History of Rock and Roll - Chapter 6 Flashcards
Intro
Generation X (born between 1961 - 1977) was wedged between the baby boomers and Generation Y. Generation X (also referred to as the baby busters) did not feel like competing with the baby boomer's over-achieving, social experimentation, impracticality, and excessive idealism. Generation X kids left their mark on rock styles by either expressing themselves as carefree such as disco and glitter/glam, or they were wrought with self-doubt and alienation as in punk or new wave.
Roots Of Generation X Music In America
In the mid to late 60’s, music seemed to become more institutionalized. Some of the late 60’s rockers felt the need to get back to the abrasiveness and rudeness of earlier rock and roll. The major center for this new musical activity were the Midwest and NY.
Detroit Proto-Punk (Late 60’s To Early 70’s)
Performers in the Midwest such as Detroit, Akron, and Cleveland played a big role in the movement away from established pop music norms during the late 1960's. Bands of this style used stripped down arrangements, deliberately amateurish stage presentations, outlandish dress, and vulgar lyrics. They were very loud and totally obnoxious. Performers included: The Stooges - I Wanna Be Your Dog) Iggy Pop - I'm Bored MC5's - Kick Out the Jams) and, Fred "Sonic" Smith
New York’s Art Rock (Mid To Late 70’s)
New York rock was influenced by Pop Art (especially Andy Warhol), minimalism (classical composer John Cage) and post-Beat aesthetics. New York Art Rock is an extension of the Detroit Proto-punk style. Bands use minimal technique, deliberately rough sound and unsteady, fluctuating rhythms. The lyrics were influenced by Beat Poets, deal with inner conflict, mainlining hard drugs, alienation, sadomasochism, and homosexuality. Audiences listened to these acts in such places as Cafe Bizarre in Greenwich Village, CBGB’s and Max’s Kansas City.Performers include:
Patti Smith - Gloria
The Velvet Underground - Heroin
Blank Generation - Richard Hell and the Voidoids
also, The Fugs, Television, and Tom Verlaine
Shock-Rock (Mid 70’s)
Shock-Rock used outrageous stage routines and sexually explicit performers, designed to outrage and shock the audience. The Doors, The Who, and Jimi Hendrix all helped define the genre. An example is Alice Cooper dressing in pantyhose and slaughtering toy dolls. Performers include:
Alice Cooper - School’s Out
Ted Nugent - Cat Scratch Fever
as well as, Iggy Pop, The Plasmatics, and The Tubes
New York Punk (Early 70’s)
NY Punk started as the hard-core contingent of the New York Art Rock style. The performers were younger than the art rockers and had little allegiance to the Beat poets. The style is characterized by very simple, stripped-down thrash rock: Very short, fast songs, minimal soloing, unemotional, uncolored singing. The style has a deliberate, non-funky feel. Many of the bands were first introduced at the CBGB’s, New York’s premiere punk/thrash night club. Performers include:
Looking For A Kiss - New York Dolls
Beat On The Brat - The Ramones
New York New Wave
A style first anticipated by groups such as Pere Ubu, New York New Wave was hodge-podge of styles: jagged guitar lines, disco/funk dance beats, punk alienation, glitter/glam, art rock, and thrash.
Blondie, for example, makes use of pop, rap, surf-rock, and punk. Performers include:
Heart Of Glass - Blondie
Once In A Lifetime - Talking Heads
British Punk (Mid To Late 70’s)
They were frustrated with unemployment in the U.K. as well as the fact that the music industry controlled rock and roll. British youth sought back-to-basics rock style emphasizing personal authenticity, political reform, and a common-man's right for musical self-expression. Like NY punk, it uses stripped down arrangements, political lyrics, and a crude amateurish deliver. A fundamental difference between NY and London Punks was that the London punks were all much younger than the NY Punks. (The British punks referred to the NY punks as "boring old farts" lol) . Also, the British punks seemed to lack the tongue-in-cheek humor of some NY acts. British punk lyrics usually revolve around the devaluation of society and anarchy. The major venues for British punk were the Marquee Club and the 100 club. Performers include: The Damned as well as.... White Riot - The Clash God Save The Queen - Sex Pistols Boredom - The Buzzcocks Spellbound - Siouxsie and the Banshees Cheeseburger - Gang of Four
British New Wave
Though British New Wave is more political than its American counterpart, it retains the eclectic nature.
Singer-songwriters such as Elvis Cosello and Graham Parker delivered powerful social commentary thorough their songs. Performers include:
Radio, Radio - Elvis Costello
Murder By Numbers - Police
I Hear You Knockin’ - Dave Edmunds
Fool’s Gold - Graham Parker
Ska-Revival (1979-1981)
Also known as the Two Tone (from Two-Tone Record Co), Ska used live burlesque, visual stage routines. Also, Ska bands were integrated groups of 7 to 9 members with heavy use of horn sections and chug-a-lug rhythms. Performers include:
Too Much Pressure - Selecter
House of Fun - Madness
Tears Of A Clown - English Beat
Techno-Rock (1977-1981)
Techno-rock was a synthesizer based rock style of the late 70's. The style exhibited an infatuation with technology, jagged mechanical rhythms and melodic lines. The lyrics seem to be obsessed with the excesses of materialism, estrangement, and dehumanization Performers include: Cars - Gary Numan Are We Not Men? - Devo New Toy - Lene Lovich Destination Unknown - Missing Persons
British Post-Punk
British post-punk bands differ from earlier punk bands in several ways. The post-punk bands were less political, more melodic and much more introvered. The style has a fuller sound, sometimes using synthesizers and sax. Depression and despair are favorite subjects in Post-Punk rock. Performers: Boys Don't Cry - The Cure Imitation of Christ - Psychedelic Furs Miserable Lie - The Smiths Monkeys - Echo And The Bunnymen
Jamaican Influences
Since the 1940’s music, of the West Indies has provided musical resources for American and European Pop Music. Starting with the Calypso, native to Trinidad and Tobago, Caribbean rhythms and dances have been adapted by a wide variety of performers and musical styles. In the late 1950’s through 70’s Jamaican dance steps have all been adapted to rock and roll. The styles that have had the greatest impact were Ska, Rock-Steady and Reggae.
Ska (1956-To Mid 60’s)
In the mid 1960’s Jamaican teenagers began listening to American rhythm and blues broadcast on American radio stations in Miami, New Orleans, and Memphis. Also mobile DJ’s began playing the latest rhythm and blues records at parties. As the interest in R&B increased, local musicians began blending R&B horn sections and chug-a-lug rhythms with the traditional hesitation Calypso beat. The resulting style was called ska: imitating the scratching sound of a muted guitar. In the late 70’s, there was a British Ska revival. Performers include: Laurel Aiken, Owen Gray, Jackie Edwards, Derek Morgan, Skatelites, Soul Vendors, and Ska Kings
Rock-Steady (1966-1969)
Whereas Ska was influenced by R&B, Rock-steady was influenced by American soul music. Stylistically, electric guitar and bass replace the horns used in ska and the tempo quickens. Future reggae superstars such as Bob Marley and Peter Tosh got their start playing rock-steady. Performers include: Alton Ellis, Delroy Wilson, Ken Boothe
Reggae (1968 - To Present)
Between 1969 to 1976, Reggae had a profound influence on rock and roll. Many rock groups as diverse as Stevie Wonder, Eric Clapton, the Police, and the Clash used reggae themes, rhythms, and attitudes. Reggae combines a hesitation calypso beat, electric guitars and bass with Rastafarian (from Ras Tafari, aka Haile Salassie) lyrics. Also, Jamaican toasters, mobile DJ’s providing rhythm and rhyme talkovers (Dub), provided the basis for the practice in American Rap. The impact of reggae on rap is especially ironic considering that American blacks have traditionally shown contempt for Jamaicans. Performers include:
Grounation - Count Ossie and the Mystical Revelation of Rastafari
Natty Dread - Bob Marley and the Wailers
Equal Rights - Peter Tosh
The Fugs (NY 1965)
The Fugs, led by Ed Sanders (guitar and vocals) was the first truly obscene band of the 60’s. Sanders was a post-beat in the style of Allen Ginsberg. The targets of his songs were usually sexual repression and politics. Besides his album such as Beer Cans On The Moon, he also wrote a hit book about the Charles Manson trial: The Family
(Remember, Allen Ginsberg is FUGGING ugly. That will help you remember that The Fugs are NY Art Rock ^ ^)
The Velvet Underground
Notable Members: Lou Reed (vocals and guitar), John Cale (viola, bass, and keyboards)
At the height of the flower-power generation, the VU wrote songs about alienation, drug addiction, sexual perversion, sadomasochism, and hopelessness. Notorious for the out-of-tune primitivism, the VU became the primary model for 1980’s alternative rock bands. They were taken under the wing of Andy Warhol. Their major cult hits were “Heroin”, “Venus In Furs”, and “Femme Fatale”
MC 5 (1967)
Totally thrash and offensive, the Motor City 5 was the transitional band from the 1960’s garage bands to the 1970’s punk era. Had it not been for their 1960’s baby boomer notion that rock could change the world, MC5 would have been the first punk band.
The Stooges
Iggy Pop (1947- ) Iggy Pop was considered the grandfather of Punk. His first act was on Halloween which included rubbing steak over his body, gouging his skin with broken glass, and stage diving into the audience. Iggy struggled with drug addiction, but was later rediscovered by David Bowie (The Jean Genie is supposed to be about Iggy). They went on tour with each other and Iggy co-wrote China Girl with Bowie.
New York Dolls (U.S. 1973)
David Johansen (vocalist) The NY Dolls bridged the gap between New York Art Rock and NY Punk. Their entry onto the music scene came at the end of the glitter/glam movement so they are often referred to as glitter punks. In their latter career they were managed by Malcolm McLaren who used them as a model for his later group The Sex Pistols. Soon after they broke up, David reappeared solo as Buster Poindexter. Their first album NY Dolls included the songs Trash, Pills, and Personality Crisis
The Ramones (NY 1974)
Members: Joey Ramone (vocals), Johhny Ramone (guitar), Dee Dee Ramone (bass), Marky Ramone (drums)
The Ramones take their name from Phil Ramone, a Paul McCartney pseudonym when the Beatles were still the Silver Beatles. The Ramones were the first true punk band: stripped down deadpan lyrics, fast and forced tempos, and no guitar solos. Their first album The Ramones features classics such as Beat On The Brat, Blitzkrieg Bop, Now I Wanna Snifff Some Glue, and I Don’t Wanna Walk Around With You
Patti Smith (1975)
Patti Smith was the first female punker of the 1970’s. Her vocal style was imitated by every female punker after her. A poet and playwright before she became a rocker, her outrageous debut single, Piss Factory, set her apart from the rest of the pack.
Richard Hell And The Voidoids (NY 1976)
Influenced by Capt. Beefheart, the Velvet Underground, Beat poetry and existentialist philosophy, Richard Hell set the visual and musical standard for NY punk rockers: jagged guitar lines, warbling vocals, and nihilistic lyrics. Hell’s dress was copied by the Sex Pistol’s Manager Malcolm McLaren when he outfitted the Sex Pistols.
