Linkin Park

By Daniel Belvis

Linkin Park is a music band formed in Agoura Hills in Los Angeles, California. Their style is somewhere between nu metal and rap metal, but on their album Minutes to Midnight their sound turns into alternative rock, while their newest album, A Thousand Suns, feels more experimental.

The band has sold more than 500 million CDs and has already won two Grammy awards. Linkin Park became famous with their Hybrid Theory album, which has sold more than 30 million copies, becoming the second highest selling album of the 21st century.

Their second album, Meteora, furthered their success, selling 800,000 copies in the first week after its release and more than three million copies in 2003. Their third album, Collision Course, was a mixture of their songs and songs by the rapper Jay-Z, with good results, such as Numb/Encore and Lying From You/Dirt Off Your Shoulder.

Their fourth record, Minutes to Midnight, was highly critiziced but, in my opinion, it is really worth a listen, at least in part. Their latest album, A Thousand Suns, is a bit more experimental but has been a real success.

Members:

Chester Bennington (vocals)

Mike Shinoda (vocals (MC); Keyboard/piano)

Brad Delson (guitar)

Joe Hahn (synthesizer, DJ, sampler)

Rob Bourdon (battery, percussion)

Dave Farrell (bass)

Discography:

Hybrid Theory (2000)

Meteora (2003)

Collision Course (2004)

Minutes to Midnight (2007)

A Thousand Suns (2010)

Songs I Recommend:

Hybrid Theory:

Papercut, One Step Closer, Crawling, In the End, A Place For My Head

Meteora:

Somewhere I Belong, Lying From You, Easier To Run, Faint, Breaking the Habit, From The Inside, Numb

Minutes to Midnight:

Given Up, Leave Out All The Rest, Bleed It Out, Shadow Of The Day, What I've Done, In Pieces

A Thousand Suns:

Burning In The Skies, Waiting For The End, The Catalyst Blackout, Wretches And Kings.

PS: If you saw the movie Transformers, it features a song from Linkin Park called New Divide, a song that I also recommend listening to.

Iron Maiden

By Kyle Pearson

Iron Maiden is a legend of heavy metal, a music style based on making a lot of noise, putting a lot of distortion on the guitar and placing great emphasis on the drums.

The name comes from a medieval torture, or way to kill somebody, that consisted in putting a person in a coffin with nails and closing it.

Iron Maiden as a band began in 1975 in Leyton (East London). The band members are:

-Bruce Dickinson (lead vocals), Dave Murray (guitar), Adrian Smith (guitar backing vocals), Janick Gers (guitar), Steve Harris (bass, backing vocals and studio keybords), Nicko McBrian.

Their influences include Queen, King Crimson, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Judas Priest, Cream and the Who.

Over 30 years they have sold more than 80 million records, and they have made close to 2,000 live performances.

After playing for three years they recorded their first EP (The Soundhouse Tape), which launched them to fame, although their big success arrived in 1982 with the record The Number of the Beast. They have been playing non-stop since then. Their latest album is called the Final Frontier.

They are considered one of the best heavy metal bands in the history of music and certainly one of the pioneers in this style of music.

A lot of other bands have tried to copy them but, obviously, without a doubt, they are unique.

Pete Doherty & The Libertines

By Alex Font

Pete Doherty was born on March 12th 1979. He is an English musician, writer and artist. He was the singer for the Libertines and Babyshambles.

He enrolled at the University of London to study English literature, but he abandoned his studies in the first year. After leaving university, he moved to London with his friend, the musician Carl Barât, a classmate of Doherty's older sister.

In the 90s Doherty and Barât formed a band called the Libertines. In 2002 they began to be successful, after releasing their first album Up the Bracket.

In 2004 Doherty was asked to leave the band after the release of their second album, due to his drug addiction. The group split up after Doherty's departure.

Doherty and Barât disclosed on 29 March 2010 that the Libertines would play together again at the Reading and Leeds festivals the following August.

The pianist Maria Canals dies

By Èlia Ramoneda

In August 2010 the international pianist Maria Canals died in Barcelona. She was born in Barcelona in 1913 and studied piano at the Barcelona Municipal School of Music. She was also a specialist in music teaching.

Maria Canals and her husband founded the Maria Canals International Music Competition in 1954. This music competition, declared to be of public importance in 1996, takes place every year in the Palau de la Música in Barcelona, with musicians from the all over the world taking part in it. Various artists (including Joan Miró and Antoni Tàpies) have designed posters to advertise it.

Eminem's comeback single

By Xènia Nogué and Victoria Englert

Marshall Bruce Mathers III, commonly known as Eminem, was born on October 18th 1972, in Missouri. He had a troubled childhood and his father left his family when he was young. He had to repeat 9th grade three times because of his frequent absenteeism. He has been rapping since he was 14 years old, the age at which he also released his debut EP: Steppin' Onto the Scene. Although he attended Lincoln High School, he participated in freestyle battles at Osborne High School, where the hip hop underground crowd started to appreciate him.

In 1999 he released his first CD: The Slim Shady LP. And he recently released his 7th album. His new CD, Recovery, has two of our favorite Eminem songs: Love the Way You Lie (feat. Rihanna) and Not Afraid. His last CD before Recovery, (Relapse) was very inappropiate because he was always singing about drugs and his life. He recently made a video about bullying feat Lil Wayne, called No Love.

Love the Way You Lie is about domestic violence. It's sung from two perspectives: the male and the female. The boy says that he cannot control himself and when he snaps he does not know who he is. The girl says that she does not care because she loves him so much. When she tries to leave, he restrains her and promises he will not hurt her again.

Not Afraid, the new single released by Eminem, talks about how he cleaned his blood of drugs. He did it for himself, and to encourage everyone who has the same problem as him. He says to his fans that he will not break his promise.

We are not Eminem fans because we don't really like his songs – these are the only two songs we like.

Édith Piaf
By Ada Agustí

Her real name was Edith Giovanna Gassion and her nickname “la Môme”. She was born in Paris on December 19th 1915. She was a famous French singer and a cultural icon, almost universally considered "the best singer in France."

Edith Piaf’s life was surrounded by mystery. Her father, Louis, worked as a contortionist, and her mother Anita was an Italian-Algerian. Edith grew up with her grandmother in a brothel.

She made her debut in 1935 singing popular songs in the street. In 1936, Polydor recorded her first album “Les Mômes de la Cloche”. In March 1937, she made her debut in a music hall, the "ABC". In 1940, Jean Cocteau wrote for her “Le Bel indifferent.”

Édith Piaf had a lot of romantic relationships, with Yves Montand, Georges Moustaki and Marcel Cerdan, amongst others. In 1949, after Cerdan's death in a plane crash, Piaf became addicted to drugs. Her autobiography is entitled "Au bal du chance."

Édith Piaf sang a lot of songs, she performed in some musicals. Her most known songs are: «La vie en rose», «Non, je ne regrette rien», «Paris», «L’accordéoniste», «Milord», «Mon Dieu», «L’Hymne a l’amour»….

Édith Piaf, I think, is the best singer ever in France. For me her voice is unique and, from my point of view, she overcame all the difficulties, despite of her hard life. I love the movie "La Vie en Rose", focused on her life, and I often listen to her songs, and I even have a little music box which plays "La Vie en Rose". For me, she’s the best!

Arctic Monkeys
By Carla Bustamante

They are an English rock band which plays indian rock, alternative rock and rock. They were influenced by The Beatles, Oasis, The Sotone Roses, The Jam, The Libertines, The Smiths, Ian Brown, Chris Volz, David Bowie, Blur, The Strokes, The Vines, Jimi Hendix and The Clash. This band was formed in 2002. Its members are: The singer Alex Turner, the guitarrist Jamie Cook, Matt Helders who plays the battery and the bassist Nick O'Malley.

They started to be famous on Internet, because they post some of their songs on internet and people began to know them. Arctic Monkeys started to be popular with his first song " I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor ", which was in the first place in the UK Singles Chart. Arctic Monkeys rejected some discographies because they asked them for changing some songs and they didn't want. In 2006 the tickets for their concerts run out in a few weeks in the United Kingdom.

Their first album "Whatever people say I am. That's what I'm Not" was released on October 17th 2006. They released two more albums: in 2007 "Favourite Worst Nightmare" and in 2009 "Humbug".

They had bad reviews because of their lack of energy on stage during some shows in Humbug Tour.

JASON MRAZ
By Belén Galera

He is an American singer and songwriter. He’s 32 years old. He is influenced by reggae, pop,
rock, folk, jazz, and hip hop. His first sigle was released in 2007: "The beauty in Ugly", in the American series Ugly Betty. In 2009 he released a new single “Luky”. It was recorded with Colbie Caillat, and the main song is in the album is: "We sing, we dance, we steal things". This album was launched in 2008, and it sold more than 2 milions copies.

He also participated in the chorus of the song "We are the word 25 for Haiti" (in February 2010). He sang it with other artists of pop-rock music and hip-hop : Celin Dion, Janer Jackson, Enrique Iglesias... etc

Discography
Studio albums
• Waiting for My Rocket to Come (2002)
• Mr. A–Z (2005)
• We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things. (2008)
Live albums
• Live at Java Joe's (2001)
• Tonight, Not Again: Jason Mraz Live at the Eagles Ballroom (2004)
• Selections for Friends - Live from: Schubas Tavern, Chicago, Montalvo Winery, Saratoga California (2007)
• Jason Mraz's Beautiful Mess - Live from Earth (2009)

.Rbd
By Anastasia Macovei

Rbd was a band formed by Anahi, Dulce, Maria, Maite, Christopher, Christian and Alfonso. The origin of this band is in Mexico.
Their first album was: “Rebelde” (2004-2005), and it was released on November 30th of 2004 by EMI. These hits were number ones in Mexico: “Rebelled”, “Solo quadrate en silencio”, and “Sálvame”. And “Un poco de tu amor” is the second one. The album was released in different languages, but not in English. “Rebelde” sold over 700.000 copies in U.S. and it was given prizes in both Mexico and Brazil.

The second album was “Nuestro amor” (2005-2006), for me it is the best album I have ever heard. The best hits in it are: “Nuestro amor”, “Aún hay algo” and “Este corazón”.
The third album was “Celestial” and it was released on November 2006. The hits from it are: “Celestial”, “Ser o parecer” and “Bésame sin miedo”. One month later, an album was released for the Brazilian market.

They filmed a tv series of 13 episodes, called “La familia, which is based on the real lives of the members of Rbd.

In December 2006, they released their first album in English: “Rebels”. “Empezar desde cero” was released on October 2007.

“Rebelde” was also a Mexican tv series produced by Telvisa, it was a remake of an Argentinian tv series “Rebelde Way”.

In August 2008, the producer of the band announced that they would split up, because the members of the band were planning different solo activities. Their last album was “Best of Rbd” or “Para olvidarte de mi”. And it was released on March 10th 2009.

Fondo Flamenco
By Cristina Becerra

Fondo Flamenco was formed in Sevilla in 2007. The members of the group are Alejandro Astola, Antonio Dipan and Rafael Ruda. The three are vocalists, but Alejandro and Rafael play the guitar too. The lyrics are usually written by all three, although on their new album Alejandro wrote the lyrics and also composed the music.

Fondo Flamenco released their first album, called “A contra corriente”, with a label company in 2007. In 2008 their second album “Las cartas sobre la mesa” was a hit and they did a big tour and played 100 concerts.

In 2010, after two years of success, they released “Paren el mundo que me bajo”, which is a very good example of their musical style.

Rock music
By David Planas

Rock music is a type of popular music which appeared in the 1950’s. It has its roots in other styles of music: the rhythm and blues, country music, folk music, Jazz and classical music.
The principal instruments which form this type of music are the electric guitar, bass guitar, drums and sometimes the organ or the piano.
In the 1960’s and 1970’s rock music developed different subgenres like soft rock, Glam rock, heavy metal, hard rock and Punk rock. In the 1980’s other types like new wave, alternative rock, grunge, Britpop and Indie rock.
Nowadays one of the most important types of rock is the Britpop which was born from (the) British alternative rock and is characterized by bands influenced by British guitar music of the 70s The principal groups which form this genre are Suede, Pulp, Blur and Oasis. The last groups created an important battle, called “the battle of the Britpop”.

Eurythmics
By Anna Sopena

Eurythmics is an English music group that plays Synthpop, New Wave and Pop Rock. It appeared in 1980 and in 1981 they were famous. The group was formed by Annie Lennox (vocalist) and David A. Stewart (composer). While they played they sold 75 milions DCs in the world. The most important album was "Sweet dreams (are made of this)". The group stopped playing in 1997.
Before they formed the group they were in a group called The Catch, later the group changed its name to The Tourists, and finally Annie and David split up and created the group Eurythmics.The name of the group is Eurythmics because Eu in Greek means good, so the name means good rhythmic.
This group got a lot of fame with “Love Is A Stranger”, “Who´S That Girl?”, “Right By Your Side” and “Here Comes The Rain Again”. But in 1998 they lost fame and they split up.
When they split up Annie Lennox started to sing alone, as a solist. She continued getting fame. Her discography is: “Diva”, “Medusa”, “Bare”, “Song of Mass Destruction”.

Britney Spears
By Ivon Zavala

She is a singer, composer... She sings pop music.
She was born on December 2 1981 in Mississippi, Louisiana. In 1992 she worked for the Disney channel in a series.
She has released six CDs: (1999) “Baby one more time”, (2000) “ops!” “I did it again”, (2001) “Britney”, (2003) “In the zone”, (2007) “Blackout”, (2008) “Circus”.
She lives in a very strange way. She has two children, Sean Preston and James Jayden. After the chidren were born she divorced. She has serious problems with drugs, and her ex-husband threatened her to take her children away. She has a bad reputation.
On the evening of January 3 2008 she became crazy. She locked herself in a toilet with her youngest son Jayden James, after not sleeping for over four days and she refused to give the custody of her children to her husband’s representatives. As a result police were called to Spears's home.
Her last disc is “The singles collections”.
She is a crazy person, but she is a GOOD SINGER.

Freddy Mercury
By Carla Bustamante

He was born in Stone Town on September 5th 1946, with the name Farrokh Bommi Bulsara. He was a British Indian musician, who played in the band Queen. His parents were Bommi and Jer Bulsara.
He went to Panchgani and in this city his friends began to call him Freddy. At the age of eight, he was sent to study to St. Peter's School. It was also at St. Peter's where he began to call himself "Freddie".
When he was 17 years old he moved with his family to Feltham (London). In 1964 he enrolled at Isleworth Polytechnic because he needed a high mark to go to Art School.Freddy met Tim Staffel, who played in a band called the Smile, Bryan May and Roger Taylor were in the band too.
He began to create some music. Freddy obtained the degree of Grafic Arts at the University of Ealing in 1969. In this summer he met a band called The Ibex, he composed new songs for the band and traveled with them to Bolton.
Mercury wanted a new band, because The Ibex disappeared and he found another band called Sour Milk Sea. There Freddy was the vocalist.
The band changed of name, and was called Queen; and then Freddy too was called Mercury.The most important song is Bohemian Rhapsody, which was the most listened to for 9 weeks.Freddy was diagnosed with AIDS at the age of 45, 24 hours later he died in his bed because of bronchial pneumonia.
Queen made more or less 20 CDs. Freddie designed the logo of the band using their signs of the Zodiac: two lions -the signs of Roger and John-, a crab -Brian's sign (Cancer)-, and two fairies -sign of Freddy (Virgoan)-.
Freddy was awarded a lot of prizes: a statue in Montreux (Swiss), a floor star in Feltham (England), as well as their concerts...