Category: Rock music

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Second half 1970s: Punk (History of rock after 1960 5/6)

Punk is a style of music characterised by short, fast songs with simple lyrics and melodies, played on basic instrumentation. Many punk groups produced their recordings themselves and they released them through independent labels. Punk harkened back to the ‘rock and roll’ of the 1950s and the culture of garage bands of the 1960s. The songs were not even that different from those of beat groups in the early 1960s.

Punk opposed what were seen as the musical excesses of the previous period, such as psychedelic-influenced musical styles, art rock, metal and symphonic rock. The songs generally turn against the establishment, such as ‘Career opportunity’s’ by the Clash. And ‘Right to work’ by ‘Chelsea’ that addressed social issues such as unemployment and the grim realities of city life. Resistance to society was increasingly explicit in the way punks dressed. Tattoos, piercings, and metal studded and nailed accessories as well as the mohawk, the pointed hairstyle, gradually became commonplace for a while.

The first punk groups with wider fame were the Stooges with lead singer Iggy Pop, Ramones, Stranglers and Sex pistols. In the US, punk remained an ‘underground’ phenomenon; in Britain and mainland Europe, the music became widespread. 

Iggy Pop and the Stooges

The Stooges released their first album – called the Stooges for short – in 1969. Their fifth and last album – Ready to die – dates from 2013. In the intervening period, the band lived a dormant existence for most of the time. In 2016, the band disbanded permanently as only two members – including Iggy Pop – were left alive. The albums in the pre-1973 period were not a commercial success and critics also gave the band a lukewarm reception. What particularly stuck with many others was Iggy Pop’s ‘stage diving’ and the heroin use of the group’s members.

Many punk rock groups took songs from the Stooges’albums to imitate them. Especially this one: ‘I wanna be your dog’.

Ramones

The Ramones is also an American punk rock band, and its first album ‘Ramones’ (1976) was commercially unsuccessful. Years later, the album received plenty of recognition for its influence on the development of hard rock. The Dutch punk group ‘Heideroosjes’ calls the Ramones its main inspiration. You can listen to Blitzkrieg Bop now:

Stranglers

My favourite punk song is ‘No more heroes anymore’ by English punk rock band Stranglers. This rendition below dates from 1977, the still existing group’s 50th anniversary is coming soon, and the band has explored a multitude of genres in that time. Compare ‘No more heroes’ with ‘Golden Brown’ (1982), which you can listen to HERE (2012). It seems like an innocent tune. Superficially, it’s about a girl but essentially about heroin. What is special about the song is the alternation of three- and four-quarter measures, which gives it a playful character. It is the group’s highest-rated song.

Sexpistols

English punk group Sexpistols released one album: ”Never mind the bollocks. Here’s the sex pistols’ (1977) The group existed from 1975 – 1978 but performed several more times after that. The original line-up consisted of John Lydon (‘Johnny Rotten’), Steve Jones, Pail Cook and Glen Matlock, later temporarily replaced in 1977 by John Richie (‘Sid Vicious’), who could not play any instruments. This group was literally plucked off the streets by would-be manager Malcolm McLaren, who saw the group as his own pop art project, loathed its music but thought he could make money from it. 

On stage and off, the band cultivated an image that the Daily Mirror characterised as ‘filth and fury’. The music was secondary; the media was all about the band members’ behaviour. That, especially after Sid Vicious’ arrival, revolved around riots, (verbal) violence and shocking the public and the rest of Great Britain. The ‘pistols’ became public enemy No 1 after the release of their single ‘God save the queen’. Gradually, gigs were increasingly cancelled to prevent riots. Meanwhile, tensions in the group were running high, the group broke up, Sid Vicious was arrested for murdering his girlfriend and subsequently died of an overdose. 

For the group’s members, it was not the quality of the music that was paramount, but the commotion they created. In that respect, it is true that the Sexpistols were one of the most influential groups of the 70s and 80s.  They have been called an inspiration to Guns N’Roses, Nirvana, Greenday and Oasis, among others. These groups, whose musical quality was miles above that of the Sexpistols, may have adopted from the latter in daring to deviate from social and especially musical conventions, use simple melodies and lyrics, perform an expressive stage act and, above all, play to the audience.

The Sexpistols and thousands of other punk groups provided an outlet for young people who saw little future in the then. Their following ranged from hooligans, revolutionaries, neo-Nazis to addicts. At the 1996 and 2007 reunion concerts, the audience was now a cross-section of people in their thirties and forties, and better times had arrived in economic terms. The individual members of the group meanwhile made a name for themselves, and it must be said, their stage act in 2007 is impressive. You can listen and watch it below. The actual performance of the song ‘Pretty vacant’ starts at 2 minutes from the beginning and is preceded by an atmospheric shot of the venue.

You can watch and listen to this song in its original performance (1976) HERE

Heideroosjes

The Netherlands also had a punk band, the Heideroosjes. Only formed in 1989, the group has 1,500 performances to its name almost all over the world, always in the same line-up. In 2012, the band gave two farewell concerts and another reunion followed in 2019. Here they sing ‘I’ll see you later'(2012)

Eventually, most punk rock groups started making more accessible and sometimes more artsy music and were then referred to as ‘post-punk’. They learned how to get more out of their instruments and discovered that lyrics were more than shouting political slogans. The ‘Clash’ album ‘London calling’ combined punk rock with reggae, ska, R&B and rock and roll and is, according to many, one of the best rock records ever. Listen to the song ‘London Calling’ (1979) here

The record companies did see earning opportunities in groups touting themselves as ‘post-punk’. Anything that could remotely be classified as such was marketed as ‘new wave’. Examples include the Police, the Pretenders, Elvis Costello, Blondie, the Specialsand Madness. British ‘new wave’ later included Standau Ballet, Ultravox, Culture club and Eurythmics. Check out these groups, pick what you like and consider whether you can still make a connection with punk. That will usually not be the musical style, but it may also involve audience interaction.

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1970s: Hard rock (History of rock after 1960 4/6)

In the late 1960s, hard rock developed into a genre of its own. This was partly due to the influence of ‘acid rock’, the more psychedelically inspired variant of blues rock. One of the precursors was the British band Cream, consisting of seasoned musicians such as Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker. Their album ‘Fresh Cream’ (1966) is a prototype of hard rock.

The group made four albums between 1966 and 1968 and then the members went a way of their own. You can see the three gentlemen here at a reunion in 2005. Would you be interested; you can watch and listen to the entire concert via this link. 

If you wish, you can see a recording of ‘Sunshine of your love’ HERE, at their farewell concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London in 1968.

Hard rock

In the 1970s, hard rock began to sound increasingly harsh. Think of early examples like the Who, Deep purple, Steppenwulf (‘Born to be wild’) and Iron Butterfly (‘In-a-gada-da-vida’). Later, Black Sabbath, Aerosmith and Van Halen, among others, followed. Other examples include Def Leppard (Great Britain), the German Scorpions, AC/DC from Australia, the Swedish band Europe and in the Netherlands Golden Earring. 

In the 1990s, hard rock became one of the most dominant forms of popular music. Guns N’Roses and Bon Jovi occupied prominent places on the charts for years. Also attracting a wide audience were Bruce Springsteen, Southside Johnny and the Ashbury Jukes, Tom Patty and Bob Seger, musicians who often dwelled on social problems and urban decay. Heart was the first female hard rock band to spawn top-10 albums. Listen to both Heart frontwomen here, a recording from 1976.

English band Led Zeppelin made art-rock out of hard rock with the song ‘Stairway to heaven’. Many music critics consider it the best rock song ever. What follows is a recording from a reunion in 2007, so about 35 years after the first performance and 27 years after the members of the band broke up.  It starts with an acoustic part to gradually swell into hard rock. It ends with an a cappella sung line “And she’s buying a stairway to heaven”. The lyrics are by Robert Plant and the music by Jimmy Page. 

You can see the moved Jimmy Page and Robert Plant back HERE at a concert presented to them in the presence of President Obama and his wife Michelle in 2011.  The ladies of Heart sing and play ‘Stairway to heaven’, accompanied by choir and orchestra.

Led Zeppelin has been dogged until 2020 by a lawsuit from a Los Angeles rock band that felt the intro to ‘Stairway to heaven’ bore a strong resemblance to that one of its own songs. It took until 2020 for this claim to be dismissed.  In another lawsuit, the plaintiff claimed that if you play some passages backwards, the trained ear can hear satanic messages. This claim was also rejected. The judge questioned the existence of a record player with a turntable that could spin backwards. 

Heavy metal

Bands like Deep Purple, Steppenwulf and Black Sabbath are considered as the first “real” heavy metal groups and played with even more volume. Some employed occult lyrics and bizarre attire. You can watch and listen to a recording of Black Sabbath HERE. 

Not melody or rhythm, but timbre, ‘soundscape’ and volume should give the listener an adrenaline rush. Later, it turned out that heavy metal’s chord progressions are much more complex than at first glance. Strange as it may sound, classical composers like Bach and Vivaldi had a major influence on the genre. Many musicians had conservatory training and played their instruments in a virtuoso manner. 

Here, Steppenwulf plays ‘Born to be wild’ in 1986, a song made famous by the film Easy Rider.

Gothic rock

From the early 1990s, metal groups increasingly adopted gothic elements. Gothic rock is instantly recognisable for its darker sound, with the use of mostly minor chords, reverb, dark arrangements, and dramatic and melancholic melodies. Goth rock was fueled by Gothic literature associated with themes of sadness, nihilism, dark romanticism, tragedy, melancholy and morbidity. Gothic influences are not limited to metal and punk. They appear in songs by Velvet undergroud (‘All tomorrow’s parties’) and Kate Bush’s ‘Wuthering heights’. 

Symphonic rock

Metal bands regularly use violins and choral singing, and sometimes entire symphony orchestras support their performances. An older symphonic metal song is ‘Dies irae’ by the band Believer on their 1990 album ‘Sanity Obscure’. In this song, metal and classical music merge seamlessly. They were not the only ones: Swedish band Theron also made use of a live orchestra and classical composition techniques during the ‘Miskolc Experience’, which even became more prominent than their metal roots. The band performed with choir and orchestra at the Miskolc Opera Festival in Hungary (2007). Deep purple (Concerto for group and orchestra), Moody Blues (Days of future passed) and Black Sabbath (‘Spiral Architect’) preceded them.

Dutch band Within temptation followed the same path from 2000 In their third album, “The silent force” they played with a full choir and orchestra. Music critic Chat Bower speaks of the optimal balance between the “melody and hooks of mainstream rock, the depth and complexity of classical music and the dark edge of gothic metal”. 

Listen to Within Temptation along with the Metropole Orchestra here.

Later, the group omitted ‘heavy metal’ vocals altogether. Like HERE in a performance by singer Sharon den Adel (Within temptation) together with Anneke van Giersbergen (The Gathering). They sing ‘Somewhere’, also with the Metropole orchestra. 

Finnish band Nightwish, featuring Dutch singer Floor Jansen, also went in the same direction. They use electronics to produce an orchestral sound.  The song ”The phantom of the opera”, with a guest role for Henk Poort peaked on the Dutch charts.

The last band I mention in Dutch group Epica, with the album “The divine conspiracy“(2007). This group also plays along with choir and orchestra here. Their music has been described as combining “a dark oppressive gothic atmosphere with bombastic and symphonic music. This is best expressed in the suite ‘Orchestral Medley’.  You can listen and watch that one here.

This album also features their version of Carl Orff’s ‘O Fortuna’. The band, which has existed since 2002, revolves around singer Simone Simons and composer, singer (‘grunter’) and guitarist Mark Jansen. The band has had many performances worldwide.

Metal is still popular.  Among the first 20 songs on the Dutch NPO top 2000 is four metal songs: in sixth place ‘Stairway to heaven’ by Led Zeppelin, in ninth place Metallica with ‘Nothing else matters’, in 15de place November rain by Guns ‘N Roses and in 17de place Child in time by Deep Purple. These groups did increase their audience base. The members of Metallica cut their hair. The audience got older and increasingly consisted of women. Also the variety of styles increased. Probably because of this, in the early 1980s, 20% of all albums sold in the US were metal, or what passed for that at the time.  

Much of the furore was created by US band Evanescence, led by singer Amy Lee. The group sold more than 20 million albums and is one of the most successful bands of the 21ste century. Apart from ‘metal’, the group also plays ballads, as HERE in ‘My heart is broken’. Essentially, the band’s songs are an outgrowth of Amy’s love of classical music and her desire to express herself in contrasting styles. HERE, the group plays ‘Bring me to life’.

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Late 60s: Art-rock and psychedelia (History of rock after 1960 3/6)

In the late 1960s, a growing group of young people started using hallucinogenic drugs. This also applied to musicians, who sought musical inspiration in (hard) drugs and wanted to make music that resonated with this group of young people. Halls of screaming fans were a thing of the past for them, insofar as they still performed publicly.  The 13th Floor Elevators from Austin, Texas, are usually considered the first band to use the term “psychedelic” as early as early 1966. This started with folk rock and later continued across all genres. The harder variants, which usually harkened back to blues rock, were also called acid rock. Many bands added oriental scales and various sonic effects to achieve hypnotic soundscapes. 

The Beatles

After the decline of the Mersey beat, the Beatles in Britain were once again forerunners in the fields of both psychedelia and art-rock, reinventing themselves in albums such as ‘Rubber Soul’ (1965), ‘Revolver'(1966), ‘Sergant Pepper’s lonely hearts club band’ (1967) and ‘Magical mystery tour’ (1967). ‘Rubber soul’ marks the transition to a new period in which the Beatles decided to stop performing in public and only do studio recordings. A feature of the whole album was the expansion of the instrumentation, including a Hammond organ. George Harrison was heard on the sitar for the first time. Critics were complimentary, praising the growing maturity of Lennon and McCartney as lyricists. You can listen to Norwegian wood, a self-contained studio recording, here.

Furher renewal followed a year later. In the first half of that year, the group made its final world tour, which was surrounded by riots caused by right-wing extremists, bad weather and negative publicity. The group was fed up with the screaming fans, most of whom completely drowned out the music. The main reason to cancel touring, however, was that the production of the songs became increasingly complicated and the songs took shape and content by experimenting with the technical possibilities offered by the studio. The themes shifted to existential topics like death, overcoming material needs. Lennon and Harrison drew inspiration from LSD but also from Eastern spiritual movements.

You can listen to a song typical of the album HERE. It is ‘Tomorrow never knows’. This is a ‘drone composition’ that uses only one keynote (C) and otherwise consists of several samples varying in length that are mixed. 

Other songs that may have greater fame are ‘Eleanor Rigby’, ‘Good  day  sunshine’ and ‘Yellow  submarine’. Watch and listen to a relatively recent recording of ‘Eleanor Rigby’ here.  Recorded live in New York 2007, sent by Paul Mc Cartney.

 In the absence of live recordings by the Beatles themselves, I refer to Spotify for listening the albums.  Alternatively, below you will find recordings by the Dutch cover group ‘The Analogues’. This group performs all Beatles songs live, if necessary, with an extensive set of instruments.

‘Sergant Pepper’ followed in 1967, I release ‘Within you, without you’ here. This song is based on a Hindu Veda and, apart from George Harrison, is played on the album exclusively by Eastern musicians. The Analogues managed to perform a meticulous version of this song

Other songs included ‘With a little help from my friends’, ‘Lucy in the sky with diamonds’, ‘She is leaving home’. All played and sung by ‘The Analogues’.

You can listen to the live unplayable ‘A day in the life’ (followed by ‘Let it be’) here. So much for ‘The Analogues’ contribution, too.

The style of the songs on ‘Sergant Pepper’ – sometimes even within a song – varied widely, The record was considered as a ‘Gesamt Kunstwerk’. That the Beatles’ songs were art was already established after Revolver.  Remarkably, ‘Sergant Pepper’ was initially considered as the Beatles’ best album ever, but as the years went by, ‘Revolver’ took over this position, because of its originality, the quality of the lyrics and the consistency of the songs.

The EP ‘Magical mystery tour’ was the soundtrack to a film of the same name and included well-known songs like ‘Fool on the Hill’. ‘I’am the walrus’ and ‘Hello goodbye. For critics, it was mostly old wine in new bags.

Three more albums would follow:

‘The Beatles’ (the ‘White album’), with songs such as Ob-la- di Ob-la da, While my guitar gently weeps, Julia, Blackbird, I will, Revolution 1 & 9. Most of the songs were much simpler in structure also because the use of LSD had by now been renounced. During the recording, tensions in the group, also due to the ubiquitous presence of Yoko Ono, continued to rise. 

Then came ‘Abbey Road’, whose songs included ‘Come together’, ‘Something’, Maxwell Silver Hammer’ and the 12-minute medley. Critiques were mixed, Some critics felt the sound was too artificial, especially with the overuse of a moog synthesiser. Still, some thought it was the best album ever because it was less pretentious due to the absence of psychedelic influences. Before the album was released, John Lennon had left the group for good. The other members followed soon after.

Their last album was ‘Let it be’ (1970).  Its recording had already started in 1968. According to Paul McCartney, it was supposed to be a solid rock album, with songs that could be performed live, a performance that would be captured on film.  The live performance was limited to a one-off performance on the roof of the Beatles’ record company office, Apple Inc, which led to an unprecedented traffic jam in New York. Songs included: ‘Two of us’, ‘Let it be’, ‘Maggie Mae’, ‘The long and winding road’ and ‘Get back’.

Beach Boys

Another group with high artistic ambitions was ‘the Beach Boys’ and in particular the eldest of the three Wilson brothers, Brian. The song Good vibrations illustrates the artistic direction the group had taken, continuing its original surf sound. Brian Wilson was impressed by the Beatles’ ‘Rubber Soul’ and he wanted to top that album. To free up enough time to do so, he stopped touring and devoted himself entirely to the production of the album, which was to be the best rock album ever, ‘Petsounds’.

The album ‘Petsounds’ eventually included the following songs ‘You still believe in me’, ‘I know there is an answer‘, ‘Sloop John B’, ‘God only knows’ and ‘I just wasn’t made for these times’. He co-wrote the lyrics with Tony Asher. It was recorded in the studio, with the other band members, but mostly with session musicians. The album uses a variety of instruments. More than the use of technology, the complicated vocals define the character of the album. In recent years (2002 – 2016), Brian Wilson has given a series of live performances of ‘Petsounds’. You can watch and listen to ‘God Only Knows’ (London 2002) here 

Pink Floyd

In the list of art bands with a psychedelic slant, Pink Floyd’s ‘Atom Heart Mother’ cannot be left out. The title track alone lasts 23 minutes, divided into six parts. To play this song, the group had to bring a brass section and a choir. You can watch and listen to a 23-minute recording from London’s Hyde Park (1970) HERE.

More accessible is Pink Floyd’s ‘Arnold Layne’. You can see this song here 40 years after its first performance by a still vital band Pink Floyd (Barbican London 2007)

Finally, I mention ‘Velvet underground with songs like ‘I am waiting for the man’. Jefferson Airplane (‘White rabbit’), the Byrds (‘Eight miles high’) and Iron Butterfly (‘In-a-gadda-da-vida’) 

The Woodstock festival is considered the pinnacle of psychedelic rock. Soon after, this genre was on the wane as many hallucinogens, including LSD were made illegal in both the US and Britain. 

Musicians’ quest to create songs of a high artistic standard was by no means over. Symphonic rock is characterised by poetic lyrics, advanced technology, long solos and demonstrations of high technical skill. The compositions use elements from experimental music (Mike Oldfield), avant-garde music (Eno), classical music (Procol Harum) and jazz (Colosseum). Groups often sufficed with studio recordings, but fortunately some also performed live, often accompanied by extended horn groups (Blood sweat and tears). Moody Blues brought in an entire symphony orchestra when they recorded ‘Days of Future Passed’. From this concert you can see ‘Nights in white satin’ here

Major successes were limited, with only a few groups reaching the top of the charts, Pink Floyd being the most successful. ‘The dark side of the moon’ (1973) is an example of ‘art-rock’ par excellence and is one of the best-selling albums of all time. So are symphonic compositions like ‘The Wall’ by Pink Floyd and Tommy by the Who. In the late 1970s, the utopian ideals of art-rock fell into oblivion. Society hardened, virtuosity was rejected as it was supposed to come at the expense of immediacy and accessibility. We then found ourselves on the eve of punk. Earlier, the numerous ‘glam-rock’ groups expressed resistance to both the revolutionary momentum of the 1960s and the pomposity of art-rock. Members of these groups wore flamboyant clothes, but their music was diverse, ranging from simple but powerful pop songs (Marc Bolan, David Bowie) to more complicated music by Roxy Music.

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Folk rock, country rock & blues rock (History of rock after 1960 2/6)

Bob Dylan (2011) Photo by Kevin Winter

The revolution in music in Western Europe had a huge impact in the US. Until the early 1960s, folk, surf music and the Nashville sound were dominant musical styles there. Almost overnight, these genres faded into the background in favour of music imported from Western Europe; only the ‘Motown sound, managed to hold its own. Talk was therefore of the ‘British Invasion’. The ‘Beatles’ performance on the Ed Sullivan Show (1964) was the starting point. You can see this performance HERE.

A much better picture of the Beatles’ reception in the US is provided by the following recording of their performance at the Washington Coliseum a few days after the Ed Sullivan show. The group sang five of his well-known songs. Remarkably, they more or less had to build the stage themselves.

Many members of (future) folk-rock acts, such as ‘Byrds’, ‘Jefferson Airplane’, ‘Lovin’ Spoonful’, ‘Mamas & Papas’ and ‘Buffalo Springfield’, also turned away from traditional folk music in 1964 and 1965. The careers of Chubby Checker, Ricky Nelson, Fats Domino, Everly Brothers and ‘Elvis Presley’ suffered (temporary) damage. The British invasion also influenced the style of garage bands. Their numbers also increased to an estimated 180,000 bands, of which at most a few thousand did record at one time or another. 

A US reaction to the British invasion was not absent. American artists blended the sounds of existing embattled genres with European ‘rock’ influences. 

From ‘folk’ to ‘folk rock’

In the early 1960s, ‘rock’ and ‘folk’ were separate genres, with their own audiences and festivals. ‘Folk’ as a genre – poetic songs accompanied by acoustic instruments – totally snowballed in the 1960s as a result of the ‘British Invasion’, which temporarily established the hegemony of Beatles and Rolling Stones and related groups and artists in the US. But several former ‘folk’ singers struck back. They mixed the existing ‘folk’ repertoire with rock, including the use of electric guitars and drums. One inspiration was the group ‘the Animals’ who turned the acoustic lament ‘House of the rising sun’ into an archetypal folk-rock song. Precursors in the US of ‘folk rock’ were the Byrds and Bob Dylan. The latter indicated that the rock version of ‘House of the rising sun’ had motivated him to perform with electric instruments.

The first folk-rock song of American origin was ‘Mr Tambourine Man’, a composition by Bob Dylan, sung here by the Byrds in 1965. In turn, the Byrds influenced countless other artists such as ‘the Mamas & the Papas’, Simon & Garfunkel and Sonny & Cher.

Compare the folkrock version HERE with the acoustic version sung by Melanie in 1968. 

Bob Dylan’s metamorphosis can be heard on his album ‘Bringing it all back home’. On 7 of the 11 tracks, he is accompanied by a band with electronic instruments. On his later albums, such as ‘Like a rolling stone’, he continued this trend, much to the dismay of some of his original fans, who made no secret of it during performances. I now play two songs from the album ‘Bringing it all back home’. 

Acoustic is ‘It’s all over now, baby blue’, live at the Newport folk festival:

Next you can watch and listen to Maggie’s farm, a solid rock version. Dylan sang this version at the same edition of the Newport folk festival. Bob Dylan achieved great fame as a folk singer, think of songs like ‘Blowin’ on the wind’ and ‘The times they are changing’.  Less well known is that Dylan was a lover of rock & roll from a young age. In 1965, he decided to manifest it as such. According to exegetes, when he sings ‘I don’t want to work on Maggie’s farm anymore’, Maggie’s farm symbolizes the folk music scene. Listen to ‘Maggie’s farm’ here, including the booing at the end.

To this day, a significant group of fans of original ‘folk’ and ‘country’ music has continued to exist, outside the US too. This genre is called Americana or ‘roots music’. Examples include The Band, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young as well as Ry Cooder and Bonnie Raitt. Another example is the Dutch group ‘CCC Incorporated’. You can hear a recording of the latter here.

From ‘country’ to ‘country rock’

‘Country music’ also suffered badly during the ‘British invasion’.  But many songs by artists like Hank Williams and Merle Haggard remained popular, and their popularity increased again when a dose of ‘rock’ was added. After Gram Parsons joined the Byrds, the group turned to country rock and songs like ‘Sweetheart of the rodeo’ and ‘You ain’t going nowhere’ were considered prime examples of this genre. 

Here you can watch and listen but the latter song (1968):

In the 1970s, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt became performers at respite from this genre. So did John Denver and Neil Young. Members of Ronstadt’s backing band later continued under the name ‘Eagles‘ continued the tradition.

From ‘blues’ to ‘blues rock’

In the development of blues rock, there was no one-way traffic between the US and Britain. As early as 1958, the American blues guitarist Muddy Waters toured Europe (see my exploration of the development of the blues in the US) and, especially in Britain, this led to a true blues boom. This inspired among others the members of the (future) Rolling Stones, Cream, Animals, Yardbirds, Kinks, Who and others. All these bands added a ‘rock twist’ to it.  Their music became so popular in the US in the second half of the 1960s that one could speak of a second British invasion. The blues rock was fiercer and louder that the beat music that was starting to sound dated. In the US, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Canned Heat and the Doors were the first exponents of this new genre.  The members of these the bands often played long solos during performances, following the blues. 

Here, Canned Heat plays ‘On the road again’

Blues rock was getting louder and louder, moving towards heavy metal. I will come back to this in a subsequent post. However, there were also bands that stayed closer to the traditional blues genre. In the 1980s, these included, for example, ‘the Fabulous thunderbirds’ and ‘Stevie Ray Vaughan’.

In the above, we see the dichotomy emerging between ‘soft rock’ and ‘hard rock’. Folk rock and country rock were the basis for soft rock. The emphasis was on harmonic melodies. Key artists were, Carole King, Cat Stevens, James Taylor. Commercial highlights were provided by Fleetwood Mac and Billy Joel.

Hard rock was fiercer, mainly featured repetitive ‘runs’ and distortion of the sound and joined blues rock. This genre had numerous variations from the 1960s onwards, ranging from acid rock, metal, pink and grunge. International successes were mainly achieved by Queen, Thin Lizzy, Aerosmith, AC/DC and Van Halen.