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TOP THREE VOCALISTS

• Kurt Cobain
• Marilyn Manson
• Wednesday 13

• NIRVANA:
• Nirvana started with Kurdt Cobain, Krist Novoselic, and Aaron Buckhard. Their careers as a band began by playing small clubs and pubs. In the beginning, the band had gone through numerous different names such as 'Throat Oyster', 'Ted, Ed, Fred, 'Bliss', 'Pen Cap Chew', and 'Windowpane'. In the end, they finally decided on 'Nirvana'. Kurt and Krist fired Buckhard and replaced him with Dale Crover, the drummer of The Melvins. They recorded a demo tape with Crover, but he then left, not having time for both The Melvins and Nirvana. Now that Nirvana had a bigger schedule, they were in need of a full time drummer. Kurt and Krist held auditions and finally chose Chad Channing. They recorded a demo with Channing and it was sent to several record labels. Sub-Pop arranged a meeting with Nirvana after hearing their demo. The record label released Nirvana's first single- 'Love Buzz' with 'Big Cheese'. Soon after this release, the band began to work on their first album, 'Bleach' which was released in 1989. Jason Everman paid for Bleach and when Kurt found out that Everman played guitar and put his name on the Bleach cover, Kurt let him play with Nirvana at live gigs. After Bleach's release, Sub-Pop put Nirvana on their first tour. However, the tour was postponed when Everman left. Nirvana later continued the tour as a threesome. They then started a European tour. They also released the 'Blew EP'. After this release, Nirvana changed record labels fro Sub-Pop to Geffen which was vastly bigger in comparisson to Sub-Pop and showed Nirvana more success than Sub-Pop ever could have. Although concerts and gigs began getting more and more important and "big", Kurt was becomming more and more stressed out. Channing had been fired and so Nirvana constantly changed thier line up. Finally, the perfect line up was acheived with Kurt onn guitar, Krist on bass, and Dave on drums. While on one of Nirvana's tours, Kurt met Courtney Love, singer from the group 'Hole' who admired Nirvana's music and was present at many of their concerts. Kurt then split up with his girlfriend, Tracy Marander. Eventually, Kurt started taking heroin. By the middle of 1991, Nirvana started working on thier third album, 'Nevermind'. By September, they released their first single off the album- 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'. The single was widely successful and stormed the charts. There were millions of copies sold around the world and almost instantaneously, Nirvana had become one of the biggest rock groups in the world. A few weeks later, Nevermind was released. As time went by, Nevermind became more and more famous and saught after. It was around this time that Courtney and Kurt met up again. In 1992, Courtney and Kurt found out they were going to have a baby. They both decided they'd try and stop their heroin habits as soon as possible. In February of that year, Kurt and Courtney got married in Hawaii. In August, their daughter was born. Her name, Frances Bean (after one of the singers of the Vaselines, a Scottish group that Kurt liked a great deal- Nirvana performed a song of theirs on their unplugged album later on- 'Jesus Doesn't Want Me For a Sunbeam'). However, the couple faced the removal of Frances Bean- social workers fought to take her away, however, were unsuccessful. During the period of Courtney's pregnancy, Nirvana were faced several difficulties. While the group was in Belfast, Kurt collapsed and his favorite guitar was in bad condition. He then decided to have one custom made. (This guitar was similar to a Fender Mustang, yet had more options available.) Also, Kurt, Krist, and Dave were getting into many arguments. Kurt wanted more money for all the Nirvana material that was going to be released. Despite this, however, the band managed to work things out and gave a brilliant performance at the Reading Rock Festival. Thousands of fans were present and all sang along to 'Lithium'. By mide December, 1992, Nirvana released their next album, 'Incesticide'. The album was not meant to be a follow up to Nevermind, but a collection of Nirvana's eariler songs. In 1993, Nirvana was no longer involved in long tours because of Kurt's chronic stomach pains. Thereafter, Nirvana had began work on their next album, 'In Utero'. In May, Kurt was brought to the hospital for a heroin overdoes. One month later, the police were called to Kurt's house after he and Courtney had had a fight. They sorted things out yet had som of their guns confiscated. However, they were eventually returned. Courtney said that the fight was about keeping guns in the house but other sources claim that it was about Kurt's heroin use.A few months later, Kurt had another overdose, however, this time, it was nearly fatal. Luckily, Courtney used a dug on Kurt which saved his life. In September, In Utero was released. Unfortunately, many of the fans were disappointed with the album. They had been hoping for something with more similarity to Nevermind. In November, Nirvana recorded the unplugged sessions in New York. By the end of the year, Kurt had a custom guitar built. It was a mixture between a Fender Mustang and a Fender Jaguar. This guitar is now available to purchase as the Fender Jag-Stang. Nirvana did a couple of tours in early 1994. On March 3rd, Kurt collapsed after mixing persription durgs with champagne. He was in a coma for 20 hours. When he woke up, he asked for a strawberry milkshake and swore at someone. Kurt walked out of the hospital on March 8th. Over the next onth, Kurt and Courtney had a fight. The police were called to 'break it up'. All of Kurt's guns were confiscated. Kurt then agreed to go to the Exodus Recovery Clinic to kick his heroin habit. Before he went, Kurt got a friend to buy him a gun for home protection- the friend chose the gun, Kurt paid for it. By the end of March, Kurt checked into the clininc. Kurt, while at the clinic, spoke to Courtney over the phone to congratulate her for the Hole's new album. Kurt also added that he loved her. The next morning, Kurt was missing. His mother filed a missing person's report on April 3rd. No one knew of his whereabouts. On April 5th, 1994, Kurt Donald Cobain put a loaded shotgun to his head and pulled the trigger. Three days later, his body was found. Next to his wallet with his drivers licence, was a suicide note. Thus was the death of a star, the end of a great band. Krist and Dave knew that there was no point in continuing Nirvana's journey without Kurt. On April 10th, Kurt's funeral took place. One day later, he was cremated. There was also a memorial service held for Kurt's fans. Kurt had touched the lives of millions- now he was nothing but a strong memory. Later on that year, Geffen released the unplugged sessions of Nirvana. This album was called 'Unplugged In New York'. Shortly after this release, another live album was released called 'Fro the Muddy Banks of Wishkah' and is the latest of all their albums. After the end of Nirvana, Krist and Dave went their own seperate ways. Krist eventually started his own band, 'Sweet 75'. After a long grieving period, Dave also started a band- 'Foo Fighters'. Their remains a great conflict about the actual cause of Kurt's death. Dave insists that Courtney played a big role in it and never got over this- he publicly insulted the Hole singer and despises her. Many people were captured by the tragic death of Kurt Cobain. Many have investigated on his death and there are several books and movies claiming all different types of answers to 'what really happened'. A common theory shared by many is the fact that Kurt was too high to have been able to write the suicide note, let alone to pull the trigger one himself. Many argue that Courtney was responsible for his death and that she, or someone else took advantage of Kurt's vunerable state to help kill him.
• Marilyn Manson:
• Love him or hate him, the self-proclaimed "Antichrist Superstar" Marilyn Manson was indisputably among the most notorious and controversial entertainers of the 1990s. Celebrated by supporters as a crusader for free speech and denounced by detractors as little more than a poor man's Alice Cooper, Manson was the latest in a long line of shock rockers, rising to the top of the charts on a platform of sex, drugs and Satanism. Though widely dismissed by critics, his brand of metal nevertheless struck a major chord with the youth market -- on the strength of a masterfully orchestrated marketing campaign, he became a mainstream anti-hero, much to the chagrin of conservative politicians and concerned parents. Manson was born Brian Warner in Canton, Ohio; at the age of 18, he relocated to Tampa Bay, Florida, working there as a music journalist. In 1989, he became friends with guitarist and fellow outsider Scott Mitchell; they decided to form a band, with Mitchell rechristening himself Daisy Berkowitz and Warner adopting the name Marilyn Manson. With the addition of bassist Gidget Gein and keyboardist Madonna Wayne-Gacy, the group -- originally dubbed Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids -- begin self-releasing cassettes and playing gigs, their Gothic stage show notable for Manson's elaborate make-up and homemade special effects. Jettisoning their drum machine in favor of one Sara Lee Lucas, the band's sound began taking on a harder edge, and by 1992 they were among the most popular acts in the South Florida area. In 1993, Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor came calling, offering both a contract with his Nothing Records label as well as the chance to open for NIN the following spring; Manson accepted both offers, and the group's debut LP, Portrait of an American Family, appeared during the summer of 1994. With new bassist Twiggy Ramirez replacing Gein, the group's notoriety began to soar -- most infamously, during an appearance in Salt Lake City, Manson ripped apart a copy of the Book of Mormon while on-stage. The Church of Satan's founder Anton LaVey also bestowed upon him the title of "Reverend." While some onlookers dismissed Manson's behavior as crass audience manipulation, his cult following -- comprised almost entirely of disaffected white suburban teens -- continued to swell, and with the release of the 1995's Smells Like Children EP the band broke into the mainstream, propelled by their hit cover of the Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)." Berkowitz quit a short time later, and was replaced by guitarist Zim Zum; their next LP, 1996's Antichrist Superstar, debuted at the number three spot on the pop album charts. As Manson's popularity grew, so did the furor surrounding him -- his concerts were regularly picketed by civic groups, and his music was the subject of widespread attacks from the right-wing and religious fronts. Again, however, his quick embrace of the media spotlight called into question the true sincerity of his revolutionary aims -- with a cover story in Rolling Stone and a best-selling autobiography, -The Long Hard Road Out of Hell, some onlookers doubted whether Manson had sold his soul to Satan, or just sold his soul, period. The glam-inspired Mechanical Animals followed in 1998, with the resulting tour yielding the live Last Tour on Earth a year later. Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death) came out at the end of 2000. The band toured to support the album in 2001 and during a July show in Michigan, Manson was charged with criminal sexual conduct after performing an alleged offensive act on a security guard. December saw Manson's version of "Tainted Love" appear on the Not Another Teen Movie soundtrack while another security guard filed a civil suit alleging Manson had rubbed his pelvis on the guard's head. The July 2001 sexual conduct charges were lowered to a misdemeanor in January of 2002 and the civil suit was dropped soon after. May of 2003 saw the release of The Golden Age of Grotesque, which spent a week on top of the album charts and ended up on more than a few critics' year-end Top Ten lists. In April of 2004 the album Lunch Boxes and Choklit Cows appeared, credited to Marilyn Manson & the Spooky Kids -- Spooky Kids being the name of Manson's earliest band. Manson fought the release and court-ordered some artwork removed that was too close to the art to which the singer owned the copyright. At the end of September the Lest We Forget collection was released, covering the highlights of Manson's career and including a new cover version of Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus.
• The Stone Roses:
• Meshing '60s-styled guitar pop with an understated '80s dance beat, the Stone Roses defined the British guitar pop scene of the late '80s and early '90s. After their eponymous 1989 debut album became an English sensation, countless other groups in the same vein became popular, including the Charlatans UK, Inspiral Carpets, and Happy Mondays. However, the band was never able to capitalize on the promise of their first album, waiting five years before they released their second record and slowly disintegrating in the year and half after its release. The Stone Roses emerged from the remains of English Rose, a Manchester-based band formed by schoolmates John Squire (guitar) and Ian Brown (vocals). In 1985, the Stone Roses officially formed, as Squire and Brown added drummer Reni (born Alan John Wren), guitarist Andy Couzens, and bassist Pete Garner. The group began playing warehouses around Manchester, cultivating a dedicated following rather quickly. Around this time, the group was a cross between classic British '60s guitar pop and heavy metal, with touches of goth rock. Couzens left the group in 1987, followed shortly afterward by Garner. Garner was replaced by Mani (born Gary Mounfield) and the group recorded its first single, "So Young," which was released to little attention by Thin Line Records. At the end of 1987, the Stone Roses released their second single, "Sally Cinnamon," which pointed the way toward the band's hook-laden, ringing guitar pop. By the fall of 1988, the band secured a contract with Silvertone Records and released "Elephant Stone," a single that set the band's catchy neo-psychedelic guitar pop in stone. Shortly after the release of "Elephant Stone," the Stone Roses' bandwagon took off in earnest. In early 1989, the group was playing sold-out gigs across Manchester and London. In May, the Stone Roses released their eponymous debut album, which demonstrated not only a predilection for '60s guitar hooks, but also a contemporary acid house rhythmic sensibility. The Stone Roses received rave reviews and soon a crop of similar-sounding bands appeared in the U.K. By the end of the summer, the Stone Roses were perceived as leading a wave of bands that fused rock & roll and acid house culture. "She Bangs the Drums," the third single pulled from the debut, became the group's first Top 40 single at the end of the summer. In November, the group had its first Top Ten hit when "Fool's Gold" climbed to number eight. By the end of the year, the band had moved from selling out clubs to selling out large theaters in the U.K. For the first half of 1990, re-releases of the band's earlier singles clogged the charts. The group returned in July 1990 with the single "One Love," which entered the charts at number four. Prior to the release of "One Love," the Stone Roses organized their own festival at Spike Island in Widnes. The concert drew over 30,000 people and would prove to be their last concert in England for five years. After Spike Island, the Stone Roses became embroiled in a vicious legal battle with Silvertone Records. The group wanted to leave the label but Silvertone took out a court injunction against the group, preventing them from releasing any new material. For the next two years, the band fought Silvertone Records while they allegedly prepared the follow-up to their debut album. However, the Stone Roses did next to nothing as the court case rolled on. In the meantime, several major record labels began negotiating with the band in secret. In March of 1991, the lawsuit went to court. Two months later, the Stone Roses won their case against Silvertone and signed a multi-million deal with Geffen Records. For the next three years, the Stone Roses worked sporadically on their second album, leaving behind scores of uncompleted tapes. During these years, the group kept a low-profile in the press but that wasn't to preserve the mystique -- they simply weren't doing much of anything besides watching football. Finally, in the spring of 1994, Geffen demanded that the group finish the album and the band complied, completing the record, titled Second Coming, in the fall. "Love Spreads," the Stone Roses' comeback single, was debuted on Radio One in early November. The single received a lukewarm reaction and entered the charts at number two, not the expected number one. Second Coming received mixed reviews and only spent a few weeks in the Top Ten. The Stone Roses planned an international tour in early 1995 to support the album, but the plans kept unraveling at the last minute. Before they could set out on tour, Reni left the band, leaving the group without a drummer. He was replaced by Robbie Maddix, who had previously played in Rebel MC. After Maddix joined the band, they embarked on a short American tour at the conclusion of which John Squire broke his collar bone in a bike accident. Squire's accident forced them to cancel a headlining spot at the 25th Glastonbury Festival, which would have been their first concert in the U.K. in five years. As Squire recuperated, the Stone Roses continued to sink in popularity and respect -- even as their peers, the Charlatans and former Happy Mondays vocalist Shaun Ryder, made unexpectedly triumphant comebacks. The Stone Roses added a keyboardist to the lineup prior to their U.K. tour at the end of 1995 -- it was the first British tour since 1990. In the spring of 1996, John Squire announced that he was leaving the band he founded in order to form a new, more active band. The Stone Roses announced their intention to carry on with a new guitarist, but by October of that year the group was finished. Squire's new band, Seahorses, released its debut album in June 1997, while Brown released his solo debut, Unfinished Monkey Business, early in 1998.
• Def Leppard:
• Def Leppard, in many ways, was the definitive hard rock band of the '80s. There were many bands that rocked harder, and were more dangerous, than the Sheffield quintet, but few others captured the spirit of the times quite as well. Emerging in the late '70s as part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, the group actually owed more to the glam rock and metal of the early '70s -- their sound was equal parts T. Rex, Mott the Hoople, Queen, and Led Zeppelin. By toning down their heavy riffs and emphasizing melody, Def Leppard were poised for crossover success by 1983's Pyromania, but skillfully used the fledgling MTV network to their advantage. The group was already blessed with photogenic good looks, but they also crafted a series of innovative, exciting videos, which made them into stars. They intended to follow Pyromania quickly but were derailed when their drummer lost an arm in a car accident, the first of many problems that plagued the group's career. Def Leppard managed to pull through such tragedies, and they even expanded their large audience with 1987's blockbuster Hysteria. As the '90s began, mainstream hard rock shifted away from Leppard's signature pop-metal and toward edgier, louder bands, yet the group maintained a sizable audience into the late '90s and were one of only a handful of '80s metal groups to survive the decade more or less intact.
• Murderdolls:
• Murderdolls is a collaboration between Slipknot guitarist Joey Jordison and Static-X guitarist Tripp Eisen. Landing somewhere between the aggressive throb of rap metal and the energetic charge of hardcore punk, Murderdolls formed when the two guitarists toured together during the 1999 Ozzfest. Drafting singer Wednesday 13, bassist Eric Griffin, and drummer Ben Graves into the mix, the band recorded and released Beyond the Valley of the Murderdolls in 2002.
• Korn:
• ALTHOUGH the band specializes in a ferocious mix of grunge, funk, and heavy metal, beneath Korn's crash-and-burn musical aesthetic lie qualities of empathy and catharsis that have made the group a favorite among headbangers with brains. Often addressing unsavory topics like rape and child molestation, Korn frontman Jonathan Davis draws heavily on his own adolescent experiences to sustain an anger and vitriol that reeks with authenticity. Fundamental to the group's musical maelstrom is its powerhouse guitar duo — James "Munky" Shaffer and Brian "Head" Welch — who wield instruments modified to accommodate seven (instead of the usual six) strings. With two platinum albums to its credit (judging by the press so far, Korn's third release will enjoy even greater sales), the future portends well for the L.A.-based group's chances of sustaining a long and successful career. All five members of Korn grew up in the agricultural town of Bakersfield, Calif., located approximately 100 miles north of L.A. The band's drummer (who goes by the Biblical singular moniker David) and bassist Reggie Arvizu (better known as "Fieldy") began jamming together in their mid-teens, with guitarist James "Munky" Shaffer joining in not long afterwards. After recruiting a temporary singer, the band christened itself LAPD and recorded one album before disbanding. The breakup was short-lived, however, as within months the members regrouped (sans the singer) as Creep, adding guitarist Brian "Head" Welch to flesh out their sound.
• Dimmu Borgir:
• Blending black metal's most brutal tendencies, the melancholic beauty of opera, and industrial metal's production techniques, Dimmu Borgir has carved a niche in the metal world as one of the most savage and creative acts to hail from the Norwegian scene. The group first started in 1993, when members Shagrath (vocals), Erkekjetter Silenoz (guitar), and Tjodalv (guitar and drums) came together to join the emerging metal scene. Although some groups like Emperor and Mayhem had already been making noise for a while, this next generation of groups was the first to directly take their influence from their efforts. They drafted bassist Brynjard Tristan and keyboardist Stian Aarstad into the fold and began their career with a 7" single, "Inn I Evighetens Morke