VH1 Counts Down the '100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock' In Five-Hour, Five-Night Special, Premiering November 13-17 at 10:00 P.M. (ET/PT)

    NEW YORK, Nov. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Led Zeppelin, the British quartet who
 virtually defined high-volume heavy metal thunder and epitomized the rise of
 album rock, stadium concerts and guitar pyrotechnics, have been chosen as the
 greatest hard rockers of all time for VH1's "100 Greatest Artists of Hard
 Rock" airing Monday, November 13 through Friday, November 17 from
 10:00 - 11:00 p.m. (ET/PT).  Second on the list is the original goth-rock band
 Black Sabbath, followed by legendary guitar wizard Jimi Hendrix.  AC/DC and
 Metallica round out the top five.
     Hosted by Carmen Electra, "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock" spans
 music's high-volume era from its chord-crashing genesis in the '60s
 (Yardbirds, Rolling Stones, Hendrix), through its arena-rock ascendance (Led
 Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Aerosmith), the angry new wave (Sex Pistols, The
 Clash), the alternative movement (Nirvana, Soundgarden), and beyond.
     The special features never-before-seen performance footage, rare photos,
 archival clips, and new exclusive interviews with the artists themselves.
 Ritchie Blackmore, Chuck D., Alice Cooper, Billy Corgan, CC DeVille, Lita
 Ford, Peter Frampton, Dave Grohl, Sammy Hagar, Rob Halford, James Hetfield,
 Kid Rock, Robby Krieger, Vince Neil, Rick Nielsen, Ted Nugent, Ozzy Osbourne,
 Liz Phair, Henry Rollins, Richie Sambora, Slash and Dee Snider are among the
 artists who talk about the effect and influence of hard rock's raging royalty.
     VH1's "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock" were selected by a panel of rock
 artists that included Pat Benatar, Def Leppard's Joe Elliott, Ozzy Osbourne,
 Scott Ian and John Bush of Anthrax, Korn's Dave Silveria, Black Sabbath's Tony
 Iommi and Geezer Butler, Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple, Dave Grohl of
 Nirvana/Foo Fighters, Mike Bordin of Faith No More, Skid Row's Sebastian Bach,
 Red Hot Chili Peppers' Flea, Yngvie Malmsteen, Lita Ford, and Geddy Lee of
 Rush.
 
     Highlighting the "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock":
     -- Of all of the bands on the list, more than half of them are still
        currently playing together.
 
     -- The Yardbirds are the first band on the list to record an album (1963).
        (The band is also the cradle of three legendary guitar heavyweights:
        Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page.)
 
     -- 73 of the 100 bands hail from the United States -- seven from Seattle
        alone.
 
     -- 41 of the artists have produced platinum albums, and 18 have gone
        double platinum.  Five artists are tied for the most double platinum
        albums, with three each (Ted Nugent, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, Lynryd
        Skynyrd and Pantera).
 
     -- 25 of the bands have received Grammy Awards; Metallica has received an
        extraordinary five, followed by Aerosmith and Pat Benatar with four
        each.
 
     -- Eleven of the bands have been honored with tribute albums.
 
     -- Of all the artists on the list, Frank Zappa has made the most albums,
        with over 60 original records to his credit.  (And only one top
        40 single among them).  Indeed, 55 of the bands have never had a top
        10 single, and 45 have not had any top 10 albums.
 
     -- Of the artists on the list, 15 have had members who have played in more
        than one of the bands.  Eleven of the bands have had more than one lead
        singer.  23 of bands have one or more deceased members.
 
     -- Five of the bands played at the original 1969 Woodstock festival, nine
        played at Woodstock '94, and five played in the most recent,
        Woodstock '99.
 
     "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock" airs as a five-night, five-part series
 beginning with #100 on Monday, November 13 at 10:00 p.m.  On Tuesday-Friday,
 each new installment will be preceded by a repeat airing of the previous
 episodes.  "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock" will be repeated on Saturday,
 November 18 from 1:00-6:00 p.m. (ET/PT), and Sunday, November 19 at 4:00-9:00
 p.m. (ET/PT). The complete schedule for VH1's "100 Greatest Artists of Hard
 Rock":
 
     Monday, 11/13        10:00 p.m.     # 100-81  (premiere)
 
     Tuesday, 11/14       9:00 p.m.      # 100-81
                          10:00 p.m.     # 80-61  (premiere)
 
     Wednesday, 11/15     8:00 p.m.      # 100-81
                          9:00 p.m.      # 80-61
                          10:00 p.m.     # 60-41  (premiere)
 
     Thursday, 11/16      7:00 p.m.      # 100-81
                          8:00 p.m.      # 80-61
                          9:00 p.m.      # 60-41
                          10:00 p.m.     # 40-21  (premiere)
 
     Friday, 11/17        6:00 p.m.      # 100-81
                          7:00 p.m.      # 80-61
                          8:00 p.m.      # 60-41
                          9:00 p.m.      # 40-21
                          10:00 p.m.     # 20-1  (premiere)
 
     "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock" is a production of VH1.  Lauren
 Zalaznick is executive producer, Todd Schwartz is executive in charge of
 production, Bernie Kaminski is supervising producer, and Paul LaBlanc is the
 producer.
 
     A complete list of the "100 Greatest Dance Songs" follows.
 
     VH1 produces and programs a wide variety of music-based series, specials,
 live events and acquisition-based programming that keep viewers in touch with
 the music they love.  VH1 is a registered trademark of MTV Networks, a unit of
 Viacom Inc.  MTV Networks owns and operates the cable television programming
 services MTV: Music Television, MTV 2: Music Television, Nickelodeon/Nick at
 Nite, TV Land and VH1 as well as The Suite from MTV Networks, a package of ten
 digital services, all of which are trademarks of MTV Networks.  MTV Networks
 also has joint ventures, licensing agreements and syndication deals whereby
 its programming can be seen worldwide.  s:/press/100hardrock-winner.doc
 
     VH1'S "100 GREATEST ARTISTS OF HARD ROCK"
     Premieres Nov. 13-17 from 10-11PM (ET/PT)
 
     1.   Led Zeppelin
     2.   Black Sabbath
     3.   Jimi Hendrix
     4.   AC/DC
     5.   Metallica
     6.   Nirvana
     7.   Van Halen
     8.   The Who
     9.   Guns N' Roses
     10.  KISS
     11.  Aerosmith
     12.  The Sex Pistols
     13.  Queen
     14.  Soundgarden
     15.  Pink Floyd
     16.  Cream
     17.  The Ramones
     18.  Ozzy Osbourne
     19.  The Clash
     20.  Alice Cooper
     21.  Pearl Jam
     22.  Deep Purple
     23.  Judas Priest
     24.  Iron Maiden
     25.  Cheap Trick
     26.  Motorhead
     27.  Iggy Pop/ The Stooges
     28.  Rush
     29.  Motley Crue
     30.  Red Hot Chili Peppers
     31.  Def Leppard
     32.  The Doors
     33.  Rage Against The Machine
     34.  Alice in Chains
     35.  Jane's Addiction
     36.  Frank Zappa
     37.  Yardbirds
     38.  MC5
     39.  Neil Young & Crazy Horse
     40.  Stone Temple Pilots
     41.  Ted Nugent
     42.  The Kinks
     43.  Nine Inch Nails
     44.  ZZ Top
     45.  Pantera
     46.  Scorpions
     47.  The Rollins Band/ Black Flag
     48.  Janis Joplin
     49.  Smashing Pumpkins
     50.  Slayer
     51.  Thin Lizzy
     52.  Faith No More
     53.  Korn
     54.  Sonic Youth
     55.  Blue Oyster Cult
     56.  White Zombie
     57.  Heart
     58.  Anthrax
     59.  Bad Company
     60.  The New York Dolls
     61.  Jethro Tull
     62.  Ministry
     63.  Boston
     64.  Steppenwolf
     65.  The Cult
     66.  Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
     67.  Rolling Stones
     68.  Husker Du
     69.  Megadeth
     70.  Living Colour
     71.  Lynyrd Skynyrd
     72.  Foo Fighters
     73.  Twisted Sister
     74.  Pat Benatar
     75.  Spinal Tap
     76.  Bon Jovi
     77.  Hole
     78.  Marilyn Manson
     79.  Ratt
     80.  Green Day
     81.  Pixies
     82.  Queensryche
     83.  King's X
     84.  UFO
     85.  Whitesnake
     86.  Foreigner
     87.  King Crimson
     88.  Tool
     89.  Lita Ford
     90.  Rainbow
     91.  Danzig
     92.  The Black Crowes
     93.  Lenny Kravitz
     94.  Yes
     95.  Fugazi
     96.  Meat Loaf
     97.  Primus
     98.  Mountain
     99.  Bad Brains
     100. Quiet Riot
 
 

SOURCE  VH1