text:
The New York Times International Edition

The New York Times International Edition is an English-language daily newspaper distributed internationally by the New York Times Company. It has been published in two separate periods, one from 1943 to 1967 and one from 2013 to the present.

Overseas Weekly
The history of the international edition of the New York Times began in June 1943, following a visit by Times publisher Arthur Hays Sulzberger to Tehran, where he met with Brigadier General Donald H. Connolly of the Persian Gulf Service Command, who were in charge of moving Allied supplies to the Soviet Union via the Persian Corridor. Morale among the U.S. troops there was low, due to the difficult climate, unrewarding tasks, and isolation away from any of the combat fronts. Accordingly, Sulzberger decided to make an edition of the Times that could keep the troops informed and give them more awareness of how their efforts fit into the overall war effort. That product, the eight-page tabloid-sized Overseas Weekly edition, was          a condensed version of the existing Sunday paper's News of the Week in Review section; it premiered in an edition dated August 22, 1943, but not available in Tehran until September 9.

The edition was popular and soon spread, and at its height during the war the Overseas Weekly was being printed in more than twenty locations around the globe. After the war, publication of the Overseas Weekly was limited to Frankfurt and Tokyo, where U.S. occupation forces were, with printing being done at the facilities of the Frankfurter Zeitung and the Asahi Shimbun respectively.

United Nations Edition and International Air Edition
During the third session of the United Nations General Assembly, which was held in Paris from September 21 to December 12, 1948, the Times created a United Nations Edition of the paper, which was flown to Paris each day.

This edition received a favorable reception, and beginning on December 11, 1948, the Times began its International Air Edition. Initially it consisted of 10–12 pages that were printed in whole in the United States and then flown to Europe, but in June 1949 the production process was changed so that only cardboard mats were flown over and the actual printing took place in Paris. The edition focused on U.S. national and international news and generally omitted New York area news and sports coverage.

As part of the June 1949 changes, the Overseas Weekly ended with a final issue on June 19, 1949, after which it was folded into the Sunday edition of the International Air Edition.

In 1952, production of the international edition was shifted from Paris to Amsterdam, as part of minimizing transportation costs.

International edition
In 1960, advances in teletypesetting allowed simultaneous printing of papers in New York and Europe; in conjunction with this, the international edition moved back to Paris. It was called the International Edition of The New York Times. The Times organization hoped to compete with the European edition of the New York Herald Tribune, which was also based in Paris and had a long, established history. Accordingly, the Times gave their publication a much larger budget for promotion than the Paris Herald Tribune had, and circulation improved somewhat.

Beginning in 1964, editorial control for the international edition shifted to Paris itself, and some independent reporting was being done out of that office. It was published on the Rue d'Aboukir in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris.

The New York Times had money-losing operations in maintaining both a Western U.S. edition and its International Edition. In January 1964, the paper announced that it was dropping its Western edition for financial reasons, but would keep on with the international one and move to a more streamlined production process for it. By then, the International Edition of The New York Times had a circulation of some 32,000, but attracted little advertising. As a commercial proposition it was inferior to the European edition of the New York Herald Tribune, which had a circulation of almost 50,000 and more advertising in it.

While the International Edition grew somewhat, it was still losing money and was not competitive with the European edition of the New York Herald Tribune, which was generally considered a stronger publication. Indeed, the international edition was losing $2 million a year, and had lost some $10 million since its creation under that title in 1949. The new Times publisher, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, decided to give up on it, and instead join forces with the Washington Post for a continuation of the European edition of the Herald Tribune.

The final issue of the first incarnation of the New York Times international edition came out on May 20, 1967. The over 100 people working on it were laid off.

International Herald Tribune
In 1967, The New York Times joined The Washington Post along with Whitney Communications to publish the International Herald Tribune in Paris.

In December 2002, The New York Times Company purchased the 50% stake owned by The Washington Post Company and the paper retained the name International Herald Tribune.

Change of name, closing of offices
In 2013, the New York Times Company announced that the International Herald Tribune was being renamed The International New York Times.

On October 14, 2013, the International Herald Tribune appeared on newsstands for the last time and ceased publication.

In October 2016, the NYT's international edition was renamed The New York Times International Edition.

In Autumn 2016, the Paris newsroom, which had been the headquarters for editing and preproduction operations of the paper's international edition, was closed, although a news bureau and an advertising office remained.

The New York Times International Weekly
Besides the daily edition, a weekly 16-page edition is published as The New York Times International Weekly featuring the best of New York Times articles for a week. Designed to complement and extend local reporting, it offers readers globally resonant coverage of ideas and trends, business and politics, science and lifestyles and more. Host papers can monetize the NYT International Weekly through built-in advertising space, sponsorship and other opportunities to generate revenue.

The Paris Herald
The Paris Herald was founded on 4 October 1887 as the European edition of the New York Herald by the parent paper's owner, James Gordon Bennett, Jr.

Paris Herald Tribune
After the death of Bennett in 1918, Frank Munsey bought the New York Herald and the Paris Herald. Munsey sold the Herald newspapers in 1924 to Ogden Mills Reid of the New-York Tribune, thus creating the New York Herald Tribune, while the European edition became the Paris Herald Tribune.

In 1934, the Paris paper acquired its main competitor: the European Edition of the Chicago Tribune.

In 1959, John Hay Whitney, a businessman and United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom, bought the New York Herald Tribune and its European edition. In 1966, the New York Herald Tribune was merged into the short-lived New York World Journal Tribune and ceased publication, but the Whitney family kept the Paris paper going through partnerships. In December 1966 The Washington Post became a joint owner.

International Herald Tribune
The New York Times became a joint owner of the Paris Herald Tribune in May 1967, whereupon the newspaper became known as the International Herald Tribune (IHT).

In 1991, The Washington Post and The New York Times became sole and equal shareholders of the International Herald Tribune.

The Washington Post subsequently sold its stake in the International Herald Tribune.


text:
Bounce (Bon Jovi album)

Bounce is the eighth studio album by American rock band Bon Jovi, released on October 8, 2002 through Island Records. Produced by Luke Ebbin, Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora, the album was recorded at Sanctuary II Studio in New Jersey.

Bounce was heavily influenced by the September 11 attacks, owing in part to Jon Bon Jovi's proximity to New York City. The title "Bounce" was a reference to New York City's and the United States' ability to bounce back from the World Trade Center attacks as a nation. Its cover art, a stylized image of a radio telescope dish at the Very Large Array, was photographed by Kevin Westenberg and produced by Kevin Reagan.

The album debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200, making it Bon Jovi's highest debut in the band's history at that time, although it became their first album not to reach Platinum status in the US.

Background
In end of July 2001, during the final tour One Wild Night Tour, Jon Bon Jovi confirmed for the Billboard that he started to write new songs for the Crush (2000) follow-up and that the entire band is planning to start recording from January 2002. Also, he confirmed that band were planning to release the boxset in 2003, in conjunction with the band's 20th anniversary. Between June and October 2001, band members wrote 25 songs and demoed totally 12 of them. Many of those songs were written in September, and they were influenced by the September 11 attacks. Those songs were "Standing" and "Another Reason to Believe".

At the end of July 2001, Bon Jovi finished their Crush world tour with two sold-out shows at Giants Stadium in New Jersey. The band then took a three-week break after which Jon and Richie Sambora started writing songs, first in Los Angeles and later in New Jersey. They have demoed some of those new songs in New Jersey in November 2001. After that, Jon had to fulfill an acting commitment to the TV series Ally McBeal (1997-2002), so he stayed at Sambora's house in Los Angeles and during that time they continued with the songwriting process and demoing process at Luke Ebbin's house. Songwriting and demoing process went on until March 2002, and between March and June 2002, the album was recorded. By early July 2002. all the songs that ended up on the album were mixed and by the late July of the same year they were mastered. In a period of less than a year, the band wrote approximately 40 songs, 12 songs ended up on the album and several more songs in their demo versions ended up on singles as B-sides. During the songwriting process, the band also wrote some songs that were written as a cathartic exercise. Those songs were written right after the September 11 attacks and they were mainly of woe from lyrical standpoint because they were influenced by that tragedy. Jon said that those songs were only written and will never be recorded.

Lyrics and music
After a one-album absence, perennial Bon Jovi collaborator Desmond Child returned to co-write four of the album's 12 songs. The lyrics in the song "Undivided" were influenced by the September 11 attacks. It simply states that "no man is an island" and that all people are part of the greater world that is humanity, and that all people are stronger together than being apart. "Everyday" was also inspired by the September 11 attacks. It reinforces the need to live each day to its fullest and the lyrics acknowledge the harshness of life, but encourage listeners to "brush themselves off", get back up on their feet and get on with life. "The Distance" is written in a cinematic style. The music serves as a score to the lyrics, which begins as an establishing shot and the "camera" draws closer into the story as the song progresses. The lyrics talk about the passion that a person feels when there is a goal in sight and displays the determination shown when that person is striving to reach that goal. "Joey" is influenced and inspired by Elton John's song Levon (1971) and talks about a character who befriends a simple-minded young man. "Misunderstood" is a song about anyone who has said the wrong thing and has had to face the consequences. The song was written after Jon Bon Jovi came home after long period of time and he realised there were portions of his personal life he had neglected and wrote this song to admit his guilt. "All About Lovin' You" is a love song that talks about appreciating the love of another. It was also influenced by the events of September 11 and how many people rediscovered that love is the most important thing in life.

"Hook Me Up" is a song that was inspired by a newspaper article about a young Palestinian man in occupied territory who was trying desperately to make contact with people via an old, beat-up ham radio. It was written from the young man's perspective who was trapped in a small corner of the world, amidst horrible events when all he wanted was communication and a connection with the outside world and other people. "Right Side of Wrong" is a modern-day Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid song that talks about good people involved with the wrong people but have their hearts in the right place. "Love Me Back to Life" is about world-weariness and the need for someone or something that will breathe the life back into one and allow them to appreciate the world again. "You Had Me from Hello" is about a committed relationship and the ability for someone to constantly see something new and beautiful in the one they love. The title was taken from a phrase spoken by Cameron Crowe in his film Jerry Maguire (1996). The title track "Bounce" was originally written near the end of the One Wild Night Tour and had more sports-oriented lyrics. However, after the events of September 11, the song became a declaration of strength and defiance. It refers to the city of New York, and the United States as a whole, but also to the band's perseverance over a twenty-year career. "Open All Night" is written as a dialog between two characters in TV series Ally McBeal (1997-2002): Ally McBeal and Victor Morrison, a plumber and a babysitter portrayed by Jon Bon Jovi. Jon appeared in nine episodes as the character and the storyline involving Ally and Victor was romantic. Jon admitted that if that happened in real life, he would either never allow it to take so long or he would have moved on. .

Critical reception
Bounce received generally mixed to unfavorable reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 61 out of 100, which indicates "favorable reviews" based on 8 reviews. Though, Stephen Thomas Erlewine from Allmusic gave the album 2 stars out of 5 stating that album "After all, this is a record where Bon Jovi seems to have consciously decided to avoid everything that gives their music character, melody, and muscle, a move that would have been odd at any point during their career, but is particularly puzzling after they delivered an album that found them growing old gracefully. It's as if they want to undo everything Crush did for them". David Browne from Entertainment Weekly rated the album with C stating that "Bon Jovi have every right to write and sing topical songs. But the results are sonically grating (the music feels shrill and compressed) and strained, reducing the emotions and situations connected to Sept. 11 to stadium chants". Natalie Nichols from Los Angeles Times gave the album 2 stars out of 4 stating that "This time the music's trademark epic quality comes less from Richie Sambora's sprawling guitar work than from an overdose of strings and piano that reflects singer-actor Jon Bon Jovi's movie and TV interests". Gavin Edwards from Rolling Stone gave the album 3 stars out of 5 by saying that "The title Bounce is meant to be an exhortation to America after 9/11, and if it doesn't exactly offer poetic catharsis, the existence of the eighth Bon Jovi record is reassurance of a different kind: Life goes on". Sputnikmusic gave the album 3.5 stars out of 5 saying that "Fueled by an emotional theme, Bon Jovi end up making their best album of the millennium era". Steven Poole from The Guardian gave the album 2 stars out of 5 saying that "for most of the record Jon Bon Jovi sounds puzzlingly like Elvis Costello or Elton John, and sugary ballads predominate, with Bruce Hornby-like piano intros and tasteful acoustic-guitar lines leading to swollen, meaningless choruses".

Personnel
Bon Jovi
 * Jon Bon Jovi – lead and backing vocals
 * Richie Sambora – guitars, talk box on "Everyday", "Love Me Back to Life" and "Bounce", backing vocals
 * David Bryan – keyboards
 * Tico Torres – drums, percussion

Additional musicians
 * Hugh McDonald – bass
 * Jerry Cohen – unspecified musical contribution
 * Andreas Carlsson – unspecified musical contribution
 * Samuel Waermo – unspecified musical contribution
 * David Campbell – orchestral arrangements
 * Luke Ebbin – orchestral arrangements

Recording personnel
 * Luke Ebbin – producer, programming
 * Jon Bon Jovi – producer
 * Richie Sambora – producer
 * Desmond Child – co-producer
 * Andreas Carlsson – co-producer
 * Obie O'Brien – engineer
 * Mike Rew – assistant engineer
 * Gary Tole – Pro-Tools, additional engineering
 * Graham Hawthorne – Pro-Tools editor
 * Efrain "ET" Torres – additional Pro-Tools engineering
 * Samuel Waermo – additional engineering, programming
 * Marc Jameson – programming ("You Had Me from Hello")
 * Bob "Clear-Fuckin'" Mountain – mixing
 * Kevin Harp – mix assistant
 * Tim Holland – tech support
 * Chris "Lumpy" Hofschneider – tech support
 * George Marino – mastering (track 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 10 & 11)
 * Stephen Marcussen – mastering (track 4, 6, 8, 9 & 12)

Artwork
 * Kevin Westenberg – photography
 * Kevin Reagan – art direction, design
 * Bret Healey – design

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Bounce (Bon Jovi album)


text:
Budgie (band)

Budgie were a Welsh heavy metal band from Cardiff. The band formed in 1967, and recorded a demo the following year. In 1971, their first album (of blues-oriented hard rock), produced by Rodger Bain, was released by MCA. The band, a classic power trio with the occasional keyboard player, released ten albums, with MCA, A&M, and RCA, between 1971 and 1982, attracting a fair number of fans and achieving modest commercial success.

Budgie were one of the earliest heavy metal bands, and according to Garry Sharpe-Young they were a seminal influence on many acts of that scene, particularly the new wave of British heavy metal, and later acts such as Metallica. The band have been noted as "among the heaviest metal of its day".

History
Budgie formed in 1967 in Cardiff, Wales, under the name Hills Contemporary Grass. The original line-up consisted of Burke Shelley on vocals and bass, Tony Bourge on guitar and vocals and Ray Phillips on drums. After performing several gigs in 1968, the band changed their name to Budgie the following year and recorded their first demo. The band had initially considered going under the name "Six Ton Budgie", but decided the shorter single word variant was preferable. Burke Shelley has said that the band's name came from the fact that he "loved the idea of playing noisy, heavy rock, but calling ourselves after something diametrically opposed to that".

Their eponymous debut album of strong, blues-oriented hard rock was recorded at Rockfield Studios with Black Sabbath producer Rodger Bain and released in 1971. It was followed by Squawk in 1972. The third album, Never Turn Your Back on a Friend (1973), contained "Breadfan", which was covered by Metallica in 1987. Metallica had earlier covered another Budgie song, "Crash Course in Brain Surgery". Ray Phillips left the band before the fourth album In for the Kill! was recorded. He was replaced by Pete Boot.

In late 1974, Boot left and was replaced by Steve Williams for the album Bandolier. For concerts promoting this album and the follow-up, If I Were Brittania I'd Waive the Rules, the band were augmented by second guitarist Myf Isaac. Music from the 1978 LP Impeckable featured in the 1979 film J-Men Forever (shown frequently on the USA Network's "Night Flight" T.V. in the 1980s), which is now considered a cult classic. Bourge and Isaac left in 1978 and were replaced by ex-Trapeze guitarist Robert Kendrick and ex-Hawkwind guitarist Huw Lloyd-Langton. Langton's stint was short-lived as Kendrick convinced the band to dismiss him. In late 1978, having been dropped by A&M and with no recording contract, this line-up floundered, and after 12 months Kendrick was replaced by "Big" John Thomas (b. 21 February 1952) in late 1979. This line-up recorded two albums for Kingsley Ward's 'Active' label: Power Supply (1980) and Nightflight (1981). 1982 saw them signed to RCA for Deliver Us from Evil, their final recording for a major label.

The band continued to have success during the new wave of British heavy metal period, playing the Reading Festival in 1980 and then headlining the festival in 1982. They built a particular following in Poland, where they played as the first heavy metal band behind the Iron Curtain, in 1982. Also notable was their tour in support of Ozzy Osbourne's Blizzard of Ozz Tour.

The band stopped gigging in 1987. Members went into studio production, occasionally guesting on other projects; Thomas most notably worked on the Phenomena CD with Glenn Hughes out of the Black Sabbath studios.

Although the group had little commercial success in America, they have enjoyed a strong cult following in Texas, and received radio airplay from Joe Anthony and Lou Roney on KMAC/KISS radio in San Antonio in the 1970s, as well as KSHE95 in St. Louis. The band reformed using various drummers for one-off gigs in 1995 and 1996 for outdoor festivals 'La Semana Alegre' in San Antonio, Texas. In 1999, the band officially reformed in Letchworth. They toured in 2002–2006, mostly in the United Kingdom, the NYC/NJ area, Dallas, and with a few shows in Europe including the Sweden Rock Festival and a return to Poland. In 2006, Budgie undertook a 35-date UK tour and released the album You're All Living in Cuckooland on 7 November. In 2007 they played in Sweden and Poland.

On 4 July 2007, Lees announced his departure from the band to concentrate on teaching and a solo career. Following the departure of Lees, Dio lead guitarist and songwriter Craig Goldy offered his services while Ronnie James Dio was completing commitments with Heaven & Hell. In February 2008, Craig Goldy accompanied Budgie on their first tour of Australia, and continued playing with the band as 'guest guitarist' for all their shows.

Budgie's November 2010 tour of Central Europe had to be cancelled as Shelley was hospitalised on 9 November in Wejherowo, Poland, with a 6 cm aortic aneurysm. After surgery, he returned to Britain for recovery. This was effectively the end of the band.

On 3 March 2016, former guitarist John Thomas died at the age of 63 after being admitted to hospital with pneumonia. The news of his death was confirmed by drummer Steve Williams on Facebook: "My friend and fellow BUDGIE band member John Thomas sadly passed away last night. My thoughts are with the loved ones he left behind."

In February 2018, former drummer Pete Boot died at the age of 67. For many years he had been coping with Parkinson's disease.

In April 2018, founder member and original drummer Ray Phillips released his autobiography.

After more than a decade of health issues, including an aortic aneurysm and Stickler syndrome, Shelley died on 10 January 2022, at the age of 71.

Musical style and legacy
Budgie are best known as a hard rock and heavy metal band who incorporated elements of progressive rock and humour into their musical style. With 1975's Bandolier, they began to also incorporate funk.

Budgie's music was described in the All-Music Guide as a cross between Rush and Black Sabbath. Burke Shelley's vocals have been compared to Geddy Lee due to his similar approach of high-pitched banshee wails (coincidentally, Shelley and Lee are also the bass players in their respective power-trio bands). Although Budgie remained quite obscure during their early career, many future stars of hard rock/metal have cited them as an important influence and covered their songs, including Iron Maiden, Metallica, Megadeth, Van Halen, Melvins, Queens of the Stone Age, Alice in Chains, and Soundgarden.

Metallica released a cover of "Breadfan" in September 1988 as a B-side to their "Harvester of Sorrow" single. It was later included on their 1998 album Garage Inc., and was also used as an encore during their 1988–1989 tour supporting their ...And Justice for All album. A live video version is present on the Live Shit: Binge & Purge boxed set, taken from their Seattle concerts on 29 and 30 August 1989 where it was performed in the second encore. It was also played with frequency during the Madly in Anger with the World Tour and World Magnetic Tour. A short clip of "Breadfan" is played at the beginning of the "Whiskey in the Jar" music video. They also covered "Crash Course in Brain Surgery" on the Garage Days Re-Revisited EP, which later appeared on the aforementioned  Garage, Inc. album.

Members
Final lineup
 * Burke Shelley – lead vocals, bass (1967–1988, 1995–1996, 1999–2010; died 2022)
 * Steve Williams – drums, percussion, backing vocals (1974–1986, 1999–2010)
 * Craig Goldy – guitar (2008–2010)

EPs

 * If Swallowed, Do Not Induce Vomiting (1980, Active BUDGE 1)

Singles (UK-exclusive unless stated otherwise)

 * "Crash Course in Brain Surgery" / "Nude Disintegrating Parachutist Woman" (1971, MCA MK 5072)
 * "Whiskey River" / "Guts" (1972, MCA MK 5085)
 * "Whiskey River" / "Stranded" (1972, MCA 2185) – US-exclusive release
 * "Zoom Club (Edit)" / "Wondering What Everyone Knows" (1974, MCA 133)
 * "I Ain't No Mountain" / "Honey" (1975, MCA 175)
 * "Smile Boy Smile" / "All at Sea" (1978, A&M AMS 7342)
 * "Crime Against the World" / "Hellbender" (1980, Active BUDGE 2)
 * "Keeping a Rendezvous" / "Apparatus" (1981, RCA BUDGE 3) – UK No. 71
 * "I Turned to Stone (Part 1)" / "I Turned to Stone (Part 2)" (1981, RCA BUDGE 4)
 * "I Turned to Stone" / "She Used Me Up" (1981, Tonpress S-445) – Polish release
 * "Bored with Russia" / "Don't Cry" (1982, RCA 271)

title: Budgie (band)


text:
Takahiro Nishikawa

Takahiro Nishikawa (西川隆宏) is a Japanese keyboardist, music producer, and businessman. He was a member of Dreams Come True from 1988 to 2002. While with the band, they released eleven studio albums and thirty-three singles. Nine of those albums and ten of the singles debuted at #1 on the Oricon charts.

While Nishikawa was a member of the band, Dreams Come True won two The Television Drama Academy Awards for theme songs, once in 1995 and again in 1999. After he left the band, he was arrested and convicted twice for possession of illegal stimulants, once in October 2002 and again in February 2006. He opened a bar in Sapporo in 2009, where he regularly holds events themed around his former band, including after-concert parties.

Nishikawa is also known by the nickname Nihya (ニーヒャ). His younger sister, Ayumi Nishikawa (西川歩), is a model.

Biography
Takahiro Nishikawa was born 26 May 1964. He attended and graduated from Hokkaido Otofuke High School in Otofuke, Hokkaido.

In 1988, Nishikawa became a founding member of the band Dreams Come True as their keyboardist. Their first single, "Anata ni Aitakute" (あなたに会いたくて), was released in March 1989. Their first album, Dreams Come True, sold over one million copies. While with the band, they released eleven studio albums, nine of which debuted at #1 on the Oricon charts. In that same time period, they released 33 singles, and 10 of them debuted at #1 on the Oricon singles charts. As a band member, he acquired the nickname Nihya (ニーヒャ).

Nishikawa left the band in March 2002 due to differences in musical direction. He was arrested in October that year on suspicion of assaulting his sister-in-law (the charges were later dropped), and a urine test resulted in an additional charge for using illegal stimulants. He stated that he began using them due to a lack of sleep, purchasing them after being approached by a dealer at a club in Tokyo. He was sentenced to 1 year 6 months, but the sentence was suspended for three years. He was arrested a second time, in February 2006 following a traffic stop in which police found stimulants in his vehicle. He was convicted and sentenced to 1 year 6 months, and he was released from prison in 2007.

In 2009, Nishikawa opened a bar in Sapporo, where he regularly hosts "Dre Night" (ドリナイト) during which songs by Dreams Come True are played. He puts up posters in the bar each time a new Dreams Come True album is released. When concerts are held in Sapporo, the band often have an after party at the bar, and admission is a ticket from seeing the band perform. These events draw not only locals but also tourists. Nishikawa sometimes works as a DJ in Sapporo, and participates in LGBT events.

Nishikawa has stated that he has no intention of re-entering the public stage. Historical footage and images of Dreams Come True while he was a member are often manipulated to not show him. However, he remains close with the members of Dreams Come True, and band member Masato Nakamura is supportive of Nishikawa returning to the band. He made an appearance and performed with Nakamura in July 2019 as part of the band's 30th anniversary celebration, though Miwa Yoshida did not appear at this event.

Nishikawa has never been married.

title: Takahiro Nishikawa


text:
Watching the Wildlife

"Watching the Wildlife" is the seventh and last single by English pop band Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Released on 28 February 1987, it is the most radio friendly of the three singles from Liverpool going for a Beatlesque approach with string orchestration and psychedelic guitar riffs.

It is also the only one of the three Liverpool singles not to have a CD single release at that time and the mix used on the 7" vinyl single has never appeared on a UK-issued compact disc. The single only reached number 28 on the UK Singles Chart and #23 in Germany.

Background
Bassist Mark O'Toole explained that the song is "basically a story of someone going through their life doing the things they normally do — like the girls putting out the washing and stuff like that."

The 7" packaging made reference to animals, with a panda and dolphin on the sleeve. The cassette single more references to sexual intercourse with the instrumental mix being dubbed "The Condom Mix" on the cassette single. The promotional condom that was to be distributed with each single would have stopped the single sales counting towards the UK charts as the official chart provider had introduced new rules to this effect, so the idea was abandoned. Promotional copies complete with the condom do exist, however.

Critical reception
Roger Morton of Record Mirror said of the single, "The fact that you're supposed to get a CONDOM with the cassette version of this could lead to irksome speculation about the title. So let's just say that giving away prophylactics is a GOOD IDEA, and if this piece of swinging, brassy, orchestral bombast wasn't all swollen up like an inflated Durex, it might have been too."

Chart performance
By the time "Watching the Wildlife" was released as a single, poor record sales and interest in the Liverpool album had all but waned. The single failed to break the Top 20 in Europe, only reaching number 28 on the UK Singles Chart, number 23 in Germany and number 24 in Ireland. "Watching the Wildlife" would prove to be the last single released by Frankie Goes to Hollywood as they disbanded shortly after its release, initiating a series of lawsuits by the record label ZTT over contract and royalty differences.

Track listing
All discographical information pertains to UK releases only.

"animal fur/animal smell"
 * 7": ZTT / ZTAS 26

 * 1) "Watching the Wildlife" – 3:50
 * 2) "The Waves" – 3:02

 * 12": ZTT / 12 ZTAS 26
 * 1) "Watching the Wildlife" (hotter) [labelled as "animal fur"] – 9:02
 * 2) "Wildlife Bit 1" [unlisted] – 0:38
 * 3) "Wildlife Bit 2" [unlisted] – 0:37
 * 4) "Watching the Wildlife" (voiceless) – 3:49
 * 5) "The Waves" – 3:02

 * "Watching the Wildlife" (voiceless) was re-released on the Sexmix compilation in 2012.

 * 12": ZTT / 12 ZTAX 26
 * 1) "Watching the Wildlife" (movement 2) – 7:12
 * 2) "Wildlife Bit 3" – 6:24
 * 3) "Wildlife Bit 4" – 4:20
 * 4) "The Waves" – 3:02

 * "Movement 2" is a mainly instrumental mix, featuring a unique orchestration of the song by arranger David Bedford, and until recently was one of the rarest tracks by Frankie, being only available on this 12" record which itself was a low selling item. The "Movement 2" mix finally made it onto compact disc as part of ZTTs Element series reissues.
 * "Wildlife Bit 3" is an extended mix by engineer Robert Kraushaar.
 * "Wildlife Bit 4" is an instrumental mix without drums, guitar or bass, showcasing the orchestral arrangement.

"Beobachtungen im Wilden Leben" (roughly translated as "Observations in the wild life")
 * 12": ZTT / 12 ZTE 26

 * 1) "Beobachtungen im Wilden Leben" (Die Letzten Tage der Menschheit mix) (use a condom) – 10:16
 * 2) "Wildlife Bit 1" [unlisted] – 0:38
 * 3) "Wildlife Bit 2" [unlisted] – 0:37
 * 4) "Watching the Wildlife" (voiceless) – 3:49
 * 5) "The Waves" – 3:02

 * The "Die Letzten Tage der Menschheit" mix ('The last days of mankind' mix) was deceptively listed as mixed by Klaus Schulze, which got ZTT into trouble with Schulze. It was actually mixed by Paul Morley, and features samples from an AIDS phoneline. This release was deliberately packaged to look like a German import, complete with German titles, an Island Records catalogue number (in addition to its correct UK ZTT one) and even an Island Records label design. It is the only UK issue not to have a normal ZTT label.

 * MC: ZTT / CTIS 26
 * 1) "Watching the Wildlife" (bit 4) [a.k.a. "Orchestral Wildlife"] – 4:26
 * 2) "Watching the Wildlife" (hotter) ["Hotter Wildlife"] – 9:09
 * 3) "The Waves" – 3:02
 * 4) "Wildlife Bit 1" ["One Bit"] – 0:38
 * 5) "Wildlife Bit 2" ["Two Bit"] – 0:37
 * 6) "Watching the Wildlife" (bit 3) [a.k.a. "The Condom Mix"]  – 6:26

 * Although the tracks were listed on the sleeve with unique titles ("Orchestral Wildlife", "The Condom Mix" etc.), they are in fact the same tracks that appeared on the first two 12" singles.
 * This cassette single was included on the 2011 deluxe reissue of Liverpool, with a reordered track listing (being "Bit 3", "Bit 4", "The Waves", "Hotter", "Bit 1" and "Bit 2").

 * Digital download: ZTT
 * 1) "Watching the Wildlife" (7" mix) – 3:52
 * 2) "Watching the Wildlife" (hotter) – 9:08
 * 3) "Watching the Wildlife" (movement 2) – 7:13
 * 4) "Watching the Wildlife" (Die Letzten Tage der Menschheit) – 10:14
 * 5) "Watching the Wildlife" (bit 1) – 0:38
 * 6) "Watching the Wildlife" (bit 2) – 0:37
 * 7) "Watching the Wildlife" (bit 3) – 6:25
 * 8) "Watching the Wildlife" (bit 4) – 4:24
 * 9) "Watching the Wildlife" (voiceless) – 3:50
 * 10) "The Waves" – 3:02

 * The version of the 7" mix included here is the version from Frankie Said, which is not the exact same mix.

title: Watching the Wildlife


text:
Enka

Enka (演歌) is a Japanese music genre considered to resemble traditional Japanese music stylistically. Modern enka, however, is a relatively recent musical form, which adopts a more traditional musical style in its vocalism than ryūkōka music, popular during the prewar years.

Modern enka, as developed in the postwar era, is a form of sentimental ballad music. Some of the first modern enka singers were Hachiro Kasuga, Michiya Mihashi, and Hideo Murata. The revival of enka in its modern form is said to date from 1969, when Keiko Fuji made her debut. The most famous male enka singers are Shinichi Mori and Kiyoshi Hikawa.

Etymology
The term enka was first used to refer to political texts set to music which were sung and distributed by opposition activists belonging to the Freedom and People's Rights Movement during the Meiji period (1868–1912) as a means of bypassing government curbs on speeches of political dissent – and in this sense the word is derived from "enzetsu no uta" (演説の歌), meaning "speech song."

Another theory holds that modern enka means "enjiru uta" (演じる歌), meaning "performance song."

The genre called enka is also said to be an expedient classification for record labels as well as J-pop. For example, Harumi Miyako, who has been usually considered as an enka singer, said "I don't think that I sing 'enka'" and "In fact, there was no such term as 'enka' when I debuted."

Musical style
Modern enka's mainstream scale is called or "Minor Scale without Four and Seven (fa and te)," and is a modified version of  or "Major Scale without Four and Seven (Fa and Si)," which came from an older Japanese scale, the. One of the earliest Japanese songs that was said to have partly used it is Rentarō Taki's "Kōjō no Tsuki," which was called in the Meiji period. The seventh- scale degree is not used in "Kōjō no Tsuki", a song of B minor.

The music, based on the pentatonic scale, has some resemblance to blues. Enka lyrics are usually written similarly around the themes of love and loss, loneliness, enduring hardships, and persevering in the face of difficulties, even suicide or death. Although enka is a genre of kayōkyoku, it is considered to be more expressive and emotional, though there is no clear consensus on the matter.

Archetypal enka singers employ a style of melisma—where a single syllable of text is sung while moving between several different notes in succession—known as kobushi. Kobushi occurs when the pitch of the singer's voice fluctuates irregularly within one scale degree: This compares with vibrato, which vibrates in a regular cycle. The kobushi technique is not limited to enka, as can be heard in the Italian song "Santa Lucia." In the late 1930s and early '40s, the music of composer Masao Koga began to resemble Buddhist shomyo-chanting possibly because his record label asked him to produce music. Although Koga became a composer whose work is considered seminal to the creation of the genre, present-day enka is different from Koga's primary music because the singing styles of many postwar singers were different from the kobushi of Koga's musical note. Modern enka singer Takeshi Kitayama himself admitted in 2006, "I was even confused because [Koga's] musical note was different from that of an old singer."

Enka suggests a traditional, idealized, or romanticized aspect of Japanese culture and attitudes. Enka singers, predominantly women, usually perform in a kimono or in evening dress. Male enka performers tend to wear formal dress, or in some performances, traditional Japanese attire. Nods to traditional Japanese music are common in enka. The melodies of enka are fundamentally Western harmonies, and electronic instruments are used, such as synthesizers and electric lead guitar with plenty of distortion, but its musical instruments also include traditional Japanese instruments such as the shakuhachi and the shamisen.

19th century–1920s: Sōshi enka and violin enka
The political songs called enka in the Meiji period (1868–1912) are also called Sōshi Enka (壮士演歌) to distinguish it from modern enka. Street singers were called enka-shi (演歌師). The first enka song is said to be "The Dynamite Stanzas" (ダイナマイト節). The songs during this time include Otojiro Kawakami's "Oppekepe".

In the Taishō period (1912–26), enka-shi began to incorporate the violin, thus their songs were called violin enka. An enka-shi of the period was Toshio Sakurai (桜井敏雄), who in turn taught Haruo Oka.

In present-day Japan, Road Traffic Law regulates the appearance of street performers. However, Japanese performers such as Utaji Fukuoka (福岡詩二) have still sung enka from the Taishō period. When the 1995 earthquake struck, Soul Flower Mononoke Summit, a musical project of the rock band Soul Flower Union, played sōshi enka to help buoy the spirits of disaster victims.

1920s–1940s: Era of ryūkōka
In the early Shōwa period in the late 1920s, record companies produced ryūkōka in place of enka-shi. Enka-shi began to use guitar and were dubbed nagashi (流し). Haruo Oka debuted with the 1939 song "Kokkyō no Haru" (国境の春) on the Japanese record label King Records. However, the term enka became uncommon in the postwar years.

Late 1940s–1954: The arrival of new singers
As jazz became popular in early postwar Japan, Japanese singer Hibari Misora released her debut song "Kappa boogie-woogie" on Nippon Columbia in 1949 at the age of only 12. She went on to sing jazz songs throughout the 1950s and 1960s. She later did many enka songs in the 60s and 70s.

In 1948, Hachiro Kasuga won King Records' first talent contest. He joined the record label the next year where Haruo Oka was his senior. His debut single "Akai Lamp no Shū Ressha" (赤いランプの終列車) was released in 1952. The kabuki-style song "Otomi-san" (お富さん) was originally made for Oka, but was sung by Kasuga, and in 1954, "Otomi-san" became a very popular hit in Japan. Kasuga took part in the NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen for the first time with "Otomi-san" that year. The song's composer, Masanobu Tokuchi, was born on Okinawa Island and grew up in Amami and became an important figure for introducing the Ryukyu Islands' music into the Japanese mainstream.

1955–1959: Early history of modern enka
Although "Otomi-san" was popular, Kasuga himself was not completely satisfied with it and recorded the song "Wakare no Ippon-sugi" (別れの一本杉) by Toru Funamura. The song was released in 1955 and was later regarded as a true enka song. The song, ironically, was also influenced by tango music's rhythm because Funamura felt that tango seemed similar to enka in its local color. "Wakare no Ippon-sugi" was later covered by singers as diverse as Michiya Mihashi, Hideo Murata, Keiko Fuji, Hibari Misora, Saburō Kitajima, Takashi Hosokawa, and Hiroshi Itsuki. Kasuga was later called the first enka singer.

Michiya Mihashi, who originally sang Japanese folk music (min'yō) and learned tsugaru-jamisen, released his debut single "Sake no Nigasa yo" as a recording singer in 1954. Mihashi's "Onna Sendō Uta" was a hit in 1955. Funamura's friend Kimio Takano, the lyricist of "Wakare no Ippon-sugi", died in 1956 at the age of 26. Hibari Misora's music turned to enka when she was no longer regarded as a teen idol.

Around the postwar period, rōkyoku (or naniwa-bushi), famous during the war, declined in popularity mainly because their speaking lengths were considered too long. Enka, on the other hand, which became popular around that time, was said to be a shortened version of rōkyoku because several enka singers such as Hideo Murata and Haruo Minami were originally rōkyoku singers and enka has many themes in common with the genre. One notable rōkyoku singer who had an influence on enka was Kumoemon Tochuken, whose student's pupil was Murata. Minami debuted on Teichiku Records in 1957 and Murata on Nippon Columbia in 1958. Murata covered the song "Jinsei Gekijō" (人生劇場), composed by Masao Koga. Haruo Minami was known for wearing a kimono, which was at the time considered an unusual style for a male singer.

1960s–1970s: Commercial success
In the early 1960s, rockabilly influenced by Elvis Presley began to gain popularity. Kyu Sakamoto, who came from Japanese rockabilly, joined Japanese popular music. However, many Japanese music critics complained about rockabilly, and Hideo Murata's 1961 "pure Japanese style"-like song "Ōsho," composed by Toru Funamura, became a million-selling single in Japan. When Kyu Sakamoto took part in the Kōhaku Uta Gassen for the first time with the song "Ue o Muite Arukō" (aka "Sukiyaki") in 1961, Hideo Murata also made his debut with the song "Ōsho" at the same show.

Young enka singer Yukio Hashi appeared in 1960, Saburō Kitajima in 1962 and Harumi Miyako in 1964. Sachiko Kobayashi debuted with the 1964 single "Usotsuki Kamome" (ウソツキ鴎) at the age of only 10. The most well-known and beloved performer of enka is Hibari Misora (1937–1989), known as the "Queen of Enka" and "Queen of Shōwa" for the period in which she lived and was celebrated. Misora's song "Yawara," composed by Masao Koga, won the grand prix award at the 1965 Japan Record Award. Masaru Matsuyama also made his debut in 1965, but was not able to achieve commercial success and changed his stage name to Hiroshi Itsuki in 1971.

Mina Aoe appeared with the single "Kōkotsu no Blues" (恍惚のブルース) in 1966, pioneering the "enka-blues" genre. Shinichi Mori debuted with the 1966 single "Onna no Tameiki" (女のためいき). His 1969 song "Minatomachi Blues" (港町ブルース) topped the Japanese Oricon single charts for five weeks and sold over one million copies. Keiko Fuji came out with the 1969 single "Shinjuku no Onna" (新宿の女) at the age of 18. The term enka which had not been used in the postwar era, was revived by her performance.

Keiko Fuji's 1970 song "Keiko no Yume wa Yoru Hiraku" won the mass popularity award of the 12th Japan Record Awards and the grand prix award of the first Japan Music Awards. That year, she also took part in the 21st Kōhaku Uta Gassen with the song. Her 1970 album Shinjuku no Onna/'Enka no Hoshi' Fuji Keiko no Subete (新宿の女/"演歌の星" 藤圭子のすべて) established a record-breaking consecutive number-one record to top the Oricon charts for 20 "consecutive" weeks. It is a record that still stands.

The best-selling enka after the Oricon charts began in 1968 is Shiro Miya and Pinkara Trio's 1972 "Onna no Michi." The song topped the Japanese Oricon single charts for 16 consecutive weeks and sold over 3.25 million copies, to become the second best-selling single in Japan behind "Oyoge! Taiyaki-kun."

Hiroshi Itsuki's song "Yozora" won the grand prix award at the 15th Japan Record Awards in 1973. Shinichi Mori released the single "Erimo Misaki" in 1974. Although the song was composed by non-enka musician Takuro Yoshida, "Erimo Misaki" won the grand prix at the 16th Japan Record Awards that year. Harumi Miyako's song "Kita no Yado kara" also won the grand prix at the 18th Japan Record Awards in 1976. New enka singers, who debuted in the '70s, include Sayuri Ishikawa and Takashi Hosokawa who were both Michiya Mihashi's pupils.

Masao Koga died in 1978, after a career of composing about 5,000 songs. Toru Funamura became self-employed in 1978, beginning live performances and returning to the original position for his old friend Kimio Takano. Keiko Fuji announced her retirement in 1979 and went to the United States.

1980s–1990s: Losing definition and decline
Takashi Hosokawa's song "Kita Sakaba" won the grand prix at the 24th Japan Record Awards in 1982. He covered Naomi Chiaki's originally song "Yagiri no Watashi" next year. It was also won the grand prix at the following Japan Record Awards. The total sales of Michiya Mihashi's work surpassed 100 million records in 1983, making him the first artist to achieve that in Japan.

On June 11, 1986, Sanae Jōnouchi, a member of idol group Onyanko Club, released the enka single "Ajisai Bashi," written by Yasushi Akimoto. The single debuted at No. 1 on the Oricon weekly single charts. Ikuzo Yoshi's 1986 single "Yukiguni" became the Oricon's 300th number-one single in 1987.

Other new enka singers around that time included Fuyumi Sakamoto and Ayako Fuji. Hibari Misora, at the age of 50, released the single "Midaregami" on December 10, 1987. "Midaregami" reached the No. 9 position on the Oricon weekly charts. Yasushi Akimoto wrote the lyrics of her 1989 single "Kawa no Nagare no Yō ni". However, she died in 1989 and the enka range expanded into the genre kayōkyoku while the genre kayōkyoku was vanishing.

Hachiro Kasuga died in 1991. As enka 's traditional themes were no longer appreciated among younger Japanese and Western-style J-pop music became more popular, enka sales declined. However, the genre still had many adherents. Besides TV programs, enka could be heard in many restaurants, drinking establishments, karaoke bars and cafes. On the other hand, "bright" enka singer Yoshimi Tendo, who was ignored when the "dark" enka songs like Keiko Fuji's song "Keiko no Yume wa Yoru Hiraku" were popular, took part in the Kōhaku Uta Gassen for the first time in 1993. Other new enka singers such as Toshimi Tagawa and Fuyumi Sakamoto were also appearing on TV enka programs which kept enka alive. Taiwanese diva Teresa Teng was also singing in Japanese and covering enka songs from the 70s until she died in 1995 at the age of 42.

2000s: Musical hybridity
Enka 's popularity among younger Japanese, however, increased in the first decade of the 21st century. Kiyoshi Hikawa debuted on Nippon Columbia in 2000 with the single "Hakone Hachiri no Hanjirō," which became a smash hit. The early solo releases of then-Morning Musume member Yuko Nakazawa were also enka. In contrast, Nana Mizuki, who learned enka as a child, became a voice actress and also appeared as a singer on King Records in 2000.

On August 25, 2004, Johnny & Associates' group Kanjani Eight debuted with the Kansai-limited release of "Naniwa Iroha Bushi" under the Teichiku Records. The song was based on "Kawachi ondo" and featured rap. The song was a hit and reached No. 8 on the Oricon weekly singles chart on the strength of Kansai sales alone. Then, on September 22, 2004, "Naniwa Iroha Bushi" was released nationwide and re-debuted on the Oricon weekly singles charts at the No. 1 spot, becoming the first enka single to reach the No. 1 in seventeen years since Yujiro Ishihara's 1987 single "Kita no Tabibito" according to Oricon.

Hikawa also released the single "Hatsukoi Ressha" on February 9, 2005, which debuted at the No. 1 position on the Oricon charts, Hikawa's first number-one single on the Oricon weekly charts. Older female singer Junko Akimoto also debuted on King Records, releasing her first single "Madison-gun no Koi" on July 21, 2005. However, her musical style was '70s kayōkyoku style.

Veteran enka singer Hiroshi Itsuki, at 58, released the single "Takasebune" on April 19, 2006, becoming his first Top 10 single in 22 years since 1984's "Nagaragawa Enka." It debuted at the number-nine position on the Oricon charts.

Hikawa's song "Ikken" won the grand prix at the 48th Japan Record Awards on December 30, 2006. Kanjani Eight was transferred to the pop/rock record label Imperial Records, the sub-label of Teichiku Records in 2007. In the same year, 80s superstar Akina Nakamori paid her respect to enka music by releasing an album—full of light enka songs.

Junko Akimoto released the single "Ai no Mama de…" on January 23, 2008, reaching the top of the Oricon weekly single charts in January 2009, making her, at the age of 61, the oldest solo singer to top the charts. That same year, Hikawa released two consecutive number-one singles — "Ryōkyoku Ichidai" and "Tokimeki no Rumba" — on the Oricon weekly charts. Fuyumi Sakamoto's 2009 song "Asia no Kaizoku", composed by Ayumi Nakamura, was an enka song featuring rock music. Sakamoto said, "If Ayumi sings the song, it's a rock song. If I sing the song, however, it's an enka song."

2010s
On January 1, 2010, 73-year-old Saburō Kitajima released the single "Fūfu Isshō" (夫婦一生), emerging at No. 10 on the Oricon weekly charts, making him the first solo artist to reach the Top 10 in his 70s. After Fuyumi Sakamoto appeared on Masahiro Nakai's TV program Nakai Masahiro no Kinyōbi no Sumatachi e on March 19, 2010, her double A-side single "Mata Kimi ni Koi Shiteru/Asia no Kaizoku" reached the Top 10 for the first time, ranked at No. 9 on the Oricon charts. The single became her first Top 10 single in 21 years since "Otoko no Jōwa," which had ranked in the Top 10 on the Oricon charts in 1989.

International popularity
Enka has had a strong influence on music in Taiwan, which was once a Japanese colony. The first non-Japanese singer of enka was Sarbjit Singh Chadha from India. His enka album was released in 1975 and became a success in Japan, selling 150,000 copies. He went back to India a few years later, but returned to Japan in 2008.

In 2002, Yolanda Tasico became the first Filipino enka singer, going to Japan with her singles "Shiawase ni Narō," "Nagai Aida," and many others.

In the United States, while enka remains popular among a section of the (typically older) Japanese-American population, enka has many fans among non-Japanese. There are some enka orchestras and performers active in the country, such as the San Jose Chidori Band, which occasionally performs at O-Bon festivals in the summer.

title: Enka


text:
Crush

Crush may refer to:

Film

 * Crush (1972 film), a Hong Kong film
 * Crush (1992 film), a New Zealand film by Alison Maclean
 * The Crush (1993 film), a film by Alan Shapiro, starring Cary Elwes and Alicia Silverstone
 * Crush (2001 film), a film John McKay, starring Andie MacDowell
 * Crush (2009 film), a film by John V. Soto, starring Christopher Egan
 * Crush (2009 Russian film), a Russian film
 * The Crush (2010 film), a short film by Michael Creagh
 * Crush (2013 film), an American film by Malik Bader, starring Crystal Reed
 * Crush (2014 film), an Indonesian film
 * Crush (2022 film), an American film by Sammi Cohen, starring Rowan Blanchard
 * Crush, a green sea turtle character in the Finding Nemo franchise

Food and drugs

 * Crush (soft drink), a soft drink brand
 * Camel Crush, a brand of cigarettes
 * Crush or crushing, the initial step of winemaking

Artists

 * Crush (rock band), a 1990–1993 American/English alternative rock band
 * Crush (British group), a 1990s pop duo featuring Jayni Hoy and Donna Air from Byker Grove
 * Crush (Canadian band), a 2000–2006 band
 * Crush (singer) (born 1992), South Korean R&B and hip-hop singer

Albums

 * Crush (2NE1 album) or the title song, 2014
 * Crush (Abe Vigoda album) or the title song, 2010
 * Crush (Bon Jovi album), 2000
 * Crush (Doughboys album), 1993
 * Crush (Floating Points album), 2019
 * Crush (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark album) or the title song, 1985
 * Crush (EP), by Ravyn Lenae, 2018
 * Crush, by IQ, 2008
 * Crush, by Lettuce, 2015
 * The Crush, by Anomie Belle, 2011
 * Crushes (The Covers Mixtape), by Mates of State, 2010
 * Crushin', by the Fat Boys, or the title song, 1987
 * Crushing (album), by Julia Jacklin, 2019

Songs

 * "Crush" (Dave Matthews Band song), 1998
 * "Crush" (David Archuleta song), 2008
 * "Crush" (Fugative song), 2010
 * "Crush" (Grace Jones song), 1987
 * "Crush" (I.O.I song), 2016
 * "Crush" (Jennifer Paige song), 1998
 * "Crush" (Mandy Moore song), 2001
 * "Crush" (Paul van Dyk song), 2004
 * "Crush" (Pendulum song), 2011
 * "Crush" (Yuna song), 2016
 * "Crush" (Zerobaseone song), 2023
 * "Crush" (Ethel Cain song), 2021
 * "Crush (1980 Me)", by Darren Hayes, 2003
 * "C.R.U.S.H.", by Ciara from Ciara: The Evolution, 2006
 * "Crush", by 16volt from LetDownCrush, 1996
 * "Crush", by Amerie from Because I Love It, 2007
 * "Crush", by Anthrax from Volume 8: The Threat Is Real, 1998
 * "Crush", by Avril Lavigne from Head Above Water, 2019
 * "Crush", by Carys from To Anyone Like Me, 2020
 * "Crush", by Frank Klepacki from the Command & Conquer: Red Alert video game soundtrack, 1996
 * "Crush", by Frankie J, 2009
 * "Crush", by Gavin DeGraw from Chariot, 2003
 * "Crush", by Jimmy Eat World from Clarity, 1999
 * "Crush", by Lila McCann from Something in the Air, 1999
 * "Crush", by Mario Judah, 2020
 * "Crush", by MCND, 2021
 * "Crush", by Selena Gomez & the Scene from Kiss & Tell, 2009
 * "Crush", by Sleigh Bells from Reign of Terror, 2012
 * "Crush", by the Smashing Pumpkins from Gish, 1991
 * "Crush", by Solange Knowles from Solo Star, 2002
 * "Crush", by Stereophonics from Pull the Pin, 2007
 * "Crush", by Tall Dwarfs from Slugbucket Hairybreath Monster, 1984
 * "Crush", by Tessa Violet from Bad Ideas, 2019
 * "Crush", by Weki Meki from Kiss, Kicks, 2019
 * "Crush", by Zhane from Saturday Night, 1997
 * "The Crush", by Parokya ni Edgar from Khangkhungkherrnitz, 1996

Companies

 * Crush Management

Television

 * Crush (U.S. game show), a game show hosted by Andrew Krasny
 * "Crush" (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), a 2001 episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer
 * "Crush" (Haven), an episode of Haven
 * "Crush", an episode of Heartstopper
 * "Crush", an episode of Kim Possible
 * "Crush", an episode of the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
 * "Crush", an episode of Smallville
 * Crush, gladiator on the American Gladiators series

People

 * Crush (singer), singer from South Korea
 * Brian Adams (wrestler) or Crush (1964–2007), American professional wrestler
 * Gina Carano or Crush (born 1982), American mixed martial arts fighter

Sports

 * Colorado Crush, an American football team
 * CRUSH, a women's professional wrestling organization

Technology

 * Criminal Reduction Utilising Statistical History or CRUSH, an IBM predictive analytics system
 * Cattle crush, a standing stock or cage for restraining livestock
 * Crush, an engineering term for preload that deforms a part
 * Crush, the codename for NVIDIA's nForce chipset for the Athlon processor
 * Crush or crushing, destructive compression as by a crusher
 * Crush, one of the former names for the American social media app Gas.

Other uses

 * Crush (comics), a 2003 series of comics
 * Crushing (execution), a torturous method of execution
 * Infatuation or limerence, the romantic attraction to another person
 * Puppy love, feelings of love, romance, or infatuation felt by young people
 * Crush (video game), a 2007 video game
 * Crush, Texas, a temporary "city" established as a one-day publicity stunt in 1896
 * Crush injury, an injury by an object that causes compression of the body
 * Crush syndrome, major shock and kidney failure after a crushing injury
 * Crush fetish, a fetish in which sexual arousal is associated with observing objects being crushed or being crushed oneself
 * Crush (Richard Siken), a collection of poetry by Richard Siken
 * Crowd crush, large group of people pressed together
 * Crush, a character in the series Rusty Rivets

title: Crush


text:
John Mayall

John Mayall (born 29 November 1933) is an English blues and rock musician, songwriter and producer. In the 1960s, he formed John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, a band that has counted among its members some of the most famous blues and blues rock musicians.

A singer, guitarist, harmonica player, and keyboardist, he has a career that spans nearly seven decades. At ninety years old, Mayall is one of the oldest active musicians. Mayall was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the musical excellence category in 2024.

Early life and adulthood
Born in Macclesfield, Cheshire, in 1933, Mayall grew up in Cheadle Hulme. He was the son of Murray Mayall, a guitarist and jazz enthusiast. From an early age he was drawn to the sounds of American blues players such as Lead Belly, Albert Ammons, Pinetop Smith and Eddie Lang, and taught himself to play the piano, guitars, and harmonica.

Starting out as a musician
Mayall was sent to Korea as part of his national service, and during a period of leave bought his first electric guitar in Japan. Back in England, he enrolled at Manchester College of Art and started playing with a semi-professional band, the Powerhouse Four. After graduation, he obtained a job as an art designer, but continued to play with local musicians. In 1963, he opted for a full-time musical career and moved to London. His previous craft would be put to good use in the designing of covers for many of his coming albums.

Early 1960s
In 1956, with college fellow Peter Ward, Mayall had founded the Powerhouse Four, which consisted of the two men and other local musicians with whom they played at local dances. In 1962 Mayall became a member of the Blues Syndicate. The band was formed by trumpeter John Rowlands and alto saxophonist Jack Massarik, who had seen the Alexis Korner band at a Manchester club and wanted to try a similar blend of jazz and blues. It also included rhythm guitarist Ray Cummings and drummer Hughie Flint, whom Mayall already knew. In 1962 John and his band were frequent and popular artists at all-night R&B sessions at the Twisted Wheel cellar club in central Manchester. Alexis Korner persuaded Mayall to opt for a full-time musical career and move to London, where Korner introduced him to many other musicians and helped them to find gigs.

In late 1963, with his band, which was now called the Bluesbreakers, Mayall started playing at the Marquee Club. The line-up was Mayall, Ward, John McVie on bass and guitarist Bernie Watson, formerly of Cyril Davies and the R&B All-Stars. The next spring Mayall obtained his first recording date with producer Ian Samwell. The band, with Martin Hart at the drums, recorded two tracks: "Crawling Up a Hill" and "Mr. James". Shortly after, Hughie Flint replaced Hart and Roger Dean took the guitar from Bernie Watson. This line-up backed John Lee Hooker on his British tour in 1964.

Mayall was offered a recording contract by Decca and, on 7 December 1964, a live performance of the band was recorded at the Klooks Kleek. A later studio-recorded single, "Crocodile Walk", was released along with the album, but both failed to achieve any success and the contract was terminated.

In April 1965 former Yardbirds guitarist Eric Clapton replaced Roger Dean and John Mayall's career entered a decisive phase.

Eric Clapton as guitarist, 1965–1966
In 1965, with Eric Clapton as their new guitar player, the Bluesbreakers began attracting considerable attention. That summer the band cut a couple of tracks for a single, "I'm Your Witchdoctor" b/w "Telephone Blues" (released in October). In August, however, Clapton left for a jaunt to Greece with a bunch of relative musical amateurs calling themselves the 'Glands'. John Weider, John Slaughter, and Geoff Krivit attempted to fill in as Bluesbreaker guitarist but, finally, Peter Green took charge. John McVie was dismissed, and during the next few months Jack Bruce, from the Graham Bond Organisation, played bass.

In November 1965 Clapton returned, and Green departed as Mayall had guaranteed Clapton his spot back in the Bluesbreakers whenever he tired of the Glands. McVie was allowed back, and Bruce left to join Manfred Mann, but not before a live date by the Mayall-Clapton-Bruce-Flint line-up was recorded on Mayall's two-track tape recorder at London's Flamingo Club in November. The rough recording provided tracks that later appeared on the 1969 compilation Looking Back and the 1977 Primal Solos. The same line-up also entered the studio to record a planned single, "On Top of the World", which was not released at that time. Mayall and Clapton cut a couple of tracks without the others (although some sources give this as occurring back in the summer): "Lonely Years" b/w "Bernard Jenkins" was released as a single the next August on producer Mike Vernon's Purdah Records label (both tracks appeared again two decades later in Clapton's Crossroads box set). In a November 1965 session, blues pianist-singer Champion Jack Dupree (originally from New Orleans but in the 1960s living in Europe) got Mayall and Clapton to play on a few tracks.

In April 1966, the Bluesbreakers returned to Decca Studios to record a second LP with producer Vernon. The sessions, with horn arrangements for some tracks (John Almond on baritone sax, Alan Skidmore on tenor sax, and Dennis Healey on trumpet), lasted just three days. Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton was released in the UK on 22 July 1966. Several of the 12 tracks were covers of pure Chicago blues (side 1 kicking off strongly with Otis Rush's "All Your Love" and Freddy King's hit instrumental "Hide Away" [here spelled without a space as "Hideaway"]); Mayall wrote or arranged five (such as "Double Crossing Time", a slow blues with a scorching solo by co-writer Clapton); and Clapton debuted as lead vocalist, and began his practice of paying tribute to Robert Johnson, with "Ramblin' on My Mind". The album was Mayall's commercial breakthrough, rising to No. 6 on the UK Albums Chart, and has since gained classic status, largely for the audacious aggressiveness and molten fluidity of Clapton's guitar playing. "It's Eric Clapton who steals the limelight," reported music mag Beat Instrumental, adding with unintended understatement, "and no doubt several copies of the album will be sold on the strength of his name."

In the meantime, on 11 June the formation of Cream—Clapton, bassist Jack Bruce, and drummer Ginger Baker—had been revealed in the music press, much to the embarrassment of Clapton, who had not said anything about this to Mayall. (After a May Bluesbreakers gig at which Baker had sat in, he and Clapton had first discussed forming their own band, and surreptitious rehearsal jams with Bruce soon commenced.) Clapton's last scheduled gig with the Bluesbreakers was 17 July in Bexley, south-east of London; Cream made a warmup club debut 29 July in Manchester and its "official" live debut two days later at the Sixth National Jazz and Blues Festival, Windsor.

Peter Green as guitarist, 1966–1967
Mayall had to replace Clapton, and he succeeded in persuading Peter Green to come back. During the following year, with Green on guitar and various other sidemen, some 40 tracks were recorded. The album A Hard Road was released in February 1967. Today its expanded versions include most of this material, and the album itself also stands as a classic. In early 1967, Mayall released an EP recorded with American blues harpist Paul Butterfield.

But Peter Green gave notice and soon started his own project, Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac, which eventually was to include all three of Mayall's Bluesbreakers at this time: Green, McVie, and drummer Mick Fleetwood who was a Bluesbreaker for only a few weeks. Two live albums, Live in 1967 Volumes I and II, featuring this line-up were released on Forty Below Records in 2015 and 2016.

Mick Taylor as guitarist, 1967–1969
Mayall's first choice to replace Green was 18-year-old David O'List, guitarist from the Attack. O'List declined, however, and went on to form the Nice with organist Keith Emerson. Through both a "musicians wanted" ad in Melody Maker on 10 June and his own search, Mayall found three other potential guitarists for his Bluesbreakers, a black musician named Terry Edmonds, John Moorshead, and 18-year-old Mick Taylor. The last made the band quickly, but Mayall also decided to hire Edmonds as a rhythm guitarist for a few days.

In the meantime, on a single day in May 1967, Mayall had assembled a studio album to showcase his own abilities. Former Artwoods drummer Keef Hartley appeared on only half of the tracks, and everything else was played by Mayall. The album was released in November titled The Blues Alone.

A six-piece line-up—consisting of Mayall, Mick Taylor as lead guitarist, John McVie still on bass, Hughie Flint or Hartley on drums, and Rip Kant and Chris Mercer on saxophones—recorded the album Crusade on 11 and 12 July 1967. These Bluesbreakers spent most of the year touring abroad, and Mayall taped the shows on a portable recorder. At the end of the tour, he had over sixty hours of tapes, which he edited into an album in two volumes: ''Diary of a Band, Vols. 1 & 2'', released in February 1968. Meanwhile, a few line-up changes had occurred: McVie had departed and was replaced by Paul Williams, who himself soon quit to join Alan Price and was replaced by Keith Tillman; Dick Heckstall-Smith had taken the sax spot.

Following a US tour, there were more line-up changes, starting with the troublesome bass position. First Mayall replaced bassist Tillman with 15-year-old Andy Fraser. Within six weeks, though, Fraser left to join Free and was replaced by Tony Reeves, previously a member of the New Jazz Orchestra. Hartley was required to leave, and he was replaced by New Jazz Orchestra drummer Jon Hiseman (who had also played with the Graham Bond Organisation). Henry Lowther, who played violin and cornet, joined in February 1968. Two months later the Bluesbreakers recorded Bare Wires, co-produced by Mayall and Mike Vernon, which came up to UK No. 6.

Hiseman, Reeves, and Heckstall-Smith then moved on to form Colosseum. The Mayall line-up retained Mick Taylor and added drummer Colin Allen (formerly of Zoot Money's Big Roll Band / Dantalian's Chariot, and Georgie Fame) and a young bassist named Stephen Thompson. In August 1968 the new quartet recorded Blues from Laurel Canyon.

On 13 June 1969, after nearly two years with Mayall, Taylor left and joined the Rolling Stones.

Mark-Almond period, 1969–1970
Chas Crane filled in briefly on guitar. Drummer Allen departed to join Stone the Crows. This left as the only holdover bassist Thompson who would also eventually join Stone the Crows.

Mayall tried a new format with lower volume, acoustic instruments, and no drummer. He recruited acoustic fingerstyle guitarist Jon Mark and flautist-saxophonist John Almond. Mark was best known as Marianne Faithfull's accompanist for three years and for having been a member of the band Sweet Thursday (which included pianist Nicky Hopkins and future Cat Stevens collaborator Alun Davies, also a guitarist). Almond had played with Zoot Money and Alan Price and was no stranger to Mayall's music—he had played baritone sax on four cuts of Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton and some of A Hard Road. This new band was markedly different from previous Mayall projects, and its making is well documented both on the 1999 double CD The Masters and on the 2004 DVD The Godfather of British Blues/The Turning Point.

Along with the big change in sound, Mayall decided on a big change in scenery: a move to Los Angeles. The new band made its US debut at the Newport Jazz Festival on 5 July, whilst the performance of 12 July at the Fillmore East provided the tracks for the live album The Turning Point. A studio album, Empty Rooms, was recorded with the same personnel, with Mayall's next bassist, former Canned Heat member Larry Taylor, playing bass in a duet with Thompson on "To a Princess".

Harvey Mandel as guitarist, 1970–1971
Mayall continued the experiment of formations without drummers on two more albums, although he took on a new electric blues-rock-R&B band in guitarist Harvey Mandel and bassist Larry Taylor, both plucked from Canned Heat, and wailing violinist Don "Sugarcane" Harris, lately of the Johnny Otis Show and formerly with The Mothers of Invention. On USA Union (recorded in Los Angeles, 27–28 July 1970), though, Mandel was compelled to make do without his remarkable sustain and usage of feedback as musical, even melodic, technique; and on Memories the band was stripped down to a trio with Taylor and Ventures guitarist Gerry McGee.

In November 1970, Mayall launched a recording project involving many of the most notable musicians with whom he had played during the previous several years. The double album Back to the Roots features Clapton, Mick Taylor, Gerry McGee and Harvey Mandel on guitar; Sugarcane Harris on violin; Almond on woodwinds; Thompson and Larry Taylor on bass; and Hartley on drums. Paul Lagos was with Sugarcane and ended up drumming on five. Mayall wrote all the songs and sang all the vocals, as usual by now, plus played harmonica, guitar, keyboards, drums, and percussion. The London sessions took place in January 1971 and as such represent some of Clapton's last work before Derek and the Dominos' attempted Layla follow-up sessions and band disintegration that spring.

Back to the Roots did not promote new names, and USA Union and Memories had been recorded with American musicians. Mayall had exhausted his catalytic role on the British blues-rock scene and was living in Los Angeles. Yet, the list of musicians who benefited from association with him, starting with ruling the London blues scene, remains impressive.

1970s
By the start of the 1970s Mayall had relocated to the United States where he spent most of the next 15 years, recording with local musicians for various labels. In August 1971, Mayall produced a jazz-oriented session for bluesman Albert King and a few months later took on tour the musicians present in the studio.

A live album Jazz Blues Fusion was released in the following year, with Mayall on harmonica, guitar and piano, Blue Mitchell on trumpet, Clifford Solomon and Ernie Watts on saxophones, Larry Taylor on bass, Ron Selico on drums and Freddy Robinson on guitar. A few personnel changes are noted at the release of a similar album in 1973, the live Moving On.

In 1974, Mayall recorded The Latest Edition, produced by Tom Wilson for the Polydor label. The group featured jazz saxophonist Red Holloway, drummer Soko Richardson, bassist Larry Taylor, and two guitarists, Randy Resnick and Hightide Harris. The band toured Europe and Asia that year. During the next decade Mayall continued shifting musicians and switching labels and released a score of albums. Tom Wilson, Don Nix and Allen Toussaint occasionally served as producers. At this stage of his career most of Mayall's music was rather different from electric blues played by rock musicians, incorporating jazz, funk or pop elements and even adding female vocals. A notable exception is The Last of the British Blues (1978), a live album excused apparently by its title for the brief return to this type of music.

Return of the Bluesbreakers
In 1982, Mayall was reunited with Mick Taylor, John McVie and Colin Allen, three musicians of his 1960s line-ups, for a two-year world tour from which a live album would emerge a decade later.

In 1984, Mayall restored the name Bluesbreakers for a line-up comprising the two lead guitars of Walter Trout and Coco Montoya, bassist Bobby Haynes and drummer Joe Yuele. In the early 1990s, most of the excitement was already spent and Buddy Whittington became the sole lead guitarist in a formation which included then organist Tom Canning.

2000s
On the occasion of the 40th year of his career, Mayall invited fellow musicians for the recording of a celebratory album. Along for the Ride appeared in 2001, credited to John Mayall and Friends with twenty names listed on the cover, including some Bluesbreakers, old and new, and also Gary Moore, Jonny Lang, Steve Cropper, Steve Miller, Otis Rush, Billy Gibbons, Greg Rzab, Chris Rea, Jeff Healey and Shannon Curfman.

To celebrate his 70th birthday, Mayall reunited with special guests Eric Clapton, Mick Taylor and Chris Barber during a fundraiser show. This "Unite for Unicef" concert took place on 19 July 2003 at the Liverpool Arena, and was captured on film for a DVD release.

In 2005, Mayall was appointed an OBE in the Honours List.

In November 2008, Mayall announced on his website he was disbanding the Bluesbreakers, to cut back on his heavy workload and give himself freedom to work with other musicians. Three months later a solo world tour was announced, with: Rocky Athas on guitar, Greg Rzab on bass, and Jay Davenport on drums. Tom Canning, on organ, joined the band for the tour which started in March 2009. An album was released in September 2009. Since then, Mayall has continued to tour with the same backing band, minus Canning, who left due to other priorities.

In 2015, Dinu Logos published John Mayall: The Blues Crusader, the first biography of Mayall to include exhaustive details of every band he put together and every recording he made. In 2018, Mayall made a new addition to his band; his first female lead guitarist, Carolyn Wonderland.

Forty Below Records period
In 2013, Mayall signed with producer Eric Corne's label, Forty Below Records. The two have produced four studio albums together, A Special Life featuring accordionist C.J. Chenier, Find a Way to Care, Talk About That featuring Joe Walsh and Nobody Told Me. Corne also re-mastered some live recordings from 1967 featuring Peter Green, John McVie and Mick Fleetwood released as Live in 1967 in 3 volumes. In 2016, Mayall was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.

Mayall's autobiography, Blues From Laurel Canyon: My Life As A Bluesman, co-written with author Joel McIver, was published by Omnibus Press in August 2019.

In 2024, Mayall was selected for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2024 in the musical influence category.

Personal life
Mayall began living in the US part time in the late 1960s, living there full time by the early 1970s. A brush fire destroyed his house in Laurel Canyon in 1979, seriously damaging his musical collections and archives.

Mayall has been married twice, and has six children and six grandchildren. His second wife, Maggie Mayall, is an American blues performer, and since the early 1980s she has taken part in the management of her husband's career. They married in 1982, and divorced in 2011.

Honours
In 2005, Mayall was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the Honours List.

Band members

 * John Mayall – vocals, keyboards, harmonica, rhythm guitar (1963–present)
 * Greg Rzab – bass guitar, occasional percussion (1999–2000, 2009–present)
 * Jay Davenport – drums, percussion (2009–present)
 * Carolyn Wonderland – lead guitar, backing vocals (2018–present)

Discography
Studio albums • Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton (1966)

• A Hard Road (1967)

• Crusade (1967)

• The Blues Alone (1967)

• Bare Wires (1968)

• Blues from Laurel Canyon (1968)

• Empty Rooms (1970)

• USA Union (1970)

• Back to the Roots (1971)

• Memories (1971)

• Moving On (1972)

• Ten Years Are Gone (1973)

• The Latest Edition (1974)

• New Year, New Band, New Company (1975)

• Notice to Appear (1975)

• A Banquet in Blues (1976)

• A Hard Core Package (1977)

• Bottom Line (1979)

• No More Interviews (1980)

• Road Show Blues (1981)

• Return of the Bluesbreakers (1985)

• Chicago Line (1988)

• A Sense of Place (1990)

• Cross Country Blues (1992)

• Wake Up Call (1993)

• Spinning Coin (1995)

• Blues for the Lost Days (1997)

• Padlock on the Blues (1999)

• Along for the Ride (2001)

• Stories (2002)

• Road Dogs (2005)

• In the Palace of the King (2007)

• Tough (2009)

• A Special Life (2014)

• Find a Way to Care (2015)

• Talk About That (2016)

• Nobody Told Me (2019)

• The Sun Is Shining Down (2022)

• Live in France 1967–73 (2023)

title: John Mayall


text:
Stray Cats

 Stray Cats are an American rockabilly band formed in 1979 by guitarist and vocalist Brian Setzer, double bassist Lee Rocker, and drummer Slim Jim Phantom in the Long Island town of Massapequa, New York. The group had numerous hit singles in the UK, Australia, Canada, and the U.S. including "Stray Cat Strut", "(She's) Sexy + 17", "Look at That Cadillac", "I Won't Stand in Your Way", "Bring It Back Again", and "Rock This Town", which the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has listed as one of the songs that shaped rock and roll.

Formation and move to UK
The band first appeared in the New York Area in the middle of 1979 performing under a number of names including the Tomcats, the Teds, and Bryan and the Tom Cats. According to Brian Setzer (singer/songwriter and guitarist), they changed names to fool club owners (who would not hire the same band for consecutive nights), but kept the "Cats" moniker in their various names so the audience would know they were the same band.

Setzer joined up with Slim Jim Phantom (drums) and they soon added Phantom's schoolmate and friend Lee Rocker (stand-up bass); all three of them came from the same neighborhood and were interested in punk and rockabilly music.

Since 1983, they have used only "Stray Cats" as their name. The band name "Stray Cats" had appeared in the 1973 rock 'n' roll film That'll Be the Day and its 1974 sequel Stardust. They also went to many concerts and enjoyed the punk scene. They met the Clash and they used to see Siouxsie and the Banshees, Charlie Harper and the UK Subs.

The group, whose style was based upon the sounds of Sun Records artists and other artists from the 1950s, was heavily influenced by Eddie Cochran, Carl Perkins, Gene Vincent, and Bill Haley & His Comets. The Stray Cats quickly developed a large following in the New York music scene playing at CBGB and Max's Kansas City as well as venues on Long Island. When the Cats heard a rumor that there was a revival of the 1950s Teddy Boy youth subculture in England, the band moved to the UK. They spearheaded the nascent rockabilly revival, blending the 1950s Sun Studio sound with modern punk musical elements. In terms of visual style, the Stray Cats also blended elements of 1950 rockabilly clothes, such as wearing drape jackets, brothel creepers, and western shirts, with punk clothes, such as tight black zipper trousers and modern versions of 1950s hair styles.

In the middle of 1980, the band found themselves being courted by record labels including Virgin Records, Stiff Records, and Arista Records. Word quickly spread and soon members of The Rolling Stones, The Who, and Led Zeppelin were at their shows. After a gig in London, Stray Cats met musician and producer Dave Edmunds, well known as a roots rock enthusiast for his work with Rockpile and as a solo artist. Edmunds offered to work with the group, and they entered the studio to record their self-titled debut album, Stray Cats, released in Britain in 1981 on Arista Records. In addition to having three hits that year with "Runaway Boys", "Rock This Town", and "Stray Cat Strut", they also performed on the eighth day of the Montreux Jazz Festival. The UK follow-up to Stray Cats, Gonna Ball, was not as well-received, providing no hits. Yet the combined sales of their first two albums were enough to convince EMI America to compile the best tracks from the two UK albums and issue an album (Built for Speed) in the U.S. in 1982. The record went on to sell a million copies (Platinum) in the US and Canada and was the no. 2 record on the Billboard album charts for 15 weeks.

In 1983, the Stray Cats began recording their third (second U.S.) studio album Rant N' Rave with the Stray Cats. Unlike their previous studio albums, half the album was recorded in London with the rest recorded in New York. Released in August 1983, critics generally viewed Rant N' Rave favorably, citing the band's tributes to 1950s rock 'n' roll legends such as Gene Vincent and Bo Diddley. Commercially, Rant N' Rave failed to achieve the success of Built for Speed, although it produced the top-ten hit "(She's) Sexy + 17", and top-forty hit "I Won't Stand in Your Way" featuring the doo-wop group 14 Karat Soul.

Breakup and reunions
Musical and personal conflicts began to emerge in the ways that the individual members handled their new-found success; Phantom married actress Britt Ekland, while Setzer made guest appearances with stars like Bob Dylan and Stevie Nicks and became the concert guitarist for Robert Plant's Honeydrippers side project. In late 1984, the band added former BMT's guitarist and Long Island native Tommy Byrnes on second guitar and harmony vocals, and after a European and US tour which ended at the 1984 Louisiana World Expedition, parted ways.

The decision to end the band was Setzer's, and it left the other members aggrieved. In an interview, Setzer pleaded restlessness as his motivation: "It's just that I didn't get that great feeling anymore... I had five good years of that, but then I got bored with it. In the last year I stopped getting that feeling, that great kick that twisted in my gut." Looking back in 2012, Setzer regretted the decision to dissolve the group saying "it was silly to break up the Stray Cats at the peak of our success".

Setzer embarked on a solo career, exchanging his rockabilly focus for a more wide-ranging roots rock/Americana sound on the 1986 album The Knife Feels Like Justice. He dubbed his new band Brian Setzer & the Radiation Ranch, drawing the name from the title of one of his new songs. They played their first major concert at the 1985 Farm Aid benefit festival.

Rocker and Phantom formed a trio called Phantom, Rocker & Slick (the "Slick" being former David Bowie guitarist Earl Slick) whose debut album contained the single "Men Without Shame"; guest musicians on this record included Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones and pianist Nicky Hopkins.

In 1986, the Stray Cats reunited in Los Angeles, and recorded the covers-heavy Rock Therapy. A lengthy hiatus followed, but in 1989 they reunited once again for the album Blast Off!, which was accompanied by a tour with blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan. No longer with EMI America, they entered the studio with Nile Rodgers for another album, Let's Go Faster, issued by Liberation in 1990. After 1992's Dave Edmunds-produced Choo Choo Hot Fish, and the cover album Original Cool, the group called it quits again.

In 2004, the Stray Cats reassembled for a month-long tour of Europe. A live album culled from those concerts, Rumble in Brixton, included one new studio track, "Mystery Train Kept A Rollin'". In 2007, they reunited once again for a US tour with ZZ Top and the Pretenders. This was their first North American tour in over 15 years. In the 2000s, the band toured Europe as part of their Farewell Tour.

In 2008, for the first time in 18 years, the Stray Cats visited Australia and New Zealand which included several consecutive sold-out shows of their Farewell (Australia) Tour. In April 2009 the band reunited for a single show to celebrate Brian's 50th birthday at the Fine Line Music Café in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

On January 2, 2018, Setzer announced via his Facebook page that the band would reunite for a show in Las Vegas on April 21, 2018. The Stray Cats also performed two shows at the Pacific Amphitheatre in Costa Mesa, California on August 16 and 17, 2018.

On October 16, 2018, the band announced they would reunite in 2019 for a new album (first in 25 years), record in Nashville, and tour to commemorate their 40th anniversary. On March 26, 2019, the video for the album's first single, "Cat Fight (Over a Dog Like Me)", was released, with an announcement of a May 24 release for the album, titled 40. This was released in time for the European legs of their 40th Anniversary tour.

At the conclusion of the tour and in early 2020 the band announced that an album, a collection of songs recorded at various locations whilst on the 40th Anniversary tour would be released, entitled "Rocked This Town: From LA to London". It was released on CD and Vinyl and also on a number of streaming platforms.

Band members' follow-up careers
The Stray Cats have reunited periodically for live performances. Setzer is still part of his 1990s swing-revival band The Brian Setzer Orchestra. Setzer also worked as executive producer on Drake Bell's rockabilly revival album Ready Steady Go! Rocker continued recording and touring throughout the 1990s and on to today. His albums include Black Cat Bone and Racin' the Devil on Alligator Records, as well as Bulletproof.

In addition to the Stray Cats, Rocker has recorded or performed with Carl Perkins, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Willie Nelson, Leon Russell, Scotty Moore, Keith Richards, and numerous others. Rocker and wife Deborah Drucker have two children and have been married since 1989. Slim Jim Phantom plays the drums in the bands Slim Jim's Phantom Trio, The Jack Tars, 13 Cats, Kat Men, and The Head Cat. He is also an active member of the Love Hope Strength Foundation, a charitable organization which was co-founded by Mike Peters of The Alarm, and which raises funds for cancer units.

The band was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame on October 15, 2006.

Members
Current members Past members
 * Brian Setzer – lead vocals, guitar (1979–1984, 1986–1993, 2004–2009, 2018–present)
 * Lee Rocker – double bass, acoustic guitar, vocals (1979–1984, 1986–1993, 2004–2009, 2018–present)
 * Slim Jim Phantom – drums, percussion, backing vocals (1979–1984, 1986–1993, 2004–2009, 2018–present)
 * Bob Beecher – double bass (1979)
 * Gary Setzer – drums (1979)
 * Tommy Byrnes – guitar (1984)

Discography

 * Stray Cats (1981)
 * Gonna Ball (1981)
 * Rant n' Rave with the Stray Cats (1983)
 * Rock Therapy (1986)
 * Blast Off! (1989)
 * Let's Go Faster! (1990)
 * Choo Choo Hot Fish (1992)
 * Original Cool (1993)
 * 40 (2019)

Tours

 * European Tour (1980)
 * Stray Cats Tour (1981)
 * Gonna Ball Tour (1982)
 * Built for Speed Tour (1982–1983)
 * Rant n' Rave Tour (1983–1984)
 * Blast Off US-Tour (1988)
 * Blast Off Tour (1989)
 * Let's Go Faster Tour (1990)
 * Murphy Tour (1991)
 * Choo Choo Hot Fish Tour (1992)
 * European Tour (2004)
 * North American Tour (2007)
 * Farewell Tour (2008–2009)
 * 40th Anniversary Tour (2019)

title: Stray Cats


text:
User talk:Nknight

Greetings and all that, since I'm the first to write on your talk page. With regards to the album moving, I'm moving them to the correct title according to the standards of the language. What is written on the cover may not be what the title is officially designated as, so it's probably very difficult to know exactly how the title should be punctuated. Some of the ones I'm moving are probably wrong, but these can be moved when this is confirmed and until then, I think it is better that other contributors can reliably guess what the correct title is for easy linkage. I won't revert any that you move back, unless I'm sure it's wrong. Tokerboy
 * Particularly with regards to Bridge over Troubled Water, I agree it looks better with a capital O, and I didn't like moving it--I'm just trying to be consistent, and it is a preposition. See Wikiproject Albums. Tokerboy

 * It's not something I'm terribly worried about, I just wanted to make sure that the subject was brought up. I'm fully in agreement regarding the standards of English calling for lowercase prepositions in titles, and I probably wouldn't have even bothered to say anything except seeing "Bridge over Troubled Water" was somewhat jarring :). nknight 10:48 Jan 2, 2003 (UTC)

Hi, you cast a vote in the TEMP5 debate. The Temp5 proposal was voted down by 61.3% to 38.6%. We seem to be going around in circles on the whole issue of the main page. A new vote is now taking place to clarify what exactly we want, namely
 * 1) Do we actually want to have a new page?
 * 2) If so when (immediately, after a pause, timed to the press release, etc)?
 * 3) What do people want on the front page and what do they want excluded?

As of now, the whole issue seems surrounded by complete confusion. This way, finally and definitively, we will know what we want and when we want it. So do please express your opinions. The vote is on the same page as the previous votes. FearÉIREANN 20:31, 13 Aug 2003 (UTC)

classifier in prog lang article names

 * I sincerely apologize if I have caused you any difficulty. I have indeed read the language naming policy page, but found its contents do not reflect the vast majority of the existing prog lang articles, most of which were created with the 'programming language' classifier. Sure enough, the real names do not include the programming language phrase: the phrase is a classifier (I don't see it as a disambiguator, there are other mechanisms for doing that). Furthermore, the policy page actually suggests creating something like 'LanguaName programming language' and redirect this to the 'LanguageName' article... what's the point for doing that? The other way around does make sense. In fact, the classifier should not end up being 'programming language' but '(programming language)' so that the wiki shortcuts would apply (perhaps the right administrator might attempt that change later). Besides trying to put some order into what was the mess in 'Category:Programming Languages'(it used to include not only prog langs, but also prog langs lists, programming terms, among other things) I have also created the FL, FP, Function-level, ZPL, among other, content articles. Finally, I don't think it speaks well of Wikipedia's level of quality if there is such inconsistency on a page as there was in the prog langs category page: some languages were labeled 'LanguageName programming language' and redirected from 'LanguageName', others did the exact opposite (in fact,Tcl, Modula-2, Modula-3, and Objective-C still go the other way)... that's more like a mess to me. But if you detail how the changes have affected you, I will see how to fix it. Thanks for your comment. Wish you a good day.danakil

Article Licensing
Hi, I've started a drive to get users to multi-license all of their contributions that they've made to either (1) all U.S. state, county, and city articles or (2) all articles, using the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike (CC-by-sa) v1.0 and v2.0 Licenses or into the public domain if they prefer. The CC-by-sa license is a true free documentation license that is similar to Wikipedia's license, the GFDL, but it allows other projects, such as WikiTravel, to use our articles. Since you are among the top 2000 Wikipedians by edits, I was wondering if you would be willing to multi-license all of your contributions or at minimum those on the geographic articles. Over 90% of people asked have agreed. For More Information:
 * Multi-Licensing FAQ - Lots of questions answered
 * Multi-Licensing Guide
 * Free the Rambot Articles Project

To allow us to track those users who muli-license their contributions, many users copy and paste the " " template into their user page, but there are other options at Template messages/User namespace. The following examples could also copied and pasted into your user page:

 * Option 1
 * I agree to multi-license all my contributions, with the exception of my user pages, as described below:

OR
 * Option 2
 * I agree to multi-license all my contributions to any U.S. state, county, or city article as described below:

Or if you wanted to place your work into the public domain, you could replace " " with "  ". If you only prefer using the GFDL, I would like to know that too. Please let me know what you think at my talk page. It's important to know either way so no one keeps asking. -- Ram-Man (comment| talk)

Abuse by Stirling Newbury
Nknight, I am at a loss as to how to deal with Stirling Newberry vis-a-vis The Age of Enlightenment. He totally refuses to bring forth any sources to back up his position; in fact he doesn't even try to explain his position. He just keeps making abusive comments and vandalizing the article by removing whole chunks of it. He then ends up by making a series of changes indicating that he wishes to take ownership of this entire article. I think we need to initiate a formal Request for Comment, soon. RK 18:56, Feb 16, 2005 (UTC)

Disrupting Wikipedia vote
You voted once for the policy at Don't disrupt Wikipedia to illustrate a point. Despite a 75% support that vote was rejected by the minority. A new vote has been called with a two week limit at Wikipedia talk:Don't disrupt Wikipedia to illustrate a point. Please take a moment to participate. Thanks. - Tεx  τ  urε  17:12, 13 May 2005 (UTC)

Richie Sambora
Hi I think you created the Richie Sambora page. Well I have improved it and added by concert pictures from Ireland but do you have any further bio details because he is a massive star and the info is very brief?. James Janderson 12:38, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

My mistake
It'd been a while since I noticed that page pop up on my watchlist and reacted too quickly thinking the problem had been undue coverage instead of whitewashing. Sorry about that. --Onorem♠Dil 19:11, 2 May 2013 (UTC)

ArbCom elections are now open!
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 08:51, 23 November 2015 (UTC)

title: User talk:Nknight


text:
Half Hour of Power

Half Hour of Power is the debut extended play by Canadian rock band Sum 41. It was released on June 27, 2000 on Big Rig Records, a subsidiary of Island Records (United States), and Aquarius Records (Canada). The cover features the band's then-drummer Steve Jocz aiming a Nerf gun up in the air and standing in front of an explosion in the background. Though officially an EP, Half Hour of Power may also be considered the band's debut studio album. Most of the songs featured on the EP were included as bonus tracks on Sum 41's actual debut studio album All Killer No Filler (2001), which featured a re-recorded version of Half Hour of Power's sixth track "Summer". This is the second of three times that this song was featured on a Sum 41 album. It first appeared on their 1998 demo tape. The group originally planned to include different versions of the song on each of their albums as a joke, but scrapped the idea after All Killer No Filler, as they felt that it would annoy their fanbase.

Music
Critics have categorised Half Hour of Power as punk rock, skate punk and pop punk. The songs "Grab the Devil by the Horns and Fuck Him Up the Ass" and "Ride the Chariot to the Devil", are heavy metal songs, similar to Iron Maiden. Although "Another Time Around" was described as punk rock, the song's intro was described as "dirge-metal". The song "Second Chance for Max Headroom" sounds like the band NOFX and has a ska section. The song "Dave's Possessed Hair/It's What We're All About" is known for having a part with elements of hip hop music. Elements of hardcore punk are also featured on the EP. The track "T.H.T." is oi!.

Critical reception
Curtis Zimmermann of AllMusic stated that "The first track, "Grab the Devil by the Horns and Fuck Him up the Ass," is a time warp. For a minute and a half the group relives the new wave of British metal and cranks out an Iron Maiden style tune. After a brief trip down memory lane the album quickly morphs into pop punk. The songs are well crafted and the hooks are catchy on "Make No Difference" and "Summer." But in some respects that is problematic, there was a time in the pre-Green Day/Blink-182 years where punk defined itself by not being radio friendly. A good album, but essentially proof that turn of the millennium punk is just as much a corporate rock entity as adult contemporary."

Track listing
Writing credits taken from ASCAP.

Personnel
Adapted from the EP's liner notes.

 * Sum 41
 * Deryck "Bizzy D" Whibley – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, rapping on "Dave's Possessed Hair/It's What We're All About"
 * Dave "Hot Chocolate" Baksh - lead guitar, backing vocals, rapping on "Dave's Possessed Hair/It's What We're All About"
 * Jason "Cone" McCaslin – bass, backing vocals
 * Steve "Stevo 32" Jocz – drums, rapping on "Dave's Possessed Hair/It's What We're All About"

 * Additional musicians
 * Sarah McElcheran, Steven Donald - horns on "Second Chance for Max Headroom"
 * MC Shan - rap vocals on "It's What We're All About"

title: Half Hour of Power


text:
Talk:Cascading style sheet

Or really? I believe Cascading style sheets are always referred as Cascading style sheets. I nenver heard of the usage as singular, Cascading style sheet. --Taku

title: Talk:Cascading style sheet


text:
Assault weapons ban

Assault weapons ban may refer to:

 * Assault weapons legislation in the United States
 * Assault Weapons Ban of 2013, an unsuccessful legislative bill from April 2013
 * Federal Assault Weapons Ban, federal U.S. law of 1994
 * Roberti-Roos Assault Weapons Control Act of 1989, a California law that bans the ownership and transfer of over 50 specific brands and models of firearms

title: Assault weapons ban