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The Ramones – 1976.05.12 – The Club, Cambridge, MA [SBD]

The Ramones were an American punk rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first band to define the punk-rock sound^.  Despite achieving only limited commercial success, the band was a major influence on the 1970s punk movement in both the United States and UK.  All of the band members adopted pseudonyms ending with the surname “Ramone”, although none of them were related. They performed 2,263 concerts, touring virtually nonstop for 22 years.  In 1996, after a tour with the Lollapalooza music festival, the band played a farewell concert and disbanded.  By 2014, all four of the band’s original members—lead singer Joey Ramone (Jeffrey Hyman 1951–2001), guitarist Johnny Ramone (John Cummings 1948–2004), bassist Dee Dee Ramone (Douglas Colvin 1951–2002) and drummer  Tommy Ramone (Thomas Erdelyi 1949–2014)—had died.  This bootleg concert catches The Ramones in their original lineup, as they were shaping punk rock at The Club in Cambridge, MA in 1976.

Joan Jett – 1981.08.08 -Fireman’s Memorial Pk, Hempsted, NY [FM]

Joan Jett (Joan Marie Larkin), is an American rock singer, songwriter, composer, musician, record producer and occasional actress.  She is best known for her work with Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, preceded by success with the Runaways.  She has been described as the Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll.  She is also known as the Godmother of Punk.  In 2015, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  In 1975, Joan Jett became a founding member of the Runaways, alongside drummer Sandy West, Jackie Fox, Lita Ford, and Cherie Currie soon joined up to complete the band, creating the classic lineup. While Currie initially fronted the band, Jett shared some lead vocals, played rhythm guitar and wrote or co-wrote a lot of the band’s material along with Ford, West and Currie. The band recorded five albums, with Live In Japan becoming one of the biggest-selling imports in US and UK history.  However, their success was short lived, and after the Runaways split in the Spring of 1979, Jett was in England pursuing a solo career. She recorded three songs there with Sex Pistols‘ Paul Cook and Steve Jones, one of which was an early version of Arrows‘ “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll“.  Jett entered the Who‘s Ramport Studios , and Jett’s self-titled solo debut was released by Ariola Records in Europe on May 17, 1980. In the US, after the album was rejected by 23 major labels, Jett and released it independently. The Blackhearts formed as a result of an ad she placed in the LA Weekly stating that she was “looking for three good men”.  A Spring 1981 concert at the Palladium in New York City proved to be a turning point. Described by music journalists as a career-defining performance by Jett, it helped solidify a strong New York following for Joan Jett & the Blackhearts.  This concert finds the Blackhearts in the summer of that year in Hempsted, NY in an FM broadcast.

Blue Cheer – 1984.04.06 – Mubahay Gardens, San Francisco, CA [SBD]

Blue Cheer was an American rock band that initially performed and recorded in the late 1960s and early 1970s and was sporadically active until 2009. Based in San Francisco, Blue Cheer played in a psychedelic blues rock style, and are also credited as being some of the earliest pioneers of heavy metal, with their cover of “Summertime Blues” sometimes cited as the first in the genre.  Blue Cheer was the name of a variety of LSD made by chemist and Grateful Dead patron Owsley Stanley and the band was probably named for that, although the name existed earlier, as the name of a laundry detergent for which the LSD variety itself was named. Blue Cheer has had many personnel re-configurations and hiatuses over the years…. Far too many to go into here.  They were active during the years 1967 – 1972, 1974 – 1975, 1978 – 1979, 1984 – 1994, and 1999 – 2009.  I’m kind of wondering if they will regroup yet again…. 😉  This soundboard bootleg finds them in 1984, shortly after reuniting playing in Mubuhay Gardens at their home base of San Francisco.

Status Quo – 2013.05.07 – Festungsarena, Kufstein, Austria [SBD]

Status Quo are an English rock band whose music is characterized by their distinctive brand of boogie rock. The group originated in The Spectres, founded by schoolboys Francis Rossi and Alan Lancaster in 1962.  After a number of lineup changes, the band became The Status Quo in 1967 and Status Quo in 1969. 

Status Quo was formed in 1962 under the name The Scorpions by Francis Rossi and Alan Lancaster at Sedgehill Comprehensive School, Catford, along with classmates Alan Key (drums) and Jess Jaworski (keyboards).  By 1967, the group had discovered psychedelia and named themselves Traffic, but were soon forced to change it to Traffic Jam to avoid confusion with Steve Winwood‘s Traffic, following an argument over who had registered the name first.  In late 1967, the group were now officially calling themselves Status Quo, and in January 1968 released the psychedelic-flavoured  Pictures of Matchstick Men.  Matchstick Men additionally became the group’s only Top 40 hit in the United States, peaking at number twelve on the Billboard Hot 100.  Although Status Quo‘s albums have been released in the United States throughout their career, they never achieved the same level of success as they have in their home country.  From 1977 onwards, the band’s sound became more polished as they began to employ outside producers. 1977’s Rockin’ All Over the World‘s title track, a minor hit for its writer John Fogerty (formerly of Creedence Clearwater Revival) became one of Status Quo‘s most enduring anthem.  In recent years, Status Quo have retained their loyal fan base in the United Kingdom, as well as their big followings in Scandinavia and mainland Europe, most notably in the Netherlands.  This concert finds them in Austria, and should illustrate why Status Quo has endured the test of time.