REO Speedwagon ( B6 )

Changes in the 1990s

By the late 1980s, the band's popularity was starting to decline. Original drummer Alan Gratzer left in September 1988 after he decided to retire from music to open a restaurant. In early 1989, Gary Richrath quit after tensions between him and Kevin Cronin boiled over. Cronin had been playing in The Strolling Dudes, a jazz ensemble that included jazz trumpet player Rick Braun (who had co-written the abovementioned "Here With Me" with Cronin), Miles Joseph on lead guitar and Graham Lear on drums. Lear had already been invited to join REO in September 1988 as Gratzer's successor and Joseph was brought in as a temporary stand-in for Richrath. Back up singers Carla Day and Melanie Jackson were also added. This lineup did only one show, on January 7, 1989 in Viña del Mar, Chile, where it won the award for best group at the city's annual International Song Festival. After that, Miles Joseph and the back up singers were dropped in favor of former Ted Nugent guitarist Dave Amato (who was brought aboard in May 1989) and keyboardist/songwriter/producer Jesse Harms.

The 1990 release The Earth, a Small Man, His Dog and a Chicken, with Bryan Hitt (formerly of Wang Chung) on drums, was a commercial disappointment. The album produced only one, and - to date - the band's last Billboard Hot 100 single, "Love Is a Rock," which peaked at #65. Harms, disenchanted by the album's failure, left the group in early 1991.

Shortly after his departure, Richrath assembled former members of the Midwestern band Vancouver to form a namesake band, Richrath. After touring for several years, the Richrath band released Only the Strong Survive in 1992 on the GNP Crescendo label. Richrath (the band) continued to perform for several years before disbanding in the late 1990s. In September 1998, Gary Richrath briefly joined REO onstage at the County Fair in Los Angeles to play on the band's encore song, "157 Riverside Avenue". He then joined REO once again in Los Angeles in May 2000 for the same encore but no serious plans for a reunion ever materialized.

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Traffic - Mr. Fantasy ( D1 )

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Frank Zappa ( b43 )

Posthumous albums

Released			Title	Peak chart positions
No.	Year	Date		GER	SWE
63	1994	Dec	Civilization Phaze III	87	—
64	1996	Feb	The Lost Episodes	—	54
65		Sep	Läther	—	50
66		Oct	Frank Zappa Plays the Music of Frank Zappa: A Memorial Tribute	—	—
67	1997	May	Have I Offended Someone?	—	—
68	1998	Sep	Mystery Disc	—	—
69	1999	Dec	Everything Is Healing Nicely	—	—
70	2002	Aug	FZ:OZ	—	—
71	2003	Feb	Halloween DVD-Audio Disc	—	—
72	2004	May	Joe's Corsage (with The Mothers of Invention)	—	—
73		Oct	Joe's Domage	—	—
74		Sep	QuAUDIOPHILIAc DVD-Audio Disc	—	—
75	2005	Dec	Joe's XMASage	—	—
76	2006	Jan	Imaginary Diseases	—	—
77		Dec	The MOFO Project/Object (4-CD set) A FZ Audio Documentary	—	—
78			The MOFO Project/Object (2-CD set) A FZ Audio Documentary	—	—
79		Oct	Trance-Fusion	—	—
80	2007	Apr	Buffalo	—	—
81		Aug	The Dub Room Special!	—	—
82		30 Oct	Wazoo	—	—
83	2008	Jun	One Shot Deal	—	—
84		Sep	Joe's Menage	—	—
85	2009	Jan	Lumpy Money Project/Object (3-CD set) A FZ Audio Documentary	—	—
86		Dec	Philly '76	—	—

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Status Quo ( B7 )

In 1999, Quo toured Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland. Dubbed the 'Last Night of the Proms', the band were backed by a full orchestra during the concerts.

Rich left in 2000 and was replaced by Matt Letley. Andrew Bown also took a year off at the same time following the death of his wife, and was temporarily replaced on stage by Paul Hirsh, formerly of Voyager.

In November 2000, the band played a gig at Grandchester in the outback in Australia, performing on a carriage of Australia's Orient Express, the Great South Pacific Express.

Performing at Arrow Rock Festival in Lichtenvoorde, the Netherlands in 2006; left-to-right: Rick Parfitt, Francis Rossi, Matt Letley (obscured by drums), John "Rhino" Edwards (out-of-shot: Andy Bown)

In 2005 Rossi and Parfitt made cameo appearances in the long-running ITV soap opera Coronation Street in a storyline which involved them being sued by the notorious layabout Les Battersby, and performing live at his wedding as compensation.

In December 2005, it was announced that Parfitt had been taken ill and was undergoing tests for throat cancer. All subsequent dates of the UK tour were cancelled as a result. However, the growths in Parfitt's throat were later found to be benign and were successfully removed. In May 2006, a fully recovered Parfitt and the band returned to the NEC Birmingham to play the show that they had postponed in December. This was their 40th show at the venue, and was recorded for a DVD, entitled "Just Doin' It".

On 1 July 2007, they performed in front of 63,000 people at the newly built Wembley Stadium as part of the Concert for Diana. They also appeared on the TV programme Tiswas Reunited, in which the band got the usual greeting of custard pies and buckets of water whilst playing the song, "Gerdundula".

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Diverse ( 130 )

The Rolling Stones ( B28 )

The Stones headlined the Molson Canadian Rocks for Toronto concert in Toronto, Canada, to help the city—which they had used for rehearsals since the Steel Wheels tour—recover from the 2003 SARS epidemic. An estimated 490,000 people attended the concert.

On 9 November 2003, the band played their first concert in Hong Kong as part of the Harbour Fest celebration, in support of its SARS-affected economy. The same month, the band licensed the exclusive rights to sell the new four-DVD boxed set, Four Flicks, recorded on their recent world tour, to the US Best Buy chain of stores. In response, some Canadian and US music retail chains (including HMV Canada and Circuit City) pulled Rolling Stones CDs and related merchandise from their shelves and replaced it with signs explaining why. In 2004, a double live album of the Licks Tour, Live Licks, was released and certified gold in the US. It reached No. 2 in both the UK and US. In November 2004, the Rolling Stones were among the inaugural inductees into the UK Music Hall of Fame.

The Rolling Stones at the San Siro stadium in Milan, Italy, July 2006

The band's first new album in almost eight years, A Bigger Bang, was released on 6 September to strong reviews, including a glowing write-up in Rolling Stone magazine. The album reached No. 2 in the UK and No. 3 in the US. The single "Streets of Love" reached the top 15 in the UK. The album included the political "Sweet Neo Con", Jagger's criticism of American Neoconservatism. The song was reportedly almost dropped from the album because of objections from Richards. When asked if he was afraid of a political backlash like the Dixie Chicks had endured, Richards responded that the album came first saying, "I don't want to be sidetracked by some little political 'storm in a teacup'." The subsequent A Bigger Bang Tour began in August 2005, and included North America, South America and East Asia.

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Roxy Music - Ladytron ( L2 )

You've got me girl on the run around run around
You've got me all around town
You've got me girl on the run around
And it's getting me down, getting me down
Lady if you want to find a lover
Then you look no further
For I'm gonna be your only
Searching at the start of the season
And my only reason
Is that I'll get to you
I'll find some way of connection
Hiding my intention
Then I'll move up close to you
I'll use you and I'll confuse you
And then I'll lose you
Still you won't suspect me