How's it going "Swede?" Long time no hear. How's it going in Sweden? How true "Swede!" Where JANIS (The Queen of Rock n' Roll had an ALL-MALE back-up band.) ended, THE RUNAWAYS' contribution pretty much took over and opened the doors for ALL-FEMALE Hard Rock bands that were soon to follow. ROCK ON!

How's it going fellow die hard hard core ZEPPELIN fanatics? I hope the week has been treating all of you well. My overtime hours at work are about to overwhelm me so please forgive me if I cannot answer all of your posts/responses in a timely manner. My next thread is on a legendary all-female band that needs no introduction the world over. If my brain is correct, THE RUNAWAYS (Solo artists Joan Jett and Lita Ford included) are the ONLY all-female band to be included in the VH-1 Top 100 All-time Greatest Hard Rock Songs Ever. It would be inappropriate for me to mention all of the legendary female performers in Rock's glorious past without mentioning THE RUNAWAYS. So without further delay, AND AWAY WE GO! THE RUNAWAYS will forever go down in Rock n' Roll history and be remembered for becoming the first true ALL-FEMALE Hard Rock band. Get a load of this line-up: Joan Jett (Born Joan Larkin) on Guitar, Lita Ford on Guitar, Cherie Currie on Lead Vocals, Jackie Fox (Born Jacqueline Fuchs) on Bass and the late Sandy West (Born Sandy Pesavento) on the Drums. Cherie Currie would actually beat out MADONNA in being the first female frontwoman to wear Lingerie as her regular wardrobe on a regular basis. Lita Ford would openly admit that numerous guys in many of their audiences, would throw condoms on stage. Vicki Blue A.K.A. Victory Tischler-Blue would later replace the departed Jackie Fox on Bass in the late 1970's in order to keep THE RUNAWAYS' sound fully intact. However, Blue's seizures would become one of the contributing factors that would lay THE RUNAWAYS to rest permanently. How unfair! THE RUNAWAYS' musical influences were the mighty LED ZEPPELIN, BLACK SABBATH, THE BEATLES, THE ROLLING STONES, AEROSMITH, DAVID BOWIE, KISS, PINK FLOYD, THE WHO, THE KINKS and DEEP PURPLE. Put all of these influences together and you have some of the most Hard-driven, Guitar-driven Hard Rock n Roll ever recorded by an all-female band. The Genesis of the most popular line-up of THE RUNAWAYS can be traced all the way back to Los Angeles in 1975. There were other vocalists and guitarists that were in THE RUNAWAYS but were soon replaced by the legendary line-up that we are all accustomed to. When the line-up of Jett, Ford, Currie, Fox and West joined forces, there was no looking back and this all-female Hard Rock band had one mission in life, "TO BLOW EVERYONE AWAY!" In reality, they did just that. And just think, while still in their teens, THE RUNAWAYS were the first all-female Rock Band that actually wrote their own songs and played their own instruments. It wasn't until THE RUNAWAYS met manager/hustler Kim Fowley that the band started to show signs of life and gain worldwide popularity. When you think of THE RUNAWAYS, you think of their ass kickin' Hard Rockin' songs such as "Cherry Bomb," "Blackmail," "Secrets," "I Love Playin' With Fire," "Born To Be Bad," "Take It Or Leave It," "Queens Of Noise," "You Drive Me Wild," "Neon Angels On the Road To Ruin," "Wasted," "Wait For Me" and "Waitin' For The Night" to name a few. Believe me when I tell you that these songs do kick ass while Rockin'. It is just too bad that THE RUNAWAYS officially disbanded in 1979. While still in their prime, THE RUNAWAYS was a great band that still had so much to give. This band was for real and still had so much to accomplish in Rock n' Roll. However, THE RUNAWAYS legend did not end in 1979. Female Rockers Joan Jett and Lita Ford would successfully move on in lighting up the Rock n' roll world by entertaining their audiences with their spectacular solo careers. Cherie Currie would successfully wind up recording a solo album with her sister Marie and take up a career in acting. Believe it or not, Bass player Jackie Fox would end up going to Harvard Law School and wind up becoming a very successful entertainment Lawyer. WOW! The late Sandy West would wind up becoming a Bounty Hunter and a Collector for Loan Sharks. WOW! When Sandy West died of Cancer on that fateful day of 21 October 2006, Rock n' Roll lost one of its premiere pioneer female drummers ever besides Karen Carpenter. Vicki Blue would eventually pursue a career behind the camera in film and TV. However, Blue would film a DVD Documentary entitled Edgeplay, The Story of THE RUNAWAYS! This film was made with the full cooperation of the band with the exception of Joan Jett! Word now has it that Joan Jett is filming a movie about THE RUNAWAYS with all of the band members' full participation and cooperation. THE RUNAWAYS, without a doubt, has forever left their mark in Rock n' Roll history and their legacy of music will never be forgotten as long as music still exists. And as the saying goes, "AND THE REST IS ROCK N' ROLL HISTORY," am I wrong? R.I.P. Sandy Pesavento A.K.A. Sandy West, Born 10 July 1959, Died 21 October 2006 at age 47. LONG LIVE ROCK N' ROLL! ROCK ON!

How's it going "kaztor" as well as our fellow die hard hard core ZEPPELIN fanatics? AAAAHHH HHHHAAA!!!! I LOVE FRANK ZAPPA! FRANK ZAPPA LIVES! I pretty much love all of his albums but the ones that stand out to me are the "FREAK OUT" album from 1966, the "200 MOTELS" album from 1971 and "THE MAN FROM UTOPIA" album from 1983. Great thread "kaztor!" ROCK ON!

Hello again "ms_zeppelin94!" At least it was true with THE BEATLES. ROCK ON!

How's it going again "JethroTull?" Seriously?

How's it going "MissHoneydripper?" I can see that! ROCK ON!

How's it going "Aquamarine?" Did you ever find those OSMONDS albums? What you are saying about THE ALAN PARSONS PROJECT does make sense. ROCK ON!

How's it going fellow die hard hard core ZEPPELIN fanatics. I see that we all survived the Holidays and welcomed a new year. Lets all contribute in making 2009 the best year that we ever had, what da ya say ZEPPELIN fanatics? OK! My next thread is on a gentleman that needs no introduction the world over. If you liked THE BEATLES' SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND album and PINK FLOYD'S THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON album, then you're definitely going to love this artist that I'm about to talk about. The gentleman's name is none other than Mr. Alan Parsons and his band that I am talking about is the legendary ALAN PARSONS PROJECT. THE ALAN PARSONS PROJECT will forever go down in Rock n' Roll history and be remembered for recording some of Rock's all-time greatest classic albums using the up-to-date Digital Recording Technology process. THE ALAN PARSONS PROJECT will mainly consist of two masterminded musicians, Mr. Alan Parsons and Mr. Eric Woolfson. These two individuals would meet at Abbey Road Studios in 1974. Mr. Alan Parsons will also forever be remembered for being the engineer at Abbey Road Studios and helping in the recording of two of the all-time greatest and influential landmark albums ever. They are THE BEATLES' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album from 1967 and PINK FLOYD'S The Dark Side Of The Moon album from 1973. With all of these great background experience, Parsons wanted to go one step further with his new band, THE ALAN PARSONS PROJECT, and record an album in the same direction that THE BEATLES and PINK FLOYD were heading with the intentions of further advancing, improving and modifying the Digital Recording Technology process. With that in mind, Parsons would do just that with his debut landmark TALES OF MYSTERY AND IMAGINATION album from 1976 and the landmark masterpiece I ROBOT album in 1977. In my opinion, the I ROBOT album should rank as one of the all-time greatest albums ever recorded. Also check out some of Parsons' many other great albums such as PYRAMID from 1978, EVE from 1979 and EYE IN THE SKY from 1982 to name a few. The EYE IN THE SKY album is another great album that I highly recommend other than I ROBOT. Alan Parsons is not only known as a great innovator, but a great songwriter, a well balanced musician and a legendary engineer. THE ALAN PARSONS PROJECT has successfully continued in recording many more great albums that would blow the music world away to this very day. Mr. Alan Parsons is extremely talented indeed. In my opinion, I truly believe with all of my heart that we have not seen or heard the last of THE ALAN PARSONS PROJECT yet, this legendary band still has so much more to contribute and accomplish in the Rock n' Roll world. See you again soon Mr. Parsons. And as the saying goes, "AND THE REST IS ROCK N' ROLL HISTORY," need I say more? Forever in Rock, ROCK ON!

How's it going "The Pagemeister?" I'm listening to "Cherry Bomb" by THE RUNAWAYS. ROCK ON!

I can't disagree with you on that one "Yukon Cornelius!" Life goes on! You're also right about another, Big Brown should have won the Triple Crown. Big Brown got cheated out of the history books. What a shame. ROCK ON!

How's it going "overthehillsandfaraway?" As a kid and a teenager, I grew up watching Secretariat and Seattle Slew win the Triple Crown. I would have loved to have seen Big Brown win it. Secretariat still owns many race records to this very day including The Kentucky Derby. Secretariat was as fast as lightening. ROCK ON!

How's it going "Cletus" and "Dzldoc?" One thing that always fascinated me about THE BEATLES' appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show is that 73 million viewers were glued to the one hour show on TV that night which made it, at that time, the most watched event in television history. Also, during that one hour show, NOT ONE CRIME WAS COMMITTED IN NEW YORK CITY. Were THE BEATLES popular or what? ROCK ON!

How's it going SgtPepper67?" Let me guess, you are a die hard hard core BEATLES fan huh? ME TOO! I LOVE THE BEATLES! They are my all-time favorite band in the whole wide world with LED ZEPPELIN, THE ROLLING STONES, PINK FLOYD, THE KINKS and THE WHO right behind them. ROCK ON!

How's it going "imPLANTed" A.K.A. Barb?" Happy New Year to you! WOW, you have a great list of bands that you enjoy. Believe it or not, I like just about every band that you listed. I'm still trying to get into Will Smith though. My Daughter Lydia likes Will Smith's music and she's trying to convert me into liking his music. Anything's possible though when it comes to Rock n' Roll. Its all of these bands with their contributions that make Rock n' Roll what it is and that's what Rock n' Roll is all about. Thank you for sharing your story with all of us. ROCK ON BARB!

How's it going "Dzldoc?" AH HA!!!!!!!! I LOVE THE J. GEILS BAND! Another great band from the 1970's. Hell, I was so excited over this thread that I went and found my J. GEILS BAND collection on CD out of thousands and thousands and thousands of CD's that I own. AMEN!!!!! I've seen the J.GEILS BAND live twice and I loved them both dearly. I always loved the songs "Love Stinks," "Freeze Frame," "Centerfold," "Wild Man," "One Last Kiss" and "Land Of A Thousand Dances" to name a few. EXCELLENT thread "Dzldoc!!" ROCK ON!

How's it going "imPLANTed?" No problem, you are entitled to your opinions and I do respect you for them. I am not offended by your honesty, I really do appreciate your honesty. You must really truly be a die hard hard core ZEPPELIN fan to the max huh? Believe it or not "imPLANTed," STEELY DAN is one of Jimmy Page's favorite bands ever. ROCK ON!

How's it going "Melanie_72?" I'm 47 years old going on 27. I don't feel my age nor do I act my age. HA HA! ROCK ON!

How's it going "Yukon Cornelius?" The main thing is that you love STEELY DAN and that's what counts. ROCK ON!

How's it going "JethroTull?" Why not? ROCK ON!

How's it going "gadgetguru?" A coincidence indeed? Thanks for reminding me of that interview with Jimmy Page regarding that statement, I had forgotten all about it. ROCK ON!

How's it going "Melanie_72?" It seems that STEELY DAN played an important part in our teenage years growing up in the 1970's huh? I never get tired of listening to STEELY DAN either. I love STEELY DAN'S music. ROCK ON!

How's it going "L 7?" They really did play the hell out of those classic STEELY DAN songs in the 1970's huh? I used to hear them on the radio, at Tower Records, in the night clubs (I had a fake I.D.) and during the half time shows by our high school marching band. You are right, there was no escaping it. ROCK ON!

How's it going "~tangerine~?" Hmmm... You were just barely a teenager in 1979 and I was just about to graduate from high school in 1979 at age 18. I can't believe how fast the years go by. ROCK ON!

How's it going "ninelives?" WOW, that is so cool that you were in a high school marching band. I've heard a few high school as well as college marching bands play "Peg" and "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" while I was in high school and college some decades back. STEELY DAN were definitely pretty popular back then. ROCK ON!

How's it going "gaugetguru?" As promised, after some deep research, I found out that Jimmy Page did officially say for the record that Elliot Randall's guitar solo in the STEELY DAN classic song "Reeling In the Years" is his all-time favorite guitar solo ever. ROCK ON!