Mint claim for our “1969” Special Collection will begin March 20th at 1:30 PM EST for those that have completed the requirements.
Mint will close March 24th at midnight 🚨
Introducing our Twenty-first Tools of Rock Vol 1 Special Collection "1969” inspired by The Beatles Abbey Road album.
Collect all of the below traits to claim the reward.
More details in discord!
Introducing our Twentieth Tools of Rock Vol 1 Special Collection "Sword Fight” inspired by The Who Who’s Next album.
Collect all of the below traits to claim the reward.
Stumbled across Queen: Live at Wimbley on TV
Gave me good vibes and made me think of one of the best traits in any NFT collection…
…The Freddie “Yellow Jacket” trait in the @ToolsOfRockNFT Gods of Rock collection
I don’t own a GOR with this amazing trait (and none are for sale ☹️) so here’s one that @nnn614NFT owns
A late Thanksgiving GM
A few NFT related thanks and shoutouts
* @gregyounger - for being the first to give me the encouragement to start writing stories
* @bubblegumkids_ - for giving me the opportunity to use my writing to help the community
* @psychanon - for the best community experience and fun with @newdawnxyz
* @writersroomnft and @azurbala - for giving me a chance to explore more characters
* @CryptoPopPunk - for getting me into the art side of NFTs
* @ToolsOfRockNFT - for being kick ass and giving me a chance to tell some fiction and non-fiction rock stories
In anticipation of @ToolsOfRockNFT Vol2 - The 80’s, I’m going to be dropping some 80’s music history over the next few weeks 🤘🏼
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The early 80’s carried over some of the 70’s hard rock vibes of bands like Led Zepplin and Black Sabbath. 𝐉𝐨𝐚𝐧 𝐉𝐞𝐭𝐭 was there to keep the female empowerment rolling with her second album 𝐼 𝐿𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑅𝑜𝑐𝑘 ‘𝑛’ 𝑅𝑜𝑙𝑙, released on this day in 1981.
Joan Jett started her career in the late 70s in a teen all-female band named The Runaways. The runaways featured Jett, Cherie Currie and Lita Ford.
Jett struck out on a solo career with the album and lead single 𝐵𝑎𝑑 𝑅𝑒𝑝𝑢𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 released at the beginning of 1981. For her second album though, she added the backing band The Blackhearts.
𝐼 𝐿𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑅𝑜𝑐𝑘 ‘𝑛’ 𝑅𝑜𝑙𝑙 the album went to #2 on the Billboard charts and the song spent 7 weeks on top of the Billboard singles chart in 1982. The album also produced a lesser hit, 𝐶𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑠𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐶𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟, the cover of a Tommy James & the Shondells’ tune.
I was ??,??? days old (today) when I found out that 𝐼 𝐿𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑅𝑜𝑐𝑘 ‘𝑛’ 𝑅𝑜𝑙𝑙, the song, is also a cover. Originally written/recorded by the British band Arrow in 1975, Jett and her then Runaways bandmates saw the song on TV during a 1977 tour in England. They almost immediately began working it into their sets.
Jett originally recorded the song in 1979 with 2 members of the Sex Pistols. It was included as the B-side to a single that never got any traction. So she recorded it again when she teamed up with the Blackhearts in 1981. This time it was a hit.
Jett’s version of the song is the most recognized version and has received critical acclaim and awards. Joan Jett was inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 2015 and the song itself was inducted in 2016.
MTV played a big part in the single’s success as well. The video was originally shot in color, but when Jett watched it back, she was horrified by her red leather outfit against the red/mauve heavy color composition of the rest of the set. A black and white shot from the video caught her eye and the full video was switched to black and white. The retro B&W vibe made the song and video standout amongst the flamboyantly colored videos on MTV at the time.
Finally, I can’t in good conscience end this without mentioning one of the remakes of 𝐼 𝐿𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑅𝑜𝑐𝑘 ‘𝑛’ 𝑅𝑜𝑙𝑙. Weird Al Yankovic had fun with the song and video in one of his most famous parodies, 𝐼 𝐿𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑅𝑜𝑐𝑘𝑦 𝑅𝑜𝑎𝑑.
Keep on Rockin’ @joanjett !! 🎸🤘🏼
Ps. If you want to see Joan Jett in concert, she is touring next summer with Alanis Morrisette. Tickets went on sale yesterday. I saw her a few years ago and she can still kick some a$$.
In anticipation of @ToolsOfRockNFT Vol2 - The 80’s, I’m going to be dropping some 80’s music history over the next few weeks 🤘🏼
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Nov 12th 1984 - Madonna released the iconic Like A Virgin album. The follow up to her self-titled debut which produced 3 hit songs (Borderline, Lucky Star, and Holiday), Like A Virgin was both a musical and a cultural landmark.
Fueled by MTV, the movie Desperately Seeking Susan, and a live performance gone awry that’s discussed below, jelly bracelets, headbands, and layered mesh tops became standard dress code for girls from teens to 40+ for Madonna wanna-be’s .
The album became the first female album to sell more than 5 million copies and went on to sell more than 21 million. Superstar status achieved, well on her way to earning the title Queen of Pop.
Despite being only her 2nd album, she insisted on being involved in every part of the production. She hand selected the ultra talented Nile Rodgers, of 70’s funk band Chic fame, as the producer.
During the recoding session, it’s been said that she was at the studio for every minute of it, even when she was not needed. She knew what she wanted and was going to make sure it was right.
The album produced 5 singles: Like a Virgin, Into The Groove, Angel, Material Girl and Dress you Up. Like a Virgin was her first US #1.
The 80’s were as much about the look as the music, but Madonna showed that you could have both.
The iconic album cover, was a cornucopia of conflicting imagery and themes. The obvious Christianity references of her stage name, matched with “Virgin” in the title and the purity of a white wedding dress, offset by the subtle “Boy Toy” belt, a seductive look in her eyes, and the not so subtle tight lace corset/bustier.
A wedding dress would further fuel her path to stardom when she again wore one for her performance for the 1984 MTV VMAs. MTV had nixed her first request to bring a Bengal Tiger on stage with her. So instead, she appeared atop of ahuge wedding cake and made her way down the cake layers to the stage, which ended in any live performer’s nightmare.
Years later in 2012 Madonna recounted the story to Jay Leno. As she reached the stage, one of her stilettos came off and she fell to the floor. A split second decision led to her playing it off as if she had choreographed the move. She continued to crawl, hump and writhe sexually on the stage as she sang and refastened her shoe. Jumping to her feet to dance a little, she then returned to the floor to finish the song. The impromptu performance ended with Madonna flat on her back with the dress above her head.
Her manager was furious. He screamed that she had ruined her career. Obviously, the opposite was true as her career went straight up from there. Even the MTV VMAs benefited from the performance as their ratings for that performance and future year VMAs exploded as artists knew they could push the limits.
Congrats Madge on 39 years of Like a Virgin.
Haven't done one of these in a while so here's an extended rock history thread:
On this day in:
1961: Brian Epstein saw The Beatles playing live for the first time during a lunchtime session at The Cavern Liverpool.
1966: John Lennon met Yoko Ono for the first time when he visited her art exhibition at the Indica Gallery in London.
1967: The first issue of Rolling Stone Magazine was published in San Francisco. It featured a photo of John Lennon on the cover and had a free gift of a roach clip to hold a marijuana joint.
1968: Led Zeppelin played their first ever London show when they appeared at The Roundhouse, Robert Plant married his girlfriend Maureen in London on the same day and held the reception at the gig.
🤟😎🎸
#RockHistory #ToolsofRock
In anticipation of @ToolsOfRockNFT Vol2 - The 80’s, I’m going to be dropping some 80’s music history over the next few weeks 🤘🏼
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Nov 6th - On this day in 1987 𝐍.𝐖.𝐀. released their unofficial debut album, 𝑁.𝑊.𝐴. 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑃𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑒.
🎶Cruisin down the street in my 6-4…🎶
Actually, for my friends and I, it was a 7-7…and it was a LeSabre, not an Impala. But none the less, we were pushing the limits of our speakers and our eardrums listening to Eazy-E school us on growing up in Compton.
We were just a bunch of suburban white teenagers cruising around cranking 𝐵𝑜𝑦𝑧-𝑛-𝑡ℎ𝑒-𝐻𝑜𝑜𝑑 over and over to annoy any adults in the immediate vicinity. Our “mean streets” were a lot different than Eazy’s, although they were the same ones that Robbie Van Winkle (look him up if you don’t know) was cruising at the time. 😉
The 𝑁.𝑊.𝐴. 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑃𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑒 album is considered the unofficial debut because N.W.A. had released an EP with Macola Records based on the success of Eazy-E’s 𝐵𝑜𝑦𝑧-𝑛-𝑡ℎ𝑒-𝐻𝑜𝑜𝑑 single but N.W.A. decided to go with Priority Records for their official debut, 𝑆𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑂𝑢𝑡𝑡𝑎 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑡𝑜𝑛.
Macola, not wanting to miss out on profits from their new hot group, decided to beat them to the punch and pulled together the songs from the EP, plus songs from similar Macola artists (primarily produced by Dr. Dre) to rush out a full album. 𝑁.𝑊.𝐴. 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑃𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑒 preceded 𝑆𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑂𝑢𝑡𝑡𝑎 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑡𝑜𝑛 by 10 months.
Featuring big names like Eazy-E, Dr. Dre and Ice Cube, they were the face of gangsta rap. However, Ice Cube said they hated the term and preferred ‘reality rap’.
Dr. Dre was originally in another band, World Class Wreckin’ Cru, until Eazy-E poached him by offering to pay the fees to get Dre’s car out of impound.
Unfortunately, N.W.A. was short lived. Ice Cube left in 1989 due mainly to a royalty dispute, feeling he was not getting his fair share since he wrote around 50% of the songs on 𝑆𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑂𝑢𝑡𝑡𝑎 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑡𝑜𝑛. N.W.A. only released one more album in 1991, which included multiple disses of Ice Cube. Ice famously struck back on a number of his solo songs.
N.W.A. was critical to the explosion of Hip Hop and Rap in the late 80s and the solo careers that came from the band were just as successful, if not more so. Even the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame recognized their contributions when they inducted N.W.A. in 2016.
In anticipation of @ToolsOfRockNFT Vol2 - The 80’s, I’m going to be dropping some 80’s music history over the next few weeks 🤘🏼
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November 3, 1954 - The birth of ‘80’s British musical and fashion icon, Stuart Leslie Goddard.
Doesn’t, ring a bell? How about 𝐀𝐝𝐚𝐦 𝐀𝐧𝐭?
In the early 80’s, Ant racked up 10 top 10 hits and 3 #1 hits in the UK. These included 𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐷𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟 and 𝑃𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 with Adam and the Ants, and 𝐺𝑜𝑜𝑑𝑦 𝑇𝑤𝑜 𝑆ℎ𝑜𝑒𝑠 and 𝐷𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑁𝑜𝑡 𝑆𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠 as a solo artist. 𝐺𝑜𝑜𝑑𝑦 𝑇𝑤𝑜 𝑆ℎ𝑜𝑒𝑠 was also a top 10 hit in the US.
Born in London, to a Royal Air Force father and a mother who worked for a short time as a cleaner for Paul McCartney, he was destined for a life in the spotlight. In primary school he gained notoriety for throwing a brick through the headmaster’s window…𝐭𝐰𝐢𝐜𝐞…on consecutive days.
This got him put under the supervision of Joanna Saloman, who understood his creative tendencies and encouraged his artistic/musical talents. Ant later recognized her for her guidance early in his life.
Attending a Sex Pistols show in 1975 was the catalyst of his desire to create something different in music and a new punk persona to match.
Adam Ant was “born”. He has said that his name came from Adam being the first man and Ant because ants would survive a nuclear explosion.
In 1977, he went from bass player in Bazooka Joe to front man of Adam and the Ants. In 1982, he broke off on his own releasing 3 more albums in the first half of the 80s and another in 1989.
Most people remember Ant for his flamboyant pirate outfits and distinctive make-up that often included white stripes across his cheeks.
Always the performer, his concerts and videos were big on wardrobe changes and theatrical flair. No surprise that he has also appeared on numerous TV shows in the US and UK.
So, today I celebrate the punk theatrical stylings of a guy I wanted to dress up as for Halloween in the early 80s, but my parents just didn’t understand (and that was kind of the point, right?)
Happy 69th Adam Ant @adamaofficial!! 🎂🎉🐜
In anticipation of @ToolsOfRockNFT Vol2 - The 80’s, I’m going to be dropping some 80’s music history over the next few weeks 🤘🏼
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Oct 29, 1955 - The birth date of one of the 80’s most iconic front men/vocalists, 𝐊𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐧 𝐃𝐮𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐰. Even If you don’t recognize the name, you would definitely recognize the voice.
Considered a music prodigy at a young age, he was playing trumpet at 6 and picked up a guitar at age 7. But, his path to Rock legend actually started with a camera. As a teen, he was taking photographs at rock shows and selling them to the rock magazines of the time. DuBrow later recounted that it was at a Rod Stewart concert in 1970 that he realized that he would rather be on the stage as the photographee instead of the photographer.
In 1975, Kevin DuBrow helped found the group Quiet Riot, along with the young guitar phenom Randy Roads. Quiet Riot released two limited release albums in 1978 and 1979, before Randy Roads left to join Ozzy Osbourne.
The breakthrough for DuBrow and the band came in 1983 with the release of their official debut album, Metal Health. The title track 𝑀𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑡ℎ (𝐵𝑎𝑛𝑔 𝑌𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑑) plus a cover of Slade’s 𝐶𝑢𝑚 𝑜𝑛 𝐹𝑒𝑒𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑁𝑜𝑖𝑠𝑒, pushed the album to the #1 spot on the Billboard charts. This was a first for a Heavy Metal debut album.
Like most 80’s metal, MTV gave a huge boost to the band with all their hair and sexual innuendo. Young BTDwayne was a big fan as well, even though I missed the not so subtle sexual references that put it on the “no buy” list from my parents (I got it anyway 😉🤘🏼).
DuBrow was known for commanding the stage and whipping audiences into a frenzy. Unfortunately, this was fueled by all the famous excesses of rock stars, leading to his firing from Quiet Riot in 1987. His band mates did not necessarily want to get rid of their lead singer, but the record company forced their hand. Kevin had a penchant for smack talking and tearing down other bands, which even resulted in Rudy Sarzo, Quiet Riot’s bassist, being punched in the face by Ozzy Osbourne after a DuBrow rant about Ozzy.
In 1991, Dubrow reunited with Quiet Riot, which at points had the full Metal Health line-up back together. He was part of 5 more albums with Quiet Riot between 1991 and the time of his death in 2007.
In early November 2007, Dubrow was reported to have told friends he wanted to change his lifestyle, but after friends could not get ahold of him for days and he missed a planned Thanksgiving dinner, he was found dead in his home from an overdose of cocaine, painkillers and alcohol.
Another tragic end to an iconic rock star.
Happy would have been 68th birthday Kevin Dubrow.
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Ps - I appear to be shadow banned for the last few days for some reason 🤷🏼♂️. I would really appreciate a like, repost, or comment to try to get me back on the algo 🙏