Table of Contents
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