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.
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