Rock ‘n’ Roll
Genre Information
http://42explore.com/rocnroll.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_and_roll
http://www.history-of-rock.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Freed
http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2003/10/3/rockNRollFashionRetrospective
http://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&id=lMyC2FndXwkC&dq=rock+and+roll&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=bCAKnLhVMa&sig=yhqpJiLQ7PGEJE-MUwdVemtYJtU#PPP1,M1
Important Bands
http://www.history-of-rock.com/elvis_presley.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Berry
http://www.history-of-rock.com/buddy_holly.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Richard
http://www.rockhall.com/inductee/bo-diddley
http://www.rockhall.com/inductee/jerry-lee-lewis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Haley_and_His_Comets
http://www.everlybrothers.com/html/bio.html
Little Richard - Tutti Fruity - 1955
Bo Diddley - Bo Diddley - 1955
Elvis Presley - Hound Dog - 1956
Elvis Presley - Heart break hotel - 1956
Bill Hailey and his comets - Rock around the clock - 1956
Buddy Holly - Peggy Sue - 1957
Jerry Lee Lewis - Great Balls Of Fire - 1957
The Everly Brothers - Bye Bye Love - 1957
Chuck Berry - Johnny B Goode - 1958
Buddy Holly - Maybe Baby - 1958
Tuesday, 10 June 2008
Monday, 2 June 2008
1960's Motown
Racial attitudes were not as much of an issue any more in the early 1960’s and this gave way to a whole new genre in music. Black musicians were now allowed to have unlimited radio play and could express their music to the world freely.
The main people that are behind Motown are a group called ‘The Funk Brothers’. These were a pool of session musicians from around the city of Detroit that played jazz and blues. It was always the singers that they played for that got noticed and became famous. They played for artists like Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, James Brown and Stevie Wonder and many, many more.
It was also a time when producing and writing music was very different to how it is done today. The Funk Brothers used a basement as their studio and only had three hour sessions at a time in which they often wrote and recorded around two to four songs each time which is amazing to how it can take a full day in a studio now to get two tracks done. Motown was very often just like a big jam session when they were writing their music, someone started off with a rhythm or beat and then the other musicians join adding their own little bits to it.
I choose to write my 1960’s blog on Motown because I thought that it would be interesting to write about it with having the racial background with it being around the time when racial attitudes were becoming much more relaxed. Also because I liked the idea of having a lot of musicians on stage all having small parts but creating some incredible and very influential music and it was a genre that I wanted to learn more about.
The main people that are behind Motown are a group called ‘The Funk Brothers’. These were a pool of session musicians from around the city of Detroit that played jazz and blues. It was always the singers that they played for that got noticed and became famous. They played for artists like Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, James Brown and Stevie Wonder and many, many more.
It was also a time when producing and writing music was very different to how it is done today. The Funk Brothers used a basement as their studio and only had three hour sessions at a time in which they often wrote and recorded around two to four songs each time which is amazing to how it can take a full day in a studio now to get two tracks done. Motown was very often just like a big jam session when they were writing their music, someone started off with a rhythm or beat and then the other musicians join adding their own little bits to it.
I choose to write my 1960’s blog on Motown because I thought that it would be interesting to write about it with having the racial background with it being around the time when racial attitudes were becoming much more relaxed. Also because I liked the idea of having a lot of musicians on stage all having small parts but creating some incredible and very influential music and it was a genre that I wanted to learn more about.
Monday, 21 April 2008
70's - Punk
“Punk rock is an anti-establishment rock music genre and movement that emerged in the mid-1970s. Preceded by a variety of proto-punk music of the 1960s and early 1970s, punk rock developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Groups such as the Ramones, in New York City, and the Sex Pistols and The Clash, in London, were recognized as the vanguard of a new musical movement. By 1977, punk was spreading around the world.”
(Quote taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punk_rock)
Punk rock has been a massive influence in music history, it brought a certain different way of looking at music and style to what had been seen before. This genre of music really became big in the mid 1970s but it can be traced back to as early as the 1950s from rock n roll so it has been a huge influence throughout the past 50 years. To where punk originally came from, well that’s where the dispute begins. Some people say that punk first started in America and others say that it started in the UK but I personally think that it was a mixture of the too that gave us the genre that happened.
Punk took a very different approach to music than what other bands were at the time, they were not interested in what people thought of what they were doing, they were making music that they liked, that they wanted to make, and was often political or trying to send a message across about something that they felt strongly about.
The line up to most Punk bands were an electric guitar, bass, drums and vocals, sometimes they used other instruments for certain effects etc but nothing really that fancy. The music at the time was very fancy with long solos and punk took it back to the very basics, having shorter songs, the traditional verse chorus lay out, using 4/4 time signatures and using very straight forward riffs. The vocals were not very demanding and were more shouted than sang which all added to the effect of the genre. Some people call punk the ‘three chord genre’, this being because a lot of the songs were that simplified that bands took three chords to write a whole song.
The people and musicians who associate themselves with Punk quite often have a very original style in their clothes and hair, and punks are very stereotyped. They are known to customise their jackets, trousers and shirts with studs, spikes, safety pins, band logos etc, quite like the glam rock era they have big hair but punks have it more colourful and spiky. Most would say punks dressed this way to be their own person and well yes they are customising their own clothes and making it more individual but they are still just following a trend so I would not really agree that they are trying to be something unique, they were different in their own way from what was around at the time but all together, within the genre they were just all the same.
“Punks seek to outrage propriety with the highly theatrical use of clothing, hairstyles, cosmetics, tattoos, jewellery and body modification. Early punk fashion adapted existing objects for aesthetic effect: ripped clothing is held together by safety pins or wrapped with tape; ordinary clothing is customized by embellishing it with marker or adorning it with paint, safety pins and razor blades are used as jewellery. Leather, rubber, and vinyl clothing are also popular.”
(Quote taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punk_subculture#Fashion)
“Some punks style their hair to stand in spikes, cut it into Mohawks or other dramatic shapes, often coloring it with vibrant unnatural hues.”
(Quote taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punk_subculture#Fashion)
I choose to write about the genre Punk for my 1970s blog because it was the genre that appealed most to me and the genre that I thought I knew the most about already but I was also interested in finding more out the history of Punk and what it was all about.
(Quote taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punk_rock)
Punk rock has been a massive influence in music history, it brought a certain different way of looking at music and style to what had been seen before. This genre of music really became big in the mid 1970s but it can be traced back to as early as the 1950s from rock n roll so it has been a huge influence throughout the past 50 years. To where punk originally came from, well that’s where the dispute begins. Some people say that punk first started in America and others say that it started in the UK but I personally think that it was a mixture of the too that gave us the genre that happened.
Punk took a very different approach to music than what other bands were at the time, they were not interested in what people thought of what they were doing, they were making music that they liked, that they wanted to make, and was often political or trying to send a message across about something that they felt strongly about.
The line up to most Punk bands were an electric guitar, bass, drums and vocals, sometimes they used other instruments for certain effects etc but nothing really that fancy. The music at the time was very fancy with long solos and punk took it back to the very basics, having shorter songs, the traditional verse chorus lay out, using 4/4 time signatures and using very straight forward riffs. The vocals were not very demanding and were more shouted than sang which all added to the effect of the genre. Some people call punk the ‘three chord genre’, this being because a lot of the songs were that simplified that bands took three chords to write a whole song.
The people and musicians who associate themselves with Punk quite often have a very original style in their clothes and hair, and punks are very stereotyped. They are known to customise their jackets, trousers and shirts with studs, spikes, safety pins, band logos etc, quite like the glam rock era they have big hair but punks have it more colourful and spiky. Most would say punks dressed this way to be their own person and well yes they are customising their own clothes and making it more individual but they are still just following a trend so I would not really agree that they are trying to be something unique, they were different in their own way from what was around at the time but all together, within the genre they were just all the same.
“Punks seek to outrage propriety with the highly theatrical use of clothing, hairstyles, cosmetics, tattoos, jewellery and body modification. Early punk fashion adapted existing objects for aesthetic effect: ripped clothing is held together by safety pins or wrapped with tape; ordinary clothing is customized by embellishing it with marker or adorning it with paint, safety pins and razor blades are used as jewellery. Leather, rubber, and vinyl clothing are also popular.”
(Quote taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punk_subculture#Fashion)
“Some punks style their hair to stand in spikes, cut it into Mohawks or other dramatic shapes, often coloring it with vibrant unnatural hues.”
(Quote taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punk_subculture#Fashion)
I choose to write about the genre Punk for my 1970s blog because it was the genre that appealed most to me and the genre that I thought I knew the most about already but I was also interested in finding more out the history of Punk and what it was all about.
Tuesday, 12 February 2008
80's - glam metal
Between the late 1970's and the early 1980's heavy metal started to split and form into many mini sub genres; and the biggest sub genre to really take off from this was 'Glam metal', with many big bands such as Motley Crue, Poison and Quiet Riot exploding onto the scene.
The time period of this genre was split into two separate time spans, being the first wave of glam metal, the early to mid 1980's and the second wave being the mid to late 1980's. This was mainly separated as there were all the mainstream glam metal bands like Bon Jovi and then there were the more underground bands forming outside of the L.A.
One very important aspect that really makes glam metal is the fashion and appearance of the artists and bands. Glam metal can also be called 'Hair metal' and it got this name because all the bands and artists that were associated with this genre all had very long big hair and dressed 'over the top'. Glam metal style and the new romantic style were very similar. It was unusual for men at this time to wear makeup and have very long hair but glam metal made it ok for them to wear it. It probably did seem very strange to start with but it obviously got accepted as this new genre, at the time, was a massive hit. Also another aspect to the fashion of glam metal was that the men were wearing tight, often black leather, studded clothes and accessories. I think that this was to give the impression of been scary, loud people which was often shown in their music.
Some of the big important albums from the glam metal scene that have had a major influence on artists and bands since they were released include:
*Quiet Riot - Metal Health reached number one in the charts in the early 1980's (And I think for a new genre that has just formed in the beginning of the 1980’s for it to go quickly to number one shows how big of an impact and how liked glam metal was.)
*Motley Crue - Shout at the Devil
*W.A.S.P - W.A.S.P
*Twisted Sister - Stay hungry
*Def Leppard - Pyromania
The genre took a lot of influences from the 1970's mixing glam rock, heavy metal and some punk elements. And although there were formally bands who had tried mixing these genres together, it was on the sunset strip in America that it was where the real glam metal found its place and became a part of music history. It wasn't just bands from America that were part of the glam metal scene though, in 1981 an English band called Wrathchild formed as well as others but no glam metal bands quite made as big of an impact as the ones formed in L.A in America.
The main and biggest influence, some say responsible for the explosion of glam metal is Mark Bolan.
The time period of this genre was split into two separate time spans, being the first wave of glam metal, the early to mid 1980's and the second wave being the mid to late 1980's. This was mainly separated as there were all the mainstream glam metal bands like Bon Jovi and then there were the more underground bands forming outside of the L.A.
One very important aspect that really makes glam metal is the fashion and appearance of the artists and bands. Glam metal can also be called 'Hair metal' and it got this name because all the bands and artists that were associated with this genre all had very long big hair and dressed 'over the top'. Glam metal style and the new romantic style were very similar. It was unusual for men at this time to wear makeup and have very long hair but glam metal made it ok for them to wear it. It probably did seem very strange to start with but it obviously got accepted as this new genre, at the time, was a massive hit. Also another aspect to the fashion of glam metal was that the men were wearing tight, often black leather, studded clothes and accessories. I think that this was to give the impression of been scary, loud people which was often shown in their music.
Some of the big important albums from the glam metal scene that have had a major influence on artists and bands since they were released include:*Quiet Riot - Metal Health reached number one in the charts in the early 1980's (And I think for a new genre that has just formed in the beginning of the 1980’s for it to go quickly to number one shows how big of an impact and how liked glam metal was.)
*Motley Crue - Shout at the Devil
*W.A.S.P - W.A.S.P
*Twisted Sister - Stay hungry
*Def Leppard - Pyromania
The genre took a lot of influences from the 1970's mixing glam rock, heavy metal and some punk elements. And although there were formally bands who had tried mixing these genres together, it was on the sunset strip in America that it was where the real glam metal found its place and became a part of music history. It wasn't just bands from America that were part of the glam metal scene though, in 1981 an English band called Wrathchild formed as well as others but no glam metal bands quite made as big of an impact as the ones formed in L.A in America.
The main and biggest influence, some say responsible for the explosion of glam metal is Mark Bolan.
"Marc Bolan (born Mark Feld; 30 September 1947 – 16 September 1977), was an English singer, songwriter and guitarist whose hit singles, fashion sensibilities and stage presence with T.Rex in the early 1970s helped cultivate the glam rock era and made him one of the most recognisable stars in British music of the time." (Quoted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Bolan)
As many artists do he started out being in little bands but was first majorly noticed when he created a band called 'Tyrannosaurus Rex' which was later shortened to 'T.Rex'. This was started in the mid to late 1960’s and between then and his early death he achieved many great things that artists today are still crediting him for, with covers and tributes, some even reaching the charts like ‘20th century boy’ after been used in a Levi’s commercial in 1991 was re-released. Without Marc Bolan I doubt that glam metal would have been the huge success that it was and still is.
Glam metal doesn’t really take a great deal of talent to write the music that they did, I think it was more about the way they presented what they had done. But never the less it was done is in a very good way, proven in the success of the genre. The line up to the majority of the bands was very similar, mainly including drummer, bassist, guitarist (sometimes two) and vocalist, the basics to any rock band but also sometimes featured a keyboardist as well.
"Musically, glam metal songs often featured distorted guitar riffs based around power chords, shred guitar solos, a catchy melody with an anthem like chorus, hard hitting drumming and complementary bass."
(Quote from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glam_metal) This style of music was always very loud and ‘in your face’ lyrics. They sang about the typical rock and roll lifestyle, including drugs, sex and, alcohol.
But as with all genres of music, their time in the spot light seems to go as quickly as it came and the huge downfall to glam metal was mainly because of grunge in the early 1990's. But with nearly a decade of success it has left some lasting memories and major influences in music history that will carry on influencing young and new musicians for a long time to come.
The reason why I choose to write about glam metal for my 1980’s blog was because it is one genre of music that has influenced me as a musician and music that I am interested in and listen to a lot, so getting the chance to find out more about the genre appealed to me. It was only a couple of years ago that I started to listen to this genre of music and have never really looked a great deal into the history of it so I wanted to take this opportunity to do so.
Monday, 3 December 2007
Girl Groups and Girl Power
“A girl group is a popular music act featuring several young female singers who generally harmonize together. Girl groups are often backed by male musicians, and serve as front artists for behind-the-scenes songwriters and music producers. The term "girl group" is generally not applied to girl bands, in which women play instruments as well as sing." (Quote taken from Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girl_group#The_classic_girl-group_era )
Girl groups have left an ongoing influence throughout the years and the girl group sound has influenced such artists like The Beatles who have covered some girl group songs in their time “Please Mr. Postman" by The Marvelettes and “Chains” by the Cookies.
Although girl groups had been around since as early as the 1930's, it was in the 1990's that they really got to be in the spotlight of the public and that some of the best known girl groups that we know today were formed. Possibly one of the biggest girl groups of the 1990's was the 'Spice Girls'. They took the world by storm with their first single in 1996 titled 'Wannabe' which went straight to number one in 31 countries and the album ‘Spice’ which it was on, sold over twenty three million copies worldwide.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3wgaWAHo2Q Spice Girls video wannabe
Some have said that girl groups didn’t have to have the greatest vocal/performing abilities to be a hit. They have been seriously criticised from the start that they get noticed just for being attractive girls who wear memorable clothing and have an outspoken view. But surely if every band, group or performer just did the same as all the others at the time were doing then nothing would ever change or progress. So even though some groups can't really sing, they do what there are meant to do which is entertain and even though I don't think it fair that some artists can work really hard at their music and not get recognised and some people mime and get famous they still doing their job.
Every genre of music has a certain dress style and girl groups in the 1990’s mainly used characters or themes to base their fashion upon. This idea was to try to appeal to as wider audience as possible, and also so that the audience could relate to one of the members, ending in a bigger following. A great example of this is the spice girls, having sporty, ginger, scary, baby and posh spice and with their main target audience being young girls appealed to them all in some way. I think that this was a clever idea and played a massive part in the spice girls being such a massive success.
Some have said that girl groups didn’t have to have the greatest vocal/performing abilities to be a hit. They have been seriously criticised from the start that they get noticed just for being attractive girls who wear memorable clothing and have an outspoken view. But surely if every band, group or performer just did the same as all the others at the time were doing then nothing would ever change or progress. So even though some groups can't really sing, they do what there are meant to do which is entertain and even though I don't think it fair that some artists can work really hard at their music and not get recognised and some people mime and get famous they still doing their job.
Every genre of music has a certain dress style and girl groups in the 1990’s mainly used characters or themes to base their fashion upon. This idea was to try to appeal to as wider audience as possible, and also so that the audience could relate to one of the members, ending in a bigger following. A great example of this is the spice girls, having sporty, ginger, scary, baby and posh spice and with their main target audience being young girls appealed to them all in some way. I think that this was a clever idea and played a massive part in the spice girls being such a massive success.
Girl groups have left an ongoing influence throughout the years and the girl group sound has influenced such artists like The Beatles who have covered some girl group songs in their time “Please Mr. Postman" by The Marvelettes and “Chains” by the Cookies.
Girl groups from the 1990’s have been said to have a lot to do with the rise in feminism. Something that was known as the Riot Grrrl Movement which was linked to the third wave feminism happened in the mid 1990’s. It was all about given woman the right to get their voices and artistic expression noticed and heard. This was shown in girl groups as they were a lot more expressive in their writing and bolder in personality than what have been previously known in girl groups.
The Spice Girls – A massive band from the girl group era of the 1990’s. Very influential in the music world, having 10 singles and three albums and a movie in the four years they were together. They were given their individual nicknames after an interview in the Top of the Pops magazine and some became part of the girls’ careers and they still have been referred to these names even when the band split. Also the Spice Girls were well known for using the phrase ‘Girl Power’ which was later on said to be the this phrase ‘defined the decade’.
B*Witched – These came into the public’s eye later on in the 1990’s. Originally from Ireland, they were the youngest female group to have a single in the UK charts and were also the first Irish group to have all their first four singles enter the UKs charts at number one.
Eternal - An earlier band from the 1990's. Their first album in 1993, 'Forever and Always' spent 76 weeks in the charts and they soon became the United Kingdom’s most successful girl band at the time. They were an R&B band so weren't the typical style of the time but still appealing to a similar audience.
The term 'Girl Power' was used by the Spice Girls and this phrase was said to define the years of the 1990's. The Spice Girls often used the peace sign when they said girl power even though neither of the two have any connection, but it gave young girls and other follows something to recognise them by.
The term 'Girl Power' was used by the Spice Girls and this phrase was said to define the years of the 1990's. The Spice Girls often used the peace sign when they said girl power even though neither of the two have any connection, but it gave young girls and other follows something to recognise them by.
Simon Fuller, a very big assest to the music and entertainment industry. Many people think that he was the person responsible for the making of the Spice Girls when in fact he was their manager during the highest point of their career. He also was approached to manage Emma Bunton (Baby Spice) after the group split and still is the manager of Victoria Beckham (Posh Spice) and husband David Beckham.
Conclusion - I choose to do Girl Groups/Girl Power because I thought that it would be a good genre for me to do as it was some of the music that i listened to when I was growing up and as most young girls did at the time I loved the Spice Girls so i thought it would be good for me to research this genre. Also out of the five genres that was given from the 1990's it was the one that appealed to me most and the one that i thought I already had the most knowledge on which would make it better for me to write about.
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