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FEMUSINDO.com - Officially established on May 5, 1973, God Bless is one of the famous legendary Indonesian rock music groups. Their glory years were in the 1970s and 1980s.
One proof of their great name was when God Bless was chosen as the opening act for the legendary world rock music group, Deep Purple in Jakarta in 1975.
God Bless is included in the list of The Immortals: 25 Greatest Indonesian Artists of All Time according to Rolling Stone Indonesia magazine.
The Beginning of God Bless
The founding of God Bless began with the return of Ahmad "Iyek" Albar back to his homeland after several years living in the Netherlands, he also dreamed of forming his own more serious band.
He returned from the Netherlands with Ludwig Lemans (guitarist of Clover Leaf, Iyek's band when he was still in the Netherlands). Iyek then invited (the late) Fuad Hassan (drums) and Donny Fattah (bass) to form a band.
They then held their first concert at TIM (Taman Ismail Marzuki) and then participated in the "Summer '28" music show, a kind of Indonesian 'Woodstock' show in Ragunan, Jakarta, which was attended by various bands from Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.
This was the background to the founding of Crazy Wheels, before the band finally changed its name to God Bless on May 5, 1973.
Change of Personnel
In early 1973, Jockie Surjoprajogo (keyboard) had just joined Crazy Wheels or God Bless.
He was intended as a replacement for Deddy Dores - who had joined God Bless but did not last long in the band because he had to take care of his own band, Rhapsodia.
In the band, Jockie also could not last long. His position was replaced by (the late) Soman Lubis.
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To fill the gap on the keyboard, they invited Jockie to rejoin. Jockie then invited Ian Antono (guitar) and Teddy Sujaya (drums) to join God Bless.
Approaching the making of the second album, Jockie Surjoprajogo left the formation. His position was then taken over by Abadi Soesman who joined in 1979 and was involved in the making of the album Cermin (1980).
God Bless Songs as Mandatory Songs
Around the 1980s, one of the rock promoters from Surabaya, Log Zhelebour began to aggressively stage rock festivals in Indonesia.
This event seemed to wake God Bless from its "long sleep" by making God Bless songs "mandatory" songs.
In addition, its personnel also became judges at festivals that eventually gave birth to many rock bands in Indonesia, such as Grass Rock, Elpamas, and Slank.
From just being a judge, God Bless finally gave birth to the "comeback" album Semut Hitam (1988) which exploded in the market at that time.
The "comeback" album had hits, such as Rumah Kita, Semut Hitam and Kehidupan. In terms of sales, the Semut Hitam album was God Bless' best-selling album.
Album Release and New Formation
After releasing the Semut Hitam album, Ian Antono announced his departure from the God Bless formation. His position was then replaced by a talented young guitarist, Eet Sjahranie.
After Eet Sjahranie's entry, in 1989 an album entitled Raksasa was released with the hits Menjilat Matahari, Maret 1989 and Misteri.
The entry of Eet Sjahranie managed to refresh Ian Antono's guitar sound and made God Bless more aggressive.
The year 2002 can be said to be the year of God Bless's return. After being on hiatus for almost 5 years, God Bless came with a new formation.
The new formation, namely Ahmad Albar (vocals), Ian Antono (guitar), Donny Fattah (bass), Abadi Soesman (keyboard), and two brothers Inang Noorsaid (drums) and Iwang Noorsaid (keyboard).
The formation did not last long. Not even a year running, keyboardist Iwang Noorsaid resigned because of his busy schedule which at that time was also one of the personnel of the band accompanying Iwan Fals.
In 2003, following his brother Inang Noorsaid resigning, his position was replaced by one of the best drummers in this country Gilang Ramadhan.
After being on hiatus again, God Bless finally returned to touring and enlivening the music stages of the country. In early May 2009, God Bless released an album entitled 36th. (*)
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