The Roosters

The Roosters (ザ・ルースターズ, Za Rūsutāzu, also written as The Roosterz) are a Japanese rock band that mixed punk, blues-rock, ska, straightforward rock and roll, and later on, even gothic rock. Originally active from 1979 to 1988, they performed at the 2004 Fuji Rock Festival before restarting activities in 2009. Through the years, guitarist Hiroyuki Hanada remained the only constant member, with the band currently consisting of the original lineup. In 2003, HMV Japan ranked the Roosters at number 75 on their list of the 100 most important Japanese pop acts. In September 2007, Rolling Stone Japan rated their album Good Dreams number 28 on its list of the "100 Greatest Japanese Rock Albums of All Time".

History

They formed in 1979 in the Hakata ward of Fukuoka, named after the blues standard "Little Red Rooster". Although there were four different lineups throughout the life of the band—all centered around guitarist Hiroyuki Hanada--Shinya Ohe was the band's first frontman. Ohe not only sang lead vocals, but also dominated the writing of lyrics and music for the group for the first three albums. In addition to Ohe's contributions, the first two albums were made up of several cover songs. Their third album Insane was a step in a new direction, it was not only the first original Roosters album, but it also featured the first Roosters song not written and composed by Ohe: "Baby Sitter", written and composed by bassist Tomio Inoue. This was the first sign of a more democratic Roosters, and it paved the way for Hanada to compose songs for their fourth album Dis.

The Roosters (disambiguation)

The Roosters may refer to

Music

Sports

Telstar

Telstar is the name of various communications satellites. The first two Telstar satellites were experimental and nearly identical. Telstar 1 launched on top of a Thor-Delta rocket on July 10, 1962. It successfully relayed through space the first television pictures, telephone calls, and fax images, and provided the first live transatlantic television feed. Telstar 2 launched May 7, 1963. Telstar 1 and 2—though no longer functional—still orbit the Earth.

Description

Belonging to AT&T, the original Telstar was part of a multi-national agreement among AT&T (US), Bell Telephone Laboratories (US), NASA (US), GPO (UK) and the National PTT (France) to develop experimental satellite communications over the Atlantic Ocean. Bell Labs held a contract with NASA, paying the agency for each launch, independent of success.

The US ground station—built by Bell Labs—was Andover Earth Station, in Andover, Maine. The main British ground station was at Goonhilly Downs in southwestern England. The BBC, as international coordinator, used this location. The standards 525/405 conversion equipment (filling a large room) was researched and developed by the BBC and located in the BBC Television Centre, London. The French ground station was at Pleumeur-Bodou (48°47′10″N 3°31′26″W / 48.78611°N 3.52389°W / 48.78611; -3.52389) in north-western France.

Adidas Telstar

Telstar was a football made by Adidas. The 32-panel design of the ball, based on the work of Eigil Nielsen, has become iconic and is the standard design now used to portray a football in different media.

Ball

The ball was first introduced as the Telstar Erlast for the 1968 European Football Championship. It was also the official match ball of the 1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico. The ball was then further use in the 1972 and 1976 European Championships. The similar Telstar Durlast was one of two official balls, along with the Chile Durlast, of the 1974 FIFA World Cup held in West Germany.

The Telstar was the first World Cup ball to use the now-familiar truncated icosahedron for its design, consisting of 12 black pentagonal and 20 white hexagonal panels. The 32-panel configuration had been introduced in 1962 by Select Sport, and was also used in the official logo for the 1970 World Cup. The black-and-white pattern, to aid visibility on black and white television broadcasts, was also well established before the Telstar. The name came from the Telstar communications satellite, which was roughly spherical and dotted with solar panels, somewhat similar in appearance to the football.

Telstar (song)

"Telstar" is a 1962 instrumental performed by The Tornados. The track reached No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in December 1962 (the second British recording to reach No. 1 on that chart in the year, after "Stranger on the Shore" in May), and was also a number one hit in the UK Singles Chart. It was the second instrumental single to hit No. 1 in 1962 on both the US and UK weekly charts.

Background

The record was named after the Telstar communications satellite, which was launched into orbit on 10 July 1962. It was written and produced by Joe Meek, and featured either a clavioline, or the similar Jennings Univox, both keyboard instruments with distinctive electronic sounds. It was recorded in Meek's studio in a small flat above a shop in Holloway Road, North London. "Telstar" won an Ivor Novello Award and is estimated to have sold at least five million copies worldwide.

Plagiarism claim

A French composer, Jean Ledrut, accused Joe Meek of plagiarism, claiming that the tune of "Telstar" had been copied from "La Marche d'Austerlitz", a piece from a score that Ledrut had written for the 1960 film Austerlitz. This led to a lawsuit that prevented Meek from receiving royalties from the record during his lifetime, and the issue was not resolved in Meek's favour until three weeks after his suicide in 1967. Austerlitz was not released in the UK until 1965, and Meek was unaware of the film when the lawsuit was filed in March 1963.