The greatest guitarist ever is...

Rolling Stone assembled a panel of top guitarists and other experts to rank their favorites and explain what separates the legends from everyone else. Featuring:
Dan Auerbach (The Black Keys),
Brian Bell (Weezer),
Ritchie Blackmore (Deep Purple),
Carl Broemel (My Morning Jacket),
Jerry Cantrell (Alice in Chains),
Billy Corgan,
Dave Davies (The Kinks),
Tom DeLonge (Blink-182),
Don Felder (The Eagles),
Kirk Hammett (Metallica),
Lenny Kravitz,
Robby Krieger (The Doors),
Mike McCready (Pearl Jam),
Tom Morello,
Dave Mustaine (Megadeth),

Carlos Santana,

Kenny Wayne Shepherd,

Eddie Van Halen,

They voted and Jimi Hendrix the greatest guitarist ever!

Jimi Hendrix exploded our idea of what rock music could be: He manipulated the guitar, the whammy bar, the studio and the stage. On songs like "Machine Gun" or "Voodoo Chile," his instrument is like a divining rod of the turbulent Sixties – you can hear the riots in the streets and napalm bombs dropping in his "Star-Spangled Banner."

His playing was effortless. There's not one minute of his recorded career that feels like he's working hard at it – it feels like it's all flowing through him. The most beautiful song of the Jimi Hendrix canon is "Little Wing." It's just this gorgeous song that, as a guitar player, you can study your whole life and not get down, never get inside it the way that he does. He seamlessly weaves chords and single-note runs together and uses chord voicings that don't appear in any music book. His riffs were a pre-metal funk bulldozer, and his lead lines were an electric LSD trip down to the crossroads, where he pimp-slapped the devil.

There are arguments about who was the first guitar player to use feedback. It doesn't really matter, because Hendrix used it better than anyone; he took what was to become Seventies funk and put it through a Marshall stack, in a way that nobody's done since.

It's impossible to think of what Jimi would be doing now; he seemed like a pretty mercurial character. Would he be an elder statesman of rock? Would he be Sir Jimi Hendrix? Or would he be doing some residency off the Vegas Strip? The good news is his legacy is assured as the greatest guitar player of all time

Read more: rollingstone.com

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www.0800jukebox.co.nz

20 Years today since Michael Jackson's Dangerous was released

Dangerous is the eighth studio album by Michael Jackson, released on November 26, 1991.

It became his second to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart, where it spent the next four consecutive weeks. Dangerous spent 117 weeks in the Billboard 200, thirty more than Bad. The album has sold over 32 million copies worldwide.

The Track Listing

1. Jam
2. Why You Wanna Trip On Me
3. In The Closet
4. She Drives Me Wild
5. Remember The Time
6. Can't Let Her Get Away
7. Heal The World
8. Black Or White
9. Who Is It
10. Give In To Me
11. Will You Be There
12. Keep The Faith
13. Gone Too Soon
14. Dangerous






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Hawera's Push Bike Pub Crawl is going to be Giant this year

Hawera's controversial Push Bike Pub Crawl has gone full cycle with the South Taranaki District Council officially riding pillion for this year's event.

And as any good passenger would do, the council is pulling its weight by booking London-based Kiwi alternative rockers I Am Giant for a concert to coincide with the end of the December 17 ride.

For the last two years, Hawera police had tried to stop the event, which had grown from a ride attended by a few hundred locals to one pulling in thousands from around the country.

The event was regularly marred with boorish behaviour and drunkenness but police struggled to stop it, hindered by the fact it often had no official organiser.

Council's decision to come in on the act is acknowledgment the ride cannot be beaten and so must be joined.

I Am Giant were booked as headline act at the inaugural ALT Fest at the Hawera showgrounds after the council researched what sort of music pub crawlers would appreciate.

"We thought, if we were going to do this we're going to do it properly," council chief executive Craig Stevenson said.

It turns out council's economic and tourism manager Phil Waite had his finger on the pulse of what sort of rock band would fit the predominantly younger demographic.

"He did most of the work on pulling it together and researching it," Mr Stevenson said.

"Hopefully we'll get a really good crowd in there and bring a few people from out of the district."

To minimise how much ratepayers will have to pay, the ticket price has been set at $27.

People can bring their own alcohol into the R16 event but the amount and use will be controlled.

The pub crawl is an unofficial 30-year-old ride held on the Saturday before Christmas.

The rock-fest is the planned gathering after the ride in which riders cycle from Hawera to Normanby and back.

After police attempts to shut the bike ride down in recent years, the concept of a controlled gathering at the end is seen as a way to continue the ride.




stuff.co.nz


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20 Years today since U2's Achtung Baby was released

Achtung Baby is the seventh studio album by rock band U2. It was produced by Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, and was released on 19 November 1991 on Island Records.

After criticism of their 1988 release Rattle and Hum, U2 shifted direction to incorporate alternative rock, industrial, and electronic dance music influences into their sound. U2 began recording Achtung Baby in Berlin's Hansa Studios in October 1990. The sessions were fraught with conflict, as the band argued over their musical direction and the quality of their material. After weeks of tension and slow progress, the group made a breakthrough with the improvised writing of the song "One".



The Zoo TV Tour were central to the group's 1990s reinvention. The Zoo TV stage featured dozens of large video screens that showed visual effects, video clips from pop culture, and flashing text phrases. Live satellite link-ups, channel surfing, prank calls, and video confessionals were incorporated into the shows. Bono portrayed several characters he conceived, including "The Fly", "Mirror Ball Man", and "MacPhisto".



Achtung Baby is one of U2's most successful records. It spawned five hit singles, including "One", "Mysterious Ways", and "The Fly". The album has sold 18 million copies worldwide and won a Grammy Award in 1993 for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.

Not to be out done by Pearl jam's documentry PJ20. U2 have their own doco "From the Sky Down" about production of their 1991 album Achtung Baby. The film documents the difficult recording period, the band members' relationships, and the record's legacy. Archival footage and stills from the recording sessions appear in the film, along with unreleased scenes from the group's 1988 motion picture Rattle and Hum.




What do you think is it still as good as it was 20 years ago, or has it past its used by date?

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Rock 'n' Roll = Tequila

Mötley Crüe and Van Halen used to battle it out in record stores. But now, band members from each—Vince Neil and Sammy Hagar, respectively - are going head-to-head in liquor stores. Both legendary rockers have new gigs fronting their own tequilas.

Hagar, a rock ’n’ roll hall-of-famer, started Cabo Wabo Tequila back in 1996 - years before every celebrity had a liquor brand. The Red Rocker was looking for a house spirit for his bar in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, and took the process seriously. “I went down and found the tequila and designed the bottle with friends,” he says “If I wanted a celebrity brand I would have named it Sammy Hagar’s Tequila.” He has little respect for many of the vanity projects on store shelves. “For someone just to put their name on a bottle, that’s crap,” he says. His hard work has paid off - the tequila is now available across the country and a few years ago, he sold 80 percent of the brand to Skyy Spirits for $80 million.


Neil, whose Tres Rios Tequila launched a few years ago, admits that he’s following in Hagar’s footsteps. “Sammy already has taken his brand to a whole other level,” he says. “I hope I can get to that level.” He’s on his way. By June Tres Rios will be available in more than 30 states, with duty free and Europe soon following. He’s also a big fan of tequila and, in true rocker fashion, likes to drink it straight from the bottle. “It tastes better that way,” he insists. (Look out this spring for Neil’s aptly named solo album, Tattoos and Tequila.)

For the moment, Hagar and Neil remain friends. “Vince is a cool guy,” says Hagar. “Anyone in their right mind would try to get into the liquor business.” And they also have a common competitor: Justin Timberlake, who launched 901 Silver Tequila last year. Let’s hope he knows who he’s messing with. - liquor.com


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G3 to hit NZ

Not since Gtaranaki's Slash, Jennifer Batten (Jeff Beck, Michael Jackson,Natalie Cole) and Uli Jon Roth (Peter Gabriel, Tim Finn, Peter Frampton) have we had such legandary axe slayers under one roof!

The legendary G3 guitar gods - Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and Steve Lukather - will bring their combined guitar pyrotechnics to New Zealand for the first time in March next year.

The two-and-a-half hour shows in Auckland and Wellington will feature individual sets by each guitarist with their own bands before joining Satriani and his band on stage for an all-star jam.

Since it began in 1996, versions of G3 have toured almost annually, selling out shows in the US, Europe, South America, Japan and Australia.

Founded by Satriani, who last performed in New Zealand at the G-TARanaki Festival in 2008, G3 has featured many celebrated guitarists including Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Yngwie Malmsteen, Robert Fripp, Adrian Legg and Eric Johnson.

Grammy award-winning Vai has sold more than 15 million albums worldwide and has worked with legends such as Frank Zappa, David Lee Roth and Whitesnake.

Founding member of Toto, Steve Lukather has a career spanning more than 35 years. As well as selling more than 30 million albums with the band, Lukather has played on more than 1500 other records, including Michael Jackson's Thriller and albums by Miles Davis, Elton John and Alice Cooper.

G3 Live in New Zealand:

Wellington - Michael Fowler Centre, March 22

Auckland - Logan Campbell Centre, March 25

Tickets on sale from November 25 from Ticketek.

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The 0800 Jukebox crew.
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CCR set to put a spell on New Plymouth

Proud Mary, Bad Moon Rising, I Put a Spell on You & Lookin' out My Back Door Set to rock the TSB Bowl of Brooklands with Creedence Clearwater Revisited in February

They play all the classic, with the same passion as the original CCR

The band, formed in 1995 by former Creedence Clearwater Revival drummer Doug "Cosmo" Clifford and bassist Stu Cook, (Creedence Clearwater Revival without the Fogerty brothers)

New Plymouth District Council events manager Brent Thawley said it was great to have the band locked in, and also to see events coming back to the Bowl.

"This is a summer tradition to have bands playing there and these guys played to 15,000 in Queenstown last year so it would be great to match that," Mr Thawley said. And while a playlist including Proud Mary, Bad Moon Rising and Lookin' Out My Back Door, will hum across Taranaki's famous open air venue, Mr Thawley promised there was more to come.- stuff.co.nz



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The 0800 Jukebox crew.
www.0800jukebox.co.nz