook and Jones, produced a furious and exuberant finished work superficially at odds with the craft invested in its creation. Meanwhile the band's other hit singles produced punk's signature controversy. As a result the only label that would have them was Virgin Records. Richard Branson hand-picked the tracklist.

Looking back, it seems only fitting that the Sex Pistols' gusto got them in trouble. "Banned In Britain" is one of rock history's quaint phrases in the U.S., but every major retailer in England was prevented from selling the album. Since it debuted at No. 1 in the U.K., this was a boon for independent outlets. A Virgin Records outlet was raided and its manager arrested for displaying the album's text-only graphic-art cover in his window. While "Never mind the bollocks" is a phrase that makes the word mean "nonsense," the potentially obscene implications of the word brought the band before the British bar, while news headlines made the most of the sensational controversy.

At Nottingham Magistrates' Court, the use of the word "bollocks" was considered objectionable but not illegally "obscene." For example, major newspapers had included the LP's title in their coverage but the papers were not put on trial. The hearing's chairman described the now-classic album as "vulgar exploitation of the worst instincts of human nature for the purchases of commercial profits." He said the not guilty verdict was delivered "reluctantly." Rock was f***ing transformed.

In a 2016 Pitchfork interview, John Lydon (a.k.a. Johnny Rotten) made headlines again for "forgiving" Nirvana for reflecting the Sex Pistols' sound. But the Sex Pistols' musically riveting flare and defiance had the heavy influence of greatness on what hundreds if not thousands of other musicians chose to do with their art.

In 2015 Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols was inducted into the Recording Academy's GRAMMY Hall Of Fame. It was both the Sex Pistols' debut as well as the only studio album they recorded, ever.

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Carlos Santana

Carlos Santana

Photo: Kevin Winter/WireImage

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For The Record: Santana's 'Abraxas' santana-abraxas-record

Santana, 'Abraxas': For The Record

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Revisit the album that proved rock music's emerging ability to experiment could integrate diverse traditions and intoxicate young audiences
Philip Merrill
GRAMMYs
Sep 28, 2018 - 5:42 pm

After their success at the summer rock festival Woodstock in Aug. 1969 and the contemporary release of their debut self-titled album, guitarist Carlos Santana and his band Santana put out their follow-up, Abraxas, in Sept. 1970. His lead guitar and the album's eclectic combination of rock, Latin rhythms and experimental creativity captured the spirit of the times, filled with a sense of potential new experiences.

For The Record: Santana's 'Abraxas'

By Oct. 1970, Abraxas reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200. On the Hot 100 in early 1971, its single "Black Magic Woman" peaked at No. 4, and "Oye Como Va" reached No. 13 a few months later — reinterpreting the Tito Puente cha-cha as rock and helping to prove the flourishing genre's ability to bring new relevance to compositions from other musical traditions.

A San Francisco Bay local, Carlos Santana got his break from Fillmore promoter Bill Graham. An origin myth Santana doesn't remember the same way has Graham discovering the youngster after he snuck into the venue's office. "I was a kid right out of high school and nobody else was putting on shows like Bill did then," he remembered, explaining why he was always around.

As locals, they could fill in for missing bands on the schedule in a flash. Graham wrote in his autobiography, "To this day, Santana is still the only band ever to headline the Fillmore without having made a record."

Thanks to their excellence and reflecting the cultural moment, happenstance became legend. The band's second album was added to the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry in 2016. Shortly before the close of the millennium, Abraxas was inducted into the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame, in 1999 — the year Carlos Santana's album Supernatural was released, taking him to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for the third time, from a career-total of four times so far. At the 42nd GRAMMY Awards, he won in eight categories, including Album Of The Year and Best Rock Album.

Marvin Gaye 'Let's Get It On' | For The Record

The Police

The Police

Photo: Fin Costello/Redferns/Getty Images

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For The Record: The Police 'Synchronicity' police-synchronicity-record

The Police, 'Synchronicity': For The Record

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It is no coincidence the iconic trio's final studio album became a classic
Philip Merrill
GRAMMYs
Oct 19, 2018 - 12:35 pm

With Stewart Copeland on drums, Sting on bass and Andy Summers on guitar, the Police released their debut album in 1978. 1983's Synchronicity was their fifth and final album together. The title and songs were influenced by a 1972 book The Roots Of Coincidence by Arthur Koestler, which used the word "synchronicity," coined by psychologist Carl Jung, to speculate that paranormal events had a basis in physical nature. The word now owns a permanent place in music history thanks to the album and its two title tracks.

For The Record: The Police 'Synchronicity'

At the 26th GRAMMY Awards, Synchronicity gave rise to five GRAMMY nominations including Album Of The Year. The track "Synchronicity II" won Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal. The Police won as a band for "Every Breath You Take" under the category Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal, and Sting won for Song Of The Year as the song's composer.

The album's producer and engineer Hugh Padgham went on to win major GRAMMY Awards for his work with Phil Collins. "I remember hearing the 'Every Breath You Take' demo for the first time and [manager] Miles Copeland was there in the room too," he said. "We realized we were staring a hit in the face."

In 2009 the album Synchronicity was inducted into the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame, joining a track from their 1978 first album Outlandos D'Amour — the band's single "Roxanne," which was inducted the year before. Coincidence?

Amy Winehouse, 'Back To Black': For The Record

Marvin Gaye

Marvin Gaye

Photo: Ron Galella/WireImage

News
Marvin Gaye 'Let's Get It On' | For The Record marvin-gaye-lets-get-it-record

Marvin Gaye 'Let's Get It On' | For The Record

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Seductive, elegant and successful, this landmark album expanded the range of the soul-music genre and raised the singer, songwriter and composer to iconic status
Philip Merrill
GRAMMYs
Aug 30, 2018 - 4:27 pm

In 1973, the Marvin Gaye album Let's Get It On brought new dimensions to R&B/soul music, expanding the genre's boundaries musically as well as delivering a sexual-liberation message that gelled with the youth "love-in" philosophy in full force at the time.

Marvin Gaye's 'Let's Get It On' | For The Record

Many elements came together to build the album's creative success. U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War had ended earlier that year. Gaye's previous socially conscious album What's Going On had been followed by his soundtrack to the movie Trouble Man, and the intimate, slow seductiveness of Let's Get It On was embraced by America as a message that felt just right. As an artist, Gaye's previous sales earned him creative control he took full advantage of, blending previously recorded tracks with new ideas, layering passionate background vocals of his own including moaning vocals, which were daring for the time. This was a turning point for the Berry Gordy music empire as well. He had started the album's Tamla label even before Motown and was expanding to the West Coast.

Let's Get It On features the influential collective of studio musicians known as the Funk Brothers, who helped create a musical platform for Gaye. The album is among their earliest credits, and they went on to win GRAMMY Awards and receive the Recording Academy's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004.

On a more personal side, Gaye's marriage to Gordy's sister Anna was heading toward divorce and some of the romantic impulses captured by the microphone were reportedly directed toward his future wife, Janis Hunter, who producer/co-writer Ed Townsend had brought to the recording studio.

The title track went to No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100 and the LP reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200, the most successful soul album of the year. Gaye's performances on tour were electrifying and his subsequent live medley of "Trouble Man" and the LP's "Distant Lover" track helped prove Gaye's emerging iconic status. Although nominated for a GRAMMY for the album, it was later at the 25th GRAMMY Awards that Gaye enjoyed his first wins for "Sexual Healing." His own Lifetime Achievement Award came in 1996, and Let's Get It On was inducted into the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame in 2004, joining its natural complement What's Going On, which was inducted in 1998.

Looking back, critics credit the smash as opening up the future of funk, as well as the quiet-storm and slow-jam styles. It was noted at the time that the explicit sexuality of the lyrics had a metaphysical dimension as well — embodying a yearning that was physical and spiritual at the same time. In his liner notes, Gaye conveyed the message, "I hope the music that I present here makes you lucky."

Catching Up On Music News Powered By The Recording Academy Just Got Easier. Have A Google Home Device? "Talk To GRAMMYs"

 

Alabama Shakes

Alabama Shakes

Photo: Larry Busacca/Getty Images

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For The Record: Alabama Shakes' 'Sound & Color' alabama-shakes-sound-color-record

Alabama Shakes' 'Sound & Color': For The Record

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Wilder than before, the band's fusion of country and soul with immersive rock on their 2015 album defined a sound all their own
Philip Merrill
GRAMMYs
Jun 21, 2018 - 10:43 am

Alabama Shakes' 2012 debut Boys & Girls was such a wild success, no one expected the band would get even wilder on 2015's Sound & Color. But the band took their music way out, exploring a spacious, country-soul rock sound that would be more completely their own if it didn't seem so timeless.

For The Record: Alabama Shakes' 'Sound & Color'

"We're just a normal group of people who believe in writing and making something, and honestly, it was truly from a point of having fun," lead singer/guitarist Brittany Howard told our oral history of the album. "It wasn't to get famous or anything like that. We wanted to play gigs, that was our goal, but we didn't have anywhere to gig."

Bassist Zac Cockrell, guitarist Heath Fogg and drummer Steve Johnson write together with Howard, and the band shared in their Best Rock Song win, at the 58th GRAMMY Awards for "Don't Wanna Fight," as songwriters, in addition to winning Best Rock Performance. Sound & Color also won Best Alternative Music Album that year.

Alabama Shakes' 2012 debut brought them 55th GRAMMY Awards nominations for Best New Artist and Best Rock Performance for the song "Hold On." As a single, it remains their biggest hit so far, having reached No. 93 on Billboard's Hot 100. The following year the band was nominated for Best Rock Performance again, for "Always Alright" from the soundtrack to Silver Linings Playbook. A truly admired band, their album sales suggest Alabama Shakes falls better into the category of classics-makers than hit-makers. Their debut reached No. 6 on the Billboard 200 in 2013 and Sound & Color reached No. 1 in 2015.

Although Alabama Shakes hasn't released an album since Sound & Color, their performance of "Joe (Live From Austin City Limits)" drew another Best Rock Performance nomination at the 59th GRAMMY Awards. Earlier this year at the 60th GRAMMY Awards, Alabama Shakes' performance of "Killer Diller Blues" won Best American Roots Performance, the band's fourth win. The song was originally recorded by Minnie Lawlers, and as for other artists participating in the Jack White and Bernard MacMahon 2017 project American Epic: The Sessions, all final recordings were made on an antique 1925 Western Electric direct-to-disc system. How's that for a historic recording?

Catching Up On Music News Powered By The Recording Academy Just Got Easier. Have A Google Home Device? "Talk To GRAMMYs"

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Some of the content on this site expresses viewpoints and opinions that are not those of the Recording Academy. Responsibility for the accuracy of information provided in stories not written by or specifically prepared for the Academy lies with the story's original source or writer. Content on this site does not reflect an endorsement or recommendation of any artist or music by the Recording Academy.