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Back On The Chain Gang
"Back on the Chain Gang" is a song written by American-British musician Chrissie Hynde, originally recorded by her band the Pretenders and released as a single by Sire Records in September 1982. The song was included on '' The King of Comedy'' soundtrack album in March 1983 and was later included on the Pretenders' third album, '' Learning to Crawl'', in January 1984. "Back on the Chain Gang" entered the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, reaching 5 to become the band's biggest hit in the United States. It also peaked at No. 4 on the ''Billboard'' Rock Top Tracks chart and No. 17 on the UK Singles Chart. The single's B-side, " My City Was Gone", later became a substantial hit in the U.S., with lyrics about Ohio. Recording "Back on the Chain Gang" was recorded after James Honeyman-Scott, the Pretenders guitarist, died of a drug overdose at the age of 25 on June 16, 1982. This came two days after the Pretenders fired their longtime bassist Pete Farndon because of his drug prob ...
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Pretenders (band)
The Pretenders are a British rock band formed in March 1978. The original band consisted of founder and main songwriter Chrissie Hynde (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), James Honeyman-Scott (lead guitar, backing vocals, keyboards), Pete Farndon (bass guitar, backing vocals) and Martin Chambers (drums, backing vocals, percussion). Following the deaths of Honeyman-Scott in 1982 and Farndon in 1983, the band experienced numerous personnel changes; American-born Hynde has been the band's only continuous member. The band's hit songs include "Kid (Pretenders song), Kid" (1979), "Brass in Pocket" (1979), "Talk of the Town (Pretenders song), Talk of the Town" (1980), "Message of Love" (1981), "My City Was Gone" (1982), "Back on the Chain Gang" (1982), "Middle of the Road (song), Middle of the Road" (1983), "2000 Miles" (1983), "Don't Get Me Wrong" (1986), "My Baby (Pretenders song), My Baby" (1986) and "I'll Stand by You" (1994). The Pretenders were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of F ...
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James Honeyman-Scott
James Honeyman-Scott (4 November 1956 – 16 June 1982) was an English rock guitarist, songwriter and founding member of the band the Pretenders. Honeyman-Scott established a reputation, in the words of AllMusic, as "one of the most original and versatile guitarists of the early-'80s new wave movement." In addition to his role as lead guitarist, Honeyman-Scott co-wrote a number of songs for the band, sang back-up vocals and played keyboards on a few tracks. Chrissie Hynde wrote " Back on the Chain Gang" as a tribute to him. Early years and musical influences Honeyman-Scott, along with Pretenders bandmates Pete Farndon (bass guitar, vocals) and Martin Chambers (drums, vocals, percussion), came from Hereford. Before joining the Pretenders, Honeyman-Scott played in several bands, including a precursor to the Enid with Robert John Godfrey, the Hawks (Kelv Wilson, bass guitar & vocals; Dave Plowman, guitar; Stan Speke, drums), the Hot Band, and the Cheeks. Fellow members in Th ...
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Overdubbing
Overdubbing (also known as layering) is a technique used in audio recording in which audio Music track, tracks that have been pre-recorded are then played back and monitored, while simultaneously recording new, doubled, or augmented tracks onto one or more available tracks of a digital audio workstation (DAW) or tape recorder. The overdub process can be repeated multiple times. This technique is often used with singers, as well as with instruments, or ensembles/orchestras. Overdubbing is typically done for the purpose of adding richness and complexity to the original recording. For example, if there are only one or two artists involved in the recording process, overdubbing can give the effect of sounding like many performers. In vocal performances, the performer usually listens to an existing recorded performance (usually through headphones in a recording studio) and simultaneously plays a new performance along with it, which is also recorded. The intention is that the final Audio ...
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Snare Drum
The snare drum (or side drum) is a percussion instrument that produces a sharp staccato sound when the head is struck with a drum stick, due to the use of a series of stiff wires held under tension against the lower skin. Snare drums are often used in Orchestra, orchestras, Concert band, concert bands, Marching band, marching bands, Parade, parades, drumlines, drum corps, and more. It is one of the central pieces in a drum set, a collection of percussion instruments designed to be played by a seated drummer and used in many genres of music. Because basic rhythms are very easy to learn to play on a snare drum even for children, the instrument is also suitable for the music education for young children and a rhythm band. Snare drums are usually played with drum sticks, but other beaters such as the Brush (percussion), brush or the Rute (music), rute can be used to achieve different tones. The snare drum is a versatile and expressive percussion instrument due to its sensitivity and ...
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Wessex Sound Studios
Wessex Sound Studios was a recording studio located at 106a Highbury New Park, London, England. Many renowned popular music artists recorded there, including King Crimson, Queen, Sex Pistols, the Clash, Pete Townshend and the Pretenders. The property was sold to a residential development company in 2003. History Around 1950, Ron Thompson started the Wessex Recording Service and mobile recording unit at his home in Wiltshire, naming it after its location which was historically the kingdom of Wessex. A short time later, Thompson and his family moved to Bournemouth, where he ran a hi-fi shop above a recording studio that recorded local groups and musicians, as well as a sound service for 16mm industrial films. By 1959, Thompson was joined by his son Mike. The studio became successful and was moved to a larger location in downtown Bournemouth, with a second location eventually opened at 30 Old Compton Street in the West End of London, recording such notable artists as John Barry an ...
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Steve Churchyard
Steve Churchyard is an English audio engineer and record producer who came to prominence working with the Pretenders. Career Churchyard grew up in Surbiton He attended senior school at Surbiton Grammar school in Thames ditton whilst he and his parents resided at The Old Bull in East Sheen, a popular heavy disco venue and pub - now demolished. In 1974 he began his career as an assistant at the Orange Music recording studio in the basement of a guitar shop near London's Tin Pan Alley, where he worked for three years, moving up from tape-op, to engineer, to chief tech, to studio manager. In 1977 he was offered a position as an assistant at Sir George Martin’s AIR Studios. His first job at the studio was assisting Geoff Emerick on Paul McCartney and Wings' 1978 album '' London Town''. In 1982 Churchyard began working with producer Chris Thomas, which led to his working on the Pretenders' 1984 album '' Learning to Crawl'' and INXS' 1985 album '' Listen Like Thieves''. Churchyard r ...
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Bill Price (record Producer)
Bill Price (3 September 1944 – 22 December 2016) was an English record producer and audio engineer who worked with the Clash, the Sex Pistols, Guns N' Roses, Sparks, the Jesus and Mary Chain, Nymphs, the Waterboys, Mott the Hoople and Simon Townshend (Pete Townshend's younger brother). He was chief engineer on the first three solo studio albums by Pete Townshend: '' Empty Glass'' (1980), '' All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes'' (1982) and '' White City: A Novel'' (1985). He contributed to documentaries about the Clash such as '' Westway to the World'' (2000). Price started his audio engineering career in the mid-1960s when he was an engineer at Decca Studios in West Hampstead, recording artists such as Tom Jones. One of the final recordings he helped engineer at Decca before departing to AIR Studios in November 1969 was the multi-million-selling " Reflections of My Life" by Marmalade. Price helped build AIR Studios in Oxford Street, where he spent many years. During th ...
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AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Musical ensemble, bands. Initiated in 1991, the database was first made available on the Internet in 1994. AllMusic is owned by RhythmOne. History AllMusic was launched as ''All-Music Guide'' by Michael Erlewine, a "compulsive archivist, noted astrologer, Buddhist scholar, and musician". He became interested in using computers for his astrological work in the mid-1970s and founded a software company, Matrix, in 1977. In the early 1990s, as compact discs (CDs) replaced LP record, LPs and cassette (format), cassettes as the dominant format for recorded music, Erlewine purchased what he thought was a CD of early recordings by Little Richard. After buying it, he discovered it was a "flaccid latter-day rehash". Frustrated with the labeling, he res ...
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Big Country
Big Country are a Scottish Rock music, rock band formed in Dunfermline, Fife, in 1981. The height of the band's popularity was in the early to mid 1980s, although they have retained a cult following for many years since. The band's music incorporated Scottish folk and martial music styles, and the band engineered their guitar-driven sound to evoke the sound of bagpipes, fiddles, and other traditional folk music, folk instruments. The band's "classic" lineup between 1982 and 2000, consisted of Stuart Adamson (vocals, guitar) Bruce Watson (Scottish guitarist), Bruce Watson (guitar) Tony Butler (musician), Tony Butler (bass guitar) and Mark Brzezicki (drums). Following Adamson's death in 2001, the band reformed in 2007, with the surviving members. Between 2010 and 2013, the band reformed with Mike Peters (musician), Mike Peters of The Alarm on lead vocals. The band then continued with only two of the original members (Watson and Brzezicki), until Brzezicki's departure in October ...
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Tony Butler (musician)
Anthony Earle Peter Butler (born 13 February 1957) is a British bassist, best known for his work with Scottish rock band Big Country. He has also worked with On the Air, The Pretenders, Roger Daltrey, and Pete Townshend, among others. Early life Butler was born at Hammersmith Hospital in White City, London, England. His parents had emigrated to England from the Caribbean island of Dominica. Career In the late 1970s Butler joined the short-lived band On the Air which also included drummer Mark Brzezicki and Simon Townshend (the younger brother of The Who's guitarist Pete Townshend). On the Air released two singles in 1980 and toured with the Scottish band The Skids, which was where Butler met Stuart Adamson. In 1982 Butler joined Adamson's new band Big Country with his drumming partner Mark Brzezicki, which went on to enjoy success internationally during the 1980s and 1990s, he remained in the band until the end of 2000. He also did session work with other artists including ...
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Robbie McIntosh
Robbie McIntosh (born 25 October 1957) is an English guitarist. McIntosh is best known as a session guitarist and member of the Pretenders from 1982 until 1987. In 1988 he began doing session guitar work for Paul McCartney, joining his band full-time until early 1994. He continues to play sessions and has performed both with his own band and as a sideman with John Mayer. McIntosh performed session guitar work for many artists throughout his career including Winter Mountain, Aynsley Lister, Kevin Ayers, Boyzone, Cher, Diane Tell, Eric Bibb, George Martin, Gordon Haskell, Heather Small, Joe Cocker, Daryl Hall, John Mayer, Kirsty McColl, Luz Casal, Mike and the Mechanics, Nine Below Zero, Paul Carrack, Paul Young, Mark Knopfler, John Illsley, Roger Daltrey, Russell Watson, Mark Hollis, Talk Talk, Tasmin Archer, Tears for Fears, Eros Ramazzotti, Thea Gilmore, Tina Arena, Tori Amos, Vin Garbutt, and Norah Jones. Early life and influences McIntosh was born in Sutton, Surrey, and ...
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Rockpile
Rockpile were a British rock band of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Noted for their strong pub rock, rockabilly and power pop influences, they were a foundational influence on new wave. The band consisted of Dave Edmunds (vocals, guitar), Nick Lowe (vocals, bass guitar), Billy Bremner (vocals, guitar) and Terry Williams (drums). Rockpile recorded almost enough material for five studio albums, though only one ('' Seconds of Pleasure'') was released under the Rockpile banner. Three other albums ('' Tracks on Wax 4'', '' Repeat When Necessary'', and '' Twangin...'') were released as Dave Edmunds solo albums, and one more ('' Labour of Lust'') was released as a Nick Lowe solo album. Scattered Rockpile tracks can also be found on a few other Lowe and Edmunds solo albums. Additionally, Rockpile served as backing group on tracks recorded by Mickey Jupp in 1978 and Carlene Carter in 1980. Band history Guitarist/vocalist Edmunds had recorded a 1972 solo album titled '' Rockpil ...
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