Greatest Bands of All Time: "Pink Floyd"

* First Video: "Wish you were Here"




* Second Video: "Coming Back to Life"




* Third Video: "High Hopes"




* Forth Video: "Money"





Pink Floyd is an English rock band who earned international recognition for their psychedelic rock music in the late 1960s, and for their progressive rock music from the 1970s onward.


Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. One of rock music's most critically acclaimed and commercially successful acts, the group have sold over 200 million albums worldwide, including 74.5 million certified units in the United States, making them one of the best-selling music artists of all time.


In accordance with wikipedia, Pink Floyd were formed in 1965, and originally consisted of university students Roger Waters, Nick Mason, Richard Wright, and Syd Barrett. The group were a popular fixture on London's underground music scene, and under Barrett's leadership released two charting singles, "Arnold Layne" and "See Emily Play", and a successful debut album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. In 1968, guitarist and singer David Gilmour joined the line-up. Barrett was soon removed, due to his increasingly erratic behaviour.


Following Barrett's departure, bass player and singer Roger Waters became the lyricist and dominant figure in the band, which went on to achieve worldwide critical and commercial success with the concept albums The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals, and The Wall.


Wright left the band in 1979, and Waters in 1985, but Gilmour and Mason (rejoined by Wright) continued recording and touring under the name Pink Floyd. Waters used legal means to try to keep them from using the name, declaring Pink Floyd a spent force, but the parties reached an out-of-court settlement allowing Gilmour, Mason and Wright to continue as Pink Floyd. The band again enjoyed worldwide successes with A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987) and The Division Bell (1994), and Waters continued as a solo musician, releasing three studio albums. Although for some years relations between Waters and the remaining three members were sour, the band reformed in 2005 for a final one-off performance at Live 8.

Greatest Bands of All Time: "Bee Gees"

* First Video: "Words"




* Second Video: "To Love Somebody"




* Third VIdeo: "I've gotta get a message to you"





The Bee Gees are a musical group that was originally made up of a singing trio of brothers — Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio were successful for most of their forty years of recording music, but they had two distinct periods of exceptional success: as a harmonic "soft rock" act in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and as the foremost stars of the disco music era in the late 1970s. The group sang three-part tight harmonies that were instantly recognisable; brother Robin's clear vibrato lead was a hallmark of their earlier hits, while Barry's R&B falsetto became a signature sound during the disco years. The brothers co-wrote all of their own hits, as well as writing and producing several major hits for other artists.


Born in the Isle of Man to English parents, the Gibb brothers lived their first few years in Chorlton, Manchester, England, then moved in the late 1950s to Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, where they eventually began their musical careers. After achieving their first chart success in Australia with Spicks and Specks (their 12th single), they returned to the United Kingdom in January 1967 where producer Robert Stigwood promoted them to a worldwide audience. It has been estimated that the Bee Gees' record sales total more than 200 million, making them one of the best-selling music artists of all time. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997; fittingly, the presenter of the award to "Britain's first family of harmony" was Brian Wilson, historical leader of the Beach Boys, America's first family of rock harmony. Their Hall of Fame citation says "Only Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Michael Jackson, Garth Brooks and Paul McCartney have outsold the Bee Gees".


Following Maurice's sudden death on 12 January 2003, Barry and Robin Gibb temporarily ended the group after forty-five years of activity. On 7 September 2009, Robin Gibb revealed that he and Barry Gibb had agreed that the Bee Gees would reform and perform again.

Greatest Bands of All Time: The platters

* First Video: "Unchained Melody"




* Second Video: "The Great Pretender"




* Third Video: "Only You"





The Platters are a doo-wop vocal group which was formed in 1953 at the beginning of the early rock and roll era. Their distinctive sound created by Buck Ram was a bridge between the pre-rock Tin Pan Alley tradition, and the burgeoning new genre.


The original group members were Alex Hodge, Cornell Gunther, David Lynch, Joe Jefferson, Gaynel Hodge and Herb Reed. In 1970, when all original members had left, the name of the group was changed to The Buck Ram Platters.



After signing with Buck Ram, the act went through several personnel changes before hitting the charts, with the most successful incarnation comprising lead tenor Tony Williams, David Lynch, Paul Robi, Herb Reed, and Zola Taylor.

Greatest Bands of All time: The Notting Hillbillies

* First Video: "I love you too much"




* Second Video: "Railroad Worksong"





The Notting Hillbillies was a country music project formed by Mark Knopfler, who was then lead guitarist and singer of the Dire Straits, with Brendan Croker, Steve Phillips, and Knopfler's bandmate Guy Fletcher. They made just one album, Missing...Presumed Having a Good Time that was released in 1990, before returning to concentrate on their main bands. The Notting Hillbillies have been reunited several times for charity gigs. In May 1997 the Hillbillies went on an 11 show tour in UK.

In 1993, two shows were performed, both without Guy Fletcher.

The Town & Country Club in Leeds on July 3 only featured the Knopfler-Croker-Philips trio. The set list included the only known live performances of two Dire Straits songs : "Ticket To Heaven" and "How Long". The Notting Hillbillies had previously performed "When It Comes To You" in 1990, before it was actually recorded and issued by Dire Straits on their final album On Every Street, in 1991.

The City Hall in Newcastle on July 6 featured for the one and only time Alan Clark on keyboard. Ed Bicknell and Marcus Cliffe were also present. This was the last time that Clark played with Knopfler within a full band.


- Composition:

* Mark Knopfler: guitar, vocals
* Guy Fletcher: keyboards, vocals
* Steve Phillips: guitar, vocals
* Brendan Croker: guitar, vocals
* Ed Bicknell: drums - replaced by Danny Cummings for the four 2002 shows.
* Marcus Cliffe: bass
* Chris White: Saxophone
* Paul Franklin: pedal steel (studio album and 1990 tour only)

Greatest Bands of All Time: Smokie

* First Video: "Lay Back In The Arms of Someone"




* Second Video: "Stumblin' In"




* Third Video: "Mexican Girl"




Smokie is an English rock band from Bradford, Yorkshire who found success in Europe in the 1970s.

Originally called The Yen, then The Sphynx and later Essence, the band was formed in 1964 at St. Bede's Grammar School in Heaton, Bradford as The Yen. The Yen's first gig was at Birkenshaw School in February 1965. It was composed of Chris Norman (lead vocals/rhythm guitar/piano) (born Christopher Ward Norman, 25 October 1950, at 139 Laburnum Road, Redcar, North Yorkshire, England), Terry Uttley (bass/vocals) (born Terence David Uttley, 9 June 1951, at St Luke's Hospital, Bradford, West Yorkshire, England), Alan Silson (lead guitar/vocals) (born 21 June 1951, at St Luke's Hospital, Bradford, West Yorkshire, England) and Ron Kelly (drums) (born Ronald Bruce Kelly, 10 February 1950, at the Royal Hospital, Winchester, Hampshire, England). As Essence, they toured small clubs in Bradford and the surrounding communities before they split in 1966. The Black Cats were already a working band when Ron Kelly joined them at Dewsbury College. The Black Cats at this time were Peter Eastwood on guitar/vocals and Arthur Higgins on bass. Kelly replaced the drummer they had at the time. Alan Silson joined the band initially alongside Pete Eastwood but Eastwood soon left and was replaced by Chris Norman. In Nov 1967 the band changed their name to The Four Corners.

In April 1968, the group found a manager in Mark Jordan, who advised them to rename themselves The Elizabethans. The group now became fully professional, and the members garnered higher salaries. In June 1968 Terry Uttley joined the group. December saw the group having a first TV appearance on Yorkshire Television's news and magazine show Calendar. In August 1969, the four performed two songs for the BBC show High Jinx. Enthused with this successful performance Jordan had them record a first demo tape. In January 1970 RCA showed an interest in the band and suggested a name change to Kindness. A single was recorded, but due to a strike, the double A-side, "Light Of Love" / "Lindy Lou", was not released for a few months. 300 copies of that were sold and it was followed by a second single "Oh Julie" / "I Love You Carolina".

In late 1970, Dave Eager approached the group and offered to manage them. Subsequently, an arrangement was made with Rory Storm - formerly of the influential band and early Beatle contemporaries Rory Storm and the Hurricanes - the band to which Ringo Starr had originally belonged. Kindness backed Storm performing as 'Rory Storm and the Failures'. In late 1971, Norman suffered a serious infection which affected his vocal cords. After getting over the sickness his voice sounded much rougher, which the other group members considered an interesting addition to their sound. Eager introduced them to Decca, which resulted in recordings in February 1972 . Shortly thereafter their next single was released: "Let the Good Times Roll"..

New instruments were bought and in late 1974 recordings sessions for their debut album commenced. On 14 February 1975, Pass It Around was released. The album spawned the title song as a single but failed to gain significant attention from the British audience. In April that year Smokey opened for Pilot on tour.

On September 22, 1975, Smokey released their second album Changing All the Time. This LP sounded much softer than the debut, contained string arrangements on some songs, and heavily leaned toward acoustic guitar arrangements with close harmony vocals, which became their signature sound. The first single from the new album, "If You Think You Know How to Love Me", quickly became a big hit in many European countries, peaking at No. 3 in Britain, and won Smokey a wider audience. It was followed by "Don't Play Your Rock'n'Roll to Me".

Around this time the American soul legend Smokey Robinson threatened to file a law suit, alleging that the band's name would confuse the audience. In order to avoid legal action it was decided to drop the "ey" and undergo another name change to Smokie. Shortly after the release of the second album, their first tour as headline act commenced.

According top wikipedia, the next album was partly produced in America, where Nicky Chinn had moved for various reasons (the tax situation being just one of them). Midnight Café built on the popularity of Changing All the Time and established the group as a new pop phenomenon. The following years yielded a string of successful singles: "Something's Been Making Me Blue", "Wild Wild Angels" and "I'll Meet You at Midnight" gained a faithful following among younger listeners. When their single "Living Next Door to Alice" was released in November 1976, it quickly became the group's biggest hit, followed by the equally successful "Lay Back in the Arms of Someone". Smokie now found themselves European superstars with sold-out tours and million-selling albums. The next two albums were to emphasize their stature: Bright Lights & Back Alleys (1977) and The Montreux Album (1978) were both chart successes.

At the peak of Smokie's success in 1978 Chris Norman teamed up with Suzi Quatro (who had just decided to return to Chinnichap after looking at separation from them) and released a duet single, "Stumblin' In" - another Chinnichap composition. Norman and Quatro were on top of the European charts for some time, and it reached the US Top 10, though no higher than No. 41 in Britain. Smokie's subsequent 45 was "Mexican Girl". Composed by Norman and Spencer, the record saw the group actively distance itself from Chinnichap. Smokie's next act was to produce British football star Kevin Keegan's first single, "Head Over Heels in Love". It charted in many European countries.

In 1979, the album The Other Side Of The Road was released, entirely recorded in Australia. It spawned two more hits for the band, "Do To Me" and "Babe It's Up to You", but it became clear that their sales were declining. Only a subsequent non-album single release, the melancholic "Run To Me" became another hit..