The Axis of Awesome

The Axis of Awesome is an Australian musical comedy act with members Jordan Raskopoulos, Lee Naimo and Benny Davis. The trio cover a wide variety of performance styles, and perform a combination of original material and pop parodies.

History

The Axis of Awesome formed in 2006, their name being a play on the phrase "axis of evil" used by United States President George W. Bush. The trio were heavily involved in improv theatre at the University of Sydney and decided to try something different. The band played at a few stand up comedy nights and improv events in Sydney and performed a fortnightly segment on FBi Radio, but got their first big break when they released a number of rap parodies lampooning the 2007 Australian Federal Election.

The band gained further success performing in the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and making television and radio appearances. Their 2008 Melbourne International Comedy Festival show, titled "The Axis of Awesome Comeback Spectacular", received a Moosehead Award. They took the show to the Edinburgh Fringe in 2008 where it was received with critical and audience acclaim.

Chord

Chord may refer to:

I–V–vi–IV progression

The I–V–vi–IV progression is a common chord progression popular across several genres of music. It involves the I, V, vi, and IV chords; for example, in the key of C major, this would be: C–G–Am–F. Uses based on a different starting point but with the same order of chords, include:

The 50s progression uses the same chords but in a different order (I–vi–IV–V), no matter the starting point.

Variations

A common ordering of the progression, "vi–IV–I–V", was dubbed the sensitive female chord progression by Boston Globe Columnist Marc Hirsh. In C major this would be Am–F–C–G. Hirsh first noticed the chord progression in the song "One of Us" by Joan Osborne, and then other songs. He named the progression because he claimed it was used by many performers of the Lilith Fair in the late 1990s.

Dan Bennett claims the progression is also called the "pop-punk progression" because of its frequent use in pop punk.

The vi–IV–I–V progression has been associated with the heroic in many popular Hollywood movies and movie trailers, especially in films released since 2000.

Axis powers

The Axis powers (German: Achsenmächte, Japanese: 枢軸国 Sūjikukoku, Italian: Potenze dell'Asse), also known as the Axis, were the nations that fought in the Second World War against the Allied forces. The Axis powers agreed on their opposition to the Allies, but did not completely coordinate their activity.

The Axis grew out of the diplomatic efforts of Germany, Italy and Japan to secure their own specific expansionist interests in the mid-1930s. The first step was the treaty signed by Germany and Italy in October 1936. Mussolini declared on 1 November that all other European countries would from then on rotate on the Rome-Berlin axis, thus creating the term "Axis". The almost simultaneous second step was the signing in November 1936 of the Anti-Comintern Pact, an anti-communist treaty between Germany and Japan. Italy joined the Pact in 1937. The "Rome–Berlin Axis" became a military alliance in 1939 under the so-called "Pact of Steel", with the Tripartite Pact of 1940 leading to the integration of the military aims of Germany and its two treaty-bound allies.

The Offspring

The Offspring is an American punk rock band from Huntington Beach, California, formed in 1984. Formed under the name Manic Subsidal, the band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Dexter Holland, bassist Greg K., lead guitarist Kevin "Noodles" Wasserman and drummer Pete Parada. The Offspring is often credited—alongside fellow California punk bands Green Day and Rancid—for reviving mainstream interest in punk rock in the 1990s. They have sold over 40 million records worldwide, being considered one of the best-selling punk rock bands of all time.

The Offspring has released nine studio albums so far. Their first three albums for the independent record labels Nemesis and Epitaph earned them a cult following. The band's third studio album, Smash (1994), became their first commercial success, and has sold over 11 million copies worldwide, setting a record for most albums sold on an independent label and becoming the first album on Epitaph to obtain gold and platinum status. After signing to Columbia Records in 1996, The Offspring continued their commercial success with its next four studio albums, Ixnay on the Hombre (1997), Americana (1998), Conspiracy of One (2000) and Splinter (2003), reaching platinum, multi-platinum, platinum and gold status respectively.Splinter was followed five years later by Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace (2008), and then four years later by Days Go By (2012). The Offspring is currently in production of their tenth studio album, which is due for release in 2016.