title: Daewoo Motors

text: In 1987, they created the Espero, designed by Bertone, initiating a tradition at Daewoo Motor of models created by Italian designers. Daewoo Heavy Industries (DHI) introduced in 1991, the Tico mini car, which was sold at Daewoo Motor's dealers. DHI was also selling since 1981 the Damas minivan and the Labo mini pickup, all three being based on Suzuki models. When the Royale Series range was discontinued, its models were slightly refreshed and offered under the Prince and Super Salon or Brougham model names until respectively 1997 and 1999.


title: Daewoo Motors

text: In 1992, the joint-venture with General Motors ended, leaving Daewoo Motor as an independent company.


title: Daewoo Motors

text: In 1994, Daewoo started importing the second-generation Honda Legend to replace the discontinued flagship Imperial, under the name of Arcadia. This year, the LeMans also got a slight refresh, and all variants (three, four and five-door) were then sold under the Cielo model name.


title: Daewoo Motors

text: The first authentic Daewoo Motor product, the Lanos, was introduced in late 1996. It spawned three variants: four-door, three-door, called Romeo, and a five-door, the Juliet, being the first model of a whole new family of cars to be created. Styling was by Giorgetto Giugiaro's Italdesign firm. One of its main features was the new three-parts corporate grill, reminiscent of the Daewoo Motor emblem, which was to be used on many of the following Daewoo cars. In February 1997, the Nubira was launched, the first Daewoo model to be produced in their new Kunsan motor plant. It was designed by the Italian-based I.DE.A Institute. In March 1997, the mid-sized Leganza followed, also designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro, borrowing some styling cues from the existing 1990 Jaguar Kensington concept car.


title: Daewoo Motors

text: In 1998 one of Daewoo's best-known cars was introduced, the Matiz. The design was again signed by Giorgetto Giugiaro and based on his 1992 "Lucciola" concept car, which was initially imagined as a replacement for the Fiat Cinquecento. This car became Daewoo Motor's best-seller for the next four years. In 1999, Daewoo presented the Magnus, which was a development of the existing Leganza. Sold in Korea, alongside the Leganza, until the end of the latter's production in 2002, it existed in two variants: Classic and the sportier Eagle. The Rezzo minivan was also introduced in early 2000. The Matiz, Lanos and Nubira got a mid-life facelift in 2001. In 2002, the Magnus L6 was introduced, equipped with Daewoo's first straight-six engine, with a new front grill and lamps. The same year, Daewoo also presented the Kalos subcompact, designed to replace the Lanos.


title: Daewoo Motors

text: In 1998, after the Asian financial crisis, Daewoo Motor took over the troubled four-wheel-drive specialist SsangYong Motor, only to sell it off again in 2000, because the conglomerate ran into deep financial troubles. Its models were sold under the Daewoo-SsangYong badge in South Korea, contrary to other areas where they were sold under the Daewoo brand name. SsangYong's flagship limousine, the Chairman, was integrated to the Daewoo range, becoming the Daewoo Chairman, with a new three-parts Daewoo corporate grill.


title: Daewoo Motors

text: By 1999, the whole Daewoo Group ran into financial trouble, and was forced to sell its automotive division. Candidates for the operation included Hyundai associated with DaimlerChrysler, Ford Motor Company and the GM-Fiat alliance. Finally, General Motors was the one who acquired Daewoo Motor's assets at $1.2 billion in 2002.


title: Daewoo Motors

text: In 2002, Daewoo Commercial Vehicle Company was spun off from parent Daewoo Motor Co. Ltd. In 2004, it was acquired by Tata Motors, India's largest passenger automobile and commercial vehicle manufacturing company.


title: Daewoo Motors

text: Daewoo owned a share of AvtoZAZ, an automobile manufacturer based in Ukraine, from 1998 to 2003, establishing the AvtoZAZ-Daewoo joint venture. The CKD assembly of the Daewoo Lanos started in 2002 in Ukraine and later it was adopted for full-scale production as the ZAZ Lanos. A version of the Daewoo-developed Chevrolet Aveo has been assembled for local market at the Chornomorsk subsidiary. Following the bankruptcy of Daewoo Motor in 2001, UkrAVTO corporation bought out the AvtoZAZ holding in 2002. All of the AvtoZAZ manufacturing facilities (most notably MeMZ and the Chornomorsk assembling plant) were reincorporated into ZAZ. The company even adopted a new logo. The Daewoo part in the joint venture was bought out by the Swiss venture Hirsch & CIE in 2003.


title: Daewoo Motors

text: In August 1992, Daewoo set up Uz-DaewooAuto, a joint venture in Asaka, Uzbekistan, leveraging the presence of a large local ethnic Korean minority. Currently, the plant assembles the Matiz and the Nexia for both the local market and export, as well as the Lacetti hatchback and sedan for the domestic market only.


title: Daewoo Motors

text: In 1994, Daewoo acquired the Automobile Craiova company in Craiova, Romania, which was producing a derivate of the Citroën Axel model, the Oltcit Club. The company's name was changed to "Romanian Daewoo Motor", abbreviated "Rodae", and later "Daewoo Automobile Romania". The entire production facility was refurbished to mainly produce the Cielo model and later, other models. Until 2008, it was producing the Daewoo Cielo, Matiz and Nubira models for the Romanian market, but also car parts for export, such as engines and gearboxes to GM Daewoo and to other companies. The factory was acquired by the Romanian government and sold to Ford in 2007 (the official agreement was signed on 21 March 2008). The production of Daewoo models was stopped in May 2008, and Daewoo Automobile Romania became Ford Romania.


title: Daewoo Motors

text: Daewoo also invested into Poland's Fabryka Samochodów Osobowych (FSO) in 1995, forming a joint venture called Daewoo-FSO, for the assembly of the Matiz city car, a successor of the Tico, that was very popular in the Eastern European market. Since January 2005, FSO began to produce Matiz and Lanos under their own trademark.


title: Daewoo Motors

text: When making a joint venture with the Polish company Fabryka Samochodów Ciężarowych (FSC) in 1995, Daewoo also created "Daewoo Motor Polska" which produced the Daewoo Lublin van and the Daewoo Honker pick-up truck, based on the former Tarpan Honker. Daewoo Motor Polska and the British van manufacturer LDV developed together during this period of time the Maxus van and, after Daewoo Group's bankruptcy, LDV secured the exclusive rights to the vehicle, purchased the tooling and moved it from Daewoo's plant in Poland to the LDV site in Birmingham. FSC was then sold by Daewoo's new parent company General Motors to the British investment group Intrall and the Honker's design to the Polish company Andoria-Mot.


title: Daewoo Motors

text: In 1998, Daewoo Motor bought 50.2% of Avia, a Czech automotive company. The year after, the trade name of the Company was changed to Daewoo-Avia. In the same year, the company became the exclusive importer and distributor of Daewoo vehicles for the Czech Republic, and started manufacturing the Polish Lublin van and the new Avia D60/90 series truck range. General Motors' buyout plan did not include Daewoo-Avia in 2001. In the year 2005, the company was overtaken by the investment group Odien Capital Partners and in October 2006, the division of light trucks moved under the concern of Ashok Leyland of India, becoming Avia Ashok Leyland Motors Company (AALM).


title: Daewoo Motors

text: In 1998, the low-volume assembly of the Lanos, Nubira and the Leganza started in Taganrog, Russia, at the TagAZ-Doninvest factory The cars were sold on the local market under the Doninvest brand, as the Assol, Orion and Kondor respectively. The project did not have much success, so TagAZ turned to Citroën to produce the Berlingo, and Hyundai to produce the Accent.


title: Daewoo Motors

text: Following the General Motors buyout in 2002, Daewoo lost interest in its overseas assets. The deals on supplies of pre-assembled CKD kits ended in 2005 and the facilities were forced to rely on their own production capabilities from that point on.


title: Daewoo Motors

text: In Europe, Daewoo Motor started selling the Espero and the Cielo (or Nexia) from the beginning of 1995, and achieved reasonable sales success, particularly with British buyers, where Daewoo proved popular largely due to its competitive prices and revolutionary dealership network, where cars were sold at fixed prices with a revolutionary aftersales service which included free servicing for three years. In 1996, it gained a 1% share of the new car market in Britain with some 20,000 sales.


title: Daewoo Motors

text: The European Daewoo range was updated in 1997 with the launch of the Lanos, Nubira and Leganza from 1997. The Matiz city car was released in 1998, and was a great success for the company, most notably in non-Asian countries such as Italy, where it won many awards such as the Car of the Year award three times in a row, in 1998, 1999 and 2000.


title: Daewoo Motors

text: The Rezzo (or Tacuma), Evanda (Magnus) and Kalos models were then released, before the SsangYong-based SUVs : Korando, Musso and Rexton. After the General Motors buyout, the Daewoo models received a new badge, and were sold under the Daewoo name until 2003. The Lacetti was the last car to bear a Daewoo badge in Europe. The other Daewoo models were later rechristened as Chevrolets.


title: Daewoo Motors

text: Daewoo cars were also available in the United States and Canada between 1997 and 2002, Australia and many other countries, until Daewoo's bankruptcy. Since Daewoo's withdrawal from many markets, the Lanos was replaced with Chevrolet's as the Aveo, whereas the Nubira and Leganza were given replacements from either the Chevrolet or Suzuki brands.


title: Daewoo Motors

text: In January 2005, the Chevrolet brand was introduced in Europe, the whole Daewoo range being simply re-badged as Chevrolet. General Motors' official tagline was that:


title: Daewoo Motors

text: It was also considered that this new name was an opportunity for Daewoo to become stronger. Unofficially, after Daewoo's bankruptcy, former chairman Kim Woo-Choong's escape and most notably the "Daewoo Affaire" in France (closure and conflagration of the Daewoo-Orion Electronics plant in Longwy, France), the Daewoo brand name had a very bad image, so that GM simply decided to extend the Chevrolet strategy that was already used in most other markets (Canada, India, Israel, Russia) since 2003 to create a real global brand, replacing the Daewoo "dual kidney" with the Chevrolet "bowtie".


title: Daewoo Motors

text: The Winstorm and Tosca were presented as the Chevrolet Captiva and the Chevrolet Epica. Some of the former Daewoo models changed their names after the re-branding decision. Examples are the Matiz which became Chevrolet Spark in some markets (although Chevrolet Matiz was also used), or the Kalos which became the Aveo (alongside the Chevrolet Kalos in other countries). Later, the tendency went towards a uniformisation in the Chevrolet Europe range: the Spark and the Cruze bear the same model names throughout all European markets.


title: Daewoo Motors

text: However, besides in South Korea, the Daewoo brand continued to exist in some overseas markets several years after its replacement with Chevrolet, particularly in those countries where Daewoo Motors' former facilities were not part of the General Motors take over plan. Examples of markets where it continued to be used for former Daewoo models are Romania (Daewoo Automobile Romania, until 2008), Ukraine (ZAZ, licensed production, under the Daewoo brand until 2012), Egypt (Daewoo Motor Egypt, until 2012) and, as an exception, Vietnam (Vietnam-Daewoo Motor, which was a wholly owned subsidiary of GM Daewoo, produced models under the Daewoo brand until 2011, when it was discontinued in South Korea).


title: Daewoo Motors

text: Furthermore, the brand continued to exist in Uzbekistan (as Uz-DaewooAuto) until 2015, whereas in Poland the Daewoo models continued to be produced (under the Fabryka Samochodów Osobowych) until 2008.


title: Daewoo Motors

text: "Daewoo Performance Automobiles" was the performance car division of GM Daewoo. Like Holden's HSV, the company modified GM Daewoo models in South Korea and marketed them under the "DPA" brandname.


title: Ramones (album)

text: Ramones is the debut studio album by American punk rock band The Ramones, released on April 23, 1976, by Sire Records. After "Hit Parader" editor Lisa Robinson saw the band at a gig in New York City, she wrote about them in an article and contacted Danny Fields, insisting that he be their manager. Fields agreed and convinced Craig Leon to produce "Ramones", and the band recorded a demo for prospective record labels. Leon persuaded Sire president Seymour Stein to listen to the band perform, and he later offered the band a recording contract. The Ramones began recording in January 1976, needing only seven days and $6,400 to record the album.


title: Ramones (album)

text: The album cover, photographed by "Punk" magazine's Roberta Bayley, features the four members leaning against a brick wall in New York City. The record company paid only $125 for the front photo, which has since become one of the most imitated album covers of all time. The back cover depicts an eagle belt buckle along with the album's liner notes. After its release, "Ramones" was promoted with two singles, which failed to chart. The Ramones also began touring to help sell records; these tour dates were mostly based in the United States, though two were booked in Britain.


title: Ramones (album)

text: Violence, drug use, relationship issues, humor, and Nazism were prominent in the album's lyrics. The album opens with "Blitzkrieg Bop", which is among the band's most recognized songs. Most of the album's tracks are uptempo, with many songs measuring at well over 160 beats per minute. The songs are also rather short; at two-and-a-half minutes, "I Don't Wanna Go Down to the Basement" is the album's longest track. "Ramones" contains a cover of the Chris Montez song "Let's Dance".


title: Ramones (album)

text: "Ramones" was unsuccessful commercially, peaking at number 111 on the US "Billboard" 200, though it received glowing reviews from critics. Many later deemed it a highly influential record, and it has since received many accolades, such as the top spot on "Spin" magazine's list of the "50 Most Essential Punk Records". "Ramones" is considered an influential punk album in the US and UK, and had a significant impact on other genres of rock music, such as grunge and heavy metal. The album was ranked at number 33 in "Rolling Stone"s 2003 list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, maintaining the ranking in a 2012 revision and dropping to number 47 in the 2020 reboot of the list. It was placed first in the "Rolling Stone" 100 Best Debut Albums of All Time list in 2022. It was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America in 2014.


title: Ramones (album)

text: Ramones began playing gigs in mid-1974, with their first show at Performance Studios in New York City. The band, performing in a style similar to the one used on their debut album, typically performed at clubs in downtown Manhattan, specifically CBGB and Max's Kansas City. In early 1975, Lisa Robinson, an editor of "Hit Parader" and "Rock Scene", saw the fledgling Ramones performing at CBGB and subsequently wrote about the band in several magazine issues. The group's vocalist Joey Ramone related that "Lisa came down to see us, she was blown away by us. She said that we changed her life; she started writing about us in "Rock Scene", and then Lenny Kaye would write about us and we started getting more press like "The Village Voice". Word was getting out, and people starting coming down." Convinced that the band needed a recording contract, Robinson contacted Danny Fields, former manager of the Stooges, and argued that he needed to manage the band. Fields agreed because the band "had everything [he] ever liked," and became the manager in November 1975.


title: Ramones (album)

text: On September 19, 1975, Ramones recorded a demo at 914 Sound Studios, which was produced by Marty Thau. Featuring the songs "Judy Is a Punk" and "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend", the band used the demo to showcase their style to prospective labels. Producer Craig Leon, who had seen the Ramones perform in the summer of 1975, brought the demo to the attention of Sire Records' president Seymour Stein. After being persuaded by Craig Leon and his ex-wife Linda Stein, Ramones auditioned at Sire and were offered a contract, although the label had previously signed only European progressive rock bands. Drummer Tommy Ramone recalled: "Craig Leon is the one who got us signed, single handed. He brought down the vice president and all these people—he's the only hip one in the company. He risked his career to get us on the label." The label offered to release "You're Gonna Kill That Girl" as a single, but the band declined, insisting on recording an entire album. Sire accepted their request and agreed to release a studio album instead.


title: Ramones (album)

text: In January 1976 the band took a break from their live performances to prepare for recording at Plaza Sound studio. Sessions began later that month and were completed within a week for $6,400; the instruments took three days and the vocal parts were recorded in four days. In 2004, Leon admitted that they recorded "Ramones" quickly due to budget restrictions, but also that it was all the time they needed.


title: Ramones (album)

text: The band applied microphone placement techniques similar to those which many orchestras used. The recording process was a deliberate exaggeration of the techniques used by the Beatles in the early 1960s, with a four-track representation of the devices. The guitars can be heard separately on the stereo channels—electric bass on the left channel, rhythm guitar on the right—drums and vocals are mixed in the middle of the stereo mix. The mixing of the production also used more modern techniques such as overdubbing, a technique used by studios to add a supplementary recorded sound to the material. The band also used a technique known as doubling, where the vocal line used is sung twice.


title: Ramones (album)

text: Recording for the album was expanded by Mickey Leigh (Joey's brother) and Leon with percussion effects, which went unmentioned in the liner notes to the album's release. Author Nicholas Rombes said that the production's quality sounded like "the ultimate do-it-yourself, amateur, reckless ethic that is associated with punk," but concluded that they approached the recording process with a "high degree of preparedness and professionalism."


title: Ramones (album)

text: The songs on "Ramones" addressed several lyrical themes including violence, male prostitution, drug use, and Nazism. While the moods displayed in the album were often dark, Johnny said that when writing the lyrics they were not "trying to be offensive." Many songs from the album have backing vocals from different guests. Leigh sang backing vocals on "Judy Is a Punk", "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend", and in the bridge of "Blitzkrieg Bop". Tommy sang backing vocals on "I Don't Wanna Walk Around with You", "Judy Is a Punk", and during the bridge of "Chain Saw". The album's engineer, Rob Freeman, sang backing vocals for the final refrain of "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend". Leon wrote in the booklet for the album's 2016 reissue that when layered background vocals appear on the album, they are primarily Freeman's contributions combined with some of Leon and Dee Dee's, and a great deal by Leigh, "all compiled and compressed to create an effective cyborg backing vocal creature." The album's length is 29 minutes and four seconds and it contains 14 tracks. On the original issue of the album, all the original songs were credited to "the Ramones" collectively.


title: Ramones (album)

text: The opening "Blitzkrieg Bop" was written by Tommy, and originally named "Animal Hop". Once Dee Dee reviewed the lyrics, the band changed the wording, the name, and partially the theme. According to Tommy, the song's original concept was about "kids going to a show and having a good time", but the theme became more Nazi-related after its revision. The piece begins with an instrumental interval which lasts about 20 seconds. At the 20th second, the guitar and bass cease, marking Joey's first line, "Hey ho, let's go!" The bass and guitar gradually rebuild and become "full–force" once all the instruments play together in ensemble. The piece resolves by repeating what is played from 0:22–0:33. Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic described "Blitzkrieg Bop" as a "three-chord assault."


title: Ramones (album)

text: "Beat on the Brat" was said by Joey to have origins relating to the upper class of New York City. Dee Dee, however, explained that the song was about how Joey saw a mother "going after a kid with a bat in his [apartment building's] lobby and wrote a song about it."


title: Ramones (album)

text: "Judy Is a Punk" – written around the same time as "Beat on the Brat" — was written by Joey after he walked by Thorny Croft, an apartment building "where all the kids in the neighborhood hung out on the rooftop and drank." The song's lyrics are fictional and refer to two juvenile offenders in Berlin and San Francisco and their possible deaths at the conclusion of the song. "Judy Is a Punk" is the original album's shortest track at 1:39; it is partially derived from the Burl Ives 1953 folk song, “There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly”.


title: Ramones (album)

text: "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" – the album's slowest song – was solely written by Tommy and pays homage to love songs by pop music acts of the 1960s. The song used a 12-string guitar, glockenspiel, and tubular bells in its composition, and was said by author Scott Schinder to be an "unexpected romantic streak".


title: Ramones (album)

text: "Chain Saw" opens with the sound of a running circular saw and was influenced by the 1974 horror film "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre". At nearly 180 beats per minute, "Chain Saw" had the fastest tempo of the album's songs and, according to Rombes, is the most "home-made" sounding.


title: Ramones (album)

text: "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue" contains four lines of minimalist lyrics that depict youthful boredom and inhaling solvent vapors found in glue. "I hope no one thinks we really sniff glue," said Dee Dee. "I stopped when I was eight [years old]." Dee Dee also explained that its concept came from adolescent trauma. After several songs by the Ramones whose titles began with "I Don't Want to ...", Tommy said that "Now I Want to Sniff Some Glue" is the first positive piece on the album. The song served as an inspiration for one of the first punk fanzines, Mark Perry's "Sniffin' Glue".


title: Ramones (album)

text: "I Don't Wanna Go Down to the Basement" is also minimalist, and inspired by horror movies. The entire text is composed of three lines, and the composition was based on three major chords. With a playing time of 2:35, it is the longest piece on the album. (Asked about the bathroom at CBGB, Debbie Harry remarked: "I think that song from the Ramones is partially about that: 'I don't wanna go down to the basement ... ' As kids, we never wanted to go down to the basement cos it was so dark and scary. And that toilet was certainly very scary.")


title: Ramones (album)

text: "Loudmouth" has six major chords and is harmonically complex. The song's lyrics are — depending on the reading and punctuation — a single row or four very brief lines.


title: Ramones (album)

text: "Havana Affair" has a lyrical concept incorporating the comic strip "Spy vs. Spy" by Cuban-born illustrator Antonio Prohias. At roughly 170 beats per minute, "Loudmouth" and "Havana Affair" proceed at about the same tempo.


title: Ramones (album)

text: "Havana Affair" segues into "Listen to My Heart" – the first of many Ramones songs to voice an ironic and pessimistic perspective on a failing or failed relationship.


title: Ramones (album)

text: Written solely by Dee Dee, the lyrics of "53rd & 3rd" concern a male prostitute ("rent boy"), waiting at the corner of 53rd Street and Third Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. When the prostitute gets a customer, he kills the customer with a razor to prove he is not a homosexual. In interviews, Dee Dee described the piece as autobiographical. "The song speaks for itself," Dee Dee commented in an interview. "Everything I write is autobiographical and written in a very real way, I can't even write." Johnny insisted that the song is about "Dee Dee turning tricks." The half-sung and half-shouted bridge in "53rd and 3rd" are performed by Dee Dee, whose voice is described by author Cyrus Patell as what "breaks the deliberate aural monotony of the song and emphasizes the violence of the lyric."


title: Ramones (album)

text: "Let's Dance" is a cover version of the hit song by Chris Montez, featuring Leon playing Radio City's large Wurlitzer pipe organ.


title: Ramones (album)

text: "I Don't Want to Walk Around with You" consists of two lyric lines and three major chords. One of the group's earliest compositions, written at the beginning of 1974, it was the opener on their first demo.


title: Ramones (album)

text: "I Don't Wanna Walk Around with You" segues into the closing track "Today Your Love, Tomorrow the World", which refers to a Hitler Youth member. Seymour Stein complained about its original lyrics — "I'm a Nazi, baby, I'm a Nazi, yes I am. I'm a Nazi Schatze, y'know I fight for the Fatherland" — insisting the track was offensive. When he threatened to remove the track from the album, the band put together alternate lyrics: "I'm a shock trooper in a stupor, yes I am. I'm a Nazi Schatze, y'know I fight for the Fatherland." Stein accepted the revision and it was duly released.


title: Ramones (album)

text: Initially, the Ramones wanted an album cover similar to "Meet the Beatles!" (1964) and subsequently had pictures taken in that style by Danny Fields but Sire was dissatisfied with the results. The art direction was by Toni Wadler and, according to cartoonist John Holmstrom, the "Meet The Beatles" cover idea came out "horribly". Wadler later chose a photo by Roberta Bayley, a photographer for "Punk" magazine for the cover. The black and white photograph on the front of the album was originally in an issue of "Punk".


title: Ramones (album)

text: The cover photo features (from left to right) Johnny, Tommy, Joey and Dee Dee Ramone, staring at the camera with blank faces. They are all wearing ripped/faded blue jeans and leather jackets, standing upright against the brick wall of a private community garden called Albert's Garden, located in the Bowery neighborhood of New York City between the Bowery and Second Street. The stance of the group members in the photograph would influence their future cover designs as well, with the majority of their succeeding albums using a picture of the band on the front cover. Music historian Legs McNeil states that "Tommy [is] standing on his tip-toes and Joey [is] hunched over a bit." The back cover art, which depicts a belt buckle with a bald eagle and the band's logo, was designed by Arturo Vega. Liner notes on the back cover fail to acknowledge backing vocalists and additional instrument players. Leigh, who performed backing vocals on several tracks, asked guitarist Johnny why he was not mentioned on the record's credits. Johnny replied: "We didn't want people to get confused with who's in the band or who's not. It's our first album, you know, and we didn't want people to get confused."


title: Ramones (album)

text: The artwork became one of the most imitated album covers in music. The image of a band in front of a brick wall dressed in ripped jeans and leather jackets was copied by Alvin and the Chipmunks in "Chipmunk Punk". "Ramones"s artwork was ranked number 58 on "Rolling Stone"s 1991 list of 100 Greatest Album Covers.


title: Ramones (album)

text: There were two singles released from the album: "Blitzkrieg Bop" and "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend". The first was released in February 1976, originally as a 7" split single with "Havana Affair" as its B-side. The release, along with the "Ramones" 2001 Expanded Edition, featured "Blitzkrieg Bop" remixed as a single version, although it maintains a time of two minutes and twelve seconds. On January 6, 2004, Rhino Entertainment re-released "Blitzkrieg Bop" as a CD single, using "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker" as its B-side. "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" was released in September 1976 as a 7" single. It included live versions of "California Sun" and "I Don't Wanna Walk Around with You" as B-sides, recorded at the Roxy Theater in West Hollywood in August 1976. "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" was also released in the UK, giving the band a presence in the European marketplace. Even though the song saw some success in the UK and Europe, it failed to chart in the top 50.


title: Ramones (album)

text: In 1974 the band played 30 performances, nearly all at the New York-based club CBGB. All but one of the band's 1975 gigs were booked for New York City, with Waterbury, Connecticut as the exception. After the album's recording, the Ramones headlined for very few shows, usually opening for an identified cover band which played Aerosmith and Boston. When they opened at Brockton, Massachusetts, the audience appeared extremely uninterested in the Ramones so Johnny swore off playing as an introduction for other bands. Following this, Fields booked several headlining shows around the Tri-state area, and they began playing frequently at gigs like CBGB and Max's Kansas City. After performing with Blondie in New Jersey, they continued their tour to Boston, Massachusetts for three shows. Leigh later said of the tour:


title: Ramones (album)

text: At the time, Leigh was road manager, stage manager, chauffeur, and head of security. Vega, who contributed to the album's packaging, helped out with the road crew as much as possible. Tommy's friend Monte Melnick occasionally helped with the audio output, but this was typically done by Leigh.


title: Ramones (album)

text: Following their debut album's release, the band performed at over 60 concerts for its promotion. While most of the gigs were booked in North America, two dates—July 4 and 5—were in London's Roundhouse venue and Dingwalls, respectively. Linda Stein pushed to make these events happen, setting up the band performances in the UK during the United States Bicentennial. Fields relates: "On the two-hundredth anniversary of our freedom, we were bringing Great Britain a gift that was forever going to disrupt their sensibilities." The band sold out for their first London performance, with an audience of roughly 3,000. Leigh described the Dingwalls gig as very similar to performances at CBGB. Likewise, these venues in future were headlined by other punk bands like the Clash and Sex Pistols. The band performed over 100 concerts the following year.


title: Ramones (album)

text: "Ramones" was released on April 23, 1976, by Sire Records and received glowing reviews. In May, John Rockwell of the "New York Times" published a rave review, saying: "What the Ramones do is deliver a nonstop set of short, brisk, monochromatically intense songs. ... conventional considerations of pace and variety are thrown calculatedly to the winds. The ingredients are simplicity itself." Rockwell noted: "the effect in the end amounts to an abstraction of rock so pure that other associations get left behind." Nick Kent favourably commented in the "NME": "This record poses a direct threat to any vaguely sensitive woofer and/or tweeter lodged in your hi-fi ...". Reviewing that same month in "The Village Voice", Robert Christgau said that, while the power of the band's music draws from "fairly ominous sources" like Nazi imagery and brutality, he cannot deny the "sheer pleasure" of the music: "For me, it blows everything else off the radio: it's clean the way the Dolls never were, sprightly the way the Velvets never were, and just plain listenable the way Black Sabbath never was." In July, Paul Nelson of "Rolling Stone" wrote in 1976 that the album was similar to early rock and roll, and was constructed using rhythm tracks of great intensity. In August, "Creem" dubbed "The Ramones" as "The most radical album of the past six years", saying: "[it] is so strikingly different, so brazenly out of touch with prevailing modes as to constitute a bold swipe at the status quo." Reviewer Gene Sculatti saw it as "a rock 'n' roll reactionary's manifesto" ... "a sharp wedge between the stale ends of a contemporary music scene bloated with graying superstars and overripe for takeover." Critic Joe S. Harrington declared that the album was a huge landmark for music history, proclaiming that "[it] split the history of rock 'n' roll in half." Theunis Bates, a writer for "Time", summed the album up with: ""Ramones" stripped rock back to its basic elements ... lyrics are very simple, boiled-down declarations of teen lust and need." Bates also said that it "is the ultimate punk statement." Charles M. Young of "Rolling Stone" regarded "Ramones" as "one of the funniest rock records ever made and, if punk continues to gain momentum, a historic turning point." Kris Needs of "ZigZag" declared that the album's "mutant vocals and ultra-simplicity of the music and lyrics do take some getting used to, but once you get past the curiosity stage, the effect can be shattering, especially at high volume" and that it was "impossible to mention highlights, 'cos the whole album's a highlight, geared and stripped down for maximum energy and effect."


title: Ramones (album)

text: Later reviews of "Ramones" tended to praise the album's influence on rock music. In 1995, Jeff Tamarkin of "The AllMusic Guide to Rock" said that the album ignited the punk rock era, writing: "rock's mainstream didn't know what hit it." In 2001, April Long of "NME" rewarded the album with a perfect score, remarking that the Ramones were "arguably the most influential band ever," despite their lack of mainstream acceptance. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of "AllMusic" also deemed the album influential, saying "In comparison to some of the music the album inspired, The Ramones sounds a little tame—it's a little too clean, and compared to their insanely fast live albums, it even sounds a little slow." The album's sound was considered by Erlewine to be "all about speed, hooks, stupidity, and simplicity."


title: Ramones (album)

text: Regardless of this critical acclaim, "Ramones" was not successful commercially. It only reached No. 111 on the US "Billboard" 200, and sold 6,000 units in its first year. Outside the US, the album peaked at No. 48 on the Swedish Sverigetopplistan chart.


title: Ramones (album)

text: The album was included in "Spin" magazine's List of Top Ten College Cult Classics (1995), where it was noted that "everything good that's happened to music in the last fourteen years can be directly traced to the Ramones." Also in 1995, the "Spin Alternative Record Guide" named it the No. 1 alternative rock album. In 2001, the magazine also included the album in its special issue "25 Years of Punk with a list of The 50 Most Essential Punk Records", where it resided at the top spot. That same year, it was named the fourth best punk album by "Mojo", who called it the "coolest, dumbest, simplest, greatest rock'n'roll record ever to be cut by four sweet, dysfunctional screw-ups."


title: Ramones (album)

text: The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the 2002 induction ceremony, with the website stating that their first album changed the rock genre from "bloated and narcissistic", to "basic" rock and roll. In 2003, "Ramones" was considered by "Spin"s Chuck Klosterman, Greg Milner, and Alex Pappademas to be the sixth most influential album of all time. They noted that the album "saved rock from itself and punk rock from art-gallery pretension." "Q" Magazine included the album in their "100 Greatest Albums Ever" (2003) list, where it was listed at No. 74. In 2006, it was chosen by "Time" as one of the 100 greatest albums ever. "Ramones" was included in Chris Smith's 2009 book "101 Albums That Changed Popular Music", who said the album "opened a whole new world of garage rock for those fed up with the excesses of existing rock gods." It was also included in the 2005 book "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die". In 2010, it was ranked as the greatest debut album of the year in 1976. It was placed first in the "Rolling Stone" 100 Best Debut Albums of All Time list in 2022. The album went gold in the US just after its 38th anniversary, certified by the RIAA on April 30, 2014.


title: Ramones (album)

text: In 2016, Rhino Records announced the July 29 release of a 40th-anniversary deluxe edition comprising three CDs and one LP, including stereo and mono mixes of the original album; single mixes, outtakes and demos; and a live 1976 performance.


title: Ramones (album)

text: "Ramones" is considered to have established the musical genre of punk rock, as well as popularizing it years afterward. Rombes wrote that it offered "alienated future rock", and that it "disconnected from tradition." The album was the start of the Ramones' influence on popular music, with examples being genres such as heavy metal, thrash metal, indie pop, grunge, post-punk, and most notably, punk rock. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame said of their influence on rock in general:


title: Ramones (album)

text: Despite the lack of popularity in its era, the importance of the album for the development of punk rock music was incredible, influencing many of the most well-known names in punk rock, including the Damned, the Clash, Black Flag, Misfits, and Green Day. Billie Joe Armstrong, singer for Green Day, explained his reasoning for listening to the band: "they had songs that just stuck in your head, just like a hammer they banged right into your brain." The album also had a great impact on the English punk scene as well, with the bassist for Generation X, Tony James, saying that the album caused English bands to change their style. "When their album came out," commented James, "all the English groups tripled speed overnight. Two-minute-long songs, very fast." In another interview, James stated that "Everybody went up three gears the day they got that first Ramones album. Punk rock—that rama-lama super fast stuff—is totally down to the Ramones. Bands were just playing in an MC5 groove until then." In 1999, "Classic Albums" by Collins GEM recognized "Ramones" as the start of English punk rock and called it the fastest and hardest music that could possibly be concocted, stating: "The songs within were a short, sharp exercise in vicious speed-thrash, driven by ferocious guitars and yet halting in an instant. It was the simple pop dream taken to its minimalist extreme." In 2012 the album was preserved by the National Recording Registry, deeming it "culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant."


title: Ramones (album)

text: Each song on "Ramones" has been covered by various bands. Sonic Youth covered "Beat on the Brat" on their 1987 EP "Master=Dik", as did Weird Al Yankovic on the "Dr. Demento Covered in Punk" LP (2018). In 1991, German punk band Die Toten Hosen played "Blitzkrieg Bop" on their cover album "Learning English, Lesson One". A tribute album titled "" was released on August 30, 1991. It contained the songs "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue", "53rd & 3rd", "I Don't Wanna Go Down to the Basement", "Loudmouth", and "Beat on the Brat". Screeching Weasel released "Ramones" (1992), which consisted of the band performing the entire album track list. 1998's "" featured a cover "Judy Is a Punk" in German, and in 2000, both "Blitzkrieg Bop" and "Beat on the Brat" appeared on Dee Dee Ramone's solo release "Greatest & Latest". The compilation album "Ramones Maniacs" included Youth Gone Mad's version of "Blitzkrieg Bop" (featuring a guest appearance by Dee Dee Ramone) and Yogurt's rendition of "Beat on the Brat". "Blitzkrieg Bop", "Havana Affair", "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend", and "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue" were all covered on "The Song Ramones the Same". "" (2003) featured several of the album's songs covered by bands like Red Hot Chili Peppers ("Havana Affair"), Rob Zombie ("Blitzkrieg Bop"), Metallica ("53rd & 3rd"), U2 ("Beat on the Brat"), Pete Yorn ("I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend"), and John Frusciante ("Today Your Love, Tomorrow the World"). In 2006, "Blitzkrieg Bop" was reworked into a children's song on the album "".


title: Ramones (album)

text: All tracks originally credited to the Ramones (except "Let's Dance"). Actual writers are listed alongside the tracks.


title: Nightbreed

text: Nightbreed is a 1990 American dark fantasy horror film written and directed by Clive Barker, based on his 1988 novella "Cabal". It stars Craig Sheffer, Anne Bobby, David Cronenberg, Charles Haid, Hugh Quarshie, and Doug Bradley. The film follows an unstable mental patient named Aaron Boone who is falsely led to believe by his doctor that he is a serial killer. Tracked down by the police, his doctor, and his girlfriend Lori, Boone eventually finds refuge in an abandoned cemetery called Midian among a tribe of monsters and outcasts known as the "Nightbreed" who hide from humanity.


title: Nightbreed

text: At the time of its release, the film was a commercial and critical failure. In several interviews, Barker protested that the film company tried to sell it as a standard slasher film, and that the powers-that-be had no real working knowledge of "Nightbreed"s story. Since its initial theatrical release, "Nightbreed" has become a cult film.


title: Nightbreed

text: Over time, Barker expressed disappointment with the final cut approved by the studio and always longed for the recovery of the reels so the film might be re-edited. In 2014, original film elements for the cut material were re-obtained and were edited into a director's cut, released through Scream Factory.


title: Nightbreed

text: In Calgary, Aaron Boone dreams of Midian, a city where monsters are accepted. At the request of girlfriend Lori Winston, Boone is seeing psychotherapist Dr. Phillip Decker, a serial killer who convinces Boone that he committed Decker's murders. Decker drugs Boone with LSD disguised as lithium and orders Boone to turn himself in. Before he can do so, Boone is struck by a truck and taken to a hospital. There, Boone overhears the rants of Narcisse, a seemingly insane man who seeks to enter Midian. Convinced that Boone is there to test him, Narcisse gives Boone directions to the hidden city before tearing the skin off his face in order to show his "true" face. He is quickly subdued by hospital staff, and Boone leaves.


title: Nightbreed

text: Boone makes his way to Midian, a city beneath a massive graveyard in the middle of nowhere. Upon encountering supernatural creatures Kinski and Peloquin, Kinski says they should bring him below, but Peloquin refuses to allow in a normal human. Boone claims to be a murderer, but Peloquin smells his innocence and attacks him. Boone escapes, only to encounter a squad of police officers led by Decker. Boone is gunned down after Decker tricks the police into believing Boone is armed. Due to Peloquin's bite, Boone returns to life in the morgue. When he returns to Midian, he finds Narcisse there and is inducted into their society by the Nightbreed's leader, Dirk Lylesburg. In an initiation ceremony, Boone is touched by the blood of their deity, Baphomet.


title: Nightbreed

text: Seeking to understand why Boone left her, Lori investigates Midian. She befriends a woman named Sheryl Anne and drives to the cemetery with her. Leaving Sheryl Anne at the car, Lori explores the cemetery, where she finds a dying wolf-like creature. A woman named Rachel (a nightbreed with the power to transform into smoke) pleads from the shadows for Lori to take it out of the sunlight. Once in the shadows, it transforms into a little girl, Rachel's daughter Babette. Lori asks about Boone but is rebuffed by Lylesburg and scared off by Peloquin. While leaving the cemetery, Lori discovers Sheryl Anne's corpse and her killer, Decker. Decker attempts to use Lori to draw Boone out of hiding. Boone rescues Lori, and Decker learns Boone cannot be killed due to his transformation. Decker escapes, and Boone takes Lori into Midian. Rachel explains to Lori that the monsters of folklore were peaceful beings who were hunted to near-extinction by humans. Lylesburg banishes Boone and Lori from Midian. Decker learns how to kill the Nightbreed and murders the residents of the hotel where Boone and Lori are staying. When Boone discovers the crime scene, he uncontrollably drinks the blood. The police find Boone and take him into custody. At Decker's urging, the police form a militia led by Police Captain Eigerman. A drunken priest named Ashberry joins them as God's servant in their upcoming battle against Midian. Lori, Rachel and Narcisse rescue Boone, and the four return to Midian, where Boone convinces the Nightbreed to fight.


title: Nightbreed

text: During the battle, Ashberry learns there are women and children amongst the Nightbreed. When he tries halting the attack, he is beaten by Eigerman. Ashberry finds the idol of Baphomet and swears allegiance to it. When he is splashed by its blood, he is burned and transformed. Boone learns from Lylesburg that Baphomet plans to destroy Midian. Boone argues to release the Berserkers, a monstrous feral breed that were imprisoned due to their insanity. When Lylesburg is killed before he can open the cages, Boone releases them and the Berserkers turn the tide of battle. Decker confronts Boone and is killed. When Boone faces Baphomet, Baphomet says that Boone has caused the end of Midian, which had been foretold. Baphomet charges Boone with finding a new home for the Nightbreed and renames him Cabal.


title: Nightbreed

text: Boone leaves Midian with Lori and meets with the remaining Nightbreed in a barn, where he says his goodbyes to Narcisse and promises to find a place where they will be safe. In the ruins of Midian, Ashberry stands in front of Decker's corpse and states that he wants vengeance on Baphomet and the Breed. When he presses Baphomet's blood to Decker's wound, Decker springs back to life with a scream as Ashberry repeatedly hollers "Hallelujah!".


title: Nightbreed

text: In the alternative ending used in "The Cabal Cut" and "Director's Cut" of the film, Narcisse is killed earlier in the battle by Decker, so he is not present during the subsequent events. The Nightbreed await Boone in a barn whilst Boone says his goodbyes to Lori, as he must find a new home for the Nightbreed. Boone promises to return to her, but knowing that Boone will retain his youth and immortality as she grows old, Lori suddenly stabs herself, forcing Boone to resurrect her as a Nightbreed. They profess their love for one another and begin their journey.


title: Nightbreed

text: Meanwhile, Captain Eigerman wanders the underground remains of the cemetery, where he stumbles upon the transformed Ashberry, who longs for revenge after his burning by Baphomet. Eigerman shares this desire, but Ashberry rejects Eigerman's offer, kills him, and starts his hunt for the Nightbreed.


title: Nightbreed

text: The surviving Nightbreed watch Boone and Lori in the distance. Rachel tells Babette that Boone will return soon, perhaps the next day, to lead them to a new haven. Boone and Lori now appear together as part of a prophecy in a Nightbreed painting.


title: Nightbreed

text: "Nightbreed" has been characterized as containing themes related to queerness and the LGBT community. In 1997, author Harry M. Benshoff called it, "One of the first horror films to make an explicit connection between monsters and the activist politics of the queer community".


title: Nightbreed

text: Filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky called "Nightbreed" "the first truly gay horror fantasy epic", explaining how the unconsummated relationship between doctor and patient is in his view the central theme. In 2015, Tyler Coates of "Decider" called Jodorowsky's interpretation of the characters' relationship as being "only the tip of the iceberg and, I'd argue, a red herring"; Coates focuses instead on the presence of queer subtext "blatantly seen in the Nightbreed's culture", writing that, "Because normalcy is subjective and based solely on how the majority defines it, it's important to establish mini-societies and cultures with people like you."


title: Nightbreed

text: In 2019, Trace Thurman of "Bloody Disgusting" wrote that the Nightbreed as depicted in the film "represent queerness, or any fill-in-the-blank 'Other' you can think of." Noting that, beyond writer-director Clive Barker being "one of the most famous queer horror artists of our time [...] The narrative itself is filled to the brim with queerness and serves as an allegory for intolerance. Can anyone watch "Nightbreed" and not automatically associate the titular creatures with queer people? They've been outcast by society and are deemed as dangerous by the 'normal' people. The climax of the film culminates in an assault on the Nightbreed's home base of Midian as the 'normies' would rather kill all of them as opposed to understand them." That same year, Leigh Monson of "Birth. Movies. Death." wrote that the director's cut of the film "places on display the full scope of a narrative that is a broad and potent allegory for the persecution of the queer community."


title: Nightbreed

text: In 2021, "The A.V. Club"s Charles Bramesco also examined the presence of queer themes in the film's director's cut, writing that some of its homoerotic subtext was initially removed when executives at 20th Century Fox demanded that the film be trimmed during its post-production. Bramesco argued, "They were blind to the subtext of this community as a home for misfits, where the placeless Boone—who doesn't seem all that interested in sex with his torch-singing girlfriend—can find an accepting family. The director's cut allows us more time with the creatures and ups their number, emphasizing that they're only fearsome to those afraid of difference."


title: Nightbreed

text: Barker always loved monsters and felt that "there's a corner of all of us that envies their powers and would love to live forever, or to fly, or to change shape at will. So, when I came to make a movie about monsters, I wanted to create a world we'd feel strangely at home in". He was interested in creating a "horror mythology from the ground up" and developing characters that would live on in sequels. As he finished writing the novella "Cabal", he realized that it would make a good film that he would direct himself. He originally envisioned a trilogy of films.


title: Nightbreed

text: "Nightbreed" was the first of a planned three-picture deal Barker had with Morgan Creek, Joe Roth's production company, that included an adaptation of "Son of Celluloid" and a sequel to "Nightbreed". The first compromise Barker made was to change the title of the film from "Cabal" to "Nightbreed" because Morgan Creek insisted on a more commercial title and thought that the original one did not mean anything. He was given a budget of $11 million, which was a considerable increase from the $2 million he had to work with on "Hellraiser". His goal was to make the "Star Wars" of horror films. The monsters in the book are represented impressionistically over two or three paragraphs and the challenge Barker faced was to visualize them in much greater detail for the film.


title: Nightbreed

text: For the film, Barker used three soundstages at Pinewood Studios shooting some scenes on location at Wexham Park Hospital, Slough, Berkshire, UK over several nights and in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Bob Keen and his crew had two months to play around with ideas before doing any modeling work. They used computer-controlled animatronics but only where necessary. Towards the end of principal photography, Barker brought "Star Wars" concept artist Ralph McQuarrie in to paint mattes for the Necropolis sequences and design the history of the Breed in a symbolic way on an enormous mural across a 60-foot space on the set at Pinewood to be used in the opening credits.


title: Nightbreed

text: During an interview in 2022 on The Ghost of Hollywood, cinematographer Robin Vidgeon, mentioned that he disliked working with David Cronenberg, stating Cronenberg complained to Clive that he was being usurp.


title: Nightbreed

text: Barker was contractually obligated to deliver an R-rated film and could not make it as gory as his previous picture "Hellraiser". Barker previewed the first cut of "Nightbreed" with a temporary soundtrack that did not go well, as people were confused by the characters' motives. He made some changes and the second test screening was much more successful. However, the ending with Decker's death was not well received and Barker changed it. In late July 1989, the studio pushed the release date for "Nightbreed" from its original autumn 1989 date to early February 1990 instead. The press release cited "the complex demands of the film's ground-breaking post-production optical effects", but this also included McQuarrie's mural and matte paintings, and a week of additional shooting in late August that would see key parts of the narrative re-shot. Barker shot extra scenes over three days in Los Angeles in late 1989 which included additional scenes with David Cronenberg which expanded and clarified his character. Barker's original version ran two-and-a-half hours and Fox asked for almost an hour to be cut prompting editor Richard Marden to leave the project in protest. "Nightbreed" was cut to two hours and then again to 102 minutes.


title: Nightbreed

text: The score was composed by Danny Elfman and conducted by Shirley Walker, who also wrote the additional cue "Charge of the Berserkers" for the film's climax and received an onscreen credit. Elfman said of his score: "Once again it was time for me to stretch out... Combining dark/fun/sweet/tribal all into one. The great joy in the score for me, other than working for Clive Barker, was being able to use the children's voices and a whole slew of ethnic drums and instruments together with an orchestra, in an attempt to bring a unique musical tone to the film". Barker said "Danny is an extraordinary talent. The most uncompromised portion of that entire movie is the score".


title: Nightbreed

text: In an article on Elfman, described as a rising composer in Hollywood who had just scored Tim Burton's "Batman" and was about to score Warren Beatty's "Dick Tracy", "Entertainment Weekly"s Ron Givens noted that "Nightbreed" wouldn't get as much attention as these two big-budget movies, yet Givens praised Elfman's "needle-sharp crescendos and creepy choral plainchants" and added: "Seldom has scary-movie music been so spiritual".


title: Nightbreed

text: The song "Country Skin" is a country-and-western rendition of the Oingo Boingo song "Skin" (which appears on the 1990 album "Dark at the End of the Tunnel"), it was written by Elfman and performed by country singer Michael Stanton. It can be heard in the film, played on a radio. It was available as a bonus track on the CD and cassette version of the soundtrack.


title: Nightbreed

text: According to Barker, the studio did not promote it well with posters that misinterpreted the content. When he saw the way they were selling "Nightbreed", he freaked out and said: "What you doing? This isn't the movie, and was given all kinds of excuses ... Well, there isn't time to change it, we have to release it now". The head of marketing at Morgan Creek never watched all the way through because it "disgusted and distressed" him, according to Barker. The studio did not understand it, it had no movie stars, it was violent, and it had elements of fantasy and horror which they saw as a weakness while Barker saw it as a strength. They ended up marketing "Nightbreed" as a slasher film with television teasers that were confusing and did not represent it. The trailer was sent to the MPAA and it was rejected 12 times. They forbade any monster footage, and it was cut down to someone being terrorized with a razor, which constituted only five minutes of Barker's film. Looking back, Barker realized that Fox was better at promoting films like "White Men Can't Jump" but "not so good at selling the quirky stuff".


title: Nightbreed

text: The studio argued that there was no point showing "Nightbreed" to critics because the people who see horror films do not read reviews. Therefore, the film had to be sold to the lowest common denominator. They refused to preview the film for critics, a decision which angered Barker.


title: Nightbreed

text: Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports 48% of 33 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating was 5.5 out of 10. The site's consensus states: ""Nightbreed"'s imaginative world-building and startling creature designs are no match for its clumsy, uneven plotting". In his review for the "Toronto Star", Henry Mietkiewicz wrote ""Nightbreed" might have been a monster movie milestone, if Clive Barker's directorial abilities had kept pace with his skill as a master of British horror fiction. Unfortunately, "Nightbreed" probably will be remembered as much for its haphazard plotting and underdeveloped characters as its delightfully daring concept". Derek Malcolm wrote in his review for "The Guardian" that "it is neither direct nor subtle enough as a piece of film-making. It is difficult to suggest that evil is human and monsters have souls within the context of a mountain of special effects. The result is patchy in the extreme and not always capable of transcending a genre that has become less and less intriguing as less and less is left to the imagination".


title: Nightbreed

text: However, "Entertainment Weekly"s Ty Burr gave the film a "B" rating, writing: "From the film's Gothic sets, fantastic makeup, and nightmarish plot line, it's clear that Barker owes as much to Poe and Lovecraft as to classic Hollywood screamers like "Island of Lost Souls". But Barker's most perverse touch is that he makes these creatures the good guys (no wonder the PR flacks were bamboozled). Despite their grotesque appearance, they're a more colorful and engaging bunch than the emissaries of the "normal" world. Barker piles on more subversive subtext than his story can bear — it's a monster movie, after all — but his daft, Grand Guignol vision has real power. The quality that freaked out the studio, Barker's ambition, is precisely what makes "Nightbreed" so impressive".


title: Nightbreed

text: "Nightbreed" was released on February 16, 1990, in 1,488 theaters, grossing $3.7 million on its opening weekend. It went on to make $8.8 million in the United States and Canada and $7 million internationally for a worldwide total of $16 million on an $11 million budget.


title: Nightbreed

text: In 1990, to tie in with the film's box office release, Epic Comics produced a four-issue adaptation of the film, which included significant differences from the finished movie, more closely related to Clive Barker's original script. The comic book continued to run past the end of the film, ultimately stretching to twenty-five issues before it was cancelled. The comic book was initially written by Alan Grant and John Wagner and drawn by Jim Baikie.


title: Nightbreed

text: A two part graphic novel was also produced, "Hellraiser vs Nightbreed: Jihad", which merges the two worlds created by Clive Barker and features the Cenobites as agents of order against their chaotic nemesis the Nightbreed, and the Jihad (Holy War) of extermination that the first wage on the latter.


title: Nightbreed

text: "Nightbreed" returned in 1992, as a short story in the second issue of the four issue "Epic" anthology series.


title: Nightbreed

text: A 12 issue mini-series was published by BOOM! Studios in 2014-2015 following the storyline of the Director's Cut of the film.


title: Nightbreed

text: Two video games based on the film were released shortly after the movie. The games were intended to form a trilogy but due to the poor performance of the first two the third was never made.


title: Nightbreed

text: The first was a traditional action game and was released for the Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC, and for DOS. Loosely following the same plot as the movie, it intersperses various action sequences.


title: Nightbreed

text: The second game was released for the Amiga and ST and for DOS. Also based on the film, there was less action involved as it was more of an interactive movie.


title: Nightbreed

text: Morgan Creek reportedly began developing a television series based on the original film in 2014. In the following year, Morgan Creek announced the sale of the domestic rights to its library of 78 films, but the production company plans to retain the TV rights to "Nightbreed". In June 2018, Syfy, Morgan Creek and Barker teamed up to develop the series. It is being written by Josh Stolberg and directed by Michael Dougherty for SyFy.


title: Nightbreed

text: In 2009, Mark Miller, co-head of Barker's production company, Seraphim Films, helped track down the missing footage that was cut out of the director's cut of "Nightbreed". Miller discovered, after talking to a production executive at the studio, that the footage was never actually lost but readily accessible. When asked, a studio executive said that there was not a big enough audience to warrant the studio spending money on a new, extended cut of the film. A VHS copy of Barker's 145-minute version of the film's mid-1989 workprint was discovered. It did not feature any of the re-shoots of Decker's murders. An extended 159-minute cut version, from another VHS found in July 2009, premiered on March 27, 2010, as part of the HorrorHound Weekend in Indianapolis. This new version adds almost an hour that was cut from the theatrical release, including a song sung by Lori, and more animation. Barker said that he hopes to bring back Danny Elfman to add more music.


title: Nightbreed

text: In early 2012, Russell Cherrington, a senior lecturer in film and video production at the University of Derby, created a composite cut of the film using the footage found on both VHS tapes and a DVD then recently released by Warner Archive Collection, Warner's made-to-order DVD service. This version is the most complete version of Barker's film available and has been dubbed "The Cabal Cut". The cut runs 155 minutes long and was shown at that year's "Mad Monster Party" in North Carolina with actors Craig Sheffer and Anne Bobby attending.


title: Nightbreed

text: The "Mad Monster Party" projection of the "Cabal Cut" led to a renewal of interest among fans, especially on the Internet. A new petition was created and social networks were used to raise awareness for the extended cut and to encourage producers to release it. This would be colloquially known as "Occupy Midian", a term coined by actress Anne Bobby.


title: Nightbreed

text: A Blu-Ray release of the "Cabal Cut" was announced on July 13, 2017, via the Clive Barker Podcast. This release utilized then-restored footage from the Director's Cut and the pre-existing VHS copies, for a total length of 145 minutes. The release features new material and commentary tracks exclusive to that release. Handled by Morgan Creek and Seraphim Films, the Cabal Cut Blu-Ray was released in a limited quantity through Clive Barker's online store.


title: Nightbreed

text: In 2013, Shout! Factory released "The Cabal Cut" on DVD. This version was later clarified to be a brand new director's cut that uses the footage and not the full "Cabal Cut".


title: Nightbreed

text: Shout! Factory released "The Director's Cut" Blu-ray in 2014. This version, overseen by Clive Barker, runs twenty minutes longer than the theatrical version and contains forty minutes of new and altered footage. Shout, with Morgan Creek Entertainment, located the original film elements in the Warner archives to newly restore the sequences. Barker said, "when Scream Factory told me that they found the "Nightbreed" film footage, I was gob-smacked! This is the ultimate validation of choices made by myself and Mark Miller all the way back in 2008". Shout later published a Special Edition Blu-ray / DVD combo pack and a 3-disc limited edition Blu-ray, containing a booklet and the theatrical cut. When the limited edition sold out during pre-orders, Shout! doubled their production run.


title: Puja (Hinduism)

text: Puja or pooja () is a worship ritual performed by Hindus, Buddhists and Jains to offer devotional homage and prayer to one or more deities, to host and honor a guest, or to spiritually celebrate an event. It may honor or celebrate the presence of special guests, or their memories after they die. The word "pūjā" is Sanskrit, and means reverence, honor, homage, adoration, and worship. Puja, the loving offering of light, flowers, and water or food to the divine, is the essential ritual of Hinduism. For the worshipper, the divine is visible in the image, and the divinity sees the worshipper. The interaction between human and deity, between human and guru, is called "darshan", seeing.


title: Puja (Hinduism)

text: In Hindu practice, "puja" is done on a variety of occasions, frequencies, and settings. It may include a daily puja done in the home, or occasional temple ceremonies and annual festivals. In other cases, puja is held to mark a few lifetime events such as the birth of a baby or a wedding, or to begin a new venture. The two main areas where puja is performed are in the home and at temples to mark certain stages of life, events or some festivals such as Durga Puja and Lakshmi Puja. Puja is not mandatory in Hinduism. It may be a routine daily affair for some Hindus, a periodic ritual for some, and rare for other Hindus. In some temples, various pujas may be performed daily at various times of the day; in other temples, they may be occasional.


title: Puja (Hinduism)

text: Puja varies according to the sect, region, occasion, deity honored, and steps followed. In formal "Nigama" ceremonies, a fire may be lit in honor of the god Agni, without an idol or image present. In contrast, in Agama ceremonies, an idol or icon or image of a deity is present. In both ceremonies, a lamp (Diya) or incense stick may be lit while a prayer is chanted or a hymn is sung. Puja is typically performed by a Hindu worshiper alone, though sometimes in the presence of a priest who is well-versed in complex rituals and hymns. In temples and priest-assisted events puja, food, fruits, and sweets may be included as sacrificial offerings to the ceremony or deity, which, after the prayers, becomes "prasad" – food shared by all gathered.


title: Puja (Hinduism)

text: Both Nigama and Agama puja are practiced in Hinduism in India. In Hinduism of Bali Indonesia, Agama puja is most prevalent both inside homes and in temples. Puja is sometimes called " Sembahyang" in Indonesia.


title: Puja (Hinduism)

text: Puja has unclear origins. J. A. B. van Buitenen states that "puja" emerged from yajna rituals, linking it to the "Pravargya" Vedic rite. The "Rigveda" in hymn 8.17 uses the word "Sachipujanayam" (शाचिपूजनायं) in the twelfth verse, where it is an epithet for god Indra in a context of vocative singular "praise". The ancient scholar and Vedic text commentator Sāyana explains the term as a form of "praise, worship, invocation". The "Grhyasutras" use "puj" in the context of rites, as does Sanskrit scholar Panini. However, none of these texts imply "puja" as a form of devotional prayer worship.


title: Puja (Hinduism)

text: According to Natalia Lidova, puja is unlikely to be of Indo-Aryan and Vedic origin because it lacks a Sanskrit root and it also lacks cognate parallels in other Indo-European languages. Its root are probably Dravidian in origin, but the evidence for this alternative hypothesis is also largely missing possibly because devotional worship is not as ancient as Hinduism. Collins states that the roots may be "Pu" (flower) and "ge" (make), or a form of "making flower sacrifice". However, this proposal is problematic because "Pu" comes from an Indo-European root, while "ge" from Dravidian. Charpentier suggests the origin of the word Puja may lie in the Dravidian languages. Two possible Tamil roots have been suggested: "Poosai" "to smear with something" or "(பூ (poo - flower) + செய் (sei - do) = பூசை (poosai))" "to do with flowers". or Telugu roots "( పూ  ( poo - flower) + చేయి (Chey - do)= పూజ (Pooja))"


title: Puja (Hinduism)

text: According to scholars, one of the earliest mentions of "pūjā" is in the Grihya Sutras, which provide rules for domestic rites. These Sutras, dated to be about 500 BC, use the term puja to describe the hospitality to honor priests who were invited to one's home to lead rituals for departed ancestors. As with vedic times, the general concept of puja remained the same, but expanded to welcoming the deity along with the deity's spiritual essence as one's honored guest. The Puranic corpus of literature, dating from about 6th century CE, contain extensive outline on how to perform deity puja ("deva pūjā"). Deity puja thus melds Vedic rites with devotion to deity in its ritual form. As with many others aspects of Hinduism, both Vedic puja and devotional deity puja continued, the choice left to the Hindu.


title: Puja (Hinduism)

text: As a historical practice, "pūjā" in Hinduism, has been modeled around the idea of hosting a deity, or important person, as an honored and dearest guest in the best way one can, given one's resources, and receiving their happiness and blessing in return. Paul Thieme suggests from passages in the "Rāmāyaṇa" that the word "pūjā" referred to the hospitable reception of guests and that the things offered to guests could be offered to the gods and their dwellings. The rituals in question were the "five great sacrifices" or "pañcamahāyajña" recorded in the "Gṛhyasūtra" texts (for this literature, see Kalpa). The development of "pūjā" thus emerged from Vedic domestic traditions and was carried into the temple environment by analogy: just as important guests had long been welcomed in well-to-do homes and offered things that pleased them, so too were the gods welcomed in temple-homes and offered things that pleased them. Copper-plate charters recording grants of lands to temples show that this religious practice was actively encouraged from the mid-4th century.


title: Puja (Hinduism)

text: In the earliest texts describing Vedic puja, the significance of puja was to host the priest so that he could make direct requests to the gods. An example petition prayer made during a Vedic puja, according to Wade Wheelock, is:


title: Puja (Hinduism)

text: In contrast to Vedic pujas, the significance of deity pujas shifted from petitions and external goals to the experience of oneness with the deities and their spiritual essence. It became a form of Yoga whose final result aimed to be the consciousness of god through homage to god. Nevertheless, even with this evolved theoretical spiritual significance, for many people, puja continued to be a vehicle to petition desires and appeals, such as for good health of one's child, speedy recovery from illness, success in venture envisioned or such. In the structure and practice of puja, the mantras and rituals focus on spirituality, and any petitions and appeals are tacked only to the end of the puja.


title: Puja (Hinduism)

text: Zimmer relates puja to yantras, with the rituals helping the devotee focus on the spiritual concepts. Puja in Hinduism, claims Zimmer, is a path and process of transformation of consciousness, where the devotee and the spiritual significance of the deity are brought together. This ritual puja process, in different parts of India, is considered to be liberating, releasing, purifying and a form of Yoga of spirit and emotions.


title: Puja (Hinduism)

text: Puja in Hinduism sometimes involves themes beyond idols or images. Even persons, places, rivers, concrete objects or anything is seen as manifestations of divine reality by some Hindus. The access to the divine is not limited to renunciatory meditation as in yoga school of Hinduism or idols in bhakti school. For some the divine is everywhere, without limit to its form, and a puja to these manifestations signifies the same spiritual meaning to those who choose to offer a prayer to persons, places, rivers, concrete objects or anything else.


title: Puja (Hinduism)

text: Temple ("Mandir") pūjā is more elaborate than the domestic versions and typically done several times a day. They are also performed by a temple priest, or "pujari". In addition, the temple deity (patron god or goddess) is considered a resident rather than a guest, so the "puja" is modified to reflect that; for example the deity is "awakened" rather than "invoked" in the morning. Temple "pujas" vary widely from region to region and for different sects, with devotional hymns sung at Vaishnava temples for example. At a temple "puja", there is often less active participation, with the priest acting on behalf of others.


title: Puja (Hinduism)

text: A full home or temple "puja" can include several traditional "upacaras" or "attendances". The following is an example "puja"; these steps may vary according to region, tradition, setting, or time particularly in ways the deity is hosted. In this example, the deity is invited as a guest, the devotee hosts and takes care of the deity as an honored guest, hymns and food are offered to the deity, after an expression of love and respect the host takes leave and with affection expresses good bye to the deity. Indologist Jan Gonda has identified 16 steps (shodasha upachara) that are common in all varieties of puja:


title: Puja (Hinduism)

text: Archana puja is a brief intercessionary puja on behalf of an individual that can be undertaken after the main puja.


title: Puja (Hinduism)

text: A quick puja has the same structure as acts people would ordinarily perform for a quick reception, hospitality and affectionate interaction with a beloved guest. First the deity is greeted, acknowledged by name and welcomed, sometimes with a "diya" or lighted incense stick. The devotee proceeds to connect with the spiritual manifestation by meditating (a form of "darshan"), or chanting hymns and mantras, then personal prayers follow. After the prayer is finished, the spiritual visitor as the guest is affectionately thanked and greeted goodbye. A quick meditative puja is sometimes offered by some Hindus without an idol or image. According to Chris Fuller, an anthropologist, Hindu texts allow flexibility and abbreviated puja according to the occasion, needs, and personal preferences.


title: Puja (Hinduism)

text: In Hinduism of Bali Indonesia, puja is sometimes called "Sembahyang". The word originates from two words in old Javanese: sembah and hyang. Sembah means to respect and bow down; Hyang means divine, God or Sang Hyang Widhi Wasa, holy man, and ancestors. So to pray means to respect, bow down, surrender to the divine and ancestors.


title: Puja (Hinduism)

text: Sembahyang (Puja) is an obligation for Balinese Hindus, the prayers and hymns are derived from the Vedas. A family typically offers prayers every day, with "Kewangen" and other offerings. Kewangen means aromatic, and it is made from leaves and flowers in form of auspicious Vedic symbols. Balinese use kewangen to worship the divine, both in form of Purusha (soul) and Pradana (body). As with India, Balinese make offerings, including symbolic inclusion of fire, incense and mantras.


title: Puja (Hinduism)

text: In the case of great spiritual masters, there is also a custom to perform puja for a living person especially in Guru Purnima. Gurus are sometimes chosen as objects of puja and honored as living gods or seen as the embodiment of specific deities. Gurus are sometimes adorned with symbolic clothes, garlands and other ornaments, and celebrated with incense, washing and anointing their feet, giving them fruits, food and drinks and meditating at their feet, asking for their blessing.


title: Puja (Hinduism)

text: As with church services in Christianity, Pūjā in Hinduism has served as a means for Hindu communities outside India to gather, socialize, discover new friends and sometimes discuss ways to address social discrimination of Hindus. For example, Marion O'Callaghan reports that the Hindu diaspora brought as indentured laborers to Trinidad by the British colonial government, suffered discriminatory laws that did not recognize traditional Hindu marriages or inheritance rights of children from a traditional Hindu marriage, nor did the non-Hindu majority government allow pyre cremation or construction of crematorium. These Hindu rituals were considered pagan and uncivilized. Pujas offered a way for Hindus to meet, socially organize and petition their human rights. Over time, pujas became as much a social and community recreational event as a religious event.


title: Puja (Hinduism)

text: Although "pujā" is accepted as a valid religious activity by Hindus at large, it has long been criticised by Mīmāṃsā thinkers. The foundational work of this school was the "Karmamīmāṃsāsūtra" or "Aphorisms for Enquiry into the Act," composed by Jaimini. The earliest surviving commentary was by Śabara who lived around the end of the fourth century. Śabara's commentary, known as "Śabarabhāṣya" held pride of place in Mīmāṃsā in that Sabara's understanding was taken as definitive by all later writers. In his chapter entitled "Devatādikaraṇa" (9: 1: 5: 6–9), Śabara examined the popular understanding of the gods and attempted to refute the belief that they have material bodies, are able to eat the offerings made to them, and are capable of being pleased and so able to reward worshippers. Basing himself on the Vedas (he refused to accept the "Mahābhārata", "Purāṇa" texts or even the "Smṛti" literatures as valid sources of authority), Śabara concluded that the gods are neither corporeal nor sentient and thus unable to enjoy offerings or own property. For this he appealed to empirical observation, noting that offerings do not decrease in size when given to the gods; any decrease is simply due to exposure to the air. Likewise he argued that substances are offered to gods not according to the wishes of the gods, but that "what is vouched for by direct perception is that the things are used according to the wishes of the temple servants ("pratyakṣāt pramāṇāt devatāparicārakāṇām abhiprāyaḥ"). In the course of his discussion, Śabara's asserted that "there is no relation between the case of guests and the sacrificial act." This incidental remark provided sound historical proof that "pūjā" was built on analogy with "atithi", the ancient Vedic tradition of welcoming guests. What Śabara was maintaining was that this analogy was not valid. While the Mīmāṃsakas continued to maintain this interpretation for centuries, their defeat in debate at the hands of Śaṅkarācārya led to theirs being a minority view. Mīmāṃsakas flourished even into the 17th century, as evidenced by the commentaries of Nīlakaṇṭha.


title: Puja (Hinduism)

text: Puja, sometimes spelled pooja, is called পূজা (also spelled as পুজো) in Bengali, பூசை in Tamil, and bucha (บูชา) in Thai.


title: Roger Whittaker

text: Roger Henry Brough Whittaker (born 22 March 1936) is a British singer-songwriter and musician, who was born in Nairobi to English parents. His music is an eclectic mix of folk music and popular songs in addition to radio airplay hits. He is best known for his baritone singing voice and trademark whistling ability as well as his guitar skills.


title: Roger Whittaker

text: He is widely known for his version of "Wind Beneath My Wings" (1982), as well as his own compositions "Durham Town (The Leavin')" (1969) and "I Don't Believe in If Anymore" (1970). American audiences are most familiar with his 1970 hit "New World in the Morning" and his 1975 hit "The Last Farewell", which is his only single to hit the "Billboard" Hot 100 (it made the Top 20) and also hit No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart. He is also known for his renditions of "Ding! Dong! Merrily on High" and "The Twelve Days of Christmas". His final top-charting hit was "Albany", which scored No. 3 in West Germany in 1982.


title: Roger Whittaker

text: Whittaker's parents, Edward and Vi Whittaker, were from Staffordshire, England, where they owned and operated a grocery shop. His father was injured in a motorcycle accident and the family moved to a farm near Thika, Kenya, because of its warmer climate. His grandfather sang in various clubs and his father played the violin. Roger learned to play the guitar.


title: Roger Whittaker

text: Upon completing his primary education, Whittaker was admitted to Prince of Wales School (now Nairobi School). Upon completing his high school education, he was called up for national service and spent two years in the Kenya Regiment fighting the Mau Mau in the Aberdare Forest. In 1956 he was demobilised and decided on a career in medicine. He enrolled at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. However, he left after 18 months and joined the civil service education department as a teacher, following in his mother's footsteps.


title: Roger Whittaker

text: To further his teaching career, Whittaker moved to Britain in September 1959. For the next three years, he studied zoology, biochemistry and marine biology at University College of North Wales and earned a Bachelor of Science degree while singing in local clubs, and released songs on Flexi discs included with the campus newspaper, the "Bangor University Rag".


title: Roger Whittaker

text: Shortly afterwards, he was signed to Fontana Records, which released his first professional single, "The Charge of the Light Brigade", in 1962. (On the labels of the Fontana singles, he is billed as "Rog Whittaker".) In the summer of 1962, Whittaker performed in Portrush, Northern Ireland. He achieved a breakthrough when he was signed to appear on an Ulster Television show called "This and That". His second single was a cover version of "Steel Men", released in June 1962.


title: Roger Whittaker

text: In 1966, Whittaker switched from Fontana to EMI's Columbia label, and was billed as Roger Whittaker from this point forward. His fourth single for the imprint was "Durham Town (The Leavin')", which in 1969 became Whittaker's first UK Top 20 hit in the UK Singles Chart. Whittaker's US label, RCA Victor, released the uptempo "New World in the Morning" in 1970, where it became a Top 20 hit in "Billboard" magazine's Easy Listening chart. That same year, his downbeat theme song "No Blade of Grass", written for the film adaptation of the same name that was sung during both the opening and ending titles, became his first film credit.


title: Roger Whittaker

text: In the early 1970s, Whittaker took interest in the Nordic countries when he recorded the single "Where the Angels Tread" (Änglamarken) to the music of Evert Taube in 1972. In 1974 he performed at the Finnish Eurovision qualifications. The song "The Finnish Whistler" he performed became famous in Finland as it was used as a title music for the popular Finnish Yle television cooking programme "Patakakkonen".


title: Roger Whittaker

text: In 1975, EMI released "The Last Farewell", a track from his 1971 "New World in the Morning" album. It became his biggest hit and a signature song, selling more than 11 million copies worldwide. In 1979, Whittaker wrote the song "Call My Name" which reached the final of the UK Eurovision selection, "A Song For Europe", performed by Eleanor Keenan and coming third. Whittaker recorded the song himself and the single charted in several European countries. He established himself in country music with "I Love You Because" getting "into the lower reaches of the country chart" in late 1983.


title: Roger Whittaker

text: Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Whittaker had success in Germany, with German language songs produced by Nick Munro. Unable to speak German, Whittaker sang the songs phonetically. He appeared on German and Danish TV several times, and was on the UK "Top of the Pops" show ten times in the 1970s. Whittaker's German-language songs were not initially well received by the critics, who derided the songs as "meaningless folk music". Notwithstanding, Whittaker released 25 albums in Germany and managed to grow a considerable fan base within the country, where he feels he has his most loyal fans, saying "The past few decades have been wonderful … My relationship with the German fans is great."


title: Roger Whittaker

text: In March 2006, Whittaker announced on his website that a 2007 Germany tour would be his last, and that he would limit future performances to "occasional concerts". Now more fluent in German, he was seen singing and was interviewed in German on Danish TV in November 2008. In a 2014 interview, Whittaker reiterated that he had retired from touring in 2013, but claimed that he had written 18 new songs for an album and said "I still whistle very well".


title: Roger Whittaker

text: Before moving on to a career in music, Whittaker studied medicine and trained as a teacher in his native Kenya. He also completed his National Service in the Kenya Regiment. He said that he was "stupid, selfish and angry" in his youth and that the army "made a man" out of him.


title: Roger Whittaker

text: On 1 April 1989, Whittaker's parents (still living in Kenya) were subjected to a brutal attack by a gang of four men in which his mother was tortured for eight hours and his father was murdered. His mother moved back to England after the incident. Roger Whittaker said about the incident, "It will affect me for the rest of my life, but I believe we should all live without hate if we can".


title: Roger Whittaker

text: In 1964, Roger met Natalie O'Brien, and they married in August. She has been Whittaker's manager since 1989. They have five children: two sons and three daughters (Emily, Lauren, Jessica, Guy and Alexander). Jessica became a presenter on VH-1. They now have 11 grandchildren. In 1986, he published his autobiography, "So Far, So Good", co-written with his wife.


title: Roger Whittaker

text: He moved to France in 2012. As of 2022 Whittaker is residing in Kenya, tending to his herd of zebras. He also has a summer home in the West Yorkshire village of Heptonstall.


title: Roger Whittaker

text: In 1976, Whittaker undertook his first tour of the United States. In 2003, he again toured Germany. After recovering from heart problems at the end of 2004, he started touring in Germany in 2005, and then in the UK from May to July.


title: Roger Whittaker

text: In his career to date, Whittaker has earned over 250 silver, gold and platinum awards. He was part of a successful British team that won the annual Knokke Music Festival in Belgium, and won the Press Prize as the personality of the festival. He was awarded a 'Gold Badge Award', from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA) in 1988 and earned a "Golden Tuning Fork" (Goldene Stimmgabel in Germany) in 1986, based on record sales and TV viewer votes.


title: Roger Whittaker

text: He was the subject of "This Is Your Life" in 1982 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews at RAF Northolt.


title: Jon Brion

text: Jon Brion is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, and composer. He performed with the Excerpts, the Bats, 'Til Tuesday and the Grays before becoming an established producer and film score composer.


title: Jon Brion

text: Brion has produced music for artists and bands including Of Montreal, Aimee Mann, Love Jones, Eels, Fiona Apple, Elliott Smith, Robyn Hitchcock, Rhett Miller, The Crystal Method, Kanye West, Sky Ferreira and Mac Miller. According to "Stereogum," Brion's work on Mann's first solo albums "lay the groundwork for a sound that became synonymous with a strain of notable alternative acts at the turn of the century".


title: Jon Brion

text: Brion's film scores include "Hard Eight" (1996), "Magnolia" (1999), "Punch-Drunk Love" (2002), "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" and "I Heart Huckabees" (both 2004), "Synecdoche, New York" (2008), "ParaNorman" (2012), "Lady Bird" (2017), and "Christopher Robin" (2018). He released his debut solo album, "Meaningless", in 2001.


title: Jon Brion

text: Brion was born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey. He comes from a musical family; his mother, LaRue, was an administrative assistant and singer, and his father, Keith Brion, was a band director at Yale. His brother and sister became a composer/arranger and a violinist, respectively. Brion grew up in Connecticut, where he dropped out of Hamden High School at the age of 17, opting instead to play music professionally. From 1980–85 Jon was part of the band The Excerpts, along with Stephen Harris, Dean Falcone, Jim Balga, Bobby Butcher & Spike Priggen.


title: Jon Brion

text: In the early 1980s, Brion and musician/producer Bill Murphy began a writing collaboration in New Haven, Connecticut. They eventually enlisted bassist Don "Riff" Fertman and together formed the Bats (not to be confused with the New Zealand group or South African group of the same name). The Bats released a single, "Popgun", and one album, "How Pop Can You Get?", on Gustav Records in 1982. The recordings had much critical acclaim, but little commercial success, and the trio eventually disbanded.


title: Jon Brion

text: In 1987, Brion moved to Boston, where he played solo gigs, formed the short-lived band World's Fair and became a member of the last touring version of Aimee Mann's new wave band 'Til Tuesday. He contributed guitar work to Jellyfish's 1993 album "Spilt Milk", and in 1994, joined Dan McCarroll, Buddy Judge and ex-Jellyfish guitarist Jason Falkner in the short-lived pop band the Grays. He also played guitar on the Wallflowers' hit song "One Headlight", using a screwdriver that was sitting atop a nearby amp as a slide. Brion played numerous instruments on Sam Phillips' 1996 release "Omnipop". Brion is featured as keyboardist and drummer on Marianne Faithfull's 2003 album, "Kissin Time", and co-wrote a song, "City of Quartz", for her next work, 2005's "Before the Poison".


title: Jon Brion

text: After being recognized as an accomplished session player, Brion branched out into production on then-girlfriend Mann's 1993 solo debut, "Whatever", and its follow-up, "I'm With Stupid". He has also produced albums by Fiona Apple, Rufus Wainwright, Eleni Mandell, Rhett Miller, Robyn Hitchcock, Brad Mehldau and Evan Dando, and co-produced Kanye West's "Late Registration" in 2005.


title: Jon Brion

text: In the fall of 2002, Brion began producing the album "Extraordinary Machine" with Fiona Apple, but she later brought in producers Mike Elizondo and Brian Kehew (a friend of Brion's) to complete the album. Brion's versions leaked onto the Internet, where the album gained a cult following long before its official release.


title: Jon Brion

text: Brion worked and performed on some of the tracks for Sean Lennon's 2006 album "Friendly Fire". Lennon said that working with him was "how I would imagine it's like to work with Prince. It's like having a weird alien prodigy in your room."


title: Jon Brion

text: Brion has produced recordings by British pop performer Dido, Spoon, and Keane, as well as 2010's "False Priest" by Of Montreal. Brion also produced Best Coast's second album which was released in early 2012. Brion worked on rapper Mac Miller's album "Swimming" (2018), and completed production on Miller's posthumous album "Circles" (2020).


title: Jon Brion

text: According to "Stereogum," Brion's work on Aimee Mann's first solo albums "lay the groundwork for a sound that became synonymous with a strain of notable alternative acts at the turn of the century".


title: Jon Brion

text: Brion was signed to the Lava/Atlantic label in 1997, but was released from his contract after turning in his solo debut album "Meaningless"; the album was released independently in 2001.


title: Jon Brion

text: Brion is an accomplished film composer, having started scoring by frequently working with director Paul Thomas Anderson, with whom he has a preferential working relationship. In addition to scoring many of his films, Brion contributed music to "Boogie Nights" and had a cameo in the film as a moustached guitar player.


title: Jon Brion

text: Particularly in his film soundtracks, Brion is noted for his use of early analog sampling instruments, particularly the Chamberlin and Optigan, to create near-realistic emulations of certain instruments.


title: Jon Brion

text: He has earned Best Score Soundtrack Album Grammy nominations for his work on 1999's "Magnolia" and 2004's "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind".


title: Jon Brion

text: Brion was hired at the last minute to write the incidental music for "The Break-Up". He has also scored and provided original music for "I Heart Huckabees", "Punch-Drunk Love", "Step Brothers" (with Chris Thile), "ParaNorman", "The Future", "Synecdoche, New York," Greta Gerwig's "Lady Bird" and Disney's "Christopher Robin" (with Geoff Zanelli). He also did live composition for a musical commentary on the "Step Brothers" DVD.


title: Jon Brion

text: He also composed the score to the Disney/Pixar short film, "The Blue Umbrella", working alongside Sarah Jaffe.


title: Jon Brion

text: Brion is renowned for his regular Friday-night gigs at the Los Angeles club Largo, which feature covers and original songs, a variety of instruments and occasional guest musicians and comedians. He works without a set list, instead using audience suggestions as a jumping-off point. He uses a "jigsaw puzzle" approach to performing songs, and uses looping systems to record himself starting often with drums, then adding piano, bass, guitar, and vocals. Recent shows have featured spontaneous appearances with singer-songwriter Jackson Browne, Gillian Welch, vocalists Fiona Apple and Rickie Lee Jones, singing old jazz standards like "My Funny Valentine", with upright bassist Stephen Patt (ex-Chambers Brothers), percussionist Matt Chamberlain (Tori Amos), bassist Sebastian Steinberg (ex-Soul Coughing), and fiddler Sara Watkins (Nickel Creek).


title: Jon Brion

text: In April 2006, recurring tendonitis in Brion's right hand forced him to cancel all of his upcoming Largo shows. As a temporary 'farewell', he played one show only using his left hand, even looping his songs as he normally does and playing the drums with one stick. He resumed playing at Largo on a regular basis.


title: Jon Brion

text: Recalling his approach to the Largo shows with "Chicago Tribune" music editor Lou Carlozo, Brion said: "I taught my hands to follow whatever was coming into my head—and wherever my consciousness would go, I had to push my hands to follow. And at some level, you just had to abandon any concern about how you’d look. Performing without a set list: That was special."


title: Jon Brion

text: In March 2016, Brion performed his score for "Punch-Drunk Love" with Wordless Music Orchestra in both Los Angeles and New York City, at the Ace Hotel and the Brooklyn Academy of Music, respectively. Norah Jones provided guest vocals in New York and Joanna Newsom in Los Angeles.


title: Jon Brion

text: In February 2018, Brion opened for John Mulaney as part of Mulaney's special, "Kid Gorgeous". Brion performed during Mulaney's New York City leg of his tour, playing classic rock songs on Radio City's Mighty Wurlitzer pipe organ.


title: Grayson Perry

text: Grayson Perry (born 1960) is an English contemporary artist, writer and broadcaster. He is known for his ceramic vases, tapestries, and cross-dressing, as well as his observations of the contemporary arts scene, and for dissecting British "prejudices, fashions and foibles".


title: Grayson Perry

text: Perry's vases have classical forms and are decorated in bright colours, depicting subjects at odds with their attractive appearance. There is a strong autobiographical element in his work, in which images of Perry as "Claire", his female alter-ego, and "Alan Measles", his childhood teddy bear, often appear.


title: Grayson Perry

text: He has made a number of documentary television programmes and has curated exhibitions. He has published two autobiographies, "Grayson Perry: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Girl" (2007) and "The Descent of Man" (2016), written and illustrated a graphic novel, "Cycle of Violence" (2012), written a book about art, "Playing to the Gallery" (2014), and published his illustrated "Sketchbooks" (2016). Various books describing his work have been published. In 2013 he delivered the BBC Reith Lectures.


title: Grayson Perry

text: Perry has had solo exhibitions at the Bonnefantenmuseum, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, the Barbican Centre, the British Museum


title: Grayson Perry

text: and the Serpentine Gallery in London, the Arnolfini in Bristol, The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, and the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan. His work is held in the permanent collections of


title: Grayson Perry

text: the British Council and Arts Council, Crafts Council, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Tate and Victoria and Albert Museum, London.


title: Grayson Perry

text: He was awarded the Turner Prize in 2003. He was interviewed about the win and resulting press in Sarah Thornton's "Seven Days in the Art World". In 2008 he was ranked number 32 in "The Daily Telegraph"s list of the "100 most powerful people in British culture". In 2012, Perry was among the British cultural icons selected by artist Peter Blake to appear in a new version of his most famous artwork—the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album cover—to celebrate the British cultural figures of his life.


title: Grayson Perry

text: Born into a working-class family, Perry was four years old when his father, Tom, left home after discovering his mother, Jean, was having an affair with a milkman, whom she later married and who Perry has claimed was violent. Perry's sister, Christine, is married to Binatone heir Roddy McDougall, and is the MD of the company's big button telephone division. The couple live in Scotland. Subsequently, he spent an unhappy childhood moving between his parents and created a fantasy world based around his teddy in order to cope with his sense of anxiety. He considers that a person's early experiences are important in shaping their aesthetic and sexuality. Perry describes his first sexual experience at the age of seven when he tied himself up in his pyjamas.