Bands

Journey on Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert

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On July 19, 1978, Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert featured videos for “Feeling That Way” and “Lights” by the band Journey.  A year later on October 10, 1979, emerging through a haze of stage smoke, Journey returned to perform live on Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert .  The arena rockers played “Lovin, Touchin’, Squeezin’” and “Loving You Is Easy,” delivering memorable performance that riled up a sea of howling fans.  In mid set, the entire audience partook in a massive wave across the theater. 

Formed in 1973 by former Santana members, Neal Schon and Gregg Rolie, the band began performing around the San Francisco area as an instrumental group under the name “Golden Gate Rhythm Section.”  As the band started to gain a following in the Bay area, a local radio contest was held to find a better-suited name for the group and “Journey” was chosen.   The newly named band soon signed a recording contract with Columbia Records and began work on what would prove to be an illustrious music career.

To date, Journey has garnered 19 Top 40 singles, 11 Platinum records, and achieved worldwide record sales exceeding 80 million.  As one of the most celebrated bands of all-time, Journey has spawned many of music history’s most inspirational hits such as “Don’t Stop Believin’,” “Any Way You Want It,” and “Faithfully.” 

Despite the rotation of different musicians in and out of the band and the departure of powerhouse frontman Steve Perry, the band continues to perform and produce new music for its fans.  Their most recent effort with singer Arnel Pineda, Eclipse, was released in May of 2011 and the band is currently on tour in support of the record.

Bands

The Allman Brothers Band and The Marshall Tucker Band on Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert

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This coming Sunday, October 2nd, marks the 38th anniversary of the appearances of both The Allman Brothers Band and The Marshall Tucker Band on Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert.   Each performed a 20-minute set with some of their biggest hits to a sea of southern rock fans.  As labelmates aboard Capricorn Records, the two bands distinguished themselves early on with their unique sounds that came from fusing country rock with a bit of jazz and blues.  Both bands reached considerable success in the 1970s, releasing multiple Gold and Platinum records during the peak of their careers.

With slide guitars and piano solos, The Allman Brothers performed a memorable 5 song set that included classics “Done Somebody Wrong”, “Southbound”, “Midnight Rider”, “Ain’t Wastin Time No More”, and “Skatesboro Blues.”  Despite the recent loss of bassist Berry Oakley and guitarist Duane Allman, who both coincidentally died in motorcycle accidents in the previous two years, the band still came out in full force and gave a home run performance.

The Marshall Tucker Band performed an outdoor show that included “Take The Highway”, “Can’t You See”, and “Ramblin’.”  The band had their own particular mixture of instrumentation that, along with traditional vocals guitar, bass, and drums, utilized tambourine, flute, and finger picking guitar.  During their performance of “Can’t You See”, fans rose from their seats and clapped along to the rocking tune.

The Allman Brothers Band and The Marshall Tucker Band made for a memorable night of southern rock n roll on Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert.

Bands

KISS on Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert

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Known for their savage stage antics and flamboyant face paint and costumes,KISS is widely regarded as one of music history’s most exhilarating live acts.  Pyrotechnics, blood spitting, rockets, and smoking guitars are all ingredients of the standard KISS concert recipe that helped the band gain notoriety as they rose to stardom in the 1970s. 

The original members, Paul Stanley (the Starchild) and Gene Simmons (the Demon) began playing together in 1971 in Wicked Lester, a New York-based glam band that quickly caught the attention of Epic Records.  Epic signed the band to a recording contract and work began on their debut album later that year.  However, when presented, the band’s album was rejected by the label and quickly shelved, causing them to be dropped shortly thereafter.  Hell-bent on finding a new musical direction, the band enlisted guitarist Ace Frehley (the Spaceman) and drummer Peter Criss (the Catman), to form KISS.  KISS became the first band to sign with Casablanca and recorded under the label until 1982.  The band then moved to Mercury to record through 1998.

Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert in 1977 performing “I Want You,” “Hard Luck Woman,” and “Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em.”  The band knocked out the performances filled with theatrics.  The performances were so popular that Don Kirshner included a re-airing of “I Want You” on the show’s anniversary program on April 7th of that year.  Two years later on September 27, 1979, KISS was back on Don Kirshner’s Rock concert when their music videos of “I Was Made For Lovin’” and “Sure Know Something” were featured on the show.

Over their near four decades as a band, KISS has sold more than 100 million records worldwide including 24 certified Gold, the most by any American rock band in history.  They have been listed in VH1’s “100 Greatest Artists Of All Time,” MTV’s “,” and Gibson’s “50 Greatest American Rock Bands.” After an 11 year gap, KISS released their 19th studio album Sonic Boom on October 6, 2009, which became their highest charting record to date.  The band has plans to release their 20th album, Monster, in January of 2012.  

The Ramones on Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert

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Tomorrow, September 15th, marks the seven year anniversary of punk rocker Johnny Ramone’s death.  Ramone was 55 years old when he died, losing a five year battle to prostate cancer.   As the lead guitarist of The Ramones, one of the 70’s most seminal and iconic punk bands, Johnny Ramone’s fast and furious chord progressions and rejection to soloing was a key ingredient that shaped the punk rock sound.  Ramone was a true visionary and has received considerable critical acclaim over the years.  He has been included alongside many of the all-time greats in Time’s “10 Greatest Electric-Guitar Players” and Rolling Stone’s “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.”

The Ramones appeared on Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert on September 19, 1977 to give one of the show’s most historic performances.  The Ramones hit the stage, opening with “Sheena is a Punk Rocker” and burned through a set of four songs, ending with “Blitzkrieg Bop.”  Just before cutting to commercial, a bombed out battlefield was shown and amidst it, a sole G.I. sat.  As the camera zoomed in, the soldier quipped, “Would you believe this is what’s left of the studio after The Ramones.”  The band returned to perform four more songs that evening including “Rockaway Beach” and left a mark as one of Rock Concert’s most memorable guests.