The Hitmen

Hitmen are an Australian Hard rock band. The group went through a large number of lineup changes in its short late 1970s and early 1980s run, then regrouped under a new name, Hitmen DTK, between 1989 and 1992. They reformed in 2007 and continue to play.

History

Radio Birdman backup singer Johnny Kannis first formed the group as Johnny and the Hitmen in 1977. They recorded three songs and released two of them as a 7" under Johnny's name in 1978. When Radio Birdman's European tour went awry in 1978, some of its members joined Kannis' band. The group began touring, and signed to Warner Bros. Records in 1979, releasing their first single in July of that year. A second single followed the next year, and in December 1980, the band entered the studio. The result was 1981's self-titled full length, released in July, and the group supported Steppenwolf on an Australian tour.

In 1982, the group left Warner Bros. Records and signed to RCA Records, quickly releasing a follow-up LP that ended up selling poorly. When Iggy Pop toured Australia in 1983, three of The Hitmen and one member of The Celibate Rifles were selected as a backing band to Radio Birdman singer Rob Younger, who was picked as the opening act (as The New Christs). Kannis went on the road with a new band, Johnny Kannis and the Night Train, during this hiatus. Kannis was injured in a car accident on tour and was out of commission for over a year; the group broke up shortly after a farewell tour once Kannis was well again. Following this was a live album, Tora Tora DTK, for which the band did a few one-off shows in 1985.

Sean Combs

Sean John Combs (born November 4, 1969), also known by his stage names Puff Daddy, Puffy, Diddy, and P. Diddy, is an American rapper, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur. Combs was born in Harlem and grew up in Mount Vernon, New York. He worked as a talent director at Uptown Records before founding Bad Boy Records in 1993. He released his debut album No Way Out in 1997, which has been certified seven times platinum and was followed by successful albums such as Forever (1999), The Saga Continues... (2001) and Press Play (2006). In 2009 Combs formed the musical group Diddy – Dirty Money and released the critically well-reviewed and commercially successful album Last Train to Paris (2010).

Combs has won two Grammy Awards and two MTV Video Music Awards, and is the producer of MTV's Making the Band. His non-music business ventures include the clothing lines Sean John and "Sean by Sean Combs" – for which he earned a Council of Fashion Designers of America award – a movie production company, and two restaurants. In 2015 Forbes estimated Combs' net worth at $735 million.

Rock It (George Jones song)

"Rock It" is a rockabilly single by country music singer George Jones. Not wanting to use his real name and jeopardize his reputation as a country artist, Starday Records released it under the pseudonym "Thumper Jones."

Background

With the explosion in popularity of Elvis Presley in 1956, country music lost a sizeable portion of its young audience and scrambled to adapt. As biographer Bob Allen put it in his book George Jones: The Life and Times of a Honky Tonk Legend, "It temporarily sent the country music industry sprawling flat on its ass. Sales figures for country music plummeted dangerously, and soon even the most dedicated country artists - as a matter of sheer professional survival - were all rushing to pump some Elvis glottal bestiality into their own music." Jones, who had played with both Elvis and Johnny Cash on the Louisiana Hayride, and his producer Pappy Daily decided to give rockabilly a shot, recording two songs Jones wrote: "Rock It" and "Dadgumit, How Come It." As Jones explained to Billboard in 2006: "I was desperate. When you're hungry, a poor man with a house full of kids, you're gonna do some things you ordinarily wouldn't do. I said, 'Well, hell, I'll try anything once.' I tried 'Dadgum It How Come It' and 'Rock It', a bunch of shit. I didn't want my name on the rock and roll thing, so I told them to put Thumper Jones on it and if it did something, good, if it didn't, hell, I didn't want to be shamed with it."

Rock It (music festival)

Rock It is an Australian music festival held at the Arena Joondalup in the northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia. The festival was first held in 1999, and mainly features modern rock music. Along with the nationally-touring Big Day Out, Rock It was one of the major rock concerts held regularly in Perth.

At the March 2009 event Western Australian Police trialled the use of drug amnesty bins for the first time at a rock concert. The police restrictions resulted in long queues on entry and due to their public visibility little use by concert goers.

Artist lineups by year

1999

5 December 1999

2000

22 October 2000

2002

13 October 2002

Rock It

Rock It may refer to:

Songs

Other uses

See also