H-Blockx

H-Blockx is an crossover band founded in M?nster, Germany in 1991. The bands name is a tribute to the 1981 Irish hunger strike participants inside Her Majesty's Prison Maze, which was colloquially called "The H Blocks".

Biography

The band rose to fame with their successful debut album, Time to Move, released in 1994 on Sing Sing Records, and produced by Ralph Quick and Chris Wagner. The music videos for "Risin' High" and "Move" received considerable airplay on MTV. The band earned a nomination for "Best Breakthrough Artist" at the following MTV Europe Music Awards, however the award went to Dog Eat Dog. With the help of the singles "Risin' High", "Move", and "Little Girl," their debut spent 62 weeks in the German album chart, selling over 750,000 copies worldwide, and earning the band their first gold album. Their first major tour followed. In 1999 their song "Oh Hell Yeah" was chosen as the theme song for wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin.

None of their following albums have been as successful as Time to Move was. However with the release of Get in the Ring in 2002 on Supersonic Records in association with BMG, they did have a minor hit with their cover of "The Power" featuring rapper Turbo B (Turbo B also performs the original version with Snap!).

In 2004, the band's album No Excuses, reached the Top 15 of the German album charts. It was then supported by an extensive European tour. After the tour the members spent time with side projects working as producers, singers (all but Mannheims) or management (Pohlmann) with artists of different genres.

The members would not only meet at concerts, but regularly for several weeks to return to songwriting. In Scandinavia in early 2005 and 2006 in Sweden, the first song of the new album was recorded. They were accompanied by H-Blockx producer Andreas "Boogieman" Herbig whom was with them in 1994 when Time To Move was completed. While in the studios in Malm?, Open Letter To A Friend was recorded. They are currently signed to X-Cell Records.

In 1999, the band was featured on the wrestling album, WWF The Music, Vol. 4 released in 1999 with their song "Oh Hell Yeah".

A cover version of their song "Oh Hell Yeah" was featured on WWE Anthology disc 2 The Attitude Era. A re-worked version was also featured on The Legacy of Stone Cold Steve Austin DVD in 2008.

Their song "Countdown to Insanity" is one of the playable tracks included on the European version of the game Rock Band, and is available to download with the US version.

Band members

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Original Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-Blockx