Category Archives: 5 – Rock

5 - Rock

5 – Rock

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5 – Rock

The 60s was a decade like no other, a decade of extremes, a decade of questions, of growth, of strife, of hate, of love, of war & peace, progression then turmoil, then protest and most of all, change. Seeds were planted.

Much of the new styles and genre’s from the 1960s were further developed in the 70s and 80s, many existing genres went on to flower major modern genres in the 70s, 80s, and 90s and others had their peaks and then went underground into relative obscurity.

A – 60s Rock

1 – 60s Rock – After 1964, the British reflected a youthful energy back to the US and reignited the rock & roll craze of the late 50s for a while, but changes had already stared in the early 60s.

Changes where the folk music revival would meld with rock & roll to make folk rock. Surf & garage rock would slowly metamorphose into hard rock or folk to psychedelic rock to light rock or country rock. This tree was further spreading her branches.

2 – The Beatles – The Beatles re-energized rock & roll, and then helped create and promote new forms of rock like folk, blues, psychedelic, country, classical,  & hard rock(s), they even delved into Avante Gard and world music.

3 – Folk Rock – Bob Dylan plugged in, the Beatles unplugged, the Byrds took flight, Simon & Garfunkel topped, while the Monkees, Turtles, Hermits and the Stones hit, and all during the folk-rock peak of 1965 & 66.

4 – Blues Rock – The blues revival of the early 60s coincided with the British blues-rock scene in 1964. The Rolling Stones, John Mayall’s Blues Breakers, the Animals, the Kinks, the Yardbirds, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck meets BB King, Lightning Hopkins, Howlin’ Wolf.

5 – Psychedelic Rock – Surf, garage, and folk amalgamated into psychedelic rock which was sometimes soft, clever and soulful (psychedelic folk, light rock, jazz rock) and then there were some noisy, discordant & heavy sounds, some of it was truly out of this dimension. The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Cream, the Doors, Pink Floyd, Jefferson Aeroplane, Big Brother & the Holding Company, the Grateful Dead & Zappa.

6 – Country Rock – Bob Dylan, the Byrds, the Band reinvent themselves in country rock. Graham Parsons, Poco, Flying Burrito Brothers. Lots of acoustic sides on the White album.

7 – Hard Rock – Blue Cheer’s “Summertime Blues”, Steppenwolf’s heavy metal thunder, “In-a-Gada Da-Vida”, Led Zeppelin rises out of the ashes of the Yardbirds; the Beatles rock hard and heavy as they keep up with the hits, White Album. Hendrix, Cream, the Who, the Stones “Gimme Shelter”.

B – 70s Rock

Rock & roll matured into many “rock” sub-genres, R&B splintered into several branches of Soul & Funk music. Jazz and classical music fused with rock and soul. Hard and heavy music would mix with the light, acoustic and the psychedelia all ending the decade in a musical maelstrom. A kind of spiritual high hangover followed the cloud of the 60s in the year 1970. The roots of many branches of progress had been made during those fast times, but not without its sacrifices.

When psychedelia hit both rock and soul in the late 60s the music melded together and shared traits again, as it had during the R&B era  (1948-1964),  then in the 70s the ties were cut  soul/funk/disco/rock would start cutting ties with each other and led to concentration, intense experimentation which further isolated the genres. Genres started to become extreme however other genres would eventually mix and share yet again in the 90s.

Many ex-psychedelic bands and surf/garage rock bands with music proficiency went on to be “prog rock” bands others morphed into “glam rock’. Many blues (psychedelic) guitarists adopted a mix of funk and jazz to make “funk rock”.

By 1977, mainstream rock would experience a struggle from two fronts, first, punk rock, a direct rebellion against mainstream rock and disco the dance music that was about to enter its peak.

1 – Prog Rock – Prog Rock or progressive rock is a mix of psychedelic, classical, jazz genres with an emphasis on thematic, theatrical, programmatic structures mixed with musical proficiency and skill.

With the advent of folk rock around 1965 came “psychedelic rock” and “psychedelic folk”. Psychedelic rock went on to be fully developed, peaking in 1967, which has associations with classic rock and hard rock and then developed into “prog rock” (progressive rock).

Start with the older “psychedelic” Beatles, The Who, Frank Zappa, Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Procol Harum, Traffic, Small Faces, as an intro to the genre. Then, the the genre proper starting with Yes, King Crimson, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Moody Blues,  Genesis, Brian Eno, mixed with older psychedelic and hard rock veterans starting with Pink Floyd’s “classic period” Jethro Tull, Led Zeppelin, Grateful Dead, Kansas, Boston, Styx, ELO, Supertramp, Meatloaf

 

2 – Glam Rock – Psychedelia, art, aesthetics, theatre, costumes, dressing up, maybe a little gender-bending, many artists in the early 70s started a genre in which to express themselves without limits.

The boundaries were explored beyond outrageousness with “glam rock” which would go on to influence various “metal” genres, prog rock, AOR and even disco.  Many of the ex-psychedelic bands that were from the surf/garage rock area morphed either into hard rock or into “Glam Rock”, which became quite a trippy genre on its own.

Start with David Bowie, Mott the Hoople, Lou Reed’s 70’s  & early Velvet Underground, T-Rex, the New York Dolls, Sweet, Slade, Roxy Music, Gary Glitter, and punk pioneer Iggy Pop.

 

3 – Funk Rock – Funk rock was being explored by the various psychedelic rock groups and house bands to soul and funk artists.  In the 70s R&B/Soul and in particularly funk and rock as the reciprocal, still had a “bridge” and shared and emulated each other’s various styles.

After Jimi Hendrix, Sly the Family Stone,  the JBs or Funkadelic bridged the gap many guitarists adopted the funk rock style, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Led Zeppelin were funk-ing out in the mid 70s along with bands as diverse as Edgar Winter, Steve Miller, Steely Dan, Eagles, Doobie Brothers, Zappa, Weather Report,

 

4 – Light Rock – Much of folk-rock bands splintered off and morphed into “country rock” and/or into the singer/songwriter-oriented “light rock” in the early to middle 70s.

Psychedelic folk merged with pop to create the vast genre of “light rock”, which would hold all of the singer/songwriter folk rock. Much of light rock was jazz influenced, light soul, light funk or light funk rock. These sub-genres combined and eased into this easy-listening genre that was very popular in the late 60s and all throughout the 70s into 80s.

Light rock can be said to have come about in the 60s after being handed the baton for most popular music from the jazz era popular music of the 40s and 50s. The “big band” and “crooner” periods were over and gave way to a new rock, folk, funk tapestry. The rest of jazz went either extreme in exploring esoteric music and sound knowledge or fused with rock to create a new genre called “fusion”.

James Taylor, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Carol King, Carly Simon, Joni Mitchell, Bread, America, Jim Croce, Don McLean, The Carpenters, Anne Murray, John Denver, Barry Manilow, Linda Rondstadt, Cat Stevens, Seals & Croft, Orleans, Air Supply, Captain & Tenille

 

5 – Mainstream Rock – During the middle of the decade, prog rock influenced mainstream rock bands became “album-oriented rock” AOR and “arena rock” and rose up to dominate the FM radio stations. All this while a new kind of R&B/Soul/Funk influenced dance music, “disco”, began its ascendency and struggle with “rock” for dominance in the late 70s.

Experimentation, to a certain degree, was allowed and it was pursued by many of the “British exiles” ex-bands with newly hip Los Angeles bands, folk rock artists & bands mixed with funk/rock bands, and the rise of AOR and the arena rock culture,

Paul McCartney & Wings, Elton John, Billy Joel, Paul Simon, Neil Diamond, Barbara Streisand, Roberta Flack, Dionne Warwick, Rod Stewart, Chicago, Fleetwood Mac,

During the middle of the decade, mainstream rock or classic rock bands fit the FM radio format that went on to be known as “album-oriented rock” or AOR for short, another term was “arena rock” used in conjunction with classic rock as well.

 a – Classic Rock – Classic rock is basically 60s and 70s mainstream rock during FM radio formats of the 70s. There were many diverse genres to classic rock incorporating the new light rock and easy listening genres; the new country rock, and southern rock genres; the funk rock and hard rock hybrids; the prog and glam hybrids; and not forgetting the entire 50s R&B era, all mixed together under one tent.

 b – Album Oriented Rock (AOR) – Album-oriented rock refers to rock artists that create albums as either a loosely or tightly programmatic “concept” package. The album is to be seen as a cohesive unit of work unto itself and/or other albums or what Zappa refers to as conceptual continuity.

 c – Arena Rock –  Arena rock comes from the rock and soul culture starting in the late 60s of having festivals and shows that held audiences with capacities on sports arena levels like the Beatles at Shea Stadium. Bands who could sell out arenas were The Rolling Stones, The Who, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Grateful Dead, Parliament/Funkadelic, Earth Wind & Fire, Jethro Tull, Styx, ELO, Supertramp, Meatloaf, Boston, Foreigner, Kansas, Heart, Genesis, Journey

C – Punk Rock

1 – Classic Punk Rock

All the old stuff! All that of that good fashion 50s & early 60s rock & roll, and hard rock jams that led up to the initial explosion in 76′ and 77′.

a) Punk rock Influences – Punk was influenced by heavy metal in the decibel power and distortion sound, but influenced by surf rock in terms of speed. You can tell the influences of early punk in bands like the Velvet Underground, MC5, the Who, Iggy Pop & the Stooges, David Bowie, NY Dolls, Alice Cooper, the Dictators, and Bon Scott era AC/DC.

b) Punk Rock (1st Wave) – Punk rock exploded onto the scene in the mid-seventies (76′-77′) as a backlash against “dinosaur” classic rock bands, prog rock, mainstream pop, and disco. Punk had a huge impact on modern music and caused a lot of rippled new waves. All hail the Ramones, the Clash, the Sex Pistols, Television, Richard Hell & the Voidoids.

c) Punk Rock (2nd Wave) – The second wave of punk hit right away as other American and British punk bands caught the bug around 1978 and 1979 when the softer sounds of new wave were just forming.  Listen to the Buzzcocks, Generation X, the Adverts, the Germs, the Fall, the Dead Boys, the Damned, the Stranglers, Johnny Thunders & the Heartbreakers for some mosh mania music.

2 – Ska Punk

Ska Punk – Ska punk is a mix of ‘ska music” and punk rock as is skacore a mix of ska music and hardcore punk. Ska punk is differentiated from other punk sub-genres with the usage of horns or a horn section. Early pioneers like the Specials and Madness had hits alongside the other “waves” during the early 80s. This paved way for Fishbone, the Mighty Bosstones, Culture shock, Citizen Fish, Dance Hall Crashers, Operation Ivy to bubble under mainstream success which would come with Sublime and Rancid,

 3 – Hardcore Punk

Hard Core Punk – Just when you thought things couldn’t get more extreme, “hardcore” punk came around starting on the west coast and then spread to the rest of the US and UK.  Check out the Dead Kennedys, Suicidal Tendencies, the Specials, Black Flag, the Exploited, MDC, Bad Brains, GBH, Meat Puppets, the Misfits, and Void if you dare.

4 – Mainstream Punk Rock

Post-Punk Revival – for decades punk rock had always been underground music, who knew that it would go on to be part of mainstream music in the 90s.

a) Pop Punk  – The early 90s brought on a revival of pop-punk music that was more accessible to the mainstream ear. Started with bands like Bad Religion, the Descendants, Husker Du, and the Mighty Bosstones also Social Distortion, Agent Orange, TSOL, the Vandals, Guttermouth in the mid to late 80s. Pop Punk peaked with mega-sellers like Green Day, Offspring, Rancid, Face to Face, Goldfinger, Eve 6 and Blink 182.

b) Mainstream Ska Punk – Ska punk had a revival of sorts after Rancid and Sublime opened the doors to bands like Smash Mouth, Goldfinger, Sugar Ray and No Doubt.

c) Later 90s mainstream pop-punk – Pop punk became a major successful genre in the 90s and then took off with Blink 182 ushering in a whole set of bands that continue to this day. bands like Home Grown, MxPx, Unwritten Law, Lit, Jimmy Eat World, Sum 41, American Hi-Fi, Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, Taking Back Sunday, Good Charlotte, Avril Lavigne, Simple Plan, the Ataris, Bowling for Soup, The All-American Rejects, Paramore.

d) Female Punk Rockers – Following Avril Lavigne’s lead other female punk rock bands achieved success such as Skye Sweetham, Fefe Dobson, Lillix, Kelly Osbourne, Krystal Meyers, Tonite Alive, and Hey Monday.

e) Post-Punk Revival 2000

Grunge or grunge rock is related to punk rock. Please see section “E – Grunge” in Chapter “8 – Heavy Metal”.

D – New Waves

Punk rock exploded on the music scene in 1977 and did exactly what the anarchic genre was meant to do. It shattered modern music into many shards which initially were new waves to punk but the went on to form other major genres in the 90s.

There were many phases in the “new waves” progressions and how they influenced each other. Some music mixed with others and then some music kept an identity.

 

1 – New Wave Influences – 

A – Glam Rock – David Bowie, Lou Reed, T-Rex, Slade, Gary Glitter, NY Dolls

B – Punk – Iggy Pop, Television, Talking Heads, Mink Deville,

C- Pub Rock bands –

2 – First Waves – Rock & Punk 

A –  Early Post Punk – Elvis Costello, Blondie,  The Police, Peter Gabriel, Squeeze, the Pretenders, the B-52s, Nick Lowe, Joe Jackson, Public Image, Joy Division. U2, Siouxsie & the Banshees,

B – 80s Power Pop –   The Knack, The Romantics The Cars, Cheap Trick, Loverboy,  the Go-GoGo’s, Huey Lewis & the News, XTC, the Vapors, the Smithereens, John Cougar Mellencamp, Men at Work, Bruce Springsteen,

C – Ska – 2Tone –  The Specials, The Police, Elvis Costello & the Attractions Madness, The English Beat, Selector, Fishbone, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Operation Ivy

D – African Influenced New Wave – Adam Ant & the Ants, Bow Wow Wow, Malcolm McLaren

E – 50s Revival – The Stray Cats, Phil Collins, Billy Joel

F – Rock goes New Wave – Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Dire Straits, Jefferson Starship, Genesis, ZZ Top, Heart, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Billy Joel, Elton John, Rush, Aerosmith, Grateful Dead, Kenny Rogers, The Beach Boys, Steve Miller

 

E – 80s Mainstream Rock

Just after the punk rock revolution in the 70s, there was a definite response in mainstream rock where the music began to change yet again. Punk rocks backlash against mainstream music caused ripples of “new waves” to fan out and eventually compete with mainstream rock.

Rock was thriving in the late 70s with its rich varieties and constant reinventions. There were a lot of strong artists like Tom Petty, Pat Benatar, Eddie Money, Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Brown, Bob Seegar and many more who had endured punk, disco, and the new waves. Many of these new “rock” artists went on to sit next to many of the older generations of rock superstars from the 60s & 70s.

Mainstream rock did slightly and gradually change after punk, disco & new wave, incorporating elements of the new genres into its realm like it did in the past with folk, funk, and hard rock. Synthesizers, drum machines, and samples would become accepted into the mainstream of rock before the 80s were done.

F – 80s Alternative Rock

Alternative rock evolved out of the indie rock scene and some strands of new wave music. The indie rock scene or rather the independent labels on popular “college rock” radio in the 1980s saw a rapid increase in interest.

Alternative rock got so big and popular that on September 10, 1988, Billboard opened up a new Alternative Songs chart with Siouxsie & the Banshees “Peek-a-Boo”. Other UK alternative rock bands in the late 80s were New Order, Public Image Limited, and The Sugarcubes.

1 – Neo-Psychedelia – Bauhaus, Siouxie & the Banshees, Devo, the Soft Boys, the Teardrop Explodes, Echo & the Bunnymen, and the Paisley Underground, the Cure, the Smiths, Morrisey.

The Church, Nick Saloman’s Bevis Frond, Spacemen 3, Robyn Hitchcock, Mercury Rev, the Flaming Lips and Super Furry Animals.

 

2 – Folk Punk – many early bands like REM, the Violent Femmes, Dream Syndicate and the Feelies combined folk rock with punk rock and started a vast genre. REM also started Jangle-Pop a sub-genre early in the 80s.

Quirky Alternative Pop – They Might Be Giants, Camper Van Beethoven

 

3 – Gothic Rock – Was one of the waves that popped out of post-punk in the late 70s and developing in the 80s. Joy Division, Siouxsie and the Banshees and Bauhaus song “Bela Lugosi’s Dead”. Other great gothic bands were The Cure,  the Smiths, Morrisey,

 

4 – Industrial Rock –  Industrial rock started in the late 70s with various underground bands as diverse as Joy Division, Bad Brains, and Kraftwerk. Early industrial rock bands were influenced by Gary Numan and Tubeway,

The sub-genre includes Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire, NON, SPK ZEV, post-punk bands like Pere Ubu, Killing Joke, and Foetus as well as the Swans, and noise rock/hardcore band, Big Black.

 

5 – Later Post-Punk Rock – Certain punk rock bands started to diversify and become more melodic, bands like Husker Du and the Replacements. Bands like Janes Addiction and the Pixies soon followed suit.

Other New Wave & Post Punk bands – Primal Scream, 10,000 Maniacs, the Feelies, Firehose, Shoegazing inspiring bands like The Jesus and Mary Chain. Dinosaur Jr., C86, the Cocteau Twins and rising from Joy Division, New Order,

Madchester Scene– Happy Mondays and the Stone Roses acid house with melodic guitars.

6 – Noise Rock – Inspired by Velvet Undergrounds 1968 album White Light/White Heat, noise rock spun off from punk rock Sonic Youth, Big Black, The Jesus Lizard, Killdozer, Flipper, the Buthole Surfers & Lightning Bolt.

7 – Shoegazing  – bands like Jesus & the Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine, Ride, Lush, SlowdiveChapterhouse, Boo Radleys .

 

 

G – 90s Mainstream Rock

H – 90s Alternative Rock

1 – Indie Rock –  Pavement, Superchunk, Fugazi and Sleater-Minney, Guided by Voices, Sebadoh, Beck, Liz Fair, Lynda Thomas, PJ Harvey, Alanis Morissette

2 – Brit-Pop – Oasis, Suede, Blur, Oasis, Pulp, Supergrass, Elastica, Shinedown, Seether, 3 Door Down.

3 – Post-Brit-Pop –

4 – Emo or Emocore – Emo or emotional hardcore is a post-hardcore punk genre that developed in the late 80s. Pioneering bands were Rites of Spring and Embrace, 90’s reinventions gave us Weezer, Jimmy Eat World, Dashboard Confessional, My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, and also Sunny Day Real Estate, Jawbreaker, Braid, the Promise Ring and the GetUp Kids.

Screamo – Heroin and Antioch Arrow

 

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Rock Blog #1 – 1964 & 1965

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Rock Music

Rock music is a term that has a very broad and complex meaning. it’s really hard to define considering all the sub-genres that make-up what is commonly known as “rock music”. What is it about rock music the describes the myriad of styles in one genre, as well as, all the new genres that have splintered off and out of the rock branch of the R&B tree?

Where is the line of demarcation between where “rock” music begins and rock & roll ends? When does rock music sound distinctively different from that good old time rock & roll that was so prevalent?

The fidelity of the technology had become more developed for both mono and a newer sound production tech called stereo. The sensitivity of microphones, the techniques in mixing and processing music, the innovation, programming and the social aspects of radio all helped to make the 1960s a decade akin to rapid “evolution” especially when it came to music.

To My ears, much of the music of 1964 was of this good old rock & roll in the spirit of the golden oldies from the 50s. The fast rhythms, themes, sound production and speed of the music make it seem that 1964 was like the last year of that good old time rock and roll music. At least as a dominant form of popular music.

1965 things started to change very rapidly and at a very fast rate. Up till 1964, rock & roll had either a fast-paced danceable beat or a slow ballad style beat for slow dancing with your sweetheart.

But in 1965, folk rock, blues rock and a raw form of garage rock infiltrated the scope of popular music competing with R&B and jazz-styled popular music. The rhythms started to slow down or speed up. Experiments in mid-tempo beats were used from the influence of the many styles of folk, blues and country music that was in 1965 being amplified.

There were many “old time rock & roll” R&B styled hits after 1964 for many years on, hey, rock & roll never died. Many of the groups that went to experimented either came back to rock & roll like the Beatles or your Stones, or they started whole new forms of rock, like country rock, hard rock, and other “rocks” that came after.

 

 

 

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Rock Blog #2 – Dylan & The Brits

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Bob Dylan

Dylan going electric, to me, signifies the start of “Classic Rock” to be distinguished from good old time rock & roll. Dylan’s triumvirate of albums “Bring It All Back Home”, “Highway 61” and the double album “Blond On Blond” shaped rock music for a pursuit of lyrics, themes, and vocalization on a higher, more artistic level than from before.

Dylan would go n to be the first of rocks greatest lyricists and songwriter, showing the wide range of folk, blues and country styles of music that would both inspire and motivate a whole generation of rock performers and recording artists out of the great musical decade of the Sixties

 

The Beatles

Another crucial innovator of rock music was the British rock band the Beatles. The Beatles broke on the scene in January of 1964 to set America on fire with their absolute love and commitment to all the styles of good-time American kick-ass rock & Roll. They shook America out of the depression of  November 22nd, 1963.

The Beatles would re-ignite the fire for rock & roll in America and then go on to change the face of modern music with their curious experimentation and development of a genre that would make rock music, be called “classic rock”, a genre of music where anything goes, any kind of music mixed with the rock ethos. The Beatles are a great source of study of modern rock music, a litmus test, a Dow Jones or barometer of one of the most innovatively artistic decades in music to come out of the 20th Century and indeed of all musical time.

In 1965, after their cap on the rock & roll period of modern music, the Beatles went first for a couple of country & western influenced albums and then dropped the first of their masterpiece albums, the folk-rock jewel “Rubber Soul”. After that, the four Beatles would go on to define classic rock with their studies in Indian and world music, soul and Motown sounds, blues-rock music, classical music and the new and strange sounds of psychedelia and the Avant Gard, even “Musique Concrete”.

 

The British Invasion

The Beatles would open up the floodgates of British artists that would go on to define many of the sub-genres that would split off from the rock branch. The Stones in 1965 would be pushing out some heavy mixes of blues rock, mixed with psychedelia and their unashamed ability to roll with the fads over several decades to come. With the fuzz-toned “Satisfaction”, the darkly lyrical triple crown of “Painted Black”, “19th Nervous Breakdown” and “Mother’s Little Helper” The Stones would be the quintessential example of what a “rock & roll” band in the rock era should be, warts and all.

The Kinks would provide the catalysts for early hard rock and garage rock that would inevitably lead to heavy metal & punk rock, and then the band would be exiled from the US and change into a great lost album-oriented rock band.

The Yardbirds and the Who would take rhythm and blues into maximum overdrive. Clapton, Beck and Jimmy Page would go on to shape and influence blues-rock and hard rock. “Bubblegum” pop-rock by bands like Herman’s Hermits down to Dave Clark Five would top the charts. There would be the start of prog rock or progressive rock by British psychedelic rock band, Pink Floyd. England would become a great incubator for many American artists who didn’t get their recognition in the states like Jimi Hendrix and many others to come in the following decades after the 60’s.

 

 

 

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Rock Blog #3 – California Rock & Soul

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California Rock

Los Angeles would put forth the great Dylan-esque band the Byrds who would go on to influence country rock. Frank Zappa and “the Mothers” of Invention, (eyebrows), came out with some strange psychedelic like music, Frank would go on to help invent jazz fusion, prog rock and to help cultivate funk and hard rock music and Doo-Wop, (eyebrows). The Beach Boys would have a recording technique innovation. And the great Jim Morrison and the Doors tripped and rocked out, another of rocks greatest songwriters and a band that would be another example of what an American rock & roll band should be like with that California tinge.

San Francisco had great psychedelia and country style rock from bands like Love, the Grateful Dead and off-shoots Canned Heat and Riders of the Purple Sage. Janice Joplin (“and the Holding Company”), Grace Slick and the Jefferson Airplane brought out sounds in a mix of blues, soul, gospel and country music. There are many authentic sounds coming out of the bay area in the mid 60’s. too many to cover here.

 

The “Soul” Branch from the R&B Tree

Soul as a music is a separate entity or “branch”, if you will, of the rhythm and blues, backbeat form of modern music, was also developing and progressing.  The Beatles had a love of the “crossover” hit, they covered many “girl groups” songs.

It would be girl groups, that would give the Beatles the most competitive on the charts in the 60s, namely the Supremes. The Supremes dominated soul music on the charts when it came to number one “runs” and commercial success, right at the same time that “The God Father” James Brown was developing funk music and before “The Queen of Soul” Aretha Franklin had her late 60s ascendency 

Bands like Sly & the Family Stone, Funkadelic and James Brown’s Band, The JBs with Fred Wesley, Maceo Parker, and others, were inventing the next stage of development, funk music, with funk going on to influence rock music in another double “crossover” (of music, that is).

 

 

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The Beatles #6- Transmutation

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The Beatles and the Decade of the 60’s (The transmutation of Rock & Roll into Classic Rock and Soul

The Beatles didn’t invent Rock & Roll nor were they around during its initial rise.  However, as a vague analogy, not counting the original forefathers of our country what would the USA be without President Lincoln born way later in American history? It can be said, The Beatles, great fans, and lovers of 50’s rock & roll. In a sense, The Beatles first revived and the revitalized rock & roll and then transformed rock& roll into Rock. in 1965, the Beatles made a shift from the old time rock & roll they were playing to a new form called Folk Rock that was brought on by influences of the day like Bob Dylan and the Byrds. Then with the album Revolver, The Beatles paved the way for an anything goes experimentalism that helped create what we know as Classic Rock.

For the most part of their career, The Beatles were apolitical and wrote more about peace, love & understanding, joke songs, and experimented with Psychedelic mood songs rather than protesting about the myriad of problems going on like the Vietnam (War) conflict. Later on John Lennon unable to keep his rage in exploded in 1968, obviously outraged at the assassinations, the War, and being made to keep silent throughout the Beatles early and mid-career (except for the out of context ‘More Popular than Jesus Christ”, ” Christianity will go extinct” magazine article).

John Lennon with Yoko Ono and others became very vocal and preceded to engage in controversy to bring attention to their collective missions (bagism, bed in for peace, him and Yoko full frontal nudity). John Lennon would go on to be one of the most vocal protestors of the late 60’s early 70’s, receiving special attention from Nixon, the CIA and the FBI who tried to deport Lennon from the states.

John Lennon’s “gag” in the early days, enforced by Brian Epstein and supported by Paul McCartney and the other two Beatles, might have been a catalyst to the demise of the Beatles as a group. Lennon could be very quick-tongued and sometimes would reverse himself from his previous stands on many issues.  He, at one point, became militant for a thankfully brief period. “Don’t you know that you can count me Out (In)” as on the Revolution 1 version on the White album.

 

 

 

The Beatles Influence on America Rock & Roll and Rock Music

An argument can be made that the Beatles had in a way saved the USA from falling into depression and despair after JFK was shot and under the ominous circumstances surrounding his death. There was a revitalization that many have recounted when remembering the first time hearing the Beatles. Was it a need for distraction, to forget and get on with living. They have seemed to energize the Pop bands and singers at the time into a playful comradely competition. Which led to the renaissance that occurred in 1965.

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The Beatles #7: Decade of Progression

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The 60’s as the Decade of Progress and Transformative Change

Each band trying to one-up on the other however slightly or strongly it was perceived by the fans, it made Rock & Roll a genre of music that started to transcend the medium it was born out of. Instead of music to dance or listen to it began to be an art form, first off and secondly an “instrument” for poetry, songs of strong messages in morality, ethics, perspectives, philosophy and the dangerous politics & religion.  Many experimental and strange albums were made in the 60’s and 70’s. Art, music, poetry, writings, fashion, light and our arena rituals all melded into some grand ritual celebration next to sports. The progression of the Rock & Roll show to a Multi-Day Festival.

The American Music Festival, seen as an almost religious experience to some, a spiritual experience to others.  This grew out of a combination of the folk movement, the Jazz festival and the Ken Kesey Acid Tests in San Francisco. A Festival of endurance, a rite of passage, in terms of braving dehydration to bad trips, to outright overdose. The rock festival is very shamanistic, just like Jim Morrison had mentioned, the festivals unite people who get hyped up watching the Shamans freak out.  the experience sometimes feels ancient, like the “primitive tribes” erecting stone monuments, using astronomy, and having a deeper understanding of sound, music, and sonic medicines and cures.

The 60’s was a time where great artistical expression came to the front of pop music where the groups stayed true to the rock & roll, rhythm & blues, deep blues, folk music ethos. This is where music through rock & roll became a philosophy and a way of life, almost like a religion to some people. This new spiritualism was complete with myths, tales, and mysteries.  Written by the laureates and sages of rock & roll and performed and administered by the priests or shamans whipping out a most “devil worshipping” rhythmic conjuring corrupting the youths of the generations in the adulation and ecstasies of the music.

That is what rock & roll represents above all else – Angst, boredom cure, an emotional cure-all. “I simply remember my favorite things and then I don’t feel so bad”. Music has always had the nature of upliftment, even the Blues songs. But then the use of sound changed after the assassinations Martin Luther King Jr. and Senator Bobby Kennedy in 1968. ushering some real anger and resentment to the socio-political military economic corporate complex. They still lie to us regardless of the political parties involved. Racism, is still an issue, Roe v. Wade, still an issue, etc.

McCartney is in many ways that songwriting entity that transcends time, that creative spark inherent and residing in all great pop music. He is a multi-instrumentalist, a master of the pop song like anyone at the Brill building, master of the pop hook, a great solo guitar composer who used to work out his solos step by step. McCartney was an essential ingredient to the Beatles success in using a wide range of musical styles or “musics” (as McCartney says), this song is proof of that.

The Bass Fidelity

The bass sound is very important in determining a songs age I hear a difference on the Rubber Soul album.

3 - Folk Rock

Folk Rock #1 – Beginnings

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Folk Rock

When you are talking about “folk rock”, I immediately think of “Dylan”, the Byrds, Simon & Garfunkel, some of its most famous of prophets. However, is it all just them? As great as they are “folk rock” was a confluence or a perfect storm of a genre that popped up in mid-sixties out of acoustical folk music. So, when did folk rock start?

Did it start with that controversial moment when Dylan plugged in on July 25th, in 1965 at the Newport Folk Festival? Did folk rock start with the Byrds releasing their debut album in June of 1965? or was it that night August 28th in 64′, at the Delmonico in NYC where Dylan first turned on the Beatles and led to a friendly competition of “one-up-man-ship” that permeated the Beatles northern way. Or does it go back further?

The Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Carl Perkins and even Elvis had been mixing rock & roll and folk music for years by the time of the mid-sixties when “folk rock” became the next big thing.

 

Late 1950s Folk Music Revival

Folk music, as a separate form of music from rock & roll, was a big thing in the early sixties with its strong emphasis on the acoustic stringed instrumentation. The “folk movement” that was growing in the college crowds was parallel to that of the social awareness and equal rights movements of the late 50/early 60s. The folk music revival was started in the late forties/early fifties by artists like Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger in folk groups like the Weavers which led to a late 50s explosion of new artists like the New Christy Minstrels, the Brothers Four, the Chad Mitchell Trio, the Limelighters, the Highwaymen and the Kingston Trio with their notable 1958 hit “Tom Dooley”.

Bob Dylan grew out of the folk music revival inconspicuously with his brilliant but highly unknown anthological first album in 1962. The folk music circuit was having hits by Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Peter Paul & Mary, Tom Paxton, Phil Ochs and the Kingston Trio in being somewhat synonymous with the civil rights movement that was coming about partially (in music) from white youth’s acceptance of R&B music of the 50s.

 

A Master Poet Emerges

Dylan controversially plugged into an amp and rocked with a rock band at the Newport Folk Festival riding a string of folk rock hit singles and albums. The Byrds embodied the folk rock ethos as the quintessential folk rock group, with a string of “anthemic” original songs, as well as Dylan penned songs and a string of hit albums in the mid-sixties. However, almost simultaneously the Beatles showed interest in folk rock early on, after their first tour of America. The music on “A Hard Day’s Night” their 3rd album, and first hit film, shows a clear focus on incorporating folk music elements into their original music.

Sometime, just after the British invasion in 1964, many rock & roll groups on both sides of the Atlantic, adopted folk and blues music elements into a newer form of rock music simple called “folk rock”. This newer form of rock that developed was unique in that it was instigated by both sides of the Atlantic (US & UK). Just before the “invasion”, America was in its pinnacle of the doo-wop years with new rock sub-genres of surf rock, garage rock and “Jersey” rock over a backdrop of doo-wop Rhythm & Blues music as strictly popular music. This whole scenario was then completely interrupted and usurped by the freshly naive British bands playing old time rock & roll and bubble gum chewing “power pop”, thereby causing a slow revolution in rock music that took a couple of years for the waves to settle into a new idiom called “Rock Music”.

 

 

3 - Folk Rock

Folk Rock #2 – Dylan

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Folk Rock

Folk Rock developed around 1964 and then peaked in 1965 and 1966 when many rock & roll groups adopted folk and blues music elements into a newer form of rock music simple called “folk rock”. In turn, many folk music artists, that is, strictly acoustic folk musicians started to play and incorporate electrified mixes of rock & roll in their music. The music was changing and in 1965 it seemed to come from a newer generation (that of the “baby boomers”) where “rock & roll” turned (or split) into “rock” and “soul”.

Folk rock may have started that fateful night when Dylan turned on the Beatles at the Hotel Delmonico in September 1964. They were already showing signs of profound influence and counter-influence between both Bob Dylan and the Beatles culminating in fantastic musical output in both album and song in 1965.

Some say “folk rock” started with The Byrds from Los Angeles with the release of the Dylan authored “Mr. Tambourine Man”. The Byrds were a supergroup where the members were very active in the folk music scene with other folk music acts. In many ways, the Byrds started a folk-rock volley with the Beatles using Bob Dylan songs as well as their own originals.

Or maybe folk rock started early in 1965 when Bob Dylan first went electric on the A-side of his influential “Bringing It All Back Home” album. Bob Dylan had a huge influence on the Byrds and their first few hits and their first four albums. In fact, Bob Dylan would have a direct and indirect influence on almost everyone involved in the “folk rock” scene, including the Beau Brummels, the Turtles, the Band, the Beatles, the Stones, the Who and the many others.

Later on, in 1965 Simon & Garfunkel would also go number one, epitomizing the folk rock sound and ushering a wave of new “folk rock” groups that would go on to shape rock in the 60s. Groups like the Lovin’ Spoonful, the Mamas & the Papas, Jefferson Airplane and The Band among many others with acoustic leanings rose up and gave us a new genre “Folk Rock”.

Folk Rock would later go on to assimilated itself within popular rock music within the subgenres of light rock, country rock and much of radio-friendly soft rock.

 

 

Bob Dylan

In folk rock, you should first start off with Bob Dylan and his knowledge of an eclectic mix of Americana music. Bob Dylan possessed an internal library of music which included major forms of country music, western music, Blues, European styles with a keen knowledge of rare vintage R&B songs.

Dylan claimed to have done a lot of traveling, which is very evident in his music. He had regional forms from Nashville, Atlanta, Lubbock and Bakersfield, he knew forms of “honky-tonk”, “western swing”, “bluegrass”, “jug band” and other “close harmony” styles. He knew fingerpicking styles, a whole assortment of “western music”, the “blues” and other “European folk” forms (jigs and ballads). Due to his travels as a true “troubadour”, absorbing styles and techniques from all over, he was the last embodiment of the true Americana travelin’ musician.

Dylan has a vast library of styles on display on his first album, “Bob Dylan”, his hitless debut album. To me, Bob Dylan’s first album is absolute gold, with amazing gems of songs that would become sixties mythology. The evidence is on the many songs and arrangements on the album that would be covered later on by many bands and artists of the 60’s. Most notably on the album are versions of “House of the Rising Sun” and “In My Time of Dying”, later to be covered by the Animals and Led Zeppelin respectively.

One of the biggest and most controversial events in creating “Folk Rock” as a genre, was the moment Dylan plugged into an amplifier and jammed with a rock band. This event immortalized at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival where folkies were so upset that the myth of the “Judas” taunt first surfaced. His output in 1965 and 1966 had him at the head of the folk-rock movement. The releasing of his first, “plugged in” (as into an amplifier), with a live rock & roll band really started to make “folk rock” as a genre take off as a new sound. Bob Dylan would go on to release three masterpiece albums that would stand the test of time, “Bringing It All Back Home”, “Highway 61” and “Blonde On Blonde”.

 

3 - Folk Rock

Folk Rock #3 – The Byrds & the Beatles

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The Byrds

The southern Californian City of Angels was experiencing a huge change from the fast-paced “surf rock” scene to the newer “folk rock” scene. The Byrds surfaced as progenitors of Folk Rock under Dylan’s influence and epitomized as the quintessential American folk rock band. They would later follow the Beatles into the genre of “psychedelic rock” and then in 1968 help Dylan start “country rock”.

The Byrds came together in early 1964 Jim McGuinn, Gene Clark, and David Crosby got together all folk musicians from other groups in the folk scene such as the New Christy Minstrels, the Limeliters, the Chad Mitchell Trio, and Les Baxter’s Balladeers. The trio, along with drummer Michael Clarke and bassist Chris Hillman, went on to spearhead the “folk rock” movement. As the Byrds progressed throughout the mid-sixties, they would not only help “found” folk-rock but also help develop “psychedelic rock”.

 

The Beatles and the British Competition

After the initial British invasion, the Beatles had a couple of early folk rock songs, starting with “And I Love Her” off the “A Hard Day’s Night” album and the Beatles went practically country & western on their British release of “Beatles for Sale” album, which was the American albums “Beatles 65′” and “Beatles VI”. Next, came the album “Help!” with songs like “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away” and “I’ve Just Seen A Face”.

The Beatles master albums start with the great “Rubber Soul” album, in which great folk experimentations were conducted while providing classic rock with several rock anthems. In fact, the British version of Rubber Soul was chopped up, edited and re-packaged as a “folk-rock” album in the United States, much to the chagrin of the Beatles.

This was reciprocated with America’s Byrds albums “Mr. Tambourine Man”, “Turn, Turn, Turn!”, “The Fifth Dimension” and “Younger than Yesterday”; Bob Dylan’s triumvirate of albums “Bringing It All Back Home”, “Highway 61” and 1966’s “Blonde on Blonde”; and Simon & Garfunkel’s albums “Sounds Of Silence” and “Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme” which are all key albums in the musical branch of folk-rock within the whole of classic rock.

The songs became more progressive in their experimentations with folk rock, country rock, and psychedelic rock. Much of the Beatles music in the mid-sixties was influenced by the, then current, sounds of music going on in America. Along with Bob Dylan, The Byrds, the San Franciscan scene, and with surf rockers (The Beach Boys in California), there was cross-pollination with the UK bands, the Beatles, the Stones and the Kinks in 1965 in terms of folk rock.

 

 

3 - Folk Rock

Folk Rock #4 – Simon & Garfunkel

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Folk Rock #4

Simon & Garfunkel

Late in 1965, a song written by a struggling artist originally from NYC and then struggling in the UK hit the number one spot on the Billboard charts at the start of 1966. The song was unique in that it was an original folk song using acoustic guitar only and then months later overdubbed with a rock band accompaniment. Paul Simon recorded the song before he left for Britain in 1964. Simon & Garfunkel went on to dominate the pop charts until the end of the decade with multiple hit singles and albums.

 

Other Folk Rock bands

Starting with the British invasion’s “The Animals” rendition of “House of the Rising Sun”, an anonymous song off of Dylan’s debut album became a number one hit in the summer of 1964. The Beau Brummels early hits of “Laugh, Laugh” and “Just A Little” were also precursors to the 1965 rush of folk rock music.

After “Mr. Tambourine Man” hit in early 1965, a whole new wave of folk-rock bands appeared. Among them were The Lovin’ Spoonful with “Do You Believe In Magic?”; there was The Mamas & the Papas with “Monday, Monday” and “California Dreaming”; then The Turtles with “It Ain’t Me Babe” along with multiple pop hits; along with Barry McGuire and his Vietnam war protest song “Eve Of Destruction”.

Also in California but north of Los Angeles, a new Mecca of music was starting in San Francisco with Jefferson Airplane and Grace Slick’s two rock anthems the truthful seeking “Somebody To Love” and the psychedelic anthem “White Rabbits”; the group We Five’s remake of Sylvia Fricker’s “You Were On My Mind” which was a hit at #3 in the summer of 1965; the San Franciscan group Love with their #52 hit “My Little Red Book” and their “7 and 7 is” a number 33 hit; Sonny & Cher number 1 hit with ” I Got You, Babe”, then The Monkees “Last Train To Clarksville” and “I’m A Believer” shot up to the top of the charts in 1966; Donovan  had his hits later in 1967 with “Mellow Yellow” and “Sunshine Superman”

Then there was Dylan’s previous touring band originally called the Hawks but ultimately known as The Band (Rick Danko, Richard Manuel, Robbie Robertson, Levon Helm and Garth Hudson), began their rise to the top of the folk-rock pantheon with their 1968 “Songs From Big Pink” and their second album simply titled “The Band”.

Other notable groups in the folk-rock scene were the electric (British) Folk groups, Pentangle, The Fairport Convention, Alan Stivell, Steeleye Span and The Albion Band which would keep the genre alive, years after the mainstream heyday had died out.

Folk rock had a long-lasting effect on rock music. It kept the folk American ethos alive in rock music which would manifest itself later in genres of “country rock”, “southern rock” and later “singer/songwriter” forms of rock music. Lyrics became very complex, with topics ranging from protest songs to songs of morality and poetry. It was a time of experimentation.

The mix of acoustic instruments with electric rock & roll instruments and song elements were very innovative for the day and even up until today. There was a lot of thought that went into the music of the mid-1960s in all genres but most particularly in the words and the messages of the songs. Folk rock had it all, questioning, observing, and then questioning again very much in the spirit of rebellion in the face of tyranny.  Folk-rock said it like it was, warts and all, no soft soaping, no glad-handing. The spirit of the 60s came out when the rebel (rock) found a cause and that cause was true freedom expressed in “Folk Rock”, which would later resurface in other genres, funk and hip-hop.