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.