The Darkness were a multi-BRIT Award-winning British hard rock/glam rock band. Their highly retro style of music was influenced by rock bands like Queen, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Mötley Crüe, Guns N’ Roses, Aerosmith, Sparks, Van Halen, T. Rex, .38 Special, Def Leppard, Whitesnake, Boston and Thin Lizzy. They were best known for the falsetto of their lead singer Justin Hawkins, whose departure in 2006 resulted in the dissolution of the band.

Originally started in 1991 from Kirkley High School, Lowestoft in Suffolk, brothers Justin Hawkins (vocals and guitar) and Dan Hawkins (guitar and vocals) found themselves in London where they met up with childhood friends, Frankie Poullain (bass guitar and vocals) and Ed Graham (drums and percussion), and thus The Darkness was formed. Dan initially saw his brother’s potential of being a frontman after Justin did an impressive recreation of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” at a New Year’s Eve party in 1999, thrown by Justin and Dan’s aunt in her pub The Swan at Gillingham just over the River Waveney in Norfolk, despite the fact that Justin was only miming to the original song. Playing at first only in pubs and bars, their pyrotechnic guitar solos and over the top performances soon brought them to public knowledge.

Their debut album, Permission to Land, went straight up to number two in the UK charts upon its release on 7 July 2003, before going to number one and staying there for four weeks, eventually going on to sell 1.5 million copies in the UK. The Darkness took inspiration for some of their work from the local north Suffolk area, including “Black Shuck” which mentions the nearby village of Blythburgh.

Rainbow were a hard rock and heavy metal band formed by former Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore in 1975. In addition to Blackmore, the band originally consisted of former Elf members; lead singer Ronnie James Dio (later to join Black Sabbath), keyboardist Mickey Lee Soule, bassist Craig Gruber, and drummer Gary Driscoll. Over the years Rainbow went through many lineup changes.

Rainbow was Ranked #90 on VH1’s 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock

In 1974, Blackmore became infuriated at the funk/soul elements being introduced to Deep Purple by David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes, as well as with the rejection from his bandmates of his suggestion to record a cover for inclusion on Stormbringer. Blackmore had originally intended to record Steve Hammond’s “Black Sheep of the Family”, a song recorded by the band Quatermass, as a solo single to express that his ideas were being suppressed in Deep Purple. During recent US tours, Deep Purple’s support band had been Elf, and Ritchie had been impressed by Elf’s singer, Ronnie James Dio. Blackmore and Dio found they had such a creative rapport that a full album’s worth of music was soon composed, and they recorded it with Elf as a session band. Emboldened by the experience, Blackmore decided to leave Deep Purple and form his own band around Elf, effectively taking it over minus their guitarist and renaming it Rainbow. The name of the band was inspired by the Rainbow Bar and Grill in Hollywood that catered to rock stars, groupies and rock enthusiasts.

“Since You Been Gone” is a 1970s rock song written and recorded by former Argent guitarist Russ Ballard for his 1976 album Winning. It has also been recorded by numerous other artists, including all-girl group Clout, Cherie Currie and Head East. The most famous version is the 1979 cover by Rainbow which became a UK top ten single. A house version of the song was released in 2006 by German trio Master Blaster, featured on several compilations.

Hawkwind are a British rock band that formed in 1969, one of the earliest space rock groups. Their lyrics favour urban and science fiction themes. Notable fantasy and science fiction writer Michael Moorcock was an occasional collaborator.

Dave Brock and Mick Slattery had been in the London based blues turned psychedelic band Famous Cure, and a meeting with jazz-dance band bassist John Harrison revealed a mutual interest in electronic music that kicked off this new venture. Seventeen year old drummer Terry Ollis replied to an advert in one of the music weeklies, while Nik Turner and Michael ‘Dik Mik’ Davies, old acquaintances of Brock, offered help with transport and gear, but were soon pulled into the band when their respective talents for messing around on saxophones and electronics were revealed.

Gatecrashing a local talent night at the All Saints Hall, Notting Hill, they were so untogether as to not even have a name, plumping for Group X at the last minute, nor any songs, choosing to play an extended 20-minute jam on The Byrds Eight Miles High. BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel was in the audience and was impressed enough to tell event organiser Douglas Smith to keep an eye on them. He duly did, signed them up and got them a deal with Liberty Records on the back of a deal he was setting up for Cochise.

The band settled on the name Hawkwind after briefly being billed as Hawkwind Zoo, Hawkwind being the nickname of Turner derived from his unappealing habit of clearing his throat (hawking) and excessive flatulence (wind).

Aerosmith is an American hard rock band, sometimes referred to as “The Bad Boys from Boston” and “America’s Greatest Rock and Roll Band”. Their style, rooted in blues-based hard rock, has come to also incorporate elements of pop, heavy metal, glam, and rhythm and blues, which has inspired many subsequent rock artists. The band was formed in Boston, Massachusetts in 1970. Guitarist Joe Perry and bassist Tom Hamilton, originally in a band together called the Jam Band, met up with singer Steven Tyler, drummer Joey Kramer, and guitarist Ray Tabano, and formed Aerosmith. By 1971, Tabano was replaced by Brad Whitford, and the band began developing a following in Boston.

They were signed to Columbia Records in 1972 and released a string of multi-platinum albums, beginning with their 1973 eponymous debut album. In 1975, the band broke into the mainstream with the album Toys in the Attic, and their 1976 follow-up Rocks cemented their status as hard rock superstars. By the end of the 1970s, they were among the most popular hard rock bands in the world and developed a loyal following of fans, often referred to as the “Blue Army”.

“Love in an Elevator” is a song performed by American hard rock band Aerosmith, and written by Steven Tyler and Joe Perry. It was released in 1989 as the first single from their commercially and critically successful album Pump. It peaked at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached #1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. Internationally, it peaked at #13 on the UK Singles Chart and #33 in Australia.
Steven Tyler claims the songs lyrics were inspired by an experience he encountered at a hotel with a girl in the elevator. That’s really a ‘lift’ for all you UK rockers!

Status Quo, also known as The Quo or just Quo, are an English rock band whose music is characterized by the twelve-bar blues.

The group’s origins were in “The Scorpions” founded by schoolboys Francis Rossi and Alan Lancaster in 1962. After a number of lineup changes, the band become “The Status Quo” in late 1967, finally settling on the name “Status Quo” in 1970. They have recorded over 60 chart hits in the UK, more than any other rock group in history. 22 of these have reached the UK Top Ten.

After two well-received but relatively poor selling albums in 1970 and 1971 their major breakthrough came when they signed with the well-respected heavy rock and progressive label Vertigo. Their first album for Vertigo, Piledriver was released in 1972 and heralded an even heavier, self-produced sound. This album was essentially the stylistic template for each album they released up until Blue for You in 1976. During this period, and throughout the rest of the 70s, they became one of the UK’s leading rock bands, gaining a faithful following due to their relentless touring and energetic live gigs. Quo’s more popular songs from this era include “Paper Plane” (1972), “Caroline” (1973), “Down Down” (1975), “Rockin’ All Over the World” (1977) and “Whatever You Want” (1979). “Down Down” topped the UK singles chart in January 1975 becoming their only British number one single to date. Quo have now sold in excess of 118 million records worldwide.

Although Status Quo still release new material every few years, recent years have seen them release a series of greatest hits compilations and covers albums.

They have a loyal fan base in the United Kingdom, where they have enjoyed more hits than any other group in rock and roll history, as well as a big following in Scandinavia and mainland Europe, most notably in the Netherlands.

Whatever You Want – Within the United Kingdom, the song reached 4th position in the music charts in 1979. The song has been used in advertising campaigns by popular UK retailer Argos, as well as being the theme tune to an ill-fated Saturday night TV show of the same name as the song.

T.Rex were an English rock band fronted by guitarist, singer and songwriter Marc Bolan. Formed as Tyrannosaurus Rex in 1960s London, the folk rock group’s debut album My People Were Fair and Had Sky in Their Hair… But Now They’re Content to Wear Stars on Their Brows (1968) which reached number 15 in the UK. In the 1970s, they achieved mainstream success as a glam rock band with hits such as “Hot Love”, “Get It On”, “Telegram Sam” and “Metal Guru”. After waning commercial success in the mid-70s, T.Rex were forced to break up in 1977 after Bolan was killed in a car accident.

“Get It On” (retitled “Bang a Gong (Get It On)” in the U.S.) was the second UK number one song for the British rock group T. Rex. It was released from their best-known album, Electric Warrior.

While it only spent four weeks at the top in the UK, starting July 24, 1971 (“Hot Love” was number one for six weeks from March-May), it was the group’s biggest hit overall, selling nearly a million copies in the UK. It peaked on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 at number ten in January 1972, becoming the band’s only major U.S. hit.

Steppenwolf is a rock band that helped establish heavy metal music in the late 1960s along with bands like Blue Cheer and Iron Butterfly. The band was formed in 1967 in Los Angeles by vocalist John Kay, guitarist Michael Monarch, bassist Rushton Moreve, keyboardist Goldy McJohn and drummer Jerry Edmonton after the dissolution of its predecessor, The Sparrows.

The band has sold more than 25 million units worldwide, releasing 8 gold albums and 13 Hot 100 singles, including three top-10 hits in “Born to Be Wild” (it is in the lyrics of this song in which the term “heavy metal” is first heard in rock music, thus, according to some, attributing the term to songwriter Mars Bonfire), ‘”Magic Carpet Ride”, and “Rock Me”. Steppenwolf enjoyed worldwide success from 1968 to 1974, but clashing personalities led to the end of the core lineup.

Today, frontman John Kay is the only original member left, having served as lead singer for almost all of the 40 years since 1967.

Queen were an English rock band formed in 1970 in London by guitarist Brian May, lead vocalist Freddie Mercury and drummer Roger Taylor, with bassist John Deacon completing the lineup the following year.

The band is noted for their musical diversity, multi-layered arrangements, vocal harmonies, and incorporation of audience participation into their live performances. Their 1985 Live Aid performance was voted the best live rock performance of all time in an industry poll.

Queen enjoyed success in the UK in the early 1970s with the albums Queen and Queen II, but it was with the release of Sheer Heart Attack in 1974 and A Night at the Opera the following year that the band gained international success. They have released fifteen studio albums, five live albums, and numerous compilation albums. Eighteen of these have reached number one on charts around the world. The actual figure of Queen’s album sales varies by source. According to an interview transcript on Brian May’s official website, the band had sold in excess of 300 million albums by 2006.

Free were an English rock band, formed in London in 1968 and best known for their popular song “All Right Now”.

Lead singer Paul Rodgers went on to become lead singer of the rock band Bad Company along with Simon Kirke on drums. Lead guitarist Paul Kossoff, a much revered blues-rock guitarist, died in 1976. The band was famed for its sensational live shows and nonstop touring. However, early studio albums did not sell very well – until the release of Fire and Water which featured the massive hit “All Right Now.” This album brought them to full status as one of the top rock bands of the 1960-70’s. The song helped secure them a place at the huge Isle of Wight Festival 1970 where they played to 600,000 people.

Kiss is an American rock band formed in New York City in December 1972. Easily identified by its members’ trademark face paint and stage outfits, the group rose to prominence in the mid and late-1970s on the basis of their elaborate live performances, which featured fire breathing, blood spitting, smoking guitars, and pyrotechnics. Kiss has been awarded 24 gold albums to date. The band has sold over 19 million records in the United States and their worldwide sales exceed 85 million albums.

The original lineup of Paul Stanley (vocals and rhythm guitar), Gene Simmons (vocals and bass guitar), Ace Frehley (lead guitar and vocals), and Peter Criss (drums, percussion and vocals) is the most successful and identifiable.