Rock & Punk on Music Theory Print

2-step garage

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

A typical 2-step drum pattern features syncopated kick drums that skip a beat, with shuffled rhythm or triplets applied to other elements of the percussion, resulting in a sound noticeably distinct to those present in other house or techno music. Although rhythms with two kicks to a bar may be considered less energetic than the four on the floor pattern, 2-step rhythms maintain the listener’s interest with off-beat snare placements and accents in the drumlines, scattered rimshots and woodblocks, syncopated basslines, and the percussive use of other instruments such as pads or strings. Instrumentation usually includes keyboards, synthesizers, and drum machines. Other instruments are added to expand the musical palette, often in the form of acoustic recordings, which may be sampled. The primary synth basslines used in 2-step are similar to those in the style’s progenitors such as UK garage, drum and bass, and jungle. Influences from funk and soul can also be heard. Vocals in 2-step garage are usually female (similar in style to those prevalent in house music and contemporary R&B), although male vocals in 2-step became just as prevalent. Some 2-step producers also process and cut up elements of a cappella vocals and use it as an element of the track. Much like other genres derived from UK garage, MCs are often featured, particularly in a live context, with a vocal style reminiscent of old school jungle.

Acid rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Definitions#

“Acid rock” is loosely defined. In 1969, as the genre was still solidifying, rock journalist Nik Cohn called it a “fairly meaningless phrase that got applied to any group, no matter what its style”. The term was originally used to describe the background music for acid trips in underground parties in the 1960s (e.g. the Merry Pranksters’ “Acid Tests”) and as a catchall term for the more eclectic Haight-Ashbury bands in San Francisco. The Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia believed that acid rock is music you listen to while under the influence of acid, further stating that there is no real “psychedelic rock” and that it is Indian classical music and some Tibetan music “designed to expand consciousness”. The term has often been deployed interchangeably with “psychedelic rock” or “psychedelia”, particularly during the genre’s nascence. However, the distinction between the heavier “acid rock” and the more general or inclusive genre of “psychedelic rock” has been well established. Additionally, music critics later retroactively labelled the bridge between acid rock, hard rock and early heavy metal acts as “heavy psych”. When defined specifically as a hard rock variant of psychedelia, acid rock is distinguished as having evolved from the 1960s garage punk movement, with many of its bands eventually transforming into heavy metal acts. Percussionist John Beck defines “acid rock” as synonymous with hard rock and heavy metal. The term eventually encompassed heavy, blues-based hard rock bands. Musicologist Steve Waksman wrote that “the distinction between acid rock, hard rock, and heavy metal can at some point never be more than tenuous”.

Acid trance

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Notable labels#

Attack Records
Harthouse
Moonshine Music
Platipus Records
Rising High Records

External links#

*Music and merch tagged acid trance

Adult album alternative

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Format#

The format covers a broader, more diverse playlist than most other formats. Musical selection tends to be on the fringe of mainstream pop and rock. It also includes many other music genres such as indie rock, Americana, pop rock, classic rock, alternative rock, new wave, alternative country, jazz, folk, world music, jam band and blues. The musical selections tend to avoid hard rock and rap music. Music selection also includes tracks from albums that are not singles, which leads to the enhanced and larger playlist. Some AAA outlets focus more on classic rock artists, folk and blues while others focus on more contemporary artists and modern/indie rock.

African heavy metal

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Southern Africa#

The author Edward Banchs traveled extensively through African countries, exploring the most prominent metal scenes, and in 2016, he published a book, titled Heavy Metal Africa: Life, Passion, and Heavy Metal in the Forgotten Continent, covering the musicians and the rise and struggles of the respective cultures in the Sub-Saharan and island countries. According to Banchs, South Africa has developed a robust metal community due to the existing music industry and a large population. South Africa In South Africa, heavy metal was introduced from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s in Johannesburg and saw the relative success of bands such as Odyssey, Ragnärok, Urban Assault, and Voice of Destruction. The arrival of metal music in the country was controversial. For example, the government and the N.G Kerk banned certain records from being imported, and fans of the genre faced hostility from the public, with accusations of Satanism. The first black metal band in South Africa with all Black members, Demogoroth Satanum, was formed in 2009 and works to change the perception of metal music as a genre for White people and to attract more Black fans. Vulvodynia is a deathcore/grindcore band with both Black and White members. Botswana The Botswana heavy metal scene started in the 1970s, with the introduction of classic rock, and evolved into a distinctive subculture with a cowboy-inspired aesthetic. Wrust, Overthrust, and Skinflint have achieved some international success and recognition. The 2014 documentary March of the Gods: Botswana Metalheads documents the heavy metal scene in the country. In 2009, South African photographer Frank Marshall made a photo exhibition called “Renegades”, documenting the metal scene in Botswana. The fashion encyclopedia Stylepedia uses the term “Renegades” as the name for the fashion movement derived from Botswana’s metal scene. Other countries Other southern African countries such as Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Madagascar have developing metal scenes as well. The documentary film Terra Pesada explores the metal community in Mozambique. Namibia held a metal festival in Windhoek intermittently between 2007 and 2014, called the Windhoek Metal Fest. Zimbabwe held its first documented metal concert in Harare in 2015, and the first album in Shona, by the band Dividing the Element, was released in 2018. The Angola metal scene was documented and featured in the film Death Metal Angola. Madagascar also has a growing metal community, covered by Banchs.

Afro rock

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Influences#

Afro rock draws heavily from traditional African music styles and genres, including Afrobeat, Highlife, Jùjú, and Soukous. It is also influenced by Western musical styles such as psychedelic rock, funk, and blues. Prominent Western artists and bands like The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Santana, Jimi Hendrix, and La Fayette contributed to the development of Afro rock through their avant-garde approaches to rock music. In the late 1960s, bands including the Super Eagles and Psychedelic Aliens made important developments to the genre. Fela Kuti, a Nigerian musician and activist, played an important role in the genesis of Afro rock through his influence on the development of Afrobeat, a genre incorporating elements from both traditional African music with jazz and funk. The lyrical content of the genre commonly addresses themes of social justice, economic inequality, freedom and cultural identity, relevant to the political and social movements in post-colonial African societies during the mid-20th century. Lyrics are typically delivered in a combination of local African languages and Pidgin English or French.

Afro-punk

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

The term originated from the 2003 documentary Afro-Punk directed by James Spooner and Matthew Morgan. But, Afro-punk music has been around since the mid-70s with Pure Hell. Pure Hell was the first all-black punk band that originated in Philadelphia, PA. In addition, black people have been intertwined in the punk scene since its birth in the 1970s, with black-led bands such as X Ray Spex having connections and associations with key figures in the scene such as Johnny Rotten. During the late 90s, a series of feminist black punk concerts, under the moniker “Sista Grrrl Riots”, were performed in response to the lack of intersectionality found in the punk Riot Grrrl subculture. In the early 21st century, Afro-punks made up a minority in the North American punk scene. Notable bands that can be linked to the Afro-punk community include: Death, Pure Hell, Bad Brains, Suicidal Tendencies, Dead Kennedys, Fishbone, Wesley Willis Fiasco, Suffrajett, The Templars, Unlocking the Truth, Rough Francis, MAAFA, Rebelmatic, WinterWolf, Meet Me at the Altar and The Paradox. In the United Kingdom, influential black musicians associated with the late 1970s punk scene included Poly Styrene of X-Ray Spex, Don Letts, and Basement 5. Afro-punk has become a movement, comparable to the early hip-hop movement of the 1980s. The Afropunk Music Festival was founded in 2005 by James Spooner and Matthew Morgan.

Akron Sound

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

In the late 1970s, following the international success of local band Devo, talent scouts combed the city. Soon, several compilation albums promoted the Akron Sound, a multifaceted music scene led by the Waitresses and Rachel Sweet, and many artists of regional prominence including the Numbers Band, Tin Huey, Liam Sternberg, Bizarros, and Rubber City Rebels. Local clubs that featured these bands included the Crypt and the Bank.

Legacy#

Photos, recordings, and artifacts are collected at The Akron Sound Museum in downtown Akron.

Album-oriented rock

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Freeform and progressive#

The album-oriented rock radio format started with programming concepts in the 1960s. The freeform and progressive formats developed the tone for AOR playlists for much of its heyday. In July 1964, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted a non-duplication rule prohibiting FM radio stations from running a simulcast of the programming from their AM counterparts. AM/FM affiliate station owners fought these new regulations, delaying enactment until January 1, 1967. The freeform format in commercial radio was created to program the FM airwaves inexpensively. Programmers like Tom Donahue at KMPX in San Francisco developed stations where DJs had the freedom to play long sets of music, often covering a variety of genres. Not limited to hits or singles, DJs often played obscure or longer tracks by newer or more adventurous artists rather than those heard on Top 40 stations of the day. This new format caused albums, instead of singles, to be rock’s main artistic vehicle in the 1960s and 1970s. With a few exceptions, commercial freeform had a relatively brief life. With more listeners acquiring FM radios, it became more important for stations to attract larger market share to sell more advertising. By 1970, many of the stations were instituting programming rules with a “clock” and system of “rotation”. With this shift, stations’ formats in the early 1970s were now billed as progressive. However, DJs still had input over the music they played. The selection was deep and eclectic, with a range of genres.

Alté

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Alté fuses a wide array of musical influences from afrobeats, rap, R&B, soul, dancehall, and others. The term was coined by DRB LasGidi members and was first heard on Boj’s 2014 song “Paper”; it was later used to describe left-field styles of music. TeeZee explained about the term saying “Alté is Nigerian lingo for ‘alternative’ which means freedom of expression essentially through any medium. It has been going on since the 1960s as Nigerians always experimented with music. It became recognized as a style or genre from about 2012 upwards and it broke into the mainstream in 2016 with the rise of its new stars.” Its fashion culture has been inspired by the early 2000s, and its music videos have been inspired by 1990s Nollywood horror drama.

Alternative country

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Definitions and characteristics#

In the 1990s, the term alternative country, paralleling alternative rock, began to be used to describe a diverse group of musicians and singers operating outside the traditions and industry of mainstream country music. Lyrics may be bleak or socially aware, but also more heartfelt and less likely to use the clichés sometimes used by mainstream country musicians. In other respects, the musical styles of artists that fall within this genre often have little in common, ranging from traditional American folk music and bluegrass, through rockabilly and honky-tonk, to music that is indistinguishable from mainstream rock or country. This already broad labeling has been further confused by alternative country artists disavowing the movement, mainstream artists declaring they are part of it, and retroactive claims that past or veteran musicians are alternative country. No Depression, the best-known magazine dedicated to the genre, declared that it covered “alternative-country music (whatever that is)”.

Alternative dance

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

AllMusic states that alternative dance mixes the “melodic song structure of alternative and indie rock with electronic beats, synths and/or samples, and club orientation of post-disco dance music”. The genre draws heavily on club culture for inspiration while incorporating other styles of music such as electropop, house, and EBM. The performers of alternative dance are closely identified with their music through a signature style, texture, or fusion of specific musical elements. They are usually signed to small record labels.

Alternative metal

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

One of the main characteristics of alternative metal and its subgenres are heavily downtuned, mid-paced “chug”-like guitar riffs. However, funk metal bands often use a more conventional riffing style influenced by 1980s thrash metal. Alternative metal features clean and melodic vocals, Examples include alternative metal bands associated with the nu metal movement, such as Korn and Deftones, who have been described as having “bipolar vocals”. Jonathan Gold of the Los Angeles Times wrote in 1990 “Just as rock has an alternative, left wing-bands like the Replacements and Dinosaur Jr.-so does metal. Alternative metal is alternative music that rocks. And alternative metal these days can reach 10 times the audience of other alternative rock. Jane’s Addiction plays an intense brand of ’70s-influenced arty metal; so does Soundgarden. In fact, the arty meanderings of Sabbath and Zeppelin themselves would be considered alternative metal.” Houston Press has described the genre as being a “compromise for people for whom Nirvana was not heavy enough but Metallica was too heavy.” The first wave of alternative metal bands emerged from many backgrounds, including hardcore punk (Bad Brains, Rollins Band, Life of Agony, Corrosion of Conformity), noise rock (Helmet, the Jesus Lizard, Today Is the Day), Seattle’s grunge scene (Alice in Chains, Soundgarden), stoner rock (Clutch, Kyuss), sludge metal (Fudge Tunnel, Melvins), gothic metal (Type O Negative), groove metal (Pantera, White Zombie) and industrial (Godflesh, Nine Inch Nails, Ministry). These bands never formed a distinct movement or scene; rather they were bound by their incorporation of traditional metal influences and openness to experimentation. while Primus were influenced by progressive rock, and funk and Faith No More mixed progressive rock, R&B, funk and hip hop. Fudge Tunnel’s style of alternative metal included influences from both sludge metal and noise rock.

Alternative rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Etymology#

Record companies usually sign contracts with those entertainers who are thought to become the most popular and generate the most sales. In the past, these bands were able to record their songs in expensive studios, and their works were then offered for sale through record store chains that were owned by the entertainment corporations, along with eventually selling the merchandise into big box retailers. Record companies worked with radio and television companies to get the most exposure for their artists. The people making the decisions were business people dealing with music as a product, and those bands who were not making the expected sales figures were then excluded from this system. Before the term alternative rock came into common usage around 1990, the sorts of music to which it refers were known by a variety of terms. In 1979, Terry Tolkin used the term alternative to describe the groups he was writing about. In 1979 Dallas radio station KZEW had a late night new wave show entitled “Rock and Roll Alternative”. “College rock” was used in the United States to describe the music during the 1980s due to its links to the college radio circuit and the tastes of college students. In the United Kingdom, dozens of small do it yourself record labels emerged as a result of the punk subculture. According to the founder of one of these labels, Cherry Red, NME and Sounds magazines published charts based on small record stores called “Alternative Charts”. The first national chart based on distribution called the Indie Chart was published in January 1980; it immediately succeeded in its aim to help these labels. At the time, the term indie was used literally to describe independently distributed records. By 1985, indie had come to mean a particular genre, or group of subgenres, rather than simply distribution status. The use of the term alternative to describe rock music originated around the mid-1980s; at the time, a music industry term for cutting-edge music was new music. In 1987, Spin magazine categorized college rock band Camper Van Beethoven as “alternative/indie”, saying that their 1985 song “Where the Hell Is Bill” (from Telephone Free Landslide Victory) “called out the alternative/independent scene and dryly tore it apart.” David Lowery, then frontman of Camper Van Beethoven, later recalled: “I remember first seeing that word applied to us… The nearest I could figure is that we seemed like a punk band, but we were playing pop music, so they made up this word alternative for those of us who do that.” DJs and promoters during the 1980s claim the term originates from American FM radio of the 1970s, which served as a progressive alternative to top 40 radio formats by featuring longer songs and giving DJs more freedom in song selection. According to one former DJ and promoter, “Somehow this term ‘alternative’ got rediscovered and heisted by college radio people during the 80s who applied it to new post-punk, indie, or underground-whatever music.” At first the term referred to intentionally non-mainstream rock acts that were not influenced by “heavy metal ballads, rarefied new wave” and “high-energy dance anthems”. Usage of the term would broaden to include new wave, pop, punk rock, post-punk, and occasionally “college”/“indie” rock, all found on the American “commercial alternative” radio stations of the time such as Los Angeles’ KROQ-FM. Journalist Jim Gerr wrote that alternative also encompassed variants such as “rap, trash, metal and industrial”. That summer, Farrell had coined the term Alternative Nation. In December 1991, Spin magazine noted: “this year, for the first time, it became resoundingly clear that what has formerly been considered alternative rock—a college-centered marketing group with fairly lucrative, if limited, potential—has in fact moved into the mainstream.” In the late 1990s, the definition again became more specific. However alternative music has paradoxically become just as commercial and marketable as the mainstream rock, with record companies using the term “alternative” to market music to an audience that mainstream rock does not reach. Using a broad definition of the genre, Dave Thompson in his book Alternative Rock cites the formation of the Sex Pistols as well as the release of the albums Horses by Patti Smith and Metal Machine Music by Lou Reed as three key events that gave birth to alternative rock. Additionally, Rhys Wiliams of Loudersound observed, “musical genres collided more in the 90s than in any other decade, making ‘alternative’ rock ever harder to define.” Until the early 2000s, when indie rock became the most common term in the US to describe modern pop and rock, the terms “indie rock” and “alternative rock” were often used interchangeably; while there are aspects which both genres have in common, “indie rock” was regarded as a British-based term, unlike the more American “alternative rock”.

American rock

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Origins#

The foundations of American rock music are in rock and roll, which originated in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Its immediate origins lay in a mixing together of various black musical genres of the time, including rhythm and blues and gospel music; in addition to country and western. In 1951, Cleveland disc jockey Alan Freed began playing rhythm and blues music for a multi-racial audience, and is credited with first using the phrase “rock and roll” to describe the music. There is much debate as to what should be considered the first rock and roll record. One contender is “Rocket 88” by Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats (in fact, Ike Turner and his band The Kings of Rhythm), recorded by Sam Phillips for Sun Records in Memphis in 1951. It has been argued that “That’s All Right (Mama)” (1954), Elvis Presley’s first major single for Sun Records was the first rock and roll record, but, at the same time, Big Joe Turner’s “Shake, Rattle & Roll”, later covered by Bill Haley, was already at the top of the Billboard R&B charts. Other artists with early rock and roll hits included Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Fats Domino, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Gene Vincent. Soon rock and roll was the major force in American record sales and crooners, such as Eddie Fisher, Perry Como, and Patti Page, who had dominated the previous decade of popular music, found their access to the pop charts significantly curtailed.

Americana music

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Definition#

The term “Americana music” was defined by the Americana Music Association (AMA) in 2020 as “…the rich threads of country, folk, blues, soul, bluegrass, gospel, and rock in our tapestry.” A previous 2016 AMA definition of the genre included rhythm and blues, with additional comments that Americana music results “in a distinctive roots-oriented sound that lives in a world apart from the pure forms of the genres upon which it may draw. While acoustic instruments are often present and vital, Americana also often uses a full electric band.”

Anarcho-punk

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Forerunners#

During the 1960s to early 1970s, some artists who were later retroactively described as “proto-punk” became influenced by New Left or anarchist ideology, which included David Peel who was associated with the Yippie movement, alongside bands such as the MC5, the Fugs, the Edgar Broughton Band, Mick Farren’s the Deviants, Pink Fairies and Hawkwind. These bands set a precedent for mixing radical politics with rock music and established the idea of rock as an agent of social and political change in the public consciousness. Other influences include avant-garde art and political movements such as Fluxus, Dada, the Beat Generation, Youth International Party, England’s angry young men (such as Joe Orton), the surrealism-inspired Situationist International, the 1967 March on the Pentagon, the May 1968 uprising in Paris, and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys has cited the Yippies as an influence on his activism and thinking.

Anatolian rock

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Background (1930s-1960s)#

Anatolian rock has a long history that dates back to the founding of the Turkish Republic decades ago. Atatürk pushed extensive changes to build a national form of music from the early 1930s forward. He believed that music should be based on national and modern foundations and musicians should work on Turkish melodies and make them polyphonic according to the rules of Western harmonic music. As a result, Anatolian folk music began to spread and people began to listen to Anatolian folk tunes instead of Ottoman music. In the 1960s, rock and roll began to be played and rock groups such as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Yes, Status Quo and Omega became popular especially in Istanbul. It began to spread and became popular among the elite youth of the city. In Istanbul, high school and university students began forming their own bands and performing covers of rock’n’roll and twist music in 1957. Students who would become famous singers later, such as Barış Manço from Galatasaray High School and Erkin Koray from German High School, performed at an amateur concert they had organized, which is known as the first rock’n roll concert of Turkey. Turkish singers such as Erol Büyükburç began to release English-language cover versions of American songs, as well as their own songs.

Anti-folk

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In the United States#

Antifolk was introduced by artists who were unable to obtain gigs at established folk venues in Greenwich Village such as Folk City and The Speakeasy. In the mid-1980s, singer-songwriter Lach started The Fort, an after-hours club on NYC’s Rivington Street on the Lower East Side. The Fort’s opening coincided with the New York Folk Festival. Because of this, Lach dubbed his event the New York Antifolk Festival. Other early proponents of the movement included the Washington Squares, Cindy Lee Berryhill, Brenda Kahn, Paleface, Beck, Hamell on Trial, Michelle Shocked, Zane Campbell, John S. Hall, Roger Manning, Kirk Kelly, and Block. The original Fort was shut down in 1985 by the police, and because of this the club moved locations several times, including East Village bars Sophie’s and Chameleon, before settling in the back room of the SideWalk Cafe starting in 1993. Events have also taken place in the band shells in Tompkins Square Park and Central Park.

Arena rock

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Characteristics#

Historian Gary A. Donaldson has summed up arena rock as “big hair, big voices, and really big guitars”. In contrast to other types of music with a more raw, time-worn approach, arena rock musicians emphasize dramatic production. With bands deliberately designing their material for large audiences, the songs focus on melody, often featuring strident choruses. Guitar effects and the use of keyboard instruments are significant elements of the genre. Fireworks displays, use of smoke, and methods of sophisticated lighting, became part of the visual aesthetics of what is known as arena rock.

Argentine heavy metal

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

The Argentine Rock of the late 1970s included bands such as Pappo’s Blues, El Reloj, Vox Dei, Billy Bond y La Pesada del Rock and Roll, and Pescado Rabioso. The fans of those bands would eventually create the first heavy metal bands. There was no specialized press at the time, and bands and concerts were scarce. Pappo, who was already a famous musician and had been in Europe for some time, created a band influenced by the new wave of British heavy metal, Riff. V8, a relatively lesser-known band, mixed heavy metal and punk rock, and gained attention during an incident at the “Buenos Aires Rock” concert. The end of the national reorganization process in 1983 allowed an increased activity. Metal was the first heavy metal magazine in Argentina, published in 1983, and “Cuero Pesado” () the first radio program. Many bands, like V8, could release their first full-length albums. However, activity decreased a short time later. Riff broke up when a concert at the Ferrocarril Oeste stadium ended with widespread vandalism, and V8 tried to emigrate to Brazil. Riff returned in 1985, and V8 returned as well with a new lineup. The international success of Glam metal increased the interest in heavy metal music as well. A new magazine, Riff Raff, appeared and the discos Halley and Cemento became important venues for concerts. The activity decreased again in 1989, during a national economic crisis caused by an hyperinflation. Glam metal itself never caught on in Argentina, but some hard rock bands used the glam visual style, such as Alakran, Kamikaze and Escocia. The most successful of those bands was Rata Blanca, who made a concert at the José Amalfitani Stadium, the highest attended concert of an Argentine heavy metal band to date. Those bands appeared in Argentina in the late eighties and the initial nineties, some years after the international boom of glam metal; and so did the first thrash metal bands as well. Some of those bands were Horcas, Lethal and Nepal; the most popular one was Hermética, led by ex-V8 bass player Ricardo Iorio. The Argentine Currency Board established in 1991 eased the imports of foreign albums and the tours of international bands. As of 1995, the popularity of Rata Blanca had declined, and Hermética broke up, with their members starting the rival bands Almafuerte (with Iorio) and Malón (the rest of the band). A.N.I.M.A.L. was popular among the fans of 1990s heavy metal, and they defended their homage to their country. Horcas increased their popularity with singer Walter Meza. The number of thrash metal bands declined, and the number of power metal bands increased; with Imperio being the most popular in the genre. Malón broke up years later, and Almafuerte regained and increased the popularity of Hermética. The genre had a huge drawback in the early 2000s, first with the 2001 economic crisis, which forced many small bands to break up. The República Cromañón nightclub fire forced most nightclubs to increase their security; most of them had to close and the remaining ones became too expensive for heavy metal bands. The genre had a slow recovery since then. As of 2014, the most popular bands are Rata Blanca and Almafuerte.

Argentine rock

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Origins in the mid-1950s#

Rock and roll first began to appear in Argentina in 1955 after the genre was created in the United States in 1954–1955, based largely on rhythm and blues and country and western. On December 5, 1955, the first recorded rock song in Argentina was made. It was a version of “Rock Around the Clock” performed by trumpeter Roger Santander’s jazz orchestra. Singer and trombonist Eddie Pequenino, a native of jazz (in the 1940s, while still a teenager, he formed the band Jazz Los Colegiales with Ricardo Romero) and R&B (in the early 1950s, he had formed Eddie Parker and his Rhythm Band), was the first, in 1956, to sing rock and roll with Lalo Schiffrin’s orchestra. The Columbia record label approached him about launching a solo career, but he preferred to hide his identity, forming the first rock band in Argentina to release albums: Mr. Roll y sus Rocks, with Arturo Schneider on tenor saxophone, Jaime Rodríguez Anido (aka Ike) on lead electric guitar, Héctor Rea on rhythm guitar, Domingo Malagreca on double bass, and Jorge Padín on drums. Their first recording was released on December 7, 1956, in January 1957, selling more than 27,000 copies. The band recorded several covers of Bill Haley and other rockers such as Bobby Freeman and Alan Dale, including “See You Later, Alligator,” “Mambo Rock,” “Rock,” “Shake, Rattle and Roll,” and “Rancho Rock,” with Bill Haley & His Comets being their greatest influence with their swing-oriented style. At first, the musicians hid their identity so the public would think they were an American band. But Pequenino finally revealed his identity on a live program on Radio El Mundo, where the alleged immorality of rock dancing was being debated. Following this revelation, Mr. Roll and his Rocks were hired to play on that station every Wednesday night, and then moved to Radio Splendid on Fridays at 8:30 p.m. The group’s success was such that their recordings of Bill Haley songs outsold the originals. That same year, Eddie Pequenino was the star of the first original Argentine rock song sung in Spanish, the aforementioned “Rock con leche,” a humorous song created in collaboration with Argentine comedian Délfor Dicásolo, Radio El Mundo’s musical arranger Santos Lipesker, comedy scriptwriter Aldo Cammarota, and music producer Ben Molar. Thanks to the success of the song, the film Venga a bailar el rock was shot, released on August 29, 1957, starring Mr. Roll y sus Rockers and actors Eber Lobato, Nélida Lobato, Alfredo Barbieri, Alberto Anchart Jr., and Pedrito Rico. The film included two of Pequenino’s own English compositions (“Despacio nena” and “Aquí viene el rock”), and a Spanish rock song titled after the film, created by Éber Lobato. In May 1958, Bill Haley visited Argentina with his band, performing at the Metropolitan Theater, and chose Mr. Roll y sus Rockers as the opening act. This was the genre’s most successful moment in Argentina, and it reignited the controversy surrounding rock music, when certain media outlets argued that young people were “going crazy” in movie theaters because of rock movies, sometimes causing damage, and raised their guard against the arrival of Bill Haley, saying that rock and roll was a foreign music. Meanwhile, Antena magazine published an issue featuring Bill Haley wearing a poncho and drinking mate, as a gesture of cultural reconciliation. The arrival of this new musical phenomenon and the formation of Mr. Roll y sus Rocks caught the attention of the Argentine record industry, which saw a segment of society that had previously been unexplored: teenagers and young adults. This would open up a new market for youth music bands and soloists. In 1958, following the success of Bill Haley & His Comets’ visit earlier that year, more rock and roll bands were formed, performing their own songs as well as compositions by groups from the United States. Several members of these musical groups included members who would later become popular pop singers of the so-called “new wave” in Argentina in the 1960s. Rock and roll radio programs also began to appear, such as those on Radio Libertad (now AM del Plata) and Radio El Mundo. Jazzlandia magazine had taken note of the explosion of rock and roll on the Argentine music scene and began publishing articles, lyrics, sheet music, and rock reviews, as well as publishing Estrellas magazine. Rodríguez Luque, the disc jockey for the program Música en el aire, created the Disc-Jockey label, which released emerging rock musicians. In April of that year, Loving You, the third film by Elvis Presley, was released, translated in the country under the title La mujer que yo adoro, It had a media promotion unlike the previous two releases, the result was a “boom” in Elvis’s aesthetics. The Paters was formed with singer Lalo Fransen (future member of El Club del Clan) who at the time called himself Danny Santos. Their two most popular singles were recordings of Marty Robbins’s “A White Sport Coat (and a Pink Carnation)” and Elvis Presley’s “I Forgot to Remember to Forget”. Los Modern Rockers also appeared, and their member Luis Aguilé—who performed his own songs as Los Iracundos and covers of artists like Pat Boone—would also stand out years later, when he was signed to the Odeón label, and with his guitar and the support of Armando Patrono’s orchestra, recorded the bolero “Mirá qué luna”, but also one of the first rock songs originally created in Argentina, “La Balanza”. Accompanied by the Lucio Milena orchestra, the Spanish versions he recorded of Billy Cafaro, Paul Anka’s “Pity, pity and “Personalidad” were a considerable success. It is said from that time that “when Billy would sing on Radio El Mundo, located at Maipú 555, the lines of fans would reach two blocks and clog up the center of the capital. On more than one occasion he would arrive there aboard a helicopter that landed on the obelisk and he would be guarded on the way to the radio station as dozens of young women would try to jump on him, just as they did when he performed in a theater or club.” These hits were followed by several more, such as Marcianita, Bésame Pepita, and Viento, viento (these last two composed by Lucio Milena, at the request of Daniel Tinayre for the 1960 film “La Patota”), selling a million copies of their first long play, “Bésame Pepita”. However, when he performed a Spanish-language rendition of the German hit “Kriminal Tango”, it proved to be very unpopular among tango fans, who misinterpreted the song and considered it an offense to tango. Billy Cafaro suffered repeated attacks from tango fans, so he moved to Spain. A native of this country, Andy Maciá recorded his own songs in Spanish, such as “Rock del vaquero”, “Tú eres mi luna” and “Una motoneta” —the latter being an advertising jingle for Siam-Lambretta scooters, and possibly the first advertising jingle in Argentine history— aided by Horacio Malvicino’s orchestra, who at that time called himself Don Nobody. Later, when he turned to tango in Europe, he would adopt another pseudonym, Alain Debray. In July 1961, the multinational record company RCA hired a musician under the pseudonym Balder, who had appeared on the program Justa del Saber on Channel 7. A 45 RPM single was released with a rock song composed by Balder himself, “El rock del tom tom”, the first Argentine song that can be classified without a doubt within the genre rockabilly. Shortly after, his Spanish-language composition “Zapatos de pom pom” was also released. The artist was Alberto Felipe Soria, known as Johnny Tedesco. The album sold half a million copies in a very short time, also becoming a radio hit. Tedesco developed a style heavily influenced by Elvis Presley, a blend of rock, rockabilly, and country, and established himself as a Spanish-language performer of his own compositions and international rock hits. “Presumida,” “Un monto de amor,” “Preciso tu amor esta noche,” “Ocho días a la semana,” “Coqueta” (his own composition), and “La plaga” are some of his interpretations that helped consolidate the rock genre in Argentina. In August 1961, the multinational CBS, to counteract and contrast the success and the figure of Tedesco, promoted and edited its new artist Tony Vilar, who with his own songs in Spanish like the rockabilly “Rock de Fuego” and “Bailando”, or versions of the Dúo Dinámico like “Quince años tiene mi amor” or “Diablito” by Neil Sedaka. Tony represented the typical son of Italian immigrants of the youth of the moment. He was the first Argentine to interpret the so-called slow rock or slow ballads, and his most important piece in this genre was the slow rock in Spanish “Y los cielos lloraron” with Frank Ferrer and his group (pseudonym of Waldo de Los Ríos). Their second album was released in 1962, featuring the singles “Despeinada”, “Nada vale sin amor”, and “Acomplejada”. While its success was short-lived, it was quickly overshadowed by the dizzying emergence of Club del Clan. At that time, Los Pick Ups, Horacio Ascheri’s band, had emerged, recording their own songs like “Mi promesa” and “Es La Locura”. Radio Antártida, the name that Radio América had at that time, presented a rock and roll program all day long from beginning to end, which included in its schedule the programs A Window to Success with Antonio Barrios, La Discoteca de Juan José with Juan José May, La Whiskería de Johnny Carel and Círculo Musical with Héctor Larrea.

Armenian rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Soviet Era#

Rock was greatly restricted for most of the period Armenia was under Soviet rule, being viewed by the CPSU as a Western anti-socialist influence. Yet, by the early 1970s, there were a range of popular bands in the capital city of Yerevan strong enough to compete with their Soviet counterparts - Arthur Meschian’s “Arakyalner”, “1+2”, “Kaleidoscope” and “Bliki”. By the eighties, combining Armenian folk music with rock, the Armenian folk-rock groups were founded with notable, and popular even in 2000’s, representatives - Bambir, founded 1978 in Leninakan and Vostan Hayots, founded in 1986 in Yerevan. In 1982 Bambir won the “Folk Music Award” at the International Festival in Lida, Belarus. Other more obscure groups were also founded in the same time period like Zartong, a short-lived Armenian progressive folk group from France. As the Soviet rock scene grew larger in the late 1980s, bands like Asparez and Ayas attracted international audiences due to the new popularity of oriental rock these two bands were among original contributors, that was described first time in Melodie und Rhythmus magazine. Ayas was formed in 1986 by a conservatory graduate Artur Mitinyan, and a year later won Best Song of the Year award at Yerevan’s “Rock, Rock, Rock Festival”. Later they won the “Sisian Rock Festival” award as well. Elips was another important band of the era formed in 1986. In summer 1986 “Elips” went on tour to Latvia, where they played together with a Riga-based group “Pilligrim”. Simultaneously with the fame, the group gained the hatred of the Soviet Communist party nomenclature and was prohibited as an anti-Soviet group. Their most popular song - “Patkeratsrek” (Imagine) remains as one of the hymns of Armenian rock.

Art punk

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Etymology#

On December 12, 1977, writer Stanley Mieses of Melody Maker used the term “art-punk” to describe the American band Devo. In 2004, music historian Ian Gittins noted that the term “art-punk” began to be used prominently by several music publications during the post-punk era primarily to describe artists deemed too sophisticated and out of step with punk’s dogma, though some critics used it as a pejorative. Gittins stated: In the rock music of the 1970s, the “art” descriptor was generally understood to mean either “aggressively avant-garde” or “pretentiously progressive”. Musicologists Simon Frith and Howard Horne described the band managers of the 1970s punk bands as “the most articulate theorists of the art punk movement”, with Bob Last of Fast Product identified as one of the first to apply art theory to marketing, and Tony Wilson’s Factory Records described as “applying the Bauhaus principle of the same ’look’ for all the company’s goods”. Wire’s Colin Newman described art punk in 2006 as “the drug of choice of a whole generation”.

Art rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Etymology and characteristics#

In the academic perspective of music critics, such as those for The New York Times, high art and pop music had increasingly engaged with each other throughout the second half of the 20th century. Historically, the term has been used to describe at least two related, but distinct, types of rock music. One usage refers to groups who rejected psychedelia and the hippie counterculture in favour of a modernist, avant-garde approach defined by the Velvet Underground. Essayist Ellen Willis compared these two types: Art rock frequently intertwines with “serious music”. Critic John Rockwell described the term as referring to wide-ranging and eclectic tendencies in rock music. The Encyclopedia Britannica states that “art rock” was frequently applied to strains of experimental rock music, including work by Laurie Anderson, David Bowie, Brian Eno, the Velvet Underground, and Frank Zappa. According to AllMusic, art rock is “more challenging, noisy and unconventional” and “less classically influenced”, with more of an emphasis on avant-garde music, depending on what was considered avant-garde at the time of the term’s use. “Art rock” is used synonymously with progressive rock They both describe a mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility, Common characteristics include album-oriented music divided into compositions rather than songs, with usually complicated and long instrumental sections and symphonic orchestration.

Australian hardcore

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Early history (late 1970s–early 1980s)#

Brisbane was at the forefront of the hardcore punk scene in the late 70s with bands emerging such as Young Identities, Public Execution, Razar, Mystery Of Sixes and The Leftovers. Sydney had a strong following of hardcore punk bands in the early 1980s such as Vigil Anti, Massappeal, Hard-Ons and Johnny Dole & The Scabs. Depression and Vicious Circle from Melbourne were two of the most popular hardcore bands in Australia, which formed in 1982 and 1983, respectively. Depression released 3 LP’s, 3 singles & 1 EP before disbanding in 1989. Where’s the Pope? from Adelaide was another popular hardcore band forming in 1985 and releasing their first LP “Straight Edge Holocaust” in 1987. Adelaide was also home to early hardcore punk band The Skunks who formed in 1979 and released their first EP in 1982. Rupture from Perth was another popular band forming in the mid-1980s. Canberra was home to The Vacant Lot a band who formed in 1978 and played quite a few gigs around the nations capital until they disbanded in August 1980. The Vacant Lot released one EP in 1980.

Australian thrash metal

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

1980s#

It is uncertain where or when the thrash metal scene in Australia began, but one of the earliest records of a band playing the style of music would be the Melbourne group Heresy in 1982, who would later change their name to Nothing Sacred. While the members of Nothing Sacred did not consider themselves a thrash metal group, the influences from the style were apparent, also blending influences from NWOBHM and, on their full-length album Let Us Prey hardcore punk, with a cover of an SOD song. Peter Hobbs, front-man from the Melbourne band Tyrus, would later collaborate with the members of Nothing Sacred to record the early demos of what would later become Hobbs’ Angel of Death. 1985 through to 1992 was the “peak” period of the Australian thrash metal scene, as local audiences with interest in the genre began to increase, and more bands would begin playing the style of music. Sydney’s Mortal Sin were founded in 1985 by vocalist Mat Maurer and drummer Wayne Campbell, from the remnants of a traditional metal band called Wizzard. In 1986 the band recorded the demo Mayhemic Destruction. So impressed were the band with the recording’s turnout, Mortal Sin decided to release Mayhemic Destruction as an album the following year to praising reviews, and helped them establish a healthy fanbase locally and overseas, eventuating in a national tour with Metallica in 1989 and an overseas tour with Testament and Faith No More in 1990. Sydney band Slaughter Lord were also impressing fans across the seas, but after only a release of one demo tape (titled Taste of Blood), the band disintegrated in 1987 after only one year of activity. Swedish band At the Gates would record a Slaughter Lord cover song (Legion) on their 1995 Slaughter of the Soul album. Another band, Addictive were also well known in the Sydney scene, releasing two albums and headlining a metal festival with Motörhead before ending in 1996. Melbourne’s thrash scene was also on the rise in the 1980s, with bands like Renegade and Rampage recording albums. Hobbs’ Angel of Death released their self-titled album in 1988 through German label Steamhammer/SPV Records. Possibly one of the heaviest Australian recordings of its time, Hobbs’ Angel of Death showcased a very distinct, heavily Satanic, Slayer-influenced sound. While initially intended as a studio project, Hobbs’ Angel of Death would play a few shows before ending at the turn of the decade, but would reform several times over the next few years. In other cities, interest in thrash metal was also on the rise, with Canberra band Armoured Angel and Alchemist’s early demos showcasing distinct thrash metal sounds. Both bands would later evolve in their sounds later in their respective careers, with Armoured Angel transforming into a death metal group and Alchemist incorporating more psychedelic and progressive influences in their sound. Black Widow from Brisbane, who played an Alice Cooper and Motörhead influenced style of what they dubbed to be “black metal”, would later change their line-up and reform under the name Iron Lightning, which showcased a melodic thrash sound similar to Megadeth.

Avant-funk

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Artists described as “avant-funk” or “mutant disco” have blended elements from styles such as funk, punk, disco, freeform jazz and dub. Reynolds described avant-funk as “difficult dance music” and a kind of psychedelia in which “oblivion was to be attained not through rising above the body, rather through immersion in the physical, self loss through animalism.”

History#

Early acts who have retrospectively been described with the term include German krautrock band Can, American funk artists Sly Stone and George Clinton, and jazz trumpeter Miles Davis. Herbie Hancock’s 1973 album Sextant was called an “uncompromising avant-funk masterpiece” by Paste. Jazz saxophonist Ornette Coleman led the avant-funk band Prime Time in the 1970s and 1980s. Guitarist James “Blood” Ulmer, who performed with Coleman in the 1970s, was described by The New Yorker as “one of avant-funk’s masters.” According to Reynolds, a pioneering wave of avant-funk artists came in the late 1970s, when post-punk artists (including A Certain Ratio, the Pop Group, Gang of Four, Bush Tetras, Defunkt, Public Image Ltd, Liquid Liquid, and James Chance, as well as Arthur Russell, Cabaret Voltaire, Talking Heads, DAF, and 23 Skidoo) embraced black dance music styles such as funk and disco. Reynolds noted these artists’ preoccupations with issues such as alienation, repression and the technocracy of Western modernity. The artists of the late 1970s New York no wave scene, including James Chance, explored avant-funk influenced by Ornette Coleman. The 1981 album My Life in the Bush of Ghosts by Brian Eno and David Byrne was described as a masterpiece of avant-funk by Paste. The New York label ZE Records released the influential compilation Mutant Disco: A Subtle Discolation of the Norm in 1981, coining a new label for this style of hybridized dance music blending punk and disco. Later groups such as Skinny Puppy, Chakk, and 400 Blows represented later waves of the style. By the mid-1980s, avant-funk had dissipated as white alternative groups turned away from the dancefloor.

Avant-garde metal

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

“Avant-garde metal” is interchangeable with “experimental metal” and “avant-metal”, Avant-garde metal is related to progressive metal, but avant-garde metal often has more experimentation, while progressive metal usually has a tighter focus on traditional metal instrumentation and higher levels of technical complexity. Avant-garde metal also uses unusual sounds, breaks conventions, and often includes new elements. The lyrics and visual presentation of the genre are eclectic as well. The Canadian group Voivod also influenced future bands in the genre, pioneering technique such as robotic vocal effects, unusual time signatures, and fractured, dissonant, unorthodox guitar sounds.

Azerbaijani rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Soviet Era#

Rock was greatly restricted for most of the period Azerbaijan was under Soviet rule, being viewed by the CPSU as a Western anti-socialist influence. Among the most recognized groups of the Soviet era were Coldünya, Yuxu, Eksulap and Khurramids.

1960s–1970s#

1960s was the period when Azerbaijani rock was formed. Leading bands of this period were namely Eskulap (1966), Khurramids (1969), Express-118, Pazavang and Uvet which were mainly playing soft rock and blues. Khurramids performed live in festival dedicated to 51st establishment of Azerbaijan State University with a cover version of “I can’t get no” by Rolling Stones in 1970. Following first decade of Azerbaijani rock, 70s gave rise to jazz rock with ethnic elements. Cürbəcür was founded by Jahangir Garayev, elder brother of Abulfas Garayev in 1970. Other notable bands were Məşəl (Torch), Brevis (1971) and Üç Alov (Three Flames). However, main driving force were considered Experiment-OK (1967) and Ashiqlar (1973). Jazz fusion era ended with “ASU Physics faculty band” (1972) according to Hikmat Hajizadeh (former ambassador of Azerbaijan to Russia) who played solo guitars back then. Meanwhile, in Sumgayit, Miraj and Rovesnik bands were active.

B-Town

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Details#

Some local commentators have suggested the term is an invention by London-based journalists to talk the wider Birmingham music scene up as a fad, pointing out that “there have been bands going strong in Birmingham for years” and highlighting the variety and strength in depth of the music being created in the city. Evil Alien—a band who have been identified with the scene—have criticised it as “just media hype and a silly name somebody has given it all”, commenting that “B-Town is the worst nickname for this great city I have ever heard and it makes me cringe every time I hear it”. In July 2013 Cavan McCarthy of Swim Deep claimed that the term started off as a joke, invented by himself and Harry Koisser of Peace while driving back into Birmingham from outside the city, and that “now everyone says it and we’re a bit embarrassed about it”. Critics have pointed out that many of the scene’s leading bands don’t sound very similar, The NME has commented how “nonchalance courses through the scene’s veins like quicksilver … some scenes come roaring out of the traps; B-Town seemed to roll out of bed, insular and uncontrived, smirking at its own in-jokes, smelling faintly of K cider and intent on nothing loftier than the pursuit of a laugh.”

Baggy

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

The genesis of indie-dance was the Balearic beat scene (where there were DJs playing an eclectic mix of records including such rock/dance crossovers like “Jesus on the Payroll” by Thrashing Doves and producers like Paul Oakenfold ) and the indie music scene in the north west of England, which featured Tony Wilson’s Factory Records and former post-punk band the Stone Roses in Manchester. Even though the Stone Roses were not signed to Factory Records, instead signing to Paul Birch’s Revolver Records in Wolverhampton (before taking a deal with Jive Records’ Silvertone), the band did have links to Tony Wilson, Martin Hannett and Peter Hook, with the New Order bassist scheduled to produce their debut album before John Leckie took over. It was Leckie who produced the Stone Roses single “Fools Gold” (an indie-dance record which had a prominent ‘shufflebeat’ which came from a four-bar loop based upon Clyde Stubblefield’s “Funky Drummer” drum pattern, as well as Bobby Bird’s “Hot Pants” beat) and it was mainly fans of the Stone Roses who started to wear the fashions that gave the genre/scene its alternative name.

Bangladeshi heavy metal

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Antecedents: 1960s (Blues rock)#

Although there were no Bangladeshi metal bands formed in the 1960s and 1970s, some blues-based rock bands helped to emerge heavy rock in Bangladesh. Such a band was Windy Side of Care, formed in 1964, Dhaka, who became one of the earliest rock bands to form in Bangladesh. Mainly inspired by rock n’ roll artists like Elvis Presley, Cliff Richard and The Shadows, they mixed psychedelic rock, hard rock, blues rock with Bengali Classical music. Initially they did not intend to record their output but to play gigs. They used to jam at Shahbag Hotel. They jammed at high volume, so loud that they were told to turn down their volume by their grandfather. Their long instrumental jamming through high amps, powerful distortion and frequent whammy bar sets an early example of heavy rock in the Bangladeshi music scene. They did not become commercially successful but their early works and experiments indicate the major movement of heavy rock in Bangladesh. Although they are not as well known to modern fans, some of their records were recovered. They made a deal with EMI record labels to record an album in 1968.

Bangladeshi rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Origins#

The foundations of Bangladeshi rock started in the 1950s as a fusion of American rock and roll and Bengali classical music. In the 1960s, the Gramophone Company of Pakistan imported many LPs and singles from rock and roll artists like Cliff Richard and the Shadows, Elvis Presley, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Beach Boys and the Hollies, which sold very well in Bangladesh. These artists were favored mostly by high school and college students. Drawing influences from 1950s and 1960s rock and roll artists, Bangladeshi rock bands formed. Hence, mid-1960s Bangladeshi rock music was influenced by and developed a sound that was very similar in beat to the British Invasion and, in the late 1960s, to that of psychedelic rock. There is much debate as to who was the first rock band in the country. Zinga, formed in 1963 in Chittagong, is an early contender, but their music resembled Adhunik more than rock and roll. The band introduced guitar, drums and piano, which made their music quite popular. It was also the first band to perform Tagore songs with guitar and piano on East Pakistan TV (now BTV). It has been argued by singer and journalist Elita Karim that Windy Side of Care was the first rock band of the country. Formed in 1964 in Dhaka, they started performing songs by Elvis and Cliff Richard in clubs and hotels. They were also the first band to advertise themselves as performing psychedelic rock. Their self-titled debut album also featured the raga rock song “Raag Bageshri”. In 1968, Zinga released their first song “Tomari Jiboney” which became very popular as it was aired on Shadhin Bangla Betar and East Pakistan TV. Before becoming a successful Dhallywood actor, Zafar Iqbal was a singer in the band The Rambling Stones, formed in 1966. Other popular rock bands of the 1960s included Ugly Phases, Fire in Ice and Time Ago Motion. None of these bands released any albums.

Baroque pop

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

In classical music, the term “Baroque” is used to describe the art music of Europe approximately between the years 1600 and 1750, with some of its most prominent composers including J. S. Bach and Antonio Vivaldi. Much of the instrumentation of baroque pop is akin to that of the late Baroque period or the early Classical period, chronologically defined as the period of European music from 1690 to 1760 and stylistically defined by balanced phrases, clarity and beauty. Baroque pop, stylistically, fuses elements of rock with classical music, often incorporating layered harmonies, strings, and horns to achieve a majestic, orchestral sound. Journalist Bob Stanley uses the term “English baroque” to describe a subset that existed between 1968 and 1973, after the genre’s more widespread presence in rock and pop. “Baroque rock” may be invoked as a synonym of “baroque pop” or as its own distinct term.

Basque Radical Rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The birth of the movement#

Before the invention of the label Basque Radical Rock, there were some minor radical bands in the Basque Country, but these had limited influence. In 1977 the first Basque punk-rock bands were created, mainly influenced by the rhythms coming from England. These bands spread across the Basque region and had limited resources. Linked to the punk philosophy that someone does not necessarily need to know an instrument to play it, more bands were quickly created. Odio (Hate), Basura (Trash), Vulpess, Optalidon, Cirrosis and RIP were some of the early bands, most of them hailing from industrial areas (Bilbao, Mondragon…). In the mid-1980s, as the movement grew stronger, some bands began to stand out and pull together a keen following determined to boost the movement ahead. These bands included Hertzainak, La Polla Records, Zarama, MCD, Eskorbuto, Barricada, RIP, Kortatu, Vómito and BAP!! However, Basque Radical Rock hardly left an imprint in the Northern Basque Country, where the punk outlook didn’t take hold and rock bands developed along the lines of a concern for Basque culture and cleaner sounds (Minxoriak, Niko Etxart, Errobi,…). Approx. in 1987 the movement reached its peak when the compilation album Bat, bi, hiru… hamar was released by daily newspaper Egin, providing the springboard for many bands, who secured a wide audience. However, it was heralding by then the decline of the movement, gradually losing initial cohesion provided by rage and a common social outlook, diversifying and taking more individual paths. Softer tunes started to find a slot in the Basque society’s taste and some BRR flagship bands were hard hit by drugs and AIDS, such as Cicatriz, RIP or Eskorbuto, while others decided to put an end to their course (Kortatu, last live album Azken guda dantza in 1988).

Bassline (music genre)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Bassline generally places a strong emphasis on bass, with intricate basslines (often multiple and interweaving) characteristic of the genre. Bassline tracks typically use a four-to-the-floor beat.

Early bassline house#

Bassline grew from the sound popular in nightclubs in Sheffield during the late 1990s, in particular Sheffield’s Niche nightclub, which played speed garage mixed with melodic vocal house. According to Steve Baxendale, owner of Niche, the club’s DJs began to take the vocals out of speed garage and house music, and then pumped up the bass, from around 1997. The changes in the style of music at Niche led to a change from a predominantly white crowd to a predominantly Black British crowd. There are local variations in bassline music, with a “darker” style more popular in Sheffield and Manchester, It being mixed with organ house popular in West Yorkshire, while local scenes in cities such as Birmingham and Nottingham favoured a more upbeat style. Often, different “organ” and “bass” mixes of a track appeared on the same record, drawing on the genre’s different musical influences. The bass or “B-Line” mix would be more influenced by speed garage, featuring a synthesised, low-frequency oscillation bassline, known as a “warp” or “reese”. The organ track would instead feature sampled Korg M1-style organ leads, influenced by the house music of the 1990s.

Bay Area thrash metal

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Exodus and Metallica#

The earliest documented roots of the Bay Area thrash scene date back to the formation of Exodus in 1979. By the time the group recorded their full-length album four years later, five different guitarists or bassists had already passed through the lineup, with some going on to join or form bands that were equally relevant to the area’s burgeoning metal scene. In November 1982, Exodus opened a show at San Francisco’s Old Waldorf venue for Metallica, a then-relatively unknown (and unsigned) band from Southern California who were recently discovered by Brian Slagel and had appeared on the first volume of his Metal Massacre compilation. Exodus (who were also unsigned at this time) had distributed an untitled demo the same year with a lineup that included guitarist Kirk Hammett. Although Metallica had initially formed in Los Angeles, it was not until their February 1983 relocation to the East Bay area that Cliff Burton formerly from Trauma joined as bassist, sealing the band’s first, formative lineup. The group (which then consisted of Burton, James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, and Dave Mustaine) had moved into a Carlson Blvd. house in El Cerrito, near Albany Hill, which had been rented by Mark Whitaker, then-manager of Exodus. After Mustaine was removed from the lineup that same year, then-Exodus guitarist Hammett would replace him following Whitaker’s recommendation; in turn, Mustaine would move back to Los Angeles to form Megadeth. Metallica’s signing to Megaforce Records, the release of their first album and the songwriting process and rehearsals for Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets had all taken place while the group resided at Whitaker’s El Cerrito home.

Beat music

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Origin#

The exact origins of the terms ‘beat music’ and ‘Merseybeat’ are uncertain. “Beat” alludes to the driving rhythms adopted from rock and roll, R&B, and soul music—not the Beat Generation literary movement of the 1950s. As the initial wave of British rock and roll was in height in the early 1960s, “big beat” music, later shortened to “beat”, became a live dance style and alternative alongside the British rock and roll balladeers like Tommy Steele, Marty Wilde, and Cliff Richard who were dominating the charts. The German anthropologist and music critic Ernest Borneman, who lived in England from 1933 to 1960, claimed to have coined the term in a column in Melody Maker magazine to describe the British imitation of American rock’n’roll, rhythm & blues, and skiffle bands. The ‘Mersey’ of ‘Merseybeat’ refers to the River Mersey. Liverpool lies on the eastern side of the river’s estuary. The name Mersey Beat was used for a Liverpool music magazine founded in 1961 by Bill Harry. Harry claims to have coined the term “based on a policeman’s beat and not that of the music”. With the rise of the Beatles in 1963, the terms Mersey sound and Merseybeat were applied to bands and singers from Liverpool, the first time in British pop music that a sound and a location were linked together. The Beatles’ debut album Please Please Me (1963) is often cited as the record that most exemplifies the Merseybeat sound. The equivalent scenes in Birmingham and London were described as Brum Beat and the Tottenham Sound respectively.

Beatdown hardcore

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Beatdown makes use of low pitched, shouted vocals, downtuned guitars and thrash metal–inspired drum rhythms, putting a particular emphasis on breakdowns. Many bands make use of palm muted guitar riffs, influenced by slam death metal, in conjunction with hip hop-influenced vocals. According to Bandcamp Daily writer Kevin Warwick, after the 1990s the genre expanded from a specific style of metal-influenced hardcore to “encompass a larger variety of mosh-friendly, breakdown-fixated groups”, which includes both 1990s-style hardcore revivalists like Absolute Suffering and more metallic groups like Knocked Loose. One prominent characteristic of beatdown is its close association to hardcore crews particularly New York’s DMS and Boston’s Friends Stand United, to the extent that academic Jeff Purchla used the term “crew scene hardcore” to refer to the genre in his 2011 essay The Powers that be: Processes of Control in ‘Crew Scene Hardcore. Sociology academic Edgar M. Peralta defined crews as being people involved in hardcore scene who unify “based on reciprocal ties and varying interests, including non-criminal elements such as music or sports, but also including some criminal elements, which often include violence and graffiti”, specifically originating as a means to oppose the white supremacist currents in their scenes. Beatdown bands often make use of hip hop–inspired imagery, with logos being based on graffiti designs and band members wearing sagged pants and baseball caps on irregular angles.

Belgian hardcore techno

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Originally a slow form of electronic dance music, Belgian new beat evolved into a native form of hardcore techno during the early 1990s with the introduction of techno records played at their intended speeds or slightly accelerated. This brutal new hardcore style spread throughout Europe’s rave circuit and reached the pop charts. The Belgian hardcore sound also influenced part of the UK and US rave scenes. The genre was spearheaded by Belgian producers from the new beat scene, like Frank de Wulf, Olivier Abbeloos, Maurice Engelen, Oliver Adams and Nikki Van Lierop. This style of music was also pioneered by Dutch projects like Human Resource, L.A. Style and Holy Noise. Outside mainland Europe, a small group of producers adopted the style in the UK. The main labels that developed this style in the UK were Kickin’ Records, Vinyl Solution, Rabbit City, Edge and Rising High. Producer Caspar Pound of Rising High Records, known by its stage name “The Hypnotist”, was a vocal supporter of this style of hardcore techno. The most notable achievement of this style of hardcore in the pop charts is L.A. Style’s single “James Brown Is Dead” reaching the Billboard’s Hot 100 Airplay chart. Notable acts like The Immortals, 2 Unlimited, 2 Fabiola and AB Logic achieved relative success blending the style with dance-pop. After a brief period of expansion during the mid 90s, the style lost popularity, while modern hardcore techno (gabber), trance, happy hardcore and jungle music took place as the leading genres within the rave circuit.

Bengali Rock music (India)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Origin (1960s–1970s)#

Arunendu Das is widely credited with pioneering Modern Bengali music, introducing a fresh style of lyricism and a Western-influenced approach to songwriting, often crafted on the guitar. His innovative work laid the foundation for what would later evolve into Bengali Rock music. This musical revolution reached its pinnacle with Moheener Ghoraguli (also spelled Mohiner Ghoraguli), Kolkata’s iconic band, which is hailed as the first true Bengali Rock band. They are also recognized as India’s first Rock band, having pioneered the creation of original songs in vernacular languages, setting a groundbreaking precedent in the Indian music scene. Moheener Ghoraguli was formed in 1975 and played in many concerts. The band was inspired by Bob Dylan and many other western artists. Their music was a mixture of a wide variety of influences, including the Baul and folk traditions of Bengali and rock. Along with them, the Kolkata based rock group called High (formed 1974) consisting of late Dilip Balakrishnan (who was also part of the Great Bear rock band), Nondon Bagchi, Lew Hilt, Subhendu Chatterjee and Adi Irani started composing and performing original songs. A collection of the band’s recordings were released on the Saregama label in 2009.

Bent edge

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Big beat

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Style#

Big beat features heavy and distorted drum beats at tempos between 100 and 140 beats per minute, Roland TB-303 synthesizer lines resembling those of acid house, and heavy loops from 1960s and 1970s funk, soul, jazz, and rock songs. They are often punctuated with punk-style vocals or rappers and driven by intense, distorted synthesizer basslines with conventional pop, house and techno song structures. Big beat tracks have a sound that includes crescendos, builds, drops, extended drum rolls, and sounds such as spoken word samples, dialogues from film and TV, additional instruments such as Middle Eastern strings or sitars, explosions, air horns, sirens (usually police sirens) and gunshots. As with several other dance genres at the time, the use of effects such as filters, phasing, and flanging was common in the genre. Celebrated pioneers of the genre such as Fatboy Slim tend to feature heavily compressed loud breakbeats in their songs, which are used to define the music as much as any melodic hooks and sampled sounds. Based on the primary use of loud, heavy breakbeats and basslines, big beat shares attributes with jungle and drum and bass, but has a significantly slower tempo.

Big-beat (Eastern Bloc)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

Genres of American origin, such as jazz, twist, and especially rock and roll were banned or at least hardly tolerated in Eastern Bloc countries in the mid-20th century. Such music was considered to be an element of American imperialism. Despite the official attitude, a number of jazz bands formed in the Eastern Bloc. In the 1950s, these bands included rock and roll elements in their performances. The first Polish band that played rock and roll was , formed in 1959, and they were forced by the authorities to disband a year later. The manager of Rhythm and Blues, Franciszek Walicki, to avoid the term rock and roll, coined the term “big-beat” to refer to the band’s music. In Walicki’s intention, it was a pure synonym of rock and roll, but the name became widely used in reference to any popular music with a strong rhythm and a simple melodic structure, such as rhythm and blues, madison, or twist. Walicki went on to form new bands, including Czerwono-Czarni and Niebiesko-Czarni, and rock and roll under the name “big-beat” became popular in Poland from the early 1960s. In Czechoslovakia and Hungary, it happened in the middle of that decade. The first rock and roll concert in the Soviet Union was performed at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1966. However, in the USSR, rock was performed without a specific genre name, and rock groups were called “vocal and instrumental bands” (VIA). In Poland and Czechoslovakia, the term “big beat” or “bigbit” was mostly used,

Biker metal

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Biker metal has been described as being influenced by punk rock, rock and roll, heavy metal and blues. Sleazegrinder, a writer at Classic Rock, described biker metal as “glam metal gone Mad Max”. Biker metal is characterized by its mid-tempo approach to metal, its “gritty and American” sound, and its alignment with biker culture as a whole. The genre has been contrasted with slower and more operatic forms of metal, such as Judas Priest’s work in the early 2000s. Similarly, biker metal eschews the speed and virtuosity that rose to prominence in the 1980s. Bands such as Black Moth, Orange Goblin, The Obsessed, Earthride and Black Label Society have been described as fusing the style with doom metal, whereas Clutch have been described as merging elements of biker metal and Southern rock into their stoner rock sound. Black Sabbath’s song “Paranoid” has been considered a classic of the genre. Biker metal has proven influential to genres ranging from speed metal to hardcore punk and crust punk, and was integral to the development of extreme metal.

Black metal

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Although black metal now typically refers to the Norwegian style with shrieking vocals, the term has been applied to bands with widely differing sounds, such as the Greek and Finnish bands that emerged around the same time as the Norwegian scene.

Instrumentation and song structure#

Manish Agarwal of Time Out describes black metal as “a cult strain of ultra-thrash” characterized by “icy noise”. Norwegian-inspired black metal guitarists usually favor high-pitched or trebly guitar tones and heavy distortion. The guitar is usually played with fast, un-muted tremolo picking and power chords. Guitarists often use dissonance—along with specific scales, intervals and chord progressions—to create a sense of dread. The tritone, or flat-fifth, is often used. Guitar solos and low guitar tunings are rare in black metal. Even still, authenticity is still prioritized over technique. “This professionalism has to go,” insists well-respected drummer Fenriz (Gylve Fenris Nagell) of Darkthrone. “I want to de-learn playing drums, I want to play primitive and simple, I don’t want to play like a drum solo all the time and make these complicated riffs”. Black metal songs often stray from conventional song structure and often lack clear verse-chorus sections. Instead, many black metal songs contain lengthy and repetitive instrumental sections. The Greek style—established by Rotting Christ, Necromantia and Varathron —has more death metal traits than Norwegian black metal.

Blackened death metal

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

The genre is commonly death metal that incorporates musical, lyrical or ideological elements of black metal, such as an increased use of tremolo picking, anti-Christian or Satanic lyrical themes and chord progressions similar to those used in black metal. Blackened death metal bands are also more likely to wear corpse paint and suits of armour, than bands from other styles of death metal. Lower range guitar tunings, death growls and abrupt tempo changes are common in the genre. Some blackened death metal bands, such as Goatwhore and Angelcorpse, even take significant influence from thrash metal.

Blackgaze

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Development#

Michael Nelson of Stereogum tracks the origins of blackgaze to the early work of French musician Neige, who pioneered the fusion through projects including Alcest, Amesoeurs and Lantlôs. According to Nelson, Alcest’s 2005 EP Le Secret was “the birth of blackgaze”; he noted that it sounded “like a Cocteau Twins/Burzum collaborative split” and that " r oughly half the time, vocals were delivered in an angelic coo; the other half, they were a raw, distant shriek". Natalie Zina Walschots of Exclaim! also credits Neige with pioneering the style, while noting that American band Deafheaven has pushed the genre to “greater prominence”.

Blog rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Etymology and characteristics#

Writer Peter C. Baker of the New Yorker, when writing about the blog rock era claimed that, “if the year 2005 were condensed into a single word, that word would be “blogroll.” The term “blog rock” was similar to “bloghouse”. In Chris DeVille’s 2025 book on indie rock, Such Great Heights, he describes the term’s “derogatory” meaning, saying that it “connoted something … specific: a cloying sort of indie band with fleeting success manufactured online, apart from real-world communities and institutions.” DeVille gives examples of bands more suited to the term as Architecture in Helsinki, I’m from Barcelona, and Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin.

Blues rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Blues rock can be characterized by bluesy improvisation, extended boogie jams typically focused on electric guitar solos, and often a heavier, riff-oriented sound and feel to the songs than found in typical Chicago-style blues. Blues rock bands “borrow ed the idea of an instrumental combo and loud amplification from rock & roll”. It is also often played at a fast tempo, again distinguishing it from the blues. Blues rock songs often follow typical blues structures, such as twelve-bar blues, sixteen-bar blues, etc. They also use the I-IV-V progression, though there are exceptions, some pieces having a “B” section, while others remain on the I. The Allman Brothers Band’s version of “Stormy Monday”, which uses chord substitutions based on Bobby “Blue” Bland’s 1961 rendition, adds a solo section where “the rhythm shifts effortlessly into an uptempo -time jazz feel”. The key is usually major, but can also be minor, such as in “Black Magic Woman”. One notable difference is the frequent use of a straight eighth-note or rock rhythm instead of triplets usually found in blues. An example is Cream’s “Crossroads”. Although it was adapted from Robert Johnson’s “Cross Road Blues”, the bass “combines with drums to create and continually emphasize continuity in the regular metric drive”.

Boogie rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

John Lee Hooker-style#

In 1948, American blues artist John Lee Hooker recorded “Boogie Chillen’”, an urban electric blues tune derived from early North Mississippi Hill country blues. Musicologist Robert Palmer notes “Hooker wasn’t copying piano boogie. He was playing something else—a rocking one-chord ostinato with accents that fell fractionally ahead of the beat.” Hooker’s “repeated monochord riff” on guitar was adapted by the American rock group Canned Heat for “Fried Hockey Boogie”, first released in 1968 on their Boogie with Canned Heat album. Other artists soon followed, with Norman Greenbaum’s “Spirit in the Sky” (1969, Spirit in the Sky) and ZZ Top’s “La Grange” (1973, Tres Hombres) being two of the earlier popular songs in the style. The English group Foghat reworked Hooker’s boogie for their popular “Slow Ride” (1975, Fool for the City): “they help interject some breath into the riff and help give it more rhythmic propulsion”. In the 1980s, it was updated further by Van Halen for “Hot for Teacher” (1984, 1984) and by Joe Satriani in “Satch Boogie” (1987, Surfing with the Alien): “John Lee Hooker may not have recognized the roots of his Satriani’s pioneering efforts, but it still contains the spirit of the genre, albeit in an exceptionally contemporary vein”.

Bouncy techno

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Antecedents: early 1990s#

The breakbeat hardcore style that dominated raves across England was generally not popular in Scotland. This is attributed to regional music, cultural and racial differences across the UK; with breakbeat regarded in Scotland as a “black English thing” and an “alien musical culture”. The few Scottish-based DJs who supported this music found it difficult to be booked locally. DJ Kid told the crowd to “fuck off” on the mic before he stormed off stage when ravers turned hostile towards him playing such a set. A divide in the United Kingdom rave scene occurred as a result with separate musical paths of development. Scotland instead favoured techno and vocal/piano music at raves. The Time Frequency (TTF) led the charge of local bands. After three chart hit records in the UK Singles Chart Top 40 across 1993, which peaked with “Real Love” at number eight, their commercial success in part resulted in a backlash against the band. With the vocal/piano approach now tainted, ravers turned their attention to an alternative form of underground music that had since materialised.

Brazilian rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

1950s#

In 1957, the first original Brazilian rock and roll song, Rock and roll em Copacabana, was penned by Miguel Gustavo. This pioneering track was recorded by the singer Cauby Peixoto and rose to #52 on the charts that year. During this period, several bands performed songs that were rough translations of English lyrics, though several groups chose to focus on instrumental rock instead. This was in part inspired by instrumental bands such as Duane Eddy and The Champs. In 1958, this inspiration led to the release of the first Brazilian instrumental rock song, “Here’s the Blue Jean Rockers” by The Blue Jean Rockers pt . Later the same year, Bolão & His Rockettes went on to record the country’s first purely instrumental LP. These developments were crucial in establishing rock as a popular genre among Brazilian youth. Following these pioneering efforts, a wave of new bands emerged, including The Avalons, The Clevers pt , The Rebels, The Jordans pt , The Jet Blacks, The Pops, Os Populares, The Bells, The Lions, and The Youngs, further solidifying rock’s place in Brazilian music culture. 1958 marked a watershed moment for Brazilian rock, witnessing the meteoric rise of several artists and bands. Notable figures such as Nora Ney, Nick Savoia, Celly Campelo, Tony Campelo (Celly Campelo’s brother), , , Cinderella, Regiane, Ronnie Cord, and Hamilton di Giorgio achieved rapid success, establishing themselves as prominent names in the music scene virtually overnight. Additionally, instrumental groups such as the aforementioned Avalons, Tte Rebels, the Jordans, and Os Incríveis also gained widespread popularity, contributing to the vibrant and diverse landscape of Brazilian rock during this pivotal year.

Brazilian thrash metal

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

1980s#

During the early 80s, bands from the United States, Germany and Canada, such as Metallica and Slayer (U.S.), Destruction and Kreator (Germany), and Voivod and Exciter (Canada) appeared. During this time, Brazil experienced a shift from dictatorship to democracy, while also facing economic instability. At the same time, Brazil had a growing metal and rock scene and was influenced by the same music subgenres as their European and North American counterparts: New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) and hardcore punk. Brazilian rock has its roots in the 1960s, developing from the movement called Jovem Guarda, which evolved into progressive rock and heavy metal. In 1982, the first Brazilian heavy metal LP was released by the band Stress, who is from the northern city Belém. The European and North American heavy metal and hardcore scenes influenced a majority of Brazilian bands, The first thrash metal (or speed metal) album released officially in Brazil in 1984 was a split album between two bands called Ultimatum, by Dorsal Atlântica and Metalmorphose. The album came out around the same time as Kill ‘Em All by Metallica, War and Pain by Voivod, and Sentence of Death by Destruction. In the late 1980s, Sepultura achieved success outside of Brazil. The last thrash metal albums to represent the “old-school” style of thrash in Brazil were Mass Illusion by Korzus (1991), Arise by Sepultura (1991), Rotten Authorities by Executer (1991), and The Laws of Scourge by Sarcófago (1991).

Breakbeat hardcore

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Early 1990s: origins#

The rave scene expanded rapidly in the early 1990s, both at clubs up and down the country including Labrynth, Shelley’s Laserdome, The Eclipse, and Sanctuary Music Arena, and large raves in Warehouses and in the open air attracting 10–25,000 whether put on legally from promoters such as Fantazia, Dreamscape, and Raindance, or unlicensed by free party sound systems such as Spiral Tribe. These events featured the popular rave DJs such as Fabio and Grooverider, Carl Cox, Top Buzz, and Slipmatt, as well as live PAs from rave acts including Shades of Rhythm and Bizarre Inc. Breakbeat hardcore drew its melting pot of sound from a vast array of influences – from new beat and Belgian techno that had for a short period been prominent in the UK rave scene, to house and acid house, and furthermore drawing on hip hop and reggae culture. Amongst the influences from within the rave scene itself upon which this strain of hardcore drew were such acts as Manix, The Hypnotist, Ravesignal, and T99. From outside of the rave scene, the sped-up breakbeats of UK rap acts such as Hardnoise, MC Duke, Demon Boyz, and Hijack were highly influential, with some of these including Duke, The Criminal Minds, and Liam Howlett (of Cut 2 Kill and who would go on to form the Prodigy), making the transition into hardcore. Pioneering the fusion of sounds from acid house, hip hop, and reggae were late 1980s UK hip house veterans like Double Trouble and Rebel MC, Blapps Posse, and Shut Up and Dance, becoming pivotal contributors to hardcore and its derivative genres like jungle. The huge increase in producers was also driven by the increasing availability of cheap home computer-based studio setups, particularly Cubase for the Atari ST.

Breakcore

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

As the early days of “hardcore techno” or just “hardcore” began to settle in Europe, breakcore as a genre began to take more concrete forms in other parts of the world. The genre began to split into its own separate scene around 1990–1994. Inspired by new labels such as Addict, from Milwaukee, US; Peace Off from Rennes, France; Sonic Belligeranza from Bologna, Italy; and Planet Mu, from London, it began to take a new shape, adding in more elements of mashup and IDM. to the hardcore sounds. Each of these labels began to draw in aspects of their own social and aesthetic scenes, allowing for an even broader definition of what was possible in the music. In Europe, the breakcore genre was solidified by raves and club events such as Belgium’s Breakcore Gives Me Wood, Other artists such as Shitmat, Sickboy, DJ Scotch Egg, and Drop the Lime take another direction towards mash-up, happy hardcore, and rave to make a lighter, more humorous sound. The rise of Chiptune music has also blended with breakcore with artists such as Tarmvred. The UK free party scene has also expressed a large interest in producing and distributing its own takes on breakcore, with crews and labels such as Life4land, Hekate, Headfuk, and Bad Sekta helping to push the scene and sound forward, as well as bringing over a number of international artists to play at their parties and club nights. Breakcore is steadily gaining in popularity, and aspiring artists are found scattered across the Internet. In a documentary in 2006, Andrew Forrest said that the breakcore scene was “largely based on the internet.” Sociologist Andrew Whelan notes that Venetian Snares, who was influential in popularizing breakcore in the mid-2000s, He adds that breakcore is the best example of a music genre whose development is intrinsically linked to online and peer-to-peer distribution.

Brill Building (genre)

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List of artists#

1960s artists/songwriters Later artists * Roy Wood * Cindy Lee * Jessica Pratt

Brisbane punk rock

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Pioneers (1975–77)#

Brisbane punk rock developed under the state government of Joh Bjelke-Petersen, the Premier of Queensland from 1968 to 1987; his administration was investigated by the Fitzgerald Inquiry (1987–89), which found “long-term, systemic political corruption and abuse of power.” Kid Galahad and the Eternals were a garage rock band formed in 1973 in Brisbane by school mates: Chris Bailey on lead vocals, Ivor Hay on piano and Ed Kuepper on guitar. Locally they earned a reputation for their punk attitude after a debut performance at a Returned and Services League venue in the western suburbs. Bailey described the first gig to a United Kingdom fanzine, Sniffin’ Glue, in October 1976, “Then after our second drummer walked out and we almost called it ‘quits’ but we decided to keep playing to the 30 people (from an original 150 patrons) who were still with us. Before the last number the manager of the hall arrived with cops, turned off the power… The cops told us they would confiscate our equipment if we didn’t go, so we went.” By the end of 1975 the band added Kym Bradshaw on bass guitar and moved Hay to drums; soon after they changed their name to the Saints. Jon Savage, UK journalist and punk historian, later wrote that the Saints “had been developing in near isolation for three years, but it took just one review in Sounds magazine to make their career.” The Saints arrived in the UK in 1977 but found that their hair and image did not fit the UK punk dress codes. The locals were sporting spiky hair and brothel creepers, instead the group had appeared similar to street bums with attitude. Kuepper reflected on their reception, “By the time we got here the initial spirit already died out, it was very contrived. There were too many people following slavishly after. We had problems because we didn’t look new wave.” The Saints reached the UK charts with their third single, This Perfect Day (July 1977), after the Sex Pistols had released their second single, God Save the Queen (May). The Saints released (I’m) Stranded (February 1977) and followed with Eternally Yours (May 1978), which included their single, Know Your Product (February). (I’m) Stranded was listed at No. 20 in the book, 100 Best Australian Albums (October 2010), with Prehistoric Sounds at No. 41. In 1976 the Leftovers were formed in Sandgate, as “Australia’s first true punks in the Sex Pistols mould” according to music writer, Clinton Walker. They gained local recognition for their existentialist approach. On Behind the Banana Curtain (2000, a CD compilation sponsored by the radio station, 4ZZZ) they were described as “Raw, intoxicated, energetic and antisocial.” The Leftovers experienced “continuous harassment from the local constabulary”; In June 1979 they released their only single, Cigarettes and Alcohol, which McFarlane declared was “one of the classics of the late 1970s Australian punk rock era.” It was included on the Lethal Weapons (May 1978) compilation by various Australian punk bands. During this era Brisbane punk rock venues included the Hamilton Hall and Toowong RSL hall. Hutson and Sawford stated that “Two of the more notorious DIY venues were the Saint’s 76 Club … and the Baroona Road Hall, scene of numerous ‘one-off’ multiple band gigs.” From November 1975 4ZZZ broadcast local punk music; John Stanwell, its original Arts Administrator, explained, in September 2006, that it was “The first (Radio) station in the world to play The Saints.” The era was documented in a fanzine SSuicide Alley, arguably Australia’s second punk fanzine, which was printed in Brisbane in April 1977 by Walker and Andrew McMillan. Walker detailed the late 1970s Brisbane scene through his contemporary work for University of Queensland paper, Semper, and another fanzine, Pulp. His later books include Inner City Sound (1982) and Stranded: The Secret History of Australian Independent Music 1977–1991 (1996).

British folk rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Origins#

Though the merging of folk and rock music came from several sources, it is widely regarded that the success of “The House of the Rising Sun” by British band the Animals in 1964 was a catalyst, prompting Bob Dylan to go electric. In the same year, the Beatles began incorporating overt folk influences into their music, most noticeably on the song “I’m a Loser” from their Beatles for Sale album. The Beatles and other British Invasion bands, in turn, influenced the Californian band the Byrds, who began playing folk-influenced material and Bob Dylan compositions with rock instrumentation. The Beatles’ late 1965 album, Rubber Soul, contained a number of songs influenced by the American folk rock boom, such as “Nowhere Man” and “If I Needed Someone”. During this period, a number of electric bands began to play rock versions of folk songs and folk musicians used electric musical instruments to play their own songs, including Dylan at the Newport Folk Festival in the summer of 1965. Folk rock became an important genre among emerging English bands, particularly those in the London club scene towards the end of the 1960s. The skiffle movement, to which many English musicians, including the Beatles, owed their origins as performers, meant that they were already familiar with American folk music As they emulated the guitar and drum based format that had crystallised as the norm for rock music, these groups often turned to American folk and folk rock as the focus of their sound and inspiration. Among these groups from 1967 were Fairport Convention, who had enjoyed some modest mainstream success with three albums of material that was largely American in origin or style, before a radical change of direction in 1969 with their album Liege & Lief, which came out of the encounter between American inspired folk rock and the products of the English folk revival. The first English folk music revival had seen a huge effort to record and archive traditional English music by figures such as Cecil Sharp and Vaughan Williams in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The second revival in the period after the Second World War, built on this work and followed a similar movement in America, to which it was connected by individuals like Alan Lomax, who had fled to England in the era of McCarthyism. Like the American revival, it was often overtly left wing in its politics, but, led by such figures as Ewan MacColl and A. L. Lloyd from the early 1950s, it also attempted to produce a distinctively English music that was an alternative to the American dominance of popular culture, which was, as they saw it, displacing the traditional music of an increasingly urbanised and industrialised working class. Most important among their responses were the foundation of folk clubs in major towns, starting with London where MacColl began the Ballads and Blues Club in 1953. These clubs were usually urban in location, but the songs sung in them often hearkened back to a rural pre-industrial past. In many ways this was the adoption of abandoned popular music by the middle classes. By the mid-1960s there were probably over 300 folk clubs in Britain, providing an important circuit for acts that performed traditional songs and tunes acoustically, where they could sustain a living by playing to a small but committed audience. This meant that there were, by the later 1960s, a group of performers with musical skill and knowledge of a wide variety of traditional songs and tunes. A number of groups who were part of the folk revival experimented with electrification in the mid-1960s. These included the unrecorded efforts of Sweeney’s Men from Ireland, the jazz folk group Pentangle, who moved from purely acoustic instrumentation to introducing electric guitar on their later albums, Eclection, who released one album in 1968, and the Strawbs who developed from a bluegrass band into a “progressive Byrds” band by 1967. However, none provided a sustained or much emulated effort in this direction. Also products of the folk club circuit were Sandy Denny who joined Fairport Convention as a singer in 1968 and Dave Swarbrick, a fiddle player and session musician who reacted positively to the electric music he encountered while working with Fairport in 1969. The result was an extended interpretation of the song “A Sailor’s Life”, which was released on their album Unhalfbricking. This encounter sparked the interest of Ashley Hutchings who began research in the English Folk Dance and Song Society’s library; the result was the band’s seminal Liege & Lief (1969) which combined traditional songs and tunes with some written by members of the band in a similar style, all played on a combination of electric instruments including Swarbrick’s amplified fiddle, setting the template for British folk rock.

British Invasion

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

The rebellious tone and image of American rock and roll and blues musicians became popular with British youth in the late 1950s. While early commercial attempts to replicate American rock and roll mostly failed, the trad jazz–inspired skiffle craze, with its do-it-yourself attitude, produced two top-ten hits in the US by Lonnie Donegan. Young British groups started to combine various British and American styles in different parts of the United Kingdom, such as the movement in Liverpool known as Merseybeat or the “beat boom”. While American acts were popular in the United Kingdom, few British acts had achieved any success in the United States prior to 1964. Cliff Richard, who was the best-selling British act in the United Kingdom at the time, had only one Top 40 hit in the US, with “Living Doll” in 1959. Along with Donegan, exceptions to this trend were the US number-one hits “Auf Wiederseh’n, Sweetheart” by Vera Lynn in 1952 (Lynn also had a lower-charting, but more enduring, hit in “We’ll Meet Again”), “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands” by Laurie London in 1958, and the instrumentals “Stranger on the Shore” by Acker Bilk and “Telstar” by the Tornados, both in 1962. Also on the Hot 100, “Manhattan Spiritual” by Reg Owen and His Orchestra reached number ten in February 1959, Hayley Mills’ “Let’s Get Together” from The Parent Trap peaked number eight in October 1961, and in 1962, “Midnight in Moscow” by Kenny Ball reached number two in March, the Springfields’ version of “Silver Threads and Golden Needles” peaked at number twenty in September, and Frank Ifield’s “I Remember You” reached number five in October. Some observers have noted that American teenagers were growing tired of singles-oriented pop acts like Fabian and the “Bobby"s: Bobby Darin, Bobby Vinton, Bobby Rydell, Bobby Vee etc. The Mods and Rockers, two youth “gangs” in mid-1960s Britain, also had an impact in British Invasion music. Bands with a Mod aesthetic became the most popular, but bands able to balance both (e.g., the Beatles) were also successful.

British rock and roll

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Origins#

In the 1950s, Britain was well placed to receive American rock and roll music and culture. It shared a common language, had been exposed to American culture through the stationing of American troops in the country, and, although not enjoying the same economic prosperity as the US, had many similar social developments, not least of which was the emergence of distinct youth leisure activities and sub-cultures. This was most evident in the rise of the Teddy Boys among working-class youths in London from about 1953, who adopted a version of the Edwardian styles of their grandfathers’ generation. British audiences were accustomed to American popular music and British musicians had already been influenced by American musical styles, particularly in trad jazz, which also exposed some to the precursors of rock and roll, including boogie-woogie and the blues. From this emerged the skiffle craze in 1955, led by Lonnie Donegan, whose version of “Rock Island Line” reached the Top 10 in the UK Singles Chart. Skiffle produced an Anglicised and largely amateur form of American folk song, chiefly notable for inspiring many individuals to take up music. These included many of the subsequent generation of rock and roll, folk, R&B and beat performers, among them John Lennon and Paul McCartney, who first performed together in the Quarrymen skiffle group in 1957 Both films contained the Bill Haley & His Comets hit “Rock Around the Clock” and helped it to top the UK chart in 1955 and again in 1956. It also set off a moral panic as young cinema goers ripped up seats to dance, which helped identify rock and roll with delinquency. This led to it being almost banned by TV and radio stations, making it something of an underground youth movement, which was widely adopted by the Teddy Boy sub-culture. In the 1950s, Radio in the UK was almost exclusively in the hands of the BBC. Popular music was only played on the Light Programme, and the playing of records was heavily restricted by “needle time” arrangements. Nevertheless, American rock and roll acts became a major force in the UK chart. Elvis Presley reached number 2 in the UK chart with “Heartbreak Hotel” in 1956 and had nine more singles in the Top 30 that year. His first number 1 was “All Shook Up” in 1957 and there would be more chart-toppers for him and for Buddy Holly and the Crickets and Jerry Lee Lewis in the next two years.

Britpop

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Style, roots and influences#

Though Britpop has sometimes been viewed as a marketing tool and more of a cultural moment than a distinct musical genre, there are musical conventions and influences the bands grouped under the Britpop term have in common. Britpop bands show elements from the British pop music of the 1960s, glam rock and punk rock of the 1970s, and indie pop of the 1980s in their music, attitude, and clothing. Specific influences vary: Blur drew from the Kinks and early Pink Floyd, Oasis took inspiration from the Beatles, and Elastica had a fondness for arty punk rock, notably Wire and both incarnations of Adam and the Ants. Regardless, Britpop artists project a sense of reverence for British pop sounds of the past. The Kinks’ Ray Davies and XTC’s Andy Partridge are sometimes advanced as the “godfathers” or “grandfathers” of Britpop, though Davies disputes it. Others similarly labelled include Paul Weller and Adam Ant. Alternative rock acts from the indie scene of the 1980s and early 1990s were the direct ancestors of the Britpop movement. The influence of the Smiths is common to the majority of Britpop artists. The Madchester scene, fronted by the Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, James and Inspiral Carpets (for whom Oasis’s Noel Gallagher had worked as a roadie during the Madchester years), was an immediate root of Britpop since its emphasis on good times and catchy songs provided an alternative to the British-based shoegazing and American based grunge styles of music. In 1991, James’s song “Sit Down” reached number two in the UK charts, with Flavorwire writing the song “predates the Britpop label, but it presaged the quintessentially British sound that would explode in the ’90s. Entire festival crowds used to sit down during the chorus of this song”. Pre-dating Britpop by four years, Liverpool-based group the La’s hit single “There She Goes” was described by Rolling Stone as a “founding piece of Britpop’s foundation”. Naming it his favourite song from the 1990s (“There She Goes” was originally released in 1988), Noel Gallagher once declared that “Oasis want to finish what The La’s started”. Local identity and regional British accents are common to Britpop groups, as well as references to British places and culture in lyrics and image. Stylistically, Britpop bands use catchy hooks and lyrics that were relevant to young British people of their own generation. In spite of the professed disdain for the genres, some elements of both crept into the more enduring facets of Britpop. Noel Gallagher has since championed Ride and once stated that Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain was the only songwriter he had respect for in the last ten years, and that he felt their music was similar enough that Cobain could have written “Wonderwall”. By 1996, Oasis’s prominence was such that NME termed a number of Britpop bands (including The Boo Radleys, Ocean Colour Scene and Cast) “Noelrock”, citing Gallagher’s influence on their music. Journalist John Harris described these bands, and Gallagher, as sharing “a dewy-eyed love of the 1960s, a spurning of much beyond rock’s most basic ingredients, and a belief in the supremacy of ‘real music. The imagery associated with Britpop was equally British and working class. A rise in unabashed maleness, exemplified by Loaded magazine, binge drinking and lad culture in general, would be very much part of the Britpop era. The Union Jack became a prominent symbol of the movement (as it had a generation earlier with mod bands such as the Who) and its use as a symbol of pride and nationalism contrasted deeply with the controversy that erupted just a few years before when former Smiths singer Morrissey performed draped in it. The emphasis on British reference points made it difficult for the genre to achieve success in the US.

Brutal death metal

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Brutal death metal is characterised by its use of death growls deeper than convention death metal vocals (usually referred to as “gutturals” to distinguish from regular growls), tempos that are either groove driven or incredibly high tempo, downtuned guitars and pinch harmonics. The style blends death metal with grindcore. Metal Hammer editor Dom Lawson also cited the influence of New York hardcore as a key part of the sound. Academic Michelle Phillipov defined it as “privileg ing heaviness, speed, and rhythmic complexity over conventional signifiers of melody and tunefulness.”

Bubblegrunge

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Bubblegrunge fuses the catchy, upbeat melodies of bubblegum pop with the distorted guitars, heavy drums and raw, emotional vocals of grunge. NPR described the style as “a blend of bedroom pop and ’90s alternative rock.” It often features confessional, introspective lyrics on love, heartbreak and self‑discovery, wrapped in a nostalgic, slightly melancholy edge.

Etymology#

Although in use by critics in the 1990s, awareness of the term increased with its inclusion in the 2021 edition of Spotify Wrapped.

Bubblegum music

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Definitions#

Occasionally invoked as a pejorative, There is debate concerning which artists fit the genre, especially for cases such as the Monkees. In the opinion of music historian Bill Pitzonka: “The whole thing that really makes a record bubblegum is just an inherently contrived innocence that somehow transcends that. … It has to sound like they mean it.” Music critic David Smay argued that disco is merely bubblegum by another name and that since bubblegum is “dance music for pre-teen girls”, the genre’s scope must therefore include dance-pop and such associated figures as Stock Aitken Waterman and Kylie Minogue, but “Not all dance-pop is aimed at kids and shouldn’t be presumed to be disposable anymore than bubblegum.”

California sound

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Origins#

The genesis of the California sound is said to be the Beach Boys’ debut single “Surfin’” in 1961. While the band’s leader Brian Wilson then collaborated with Jan Berry for several hit singles written and produced for other artists, they recorded what would later be regarded as the California sound. University of Southern California history professor Kevin Starr has stated that the band was historically important for embodying the era of the Silent Generation, which he described as unpolitical. He explained that the group “could not help but mythologize a landscape and way of life that was already so surreal, so proto-mythic, in its setting. Cars and the beach, surfing, the California Girl, all this fused in the alembic of youth: Here was a way of life, an iconography, already half-released into the chords and multiple tracks of a new sound.” The California sound was thus a musical translation of the California myth. In the book Pioneers of Rock and Roll: 100 Artists Who Changed the Face of Rock, Harry Sumrall summarized: The Beach Boys’ surf music was not entirely of their own invention, being preceded by artists such as Dick Dale. However, previous surf musicians did not project a worldview as the Beach Boys did. Wilson once said of its myth: “It’s not just the surfing; it’s the outdoors and cars and sunshine; it’s the society of California; it’s the way of California.” Al Jardine of the Beach Boys argued that “It’s not entirely a myth. There are still some elements that are certainly true, especially for a first-time observer. But to be able to come here and to drive that coast on Route 1 … you experience the water and the animals and the sea life, the whole thing. It’s really magical. It really is.” Capitol Records staff producer Nick Venet, who worked with the group early on, believed that most of the group’s lyrical inspiration was drawn from Hollywood films. AllMusic’s review of the group’s “All Summer Long” calls it a “potent example” of the California myth’s “idyllic dream world of sun, surf, and fun” while containing qualities of sunshine pop. Author Luis Sanchez believes that the entirety of the album All Summer Long (1964) was “the nearest the Beach Boys ever got to a perfect version of the California myth.” David Howard wrote that “Don’t Worry Baby” was a “subtle harbinger for the growing dichotomy within the California sound. While ‘I Get Around’ symbolized the sunshine ideal in all its carefree splendor, ‘Don’t Worry Baby’ suggested something entirely more pensive and even slightly dark underneath its pristine facade.”

Cambodian rock (1960s–1970s)

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Post-independence period#

Cambodia gained independence from France in 1953, under the leadership of young king Norodom Sihanouk. Sihanouk was a musician and songwriter, and fostered the development of homegrown popular music in the newly independent country. Under Sihanouk’s rule, it was common for government ministries to have their own orchestras or singing groups to perform at official state functions and royal receptions. For example, Sihanouk’s mother, Queen Sisowath Kossamak, sponsored the Vong Phleng Preah Reach Troap (the classical ensemble of the Royal Treasury), and in approximately 1957 invited the young Sinn Sisamouth to join the ensemble as his first professional music job. Cambodia’s international relations with France and various countries in Latin America fostered the importation of pop records into the country, while children from wealthy Cambodian families often attended school in France and returned with French pop records that were widely traded among fans in Phnom Penh. Latin jazz, cha cha cha, and À gogo records imported from Latin America also became popular in the capital city. By the late 1950s, these genres inspired a flourishing pop music scene in Phnom Penh, featuring singers who created a unique sound by combining traditional Cambodian music forms with these new international influences. Sinn Sisamouth, Mao Sareth, So Savoeun, Chhuon Malay, Sieng Di, and Sos Math were among the earliest stars in this pop scene, with Sisamouth in particular becoming a leader of popular trends in which Cambodian musicians absorbed more international influences, eventually leading to the development of Cambodian rock music. The band originally performed crooning vocal music inspired by Paul Anka and Pat Boone, then added inspiration from the guitar-driven music of The Ventures and Chuck Berry. Sisamouth fostered the careers of younger singers and musicians, writing songs for them while also utilizing them in many of his own songs. Pen Ran (also known as Pan Ron) was one of the earliest rock-oriented female singers in the Cambodian scene, first emerging in 1963 with traditional pop songs but moving into rock music by 1966 via duets with Sisamouth as well as her own songs. Pen Ran was particularly influential, known for her flirtatious dancing and risque lyrics that subverted traditional Khmer gender roles. Sisamouth was also instrumental in launching the career of Ros Serey Sothea, who had been singing at weddings and quickly became the leading female singer in the Cambodian rock scene after her emergence in 1967. Sothea received wide recognition for her high and clear singing voice, and her ability to convey emotions from mischief and flirtation to heartbreak and tragedy. Sothea maintained an active career with her own songs as well as many popular duets with Sisamouth. Sihanouk continued to support the Cambodian music scene through his patronage of the national radio station, allowing the station to promote local music. She became a popular singer as well, known particularly for highly personal lyrics that subverted the social expectations placed on Khmer women, and a melancholic voice that Sihanouk compared to Édith Piaf. Sisamouth, Ros Serey Sothea, Pen Ran and others also maintained separate music careers concurrently. Their rock n’ roll records, which were popular with younger people, were released alongside works in other genres including traditional Cambodian music, romantic ballads, and film music, with those latter genres remaining popular with the country’s older music fans. Ros Serey Sothea and Pen Ran are both believed to have sung on hundreds of songs, and Pen Ran wrote many of her songs herself.

Canadian hardcore punk

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Vancouver#

The Skulls were an early Vancouver punk rock/hardcore band, whose members would later found two of the area’s notable hardcore bands: D.O.A. and The Subhumans. They toured heavily and issued a demo, but never released any albums. Joey Keithley, a.k.a. Joey Shithead, was the singer, Brian Roy Goble, a.k.a. Wimpy Roy, the bass player, Simon Werner the guitar player and Ken Montgomery, a.k.a. Dimwit, the drummer. The Skulls played the (mostly hostile) club circuit in Vancouver and recorded a few songs at Psi-chords Studios, including “Fucked Up Baby”, which would later become a D.O.A. song. After the Subhumans broke up in 1982, Wimpy joined DOA, which now featured Dimwit on drums, who had just been in the Pointed Sticks. For the next several years DOA’s lineup was a virtual copy of the Skulls lineup, but with Dave Gregg instead of Simon Werner. D.O.A. formed in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1978 and were one of the first bands to refer to its style as “hardcore”, with the release of their album Hardcore ‘81. Other early hardcore bands from British Columbia included Dayglo Abortions, the Subhumans and The Skulls. In 1988, the Dayglo Abortions became the center of national media attention when a police officer instigated a criminal investigation of the band after his daughter brought home a copy of Here Today, Guano Tomorrow. Obscenity charges were laid against the Dayglo Abortions’ record label, Fringe Product, and the label’s record store, Record Peddler, but those charges were cleared in 1990. The Subhumans are a punk band formed in Vancouver in 1978. Known by pejorative, punk rock nicknames, original members were known simply as “Useless” (Gerry Hannah), “Dimwit” (Ken Montgomery), “Wimpy” (Brian Roy Goble) and “Normal” (Mike Graham). Dimwit quit the band shortly after their first 7-inch was released to join the Pointed Sticks and was replaced by Koichi Imagawa, also known as Jim Imagawa, on drums. The band came to fruition amid the inchoate Canadian hardcore punk scene of the early 1980s. Coupling horrific and occasionally humorous lyrical imagery with a dynamic punk sound, their 1985 debut album …And No One Else Wanted to Play has remained influential in underground circuits. Brand New Unit was a Canadian hardcore punk band from Vancouver. The band formed in 1991 near Surrey, and were widely known as the acronym B.N.U. in the early years, as a band name logo was needed to post on a playbill. They were featured on Thrasher Skate Rock Vol. 11 and in 1992 they were winners of CITR-FM’s SHiNDiG live performance contest, which awarded them some studio time. Stress Factor 9 is a hardcore punk band from Vancouver, formed in 2004. SF9s members include frontman Randy Rampage (founder of the hardcore band D.O.A. The band has one CD (Brainwarp Mindspin) and last played in January 2007.

Canadian heavy metal

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Canadian punk rock

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1970s–1990s#

Early Toronto punk bands included the Viletones, the Diodes, the Poles, the Ugly, Cardboard Brains, the Dents, the Mods, the Secrets, ARSON and the Scenics, and these were followed by the Demics, Crash Kills Five, Stark Naked and the Fleshtones and L’Étranger, plus Hamilton’s Forgotten Rebels and Teenage Head. Formed in Montreal in 1978, the all female band Blue Oil was part of Quebec’s early punk scene. In Vancouver D.O.A. and the Subhumans led a 1978-79-80 scene that included Pointed Sticks, Braineaters, Young Canadians, and the Modernettes. A few years later and many bands across Canada were carrying the punk torch, including Young Lions, Youth Youth Youth, Bunchofuckingoofs, SNFU, Dayglo Abortions, the Nils, Direct Action, APB, Nomeansno and Chronic Submission. Two of the biggest early punk shows in Toronto were The Last Pogo at the Horseshoe tavern in 1978, featuring Teenage Head, the Viletones, the Scenics, the Cardboard Brains, the Secrets, the Mods, and the Ugly, and the Rock Against Radiation concert July 19, 1980, at Nathan Phillips Square, featuring DOA, Stark Naked and the Fleshtones, the Viletones, the Forgotten Rebels, plus Joe College (promoter of the show) and the Rulers. Canadian hardcore punk also originated in the early 1980s. D.O.A. are known as the first Canadian hardcore band, and with the release of their album Hardcore ‘81 they set the standards for the style of music. That album title is considered to be the origin of the term hardcore punk. The punk tradition has carried on in Canada right up to modern bands like Fucked Up, The Salads, Alexisonfire, PUP, Cancer Bats.

Canterbury scene

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Definition and history#

The Canterbury scene is largely defined by a set of musicians and bands with intertwined members. These are not tied by very strong musical similarities, but a certain whimsicality, touches of psychedelia, rather abstruse lyrics, and a use of improvisation derived from jazz are common elements in their work. There is variation within the scene, for example from pop/rock like early Soft Machine and much Caravan to avant-garde composed pieces as with early National Health to improvised jazz as with later Soft Machine or In Cahoots. Didier Malherbe (of Gong) has defined the scene as having “certain chord changes, in particular the use of minor second chords, certain harmonic combinations, and a great clarity in the aesthetics, and a way of improvising that is very different from what is done in jazz.” There is debate about the existence and definition of the scene. Dave Stewart has complained at the nomenclature as he and many other musicians identified with the Canterbury scene never had anything to do with Canterbury, the place. The former Soft Machine bassist Hugh Hopper, who lived in Whitstable, near Canterbury, said: “I think it’s a rather artificial label, a journalistic thing… I don’t mind it, but people like Robert Wyatt , he in fact hates that idea, because he was born somewhere else and just happened to go to school here. In the time when the Wilde Flowers started we hardly ever worked in Canterbury. It wasn’t until Robert and Daevid Allen went to London to start Soft Machine that anything happened at all. They weren’t really a Canterbury band … if it helps people understand or listen to more music then it is fine.”

Cello rock

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Celtic metal

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History#

The origins of Celtic metal can be traced to the earliest known exponent of folk metal, the English band Skyclad. Their “ambitious” and “groundbreaking” debut album The Wayward Sons of Mother Earth was released in 1990 with the song “The Widdershins Jig” acclaimed as “particularly significant” and “a certain first in the realms of Metal”. This debut album made an impact on a young Keith Fay who had formed a Tolkien-inspired black metal band by the name of Minas Tirith. Inspired by the music of Skyclad and Horslips, Keith Fay set out to combine black metal with the folk music of Ireland. Like Waylander, Keith Fay also credits the Irish rock band Horslips as a “huge influence on Cruachan,” further noting that “what they were doing in the 70s is the equivalent of what we do now.” With a specific focus on Celtic music and the use of Celtic mythology in their lyrics, Cruachan’s style of folk metal is known today as Celtic metal. Parallel to Cruachan, the black metal act Primordial also released a demo recording in 1993 and “found themselves heralded as frontrunners in the burgeoning second-wave black metal movement.” Irish music plays “a very big role” in Primordial but in “a dark and subtle way” through the chords and timings. The year 1993 also saw the formation of Waylander. With vocalist Ciaran O’Hagan fronting the group, they released a demo recording in 1995. A debut album Reawakening Pride Once Lost was unveiled in 1998. O’Hagan notes that it was a coincidence that “Primordial, Cruachan and Waylander sprang up within little more than a year of each other.” Since then a few other bands from Ireland have emerged to perform Celtic metal including Geasa Ithilien from Belgium, Mägo de Oz from Spain, Suidakra from Germany, Leah from Canada, Skiltron from Argentina, and Gun Ghaol - who perform entirely in Scottish Gaelic - from Scotland. Despite the Irish origins of the genre, Celtic metal is not known to be popular in Ireland. Ciaran O’Hagan of Waylander notes that while “Primordial are Ireland’s biggest Metal band in terms of sales and international profile” the band would be “lucky to sell much more than 500 copies of their albums in their own country or pull more than 300 punters to a gig.”

Celtic punk

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History#

Celtic punk’s origins date back to 1960s and 1970s folk rock musicians who played Irish folk music and Celtic rock in the UK, as well as in more traditional Celtic folk bands such as the Dubliners and the Clancy Brothers. The Scottish band the Skids were possibly the first UK punk band to add a strong folk music element, as they did on their 1981 album Joy. Around the same time in London, Shane MacGowan and Spider Stacy began experimenting with a sound that became the Pogues, which most consider to be the prototypical Celtic punk band. Other early Celtic punk bands included Nyah Fearties, Australia’s Roaring Jack and Norway’s Greenland Whalefishers. The 1990s gave rise to a Celtic punk movement in North America, centered around the likes of the Dropkick Murphys of Quincy, Massachusetts, and Chicago’s The Tossers – both from cities with particularly large population of Irish Americans – as well as LA’s Flogging Molly (founded by Irish emigrant Dave King) and The Real McKenzies of Vancouver, B.C.. North American Celtic punk bands have been influenced by American forms of music, and commonly sing in English.

Celtic rock

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Definition#

The style of music is the hybrid of traditional Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh and Breton musical forms with rock music. This has been achieved by the playing of traditional music, particularly ballads, jigs and reels with rock instrumentation; by the addition of traditional Celtic instruments, including the Celtic harp, tin whistle, uilleann pipes (or Irish bagpipes), fiddle, bodhrán, accordion, concertina, melodeon, and bagpipes (highland) to conventional rock formats; by the use of lyrics in Celtic languages and by the use of traditional rhythms and cadences in otherwise conventional rock music. Just as the validity of the term Celtic in general and as a musical label is disputed, the term Celtic rock cannot be taken to mean there was a unified Celtic musical culture between the Celtic nations. However, the term has remained useful as a means of describing the spread, adaptation and further development of the musical form in different but related contexts.

Chamber pop

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Definition and etymology#

The combination of string sections and rock music has been called “symphonic pop”, “chamber pop”, and orchestral pop (or “ork-pop” for short). The first use of strings in R&B or rock music was in the 1959 song “There Goes My Baby” by The Drifters, produced by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller with string arrangement by Stan Applebaum. The following year, the Shirelles song “Will You Love Me Tomorrow”, written by Carole King and featuring a string section, was released to critical acclaim and rose to #1 on the Billboard Magazine Hot 100 chart. The Beatles began implementing string arrangements in their music, starting with the 1965 song “Yesterday,” and further expanded upon the use of horns and strings on their 1966 album Revolver. The Beach Boys would develop their response to The Beatles’ 1965 album Rubber Soul with their own 1966 studio album Pet Sounds, which would further explore the use of strings in rock music and define the baroque pop genre. Ork-pop refers to a branch of underground rock musicians who shared an affinity with the Pet Sounds album, such as the High Llamas and bands from the Elephant 6 collective. According to CMJs David Jerman, the name was the creation of rock critics, “encompassing everyone from fans of the Beach Boys to fans of Bacharach and Mancini”. Chamber pop is stylistically diverse. while cultural writers Joseph Fisher and Brian Flota call it the “heir” to baroque pop. Strongly influenced by the rich orchestrations of Burt Bacharach, Brian Wilson, and Lee Hazlewood, chamber pop artists once again focused on melody and texture. Newsmakers believes that the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds helped define chamber pop as “intimate, precisely arranged songs with rock’s sweep but without its bluesy clamor.” Following the album was the group’s unfinished 1966–67 work Smile, a collaboration between Brian Wilson and lyricist Van Dyke Parks that also heavily influenced the genre. Author Carl Wilson (no relation) says that Brian’s “pained vulnerability”, “uses of offbeat instruments”, “intricate harmonies”, and “the Smile saga itself” became a common reference point for chamber pop bands. Just as ork-pop acts shared a love for Wilson, they also held an admiration for one another’s work. blending the terms pop and chamber music, the latter referring to classical music played with a small number of musicians rather than with a full orchestra. In the late 1980s, the majority of Louis Phillipe’s productions for él Records also made sophisticated use of orchestras and voices that embodied and defined the chamber pop style. Chamber pop was part of a larger trend which involved musicians who rejected traditional rock conventions, such as Tortoise and Stereolab, although those specific bands are not considered ork-pop. The genre’s orchestration is typically more complex than rock music, making extensive use of brass and strings. It drew from the 1990s lounge music revival but avoided any influence from other contemporary styles like grunge, electronica, or alternative music, particularly the lo-fi hiss and distortion of the last. Although modern rock groups like Smashing Pumpkins, the Verve, Oasis, and R.E.M. occasionally used strings, their approach was considerably less intricate. The High Llamas were one of the first to anticipate the easy-listening fad with their 1993 album Gideon Gaye. O’Hagan felt that “There is this whole misconception that American college rock with twisted baseball hats and checked shirts is adventurous, but it’s the most conformist, corporate thing out there.” with Eric Matthews adding “All these bands sound like Nirvana and Pearl Jam. It’s a shame that it couldn’t be discovered from the get-go for what it is. A lot of it is just very simple dumb-guy rock.”

Chap hop

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History#

Two leading exponents of the genre are Professor Elemental and Mr.B The Gentleman Rhymer, who belong to the steampunk and Chappist factions of chap hop respectively. Other notable artists are Poplock Holmes & DJ WattsOn, and Sir Reginald Pikedevant, Esquire. In March 2013, UK Education Secretary Michael Gove said he was a fan of the genre. Mr. B noted the irony of this, since his music often pokes at members of the establishment, commenting: “As a non-Etonian and thus an outcast within the cabinet, this is perhaps a little snook cocked at his colleagues.”

Chicago hardcore

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Origins (1980s)#

Naked Raygun, Big Black and the Effigies were popular at the emerging of the hardcore scene. These acts have also been seen as important to the development of the post-hardcore genre, as well as for fusing the hardcore sound with influences from the late 1970s and early 1980s British post-punk scene During the 1980s, the majority of Chicago hardcore shows were held at Medusa’s, at 3275 North Sheffield Avenue. Many of these events were organized by promoter Sean Duffy, who employed physically abusive security and inflated prices. At a Duffy organised event headlined by a number of Revelation Records in the Summer of 1989, the bands were paid insufficiently. After word spread of this, many touring bands refrained from playing the city. In reaction, Ben Weasel started booking shows at Durty Nelly’s in Palatine which instead became the centre of the local scene. By the end of the decade, touring bands began playing the area again, instead playing Mcgregor’s in Elmhurst.

Chicago no wave

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

In the early-to-mid-1990s, Weasel Walter began to describe his bands and the bands they played with as “Chicago no wave.” These acts formed the growing Wicker Park underground rock scene and included Walter’s own band the Flying Luttenbachers, Scissor Girls, Trenchmouth, and Quintron. Milk of Burgundy, According to Walter, the beginning of the Chicago no wave era was marked by a well-attended concert at the Czar Bar in Chicago on the 29th of January 1993. The concert featured the Flying Luttenbachers, Scissor Girls, and Trenchmouth. It was attended by 800 people. and Weasel Walter. In the mid-1990s, an audio documentary about the Chicago no wave scene was produced by Burke Patten. It was later remastered and edited by Weasel Walter in 2012. The documentary featured speakers like Walter, Bobby Conn, James Marlon Magas, Kelly Kuvo, and Kevin Drumm and music by artists like Bobby Conn, the Flying Luttenbachers, Math, Duotron, Scissor Girls, and others. In the documentary, Weasel Walter stated:

Chicano rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

In places such as San Antonio, Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay area, and Dallas and Houston, Texas, the African-American audience was very important to aspiring Latino musicians, and this kept their music wedded to authentic R&B. DJ Dick Hugg (aka Huggie Boy) and radio station KRLA 1110 played a big role in promoting this music. Chicano rock music was also influenced by the Doo-wop genre, an example being the song “Angel Baby” by the Chicana fronted group Rosie and the Originals. Don Tosti’s Pachuco Boogie, recorded in 1948, was the first Chicano million-selling record, a swing tune featuring Spanish lyrics, using hipster slang called Calo. Lalo Guerrero arrived in Los Angeles in the late 1930s and found that L.A. was “bursting with ambition”. Lalo and his friend captured their spirit in music by mixing swing and boogie-woogie in a cross-cultural, dialogue between African American, Anglo, and Mexican American influences. The 1950s brought rhythm and blues and the roots of rock ’n’ roll. The Mexican Americans were among the first to catch the beat and introduced a Latin flair to early rock music. The 1958 hit song “Tequila!” was written and sung by the saxophone player Danny Flores (not to be confused with Danny David Flores, a former member of Renegade) and performed by The Champs. Flores, who died in September 2006, was known as the “Godfather of Latino Rock.” In the early to mid-1960s, Latin music was most welcoming to the American audience in the United States because of the popularity in genres like bossa nova, bugalú, mambo. At the same time, artists did not fit neatly into the narrow confines of early rock. Trini Lopez, an artist who found success in the folk scene blended folk and pop influences. He scored a major hit with “If I Had a Hammer” in 1963. He later recorded the traditional Mexican song “Corazón de Melón”. In the mid-1960s, the British Invasion took over with bands like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones dominated charts and shifted public taste, and this is when Lopez’s upbeat music began to seem outdated. In the 60s, there was an explosion of Chicano rock bands in East Los Angeles and Texas. Sunny & the Sunglows produced several regional hits during the 1960s but is best remembered for its 1963 Number 11 Billboard hit “Talk to Me, Talk to Me”. They hold the distinction of being the first all-Mexican American group featured on American Bandstand. Their versions of “Rags to Riches” (Tony Bennett) and “Out of Sight-Out of Mind” (The Five Keys) also reached the Billboard Hot 100. Another group to appear on American Bandstand as well as open for The Rolling Stones, was The Premiers with their hit rendition of a Don and Dewey song called “Farmer John”. It featured the beat from the popular hit, Louie, Louie, which was in turn based on a Latino song, El Loco Cha Cha. Richard Berry, credited with writing Louie, Louie, drew inspiration to record the song after listening to an R&B rendition of El Loco Cha Cha performed by the Latin R&B group ‘Rhythm Rockers’ led by Mexican-Filipino American brothers, Rick and Barry Rillera. The Rillera brothers would go on to record and perform with The Righteous Brothers. The British Invasion challenged all American musicians, not just Chicanos. East Los Angeles witnessed a surge of creativity, and a renaissance of art, music and politics. Leading the way in music was the band Cannibal & the Headhunters, composed of five young men from the projects who recorded a national hit, “Land of a Thousand Dances”, and almost overnight found themselves opening for the Beatles on the British superstars’ 1965 tour. That same year, Thee Midniters hit the charts with “Whittier Blvd.”, an anthem to East L.A.’s most famous street, the home of a late-night cruising scene that expressed the California car culture that Mexican Americans were making their own. Also in 1965, the Chicano led Sam the Sham and The Pharaohs released the international hit “Wooly Bully” which would go on to sell three million copies. Penned by frontman Domingo “Sam” Samudio, it holds the distinction of being the first American record to sell a million copies during the British Invasion era. In 1966, the Mexican American garage band ? and the Mysterians scored a number one hit with the song “96 Tears”. The Sir Douglas Quintet is said to have made the most ‘English’ sounding American music of the Beatlemania period (actually since the English were playing music that was more rooted in R&B than many white Americans of that time, the Quintet were actually sounding ‘English’ by keeping to an all-American R&B/Country sound). Indeed, producer Huey P. Meaux put the Sir in the group’s name to emphasize the connection, but that was more a marketing change than a musical one. The Sir Douglas Quintet was from central Texas, and some of its members were Latinos. However, the group’s lead singer, Doug Sahm, was not of Mexican descent. Sahm was so thoroughly immersed in Tejano culture, that he later recorded an album under the name Doug Saldaña. Despite the musician’s efforts to make the group appear to have emerged from the British Invasion, scholars have noted that the group’s clear Tejano influences and accordion based slowed down polka rhythms give the band a Chicano rock title. In the late 1960s and 1970s, when civil rights and the Vietnam War were compelling issues, young Mexican American proudly called themselves Chicanos—which was once considered as a derogatory term—and many took to the streets to stand up for their rights. Chicano duo Cheech and Chong released novelty single “Basketball Jones” (1973) and hit “Earache My Eye” (1974). Bands like El Chicano, Malo, Azteca, Tierra, and Sapo (1974) created new music that “said something” about Chicano heritage and their struggles for equality and justice. The trend of Chicano rock mirrored what was happening on college campuses as well. The rise of Chicano Studies departments, which offered courses in Chicano literature, politics and culture, affected college students and musicians tremendously. Musicians rebelled against the “old world” and adopt the Mexican and Latin American styles in their own music. Linda Ronstadt is a versatile singer who traversed multiple genres. She gained national hits such as “You’re No Good” (1975), “It’s So Easy”, “Blue Bayou” (1977), “Back in the USA” (1978), and “Hurt So Bad” (1980) in the 1970s and ’80s. Ronstadt was nurtured by her Mexican American family whose musical roots run deep in the Mexican border region of Tucson, Arizona. Ronstadt holds dear the memory of childhood serenades by “The Father of Chicano Rock,” Lalo Guerrero, a close family friend. Ronstadt’s great-aunt Luisa Espinel gained international popularity interpreting Spanish and Mexican song and dance in the 1930s. Among the most popular female pop singers, Ronstadt has been described as an influential Chicana musician, with scholars noting her extensive discography and career spanning over forty years.

Chilean rock

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Early rock and roll and Nueva Ola (1955–1965)#

Rock and roll originated in the United States in the late 1940s and 1950s and expanded rapidly around the world. In the late 1950s, the first Chilean rock and roll bands emerged, largely imitating popular North American bands and performing rock and roll songs they were already hits in the U.S. Chile’s first solo rock and roll artists were Peter Rock, with his Elvis Presley cover Baby, I Don’t Care/Something Happened (1959), and Nadia Milton, with her single Scobidou/Un poco (1960). The twist was also very popular in the 1950s, imported to Chile by the band Los Twisters with the singles Penas juveniles, Caprichitos, Me recordarás, Sueña and Mi secreto. In 1963, Los Twisters were voted the most popular band in Chile. What began in the 1950s with imitations of American rock and roll soon developed into original music. La Orquesta Huambaly, with its roots in tropical music and jazz, were the first Chilean rock and roll band to compose original songs, including Huambaly rock (1957) and Rock del mono (Monkey Rock, 1958). However, the first real commercial success story of the Nueva Ola scene was Los Ramblers, with their El Rock del Mundial (World Cup Rock) album released in May 1962 for the 1962 FIFA World Cup in Chile. Los Ramblers opened the door to many other successful Nueva Ola artists. Some of the most well-known were: Peter Rock, Alan y sus Bates, Los Rockets, Buddy Richard, José Alfredo Fuentes, Antonio Prieto, Antonio Zabaleta, Cecilia Pantoja, Germán Casas, Ginette Acevedo, Gloria Benavides, Jorge Pedreros, Luis Dimas, Maitén Montenegro, Marcelo Hernández, Mirella Gilbert, Osvaldo Díaz, Germaín de la Fuente, Paolo Salvatore, Pat Henry, and Roberto Vicking Valdés. The Nueva Ola movement spread out of Santiago and throughout Chile, with bands like The New Demons forming in the northern city of Iquique, and The Blue Splendor, who formed – and still perform today – in Valparaíso. The success of the Chilean Nueva Ola lasted until the mid-1960s, led by a second generation of musicians characterized by their original compositions, such as Buddy Richard, Patricio Renán, Los Ángeles Negros, José Alfredo Fuentes and Cecilia, considered by some critics as the greatest teen star of the mid-1960s. The Nueva Ola has been criticized for foreignizing Chilean music because the style, lyrics and even names were heavily lifted from American and British culture. For some, the Nueva Ola movement is not considered the true origin of Chilean rock. They point instead to groups like Los Mac’s, Los Jockers and Los Vidrios Quebrados, who modelled themselves more on bands like The Rolling Stones and The Beatles, and “were the first groupings who can really be identified as ‘rock made in Chile’, going further than the pop figures of the Nueva Ola.” Bands that followed them were Los Picapiedras, Los Beat 4, Los Lark’s and Los Sonny’s one of the bands of future Florcita Motuda.

Chillwave

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Musical origins#

Chillwave has been classified as psychedelia, Boards of Canada, whom Abebe says pre-chillwave music was often compared to, The Paw Tracks record label, which distributed Pink’s albums, was run by Animal Collective, who signed Pink after being impressed by a CD of his home recordings, starting with The Doldrums (2000). Uncuts Sam Richard profiled Pink as “a lo-fi legend” whose “ghostly pop sound” proved influential to chillwave acts such as Ducktails and Toro y Moi. Critic Adam Harper disputed Pink’s “godfather of chillwave” status, writing that his influence on lo-fi scenes has been somewhat overstated, explaining that his music lacks “the mirror-shades-cool synth groove of chillwave … Pink’s albums are zany, personal, largely rock-based and dressed in awkward glam”. Discussing chillwave’s bedroom pop precursors, Allene Norton of Cellars opined that Pink is “definitely not chillwave but that kind of stuff influenced a lot of the artists making it, like Washed Out.” The album influenced a wide range of subsequent indie music, with its sound serving as the major inspiration for chillwave and a number of soundalikes. Animal Collective itself also contributed to the movement. Their album Merriweather Post Pavilion, released in January 2009, was particularly influential for its ambient sounds and repetitive melodies, but was not as tightly associated with the “hazy” psychedelia that chillwave was identified with. According to Flavorwires Tom Hawking, chillwave acts extrapolated “the sort of ill-defined pastoral nostalgia” from Animal Collective’s early work “and spun it into an entire genre.”

Chinese rock

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The Northwest Wind (1980s)#

The birth of Chinese rock was a rather unique phenomenon. The Asian country had closed its borders and didn’t allow anything Western that might cause disunity or cultural confusion to enter, so the government only promoted art with communist aims. They didn’t want anything Western within their walls, much less a musical genre like rock. The high command believed that this genre had an anti-revolutionary character that could easily infect the Chinese masses. A clear example is the Soviet Union, where a Chinese politician mentioned that the end of the USSR came “when children started listening to rock.” The dakou was one of the main causes of the yaogun phenomenon. Because the practice went beyond its literal meaning of “cutting” or “tearing,” young people found a form of mental escape through their ingenuity. At that time, China had a kind of vast continental landfill, where a lot of waste was transported, including music cassettes. Many people who worked in these garbage dumps salvaged tapes that had been discarded by Western countries because they were damaged. Many Chinese saw this as an opportunity, so some skilled young people, rebuilt the audio tapes so they would work again and then sold them on the underground circuit or simply listened to them with friends. Despite the entry of some films and their positive reception among young people, the Chinese communist government completely stigmatized Western music, especially rock, because they knew it was the sound of rebellion in the West. This stigma was partly due to a rather curious incident: a young rocker wanted to assassinate Mao Zhedong. In the early 1970s, Lin Liguo, nicknamed “the Tiger” (son of Lin Biao, a military officer and one of Mao’s main collaborators), planned to kill the founder of the People’s Republic of China because of the discontent and oppression his family suffered at the hands of Mao. He even once said, “One day I will let the Chinese people know that there is such wonderful music in the world!” His plan was later discovered, and he and his father fled to the USSR, but two hours later, their plane crashed, and they were burned to death. Thanks to their vision of rock and this precedent, they had logical reasons to prohibit the genre, or at least censor it. Rock music did not take hold in Mainland China until the end of the Cultural Revolution and the onset of the Reform and Opening. Peking All-Stars were a rock band formed in Beijing in 1979, by foreigners then resident in the Chinese capital. While the first rock band in China, they were not Chinese. The following year, Wan Xing, Li Shichao, Ma Xiaoyi, and Wang Xinbo formed their first rock band, Wanli Ma Wang, at Beijing Second Foreign Languages College (now Beijing Foreign Studies University), playing Western classic rock. Chinese rock had its origins in Northwest Wind style of music, which emerged as a main genre in Mainland China. The new style was triggered by two new songs, “Xintianyou” () and “Nothing To My Name” (), both of which drew heavily on the folk song traditions of northern Shaanxi. They combined this with a western-style fast tempo, strong beat and aggressive bass lines. In contrast to the contemporary mellow cantopop style, Northwest Wind songs were sung loudly and forcefully. It represented the musical branch of the large-scale root-seeking (, xungen) cultural movement that also manifested itself in literature and in film. Cui Jian’s Northwest Wind album Rock ‘N’ Roll on the New Long March, which included “Nothing To My Name”, has been called “China’s first rock album”. Many Northwest Wind songs were highly idealistic and heavily political, parodying or alluding to the revolutionary songs of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), such as “Nanniwan” and “The Internationale”. It is associated with a non-Communist national music perspective instead of CCP revolutionary fervor. The music reflected disillusionment among Chinese youth, as well as the growing influence of Western concepts such as individuality and self-empowerment. Both the music and lyrics articulated a sense of pride in the independence and power of the northwest’s peasantry. Songs such as “Sister Go Boldly Forward” () came to represent an earthy, virile masculine (Yang) image of Mainland China, as opposed to the soft (Yin), civilized, polished urban gangtai Hong Kong style.

Christian alternative rock

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History#

Christian alternative music has its roots in the early 1980s, as the earliest efforts at Christian punk and new wave were recorded by artists like Andy McCarroll and Moral Support, Undercover, the 77s, Steve Scott, Adam Again, Quickflight, Daniel Amos, Youth Choir (later renamed the Choir), Lifesavers Underground, Michael Knott, the Prayer Chain, Altar Boys, Breakfast with Amy, Steve Taylor, 4-4-1, David Edwards and Vector. Early labels, most now-defunct, included Blonde Vinyl, Frontline, Exit, and Refuge. By the 1990s, many of these bands and artists had disbanded, were no longer performing, or were being carried by independent labels because their music tended to be more lyrically complex (and often more controversial) than mainstream Christian pop. The modern market is currently supported by labels such as Tooth & Nail, Gotee and Floodgate. These companies are often children of, or partially owned, by general market labels such as Warner, EMI, and Capitol Records, giving successful artists an opportunity to “cross over” into mainstream markets.

Christian death metal

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Characteristics#

Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that features fast, distorted, down-tuned, and sometimes palm-muted guitar instrumentation, growled and screamed vocals, and hyper-fast, blast beat drumming. Death metal lyrics typically feature graphic, sometimes pornographic and misogynistic, themes of violence, gore, disease, and death; Satanic, blasphemous, and anti-Christian content; or, to a lesser extent, war, apocalypse, social and philosophical concerns, and esotericism and spiritualism. The growled vocal style has been identified for contributing to death metal’s relative lack of popularity as a music style.

Christian hardcore

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Stance#

The method and extent of the promotion of Christianity varies between bands. Christian hardcore bands have often openly stated their beliefs and employ Christian imagery in their lyrics, and may be considered a part of the Christian music industry.

Community and fans#

Christian hardcore can serve as an unconventional form of religious community for young people who reject mainstream Christian congregations. Fans of Christian hardcore music are not exclusively believers in the Christian religion. Owing to innovation in the hardcore movement such as Extol, Nobody Special, Zao, Living Sacrifice, and the hardcore movement in general, the audience has become less exclusive.

Christian metal

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Christian metal is not a solitary style of music but rather an ideological umbrella term that comprises every subgenre of heavy metal music, from hard rock to black metal. What sets the style apart is that Christian metal bands typically base their lyrics on Judeo-Christian traditions. AllMusic writes that Christian metal is “gospel music’s hard rock” - while not as hard as most heavy metal, “it still has many of its trademarks, particularly loud guitars, bombastic riffs, long solos, and pseudo-operatic vocals.” According to the website, most bands fall somewhere between arena rock and pop metal, although occasionally there are bands that are heavier. The lyrical style varies depending on culture, denomination, and country. For example, in Northern Europe, the bands with Lutheran members usually prefer a personal lyrical approach, which is seldom meant to “convert” in an aggressive manner; this is because evangelism has been more typical among American bands. Christian bands never deny their conviction but typically avoid preaching; sometimes, the matter is left unexpressed, leaving religion as a private issue of the listener. Certain bands choose to deal with everyday life experiences from a Christian perspective in order to draw both Christian and non-Christian listeners. In such cases, identifying a “Christian band” can be difficult. Secular bands that occasionally deal with Christian topics are a different matter altogether. Defining a Christian band is a much debated issue on Christian metal forums. A Christian band is expected to have either professed Christian members or a Christian message, preferably both.

Christian punk

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Christian punk originated in the 1980s punk rock scene. The genre has obscure origins. The rise of the Jesus Movement and its cultural institutions, such as Jesus People USA (JPUSA), served as an incubator for various Christian subcultures including punk, in part through JPUSA’s label Grrr Records and their annual music festival Cornerstone also referred to as a type of “Christian Woodstock.” Crashdog is one characteristically punk band that was rooted in JPUSA. In the 1980s, many bands performed at Chuck Smith’s Calvary Chapel in Orange County California. One popular band within that scene was Undercover, who proclaimed that “God Rules”, with a combination of rockabilly and hardcore punk elements. Other notable early Christian punk bands included Nobody Special, the Crucified, Scaterd Few, Lust Control and One Bad Pig. During the 1990s, the underground Christian punk scene grew as bands such as Ghoti Hook, Squad Five-O, the Huntingtons, Slick Shoes, Dogwood, Pocket Change, Officer Negative, Blaster the Rocket Man and Headnoise influenced many of their peers and paved the way for many bands to follow. In the 21st century, developments in Christian punk have paralleled the broader punk scene. Band such as Relient K, Hawk Nelson, FM Static, Flatfoot 56, Stellar Kart, and This Providence gained popularity with more mainstream audiences.

Christian rock

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Christian response to early rock music (1950s–1960s)#

Most traditional and fundamentalist Christians did not view rock music favorably when it became popular with young people from the 1950s, even though country and gospel music often influenced early rock music. In 1952, Archibald Davison, a Harvard professor, summed up the sound of traditional Christian music and why its supporters might not like rock music when he wrote of “… a rhythm that avoids strong pulses; a melody whose physiognomy is neither so characteristic nor so engaging as to make an appeal in its own behalf; counterpoint, which cultivates long-breathed eloquence rather than instant and dramatic effect; a chromaticism which is at all times restricted in amount and lacking in emotionalism; and modality which creates an atmosphere unmistakably ecclesiastical”. In the light of Archibald Davison’s characterisation it is easy to see how different these two genres of music are. Christians in the United States did not want their children exposed to music with unruly, impassioned vocals, loud guitar-riffs and jarring, hypnotic rhythms. Rock and roll differed from the norm, and thus it was seen by them as a threat. Often the music was overtly sexual in nature, as in the case of Elvis Presley, who became controversial and massively popular partly for his suggestive stage antics and dancing. However, “Elvis” was a religious person who released a gospel album: Peace in the Valley in 1957. Individual Christians may have listened to or even performed rock music in many cases, but conservative church establishments - particularly in the American South - regarded it as anathema. He Touched Me, a 1972 gospel-music album by Elvis Presley, sold over 1 million copies in the US alone and earned Presley his second of three Grammy Awards. Not counting compilations, it was his third and final album devoted exclusively to gospel music. The song “He Touched Me” was written in 1963 by Bill Gaither, an American singer and songwriter of southern gospel and Contemporary Christian music. In the 1960s, rock music developed artistically, attained worldwide popularity and became associated with the radical counterculture, firmly alienating many Christians. In 1966 The Beatles, one of the most popular and influential rock-bands of their era, ran into trouble with many of their American fans when John Lennon jokingly offered his opinion that Christianity was dying and that the Beatles were “more popular than Jesus now”. The romantic, melodic rock songs of the band’s early career had formerly been viewed as relatively inoffensive by Christians, but after the remark, churches nationwide organized Beatles-record burnings and Lennon was forced to apologize. Subsequently, the Beatles and most rock musicians experimented with a more complex, psychedelic style of music that frequently used anti-establishment, drug-related, or sexual lyrics, while The Rolling Stones sang “Sympathy for the Devil” (1968), a song openly written from the point of view of Satan. Allegations of Satanic intent also arose from the Beatles and others of the controversial backmasking recording-technique. This further increased Christian opposition to rock music. Later, in the 1960s, the escalating Vietnam War, Civil Rights Movement, Paris student riots of 1968 and other events served as catalysts for youth activism and political withdrawal or protest, which became associated with rock bands, whether or not they were openly political. Moreover, many saw the music as promoting a lifestyle of promiscuous “sex, drugs and rock and roll”, also reflected in the behavior of many rock stars. However, there was growing recognition of the diverse musical and ideological potential of rock. Countless new bands sprang up in the mid-to-late 1960s, as rock displaced older, smoother pop styles to become the dominant form of pop music, a position it would enjoy almost continuously until the end of the 20th century.

Christian ska

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Early years (late 1970s through 1980s)#

While Christian bands have played ska since the days of Jesus music, one of the first well documented Christian bands to play ska was Ishmael United, which operated in the late 1970s and early 1980s from the United Kingdom. Their sound was new wave or two tone, similar to other British bands such as The Specials or Madness. Another early Christian ska band was The Israelites, formed in 1989. similar to the Skatalites or Desmond Dekker. They released two albums before Christian ska matured.

Cock rock

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Characteristics#

Cock rock is a musical genre. Philip Auslander uses Simon Frith’s description of cock rock characteristics: C ock-rock performance means an explicit, crude, ‘masterful’ expression of sexuality … Cock-rock performers are aggressive, boastful, constantly drawing audience attention to their prowess and control. Their bodies are on display … mikes and guitars are phallic symbols (or else caressed like female bodies), the music is loud, rhythmically insistent, built around techniques of arousal and release. Lyrics are assertive and arrogant, but the exact words are less significant than the vocal styles involved, the shrill shouting and screaming.

College rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

An outgrowth of hardcore punk, college rock originated less as a genre term and more as a signal of the medium — college radio — by which college rock acts were often heard. As a result, the genre featured a high degree of diversity and eclecticism, meaning that “on college radio … screaming noise, retro country, avant-garde electronics, and power pop could coexist, linked by cheap-sounding singles recorded by local bands.”

Colombian rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

In the 1960s a boom in rock music happened in Colombia, as a result of globalization, the influence of the foreign music of that decade, and opposition to the Vietnam War. From that moment in time came the first rock bands in the country. The most famous band in those years where Los Speakers from Bogotá. Their last and most famous album was The Speakers en el maravilloso mundo de Ingeson edited in 1968. Some bands of the sixties: Los Speakers (1963–1968), Los Flippers (1965–1973), Los Yetis (1965–1969), Los Ampex (1965–1967), Los Young Beats (1966), Los Streaks (1967), Time Machine (1967), The New Movement (founded by Colombo- N.Americans 1966–1968), The Walflower Complextion (founded by North-Americans 1966–1967). After founding Los Speakers, Humberto Monroy also founded Siglo Cero (1969–1970) and the legendary band Géne-sis (1972–1992) that produced works through the 1970s and 1980s. In the 1980s, Kraken became the first known heavy metal band in Colombia, as well as the oldest still active band of the country, becoming the progenitors of many rising bands until today. Those included Ekhymosis, from which Juanes split for a solo career. Bogotá, Medellín and Cali were the cities where this movement started to grow, and they remain today as the main cradles for new groups and styles. Colombian rock is grouped with all Rock en español, a movement led by Argentine rock and Mexican rock.

Comedy rock

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Early#

Early American examples include Stan Freberg, who lampooned artists such as Elvis Presley, Harry Belafonte and the Platters, and Sheb Wooley. The latter’s “Purple People Eater” reached No. 1 on the Billboard pop chart in 1958 and stayed there for six weeks. In Britain during the 1950s and early 1960s, comedians such as Charlie Drake and the Goons frequently appeared in the top ten with humorous rock ’n’ roll records—the latter, along with Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear, were to influence the word-play of John Lennon’s lyrics. Later British groups specialised in comedy: these included the Scaffold, the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and Alberto y Lost Trios Paranoias. Later in Britain, in the 2000s, Mitch Benn released several studio albums that satirised current affairs using various musical genres, but mainly rock. His 2012 Breaking Strings album was critically acclaimed for its rock sensibility. AllMusic described Frank Zappa as the “godfather” of comedy rock. The pop rock and folk rock band the Turtles released a comedy rock album, The Turtles Present the Battle of the Bands, in 1968, though the band had previously incorporated humor into their songs. Two of its members, Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman, later performed more explicitly comedic songs as Flo & Eddie with their own band and with Frank Zappa.

Country rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Definition and etymology#

There has also been cross-pollination throughout the history of both genres; however, the term “country-rock” is sometimes used to refer to the wave of rock musicians of the mid 1960s and early 1970s who began recording rock songs with country themes, vocal styles, and additional instrumentation, most characteristically pedal steel guitars. The term country rock had rarely been heard until the critic Richard Goldstein used it the June6, 1968 issue of The Village Voice. In his piece, titled “Country Rock: Can Y’All Dig It?”, Goldstein counted several artists as moving towards country-friendly material – including Moby Grape, Stone Poneys, Buffy Sainte-Marie, the International Submarine Band and Bob Dylan – but he expected the Byrds’ forthcoming album, Sweetheart of the Rodeo, to represent the new genre. Before the Byrds’ album was released in August1968, Goldstein considered the Band’s debut album, Music From Big Pink, as the “first major album” of the country-rock movement when he reviewed it for The New York Times on August4. Key to the genre, Goldstein wrote, was that the album had country music’s “twang and… tenacity”, but it also " made you want to move" like rock music.

Cowpunk

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Etymology and characteristics#

The term “cowpunk” is first attested in 1979, as a blend of “cowboy” and “punk”. The term “country punk” has been proposed as an equivalent term. Both terms are sometimes hyphenated, especially in late 1970s or early 1980s sources (e.g., cow-punk or country-punk). In 1984, Robert Palmer wrote in the New York Times on the emerging aesthetic acknowledged “cowpunk” as one of several catch-all terms critics were using to categorize the country-influenced music of otherwise unrelated punk and new wave bands. The article briefly summarized the music’s history, at least in the United States, saying that in the early 1980s, several punk and new wave bands had begun collecting classic country records, and soon thereafter began performing high-tempo cover versions of their favorite songs, and that new bands had also formed around the idea. By 1984, there were dozens of bands in both the U.S. and England “personalizing country music and making it palatable for the MTV Generation.” A New York Times writer stated that one issue with the “cowpunk” term was that “…no single term really describes the music of all these bands.” A 2018 article looking back at the 1980s trends states that the “…diversity of styles beyond punk proper” in cowpunk, “…for some, made the category…suspect, or at least misleading.”

Crank wave

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Etymology and characteristics#

In March 2019, NME writer Mark Beaumont coined the term “gristle rock” to describe groups stemming out of the South London music scene such as Fat White Family, who spearheaded the scene. The band described the movement as an “art-sleaze-punk-freak” scene. He cited the song “Match Bet” by Squid along with acts such as Idles and Fontaines D.C. as inspiring the phrase. In 2021, writer Matthew Perpetua coined the term “Post-Brexit New Wave” in an article for NPR Music to categorize the emerging style as emblematic of a British post-Brexit cultural malaise. Perpetua defined the groups as primarily stemming from the United Kingdom and Ireland, he stated the musicians had “internalized more recent musical and cultural trends” and “disappointment and pessimism about Britain’s future”. He cited Black Country, New Road’s early style as drawing from contemporary media such as “micro-influencers, PR teams, online forum threads, UE Booms and NutriBullets”. as well as angular guitarwork and large leading basslines. Artists tend to be described as anxious, socially conscious and intellectual.

Crossover thrash

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Etymology#

The term “thrash” originated as a way of referring to hardcore punk, seen on the 1982 hardcore compilation New York Thrash. The name “crossover” was coined in reference to Dirty Rotten Imbeciles’s 1987 album Crossover.

Precursors#

Hybrid forms of metal and punk had existed as early as the mid-1970s, with the most notable act being Motörhead. However, Discharge were the first band to turn the fusion into “something a little more long-term”. With their 1980 EPs Reality of War, Fight Back and Decontrol, the band began to merge the nascent sounds of hardcore punk and street punk with elements of heavy metal. The band’s influence was immediate and widespread, helping influence the beginnings of grindcore, crust punk, black metal and D-beat, and notably pioneering thrash metal groups Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax and Sepultura. In his book Choosing Death author Albert Mudrian called Discharge “the ultimate crossover act, marrying the passion and intensity of punk with the speed and extremity of heavy metal.” The initial contact between punk rock and heavy metal involved a “fair amount of mutual loathing. Despite their shared devotion to speed, spite, shredded attire and stomping on distortion pedals, their relationship seemed, at first, unlikely.” Their 1982 split LP with fellow Washington band the Faith showed both bands exhibiting quick, fiery, high-speed punk rock. It has been argued that those recordings laid the foundation for early thrash metal, at least in terms of selected tempos, By 1985, pioneering Boston hardcore bands including SS Decontrol, DYS and the F.U.’s had begun to play heavy metal. Author Steven Blush said of the fusion: “It was natural. The most intense music, after Black Flag and Dead Kennedys, was Slayer and Metallica. Therefore, that’s where everybody was going. That turned into a culture war, basically.”

Crunkcore

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History and characteristics#

Crunkcore combines the post-hardcore genres of screamo and emo with hip-hop, particularly the Southern hip-hop genre crunk, along with electronic music such as electropop, dance, pop, rock, and the metal genres of nu metal and metalcore. Writer and musician Jessica Hopper claims that Panic! at the Disco’s fusion of emo and electronic elements influenced the development of crunkcore in the mid-2000s. Kerrang! noted retrospectively that a mostly online presence through mediums such as Myspace was a major feature of crunkcore. The lyrics of the genres are mostly party-themed, hedonistic, and sexually explicit. Family Force 5 is a lyrical exception, instead melding the sounds of the genre with Christian-themed lyrics. Hollywood Undead, Brokencyde, and 3OH!3 are credited as the primary artists behind the creation and emergence of crunkcore. The roots of the genre are in the output of the rap rock group Hollywood Undead, but the genre achieved popularity through Brokencyde, who are considered the most responsible for crunkcore’s rise. Warped Tour co-creator and CEO Kevin Lyman calls the group 3OH!3 “the real tipping point for scrunk” as “they were the first emo-influenced act to depart from traditional instruments in favor of pre-programmed beats”, while still retaining many of the stylistic elements of emo. That group achieved the genre’s greatest success, the 2008 single “Don’t Trust Me”. The genre declined in the 2010s, although Brokencyde and 3OH!3 continued to record and tour, respectively, for the next few years. Blood on the Dance Floor and Family Force 5 are the most prolific artists in the genre, with a respective eight studio albums and five studio album and nine EPs. Crunkcore is typically characterized by the use of screamed vocals, although some crunkcore artists do not scream. For example, 3OH!3 do not “incorporate the blood-curdling screams of many scrunk acts”. Millionaires and Kesha likewise eschewed the screamed vocals typical for crunkcore but retained the sexually explicit lyrics and thus are still often considered part of the genre.

Crust punk

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Lyrics#

Crust punk lyrics generally discuss real-world issues as a means of activism. In particular, they discuss political and social themes such as class struggle, environmentalism, anarchism, and anti-capitalism. Sometimes these themes are hyperbolised to the point of discussing the apocalypse, religious control and nuclear destruction. Many bands also discussed feminism, animal rights and veganism or vegetarianism. In contrast, Amebix’s lyrics sometimes discussed mysticism and Gnosticism.

Instrumentation#

Crust punk is a derivative form of anarcho-punk, mixed with metal riffs. The overall musical sound was described by SFGate writer Loolwa Khazzoom as being “stripped down”. Drumming is typically done at high speed, with D-beats sometimes being used. In Sober Living for the Revolution: Hardcore Punk, Straight Edge, and Radical Politics, author Gabriel Kuhn referred to the genre as a “blend of 1977 British punk, roots culture and black metal”, with the genre often taking influence from death metal, grindcore and powerviolence.

Cuban rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The 1950s#

The strong influence of American music on the younger Cuban generations paved the way for the introduction of rock & roll in the island during the 1950s. Many Cuban artists sung versions of American songs translated to Spanish, as it was also happening in Mexico. although electrically-amplified treses were already being played by musicians such as Senén Suárez. The repertoire of Los Llopis consisted of a combination of American and rock pieces, such as “See You Later, Alligator” and “Rock Around the Clock” by the Bill Haley group, with other Cuban and Hispanic pieces like “Goza mi Guaracha”, “Maquinolandera” and “La pollera colorá”. Los Llopis also succeeded in Spain, where they established their residence for some years and introduced pachanga, a new Cuban rhythm with an influence from the Dominican merengue. In 1959 Luisito Bravo bursted into the Cuban musical scene with songs such as Neil Sedaka’s “Oh Carol” and the Italian song “Tiernamente (Torna a Surriento)” (covered by Elvis Presley as “Surrender”, reaching 500,000 record sales by 1961. Other solo artists followed Luisito Bravo, such as Rogelio Sanzarini and Jorge Bauer, as well as groups such as the Satélites of Antonio María Romeu and the Tony Taño band.

D-beat

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Origins#

One of the earliest examples of D-beat can be found in the Buzzcocks’ song “You Tear Me Up,” on their debut LP, Another Music In A Different Kitchen. It featured a fast, intense drumbeat which Discharge would later emulate in the distinctive drumbeat of D-beat. Discharge formed in 1977 in Stoke-on-Trent, England, initially playing a basic variety of street punk inspired by the Sex Pistols and The Clash. In 1979, the group changed its line-up and began to develop a new, more aggressive style. At this time Terry “Tezz” Roberts of Discharge developed their characteristic drum beat, for which the D-beat subgenre is named. Roberts commented in 2004 that “I just wanna be remembered for coming up with that f-ckin’ D-beat in the first place! And inspiring all those f-ckin’ great Discore bands around the world!” Discharge’s inspiration for the style has led it to be referred to as “Discore”. Roberts’ beat is similar to the basic percussive backbone of songs by Motörhead, and many subsequent groups borrow from this group a great deal as well as Discharge. After 1982, the group changed its style to a more conventional form of heavy metal. However, their classic sound inspired other groups to emulate them; The Varukers, also from England, were the first of these. As punk historian Ian Glasper put it, “The Varukers were the original Discore band, the first and best of the hardcore punk acts to take the simple, yet devastatingly effective formula laid down by Discharge and play it as fast, hard, heavy as they could.” While the style was first practiced in England, it became especially inspirational to a number of groups in Sweden. D-beat was initially known as “kängpunk” (“boot punk”) in Sweden. The first Swedish D-beat song is “Marquee,” by Rude Kids, from Stockholm, recorded in 1979. They were followed by KSMB (En Slemmig Torsk), Missbrukarna, and more famously, Anti Cimex. Anti Cimex’s second 7-inch EP, Raped Ass, has been described as “one of the rawest and most violent hardcore releases ever.” and most prominently Mob 47. Mob 47, also from Stockholm, was known as the fastest of the kängpunk groups. The group also blended Discharge’s style with American hardcore punk, diversifying the style. The heaviest of Swedish crust bands was Crude SS

Dance-punk

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Many groups in the post-punk era adopted a more danceable style, with dance-punk emerging as a compromised genre originally referred to as “disco-punk” or “punk funk”. Its first wave emerged from a communal and alternative scene as a critique of social standards. New York City bands who were core to this wave were ESG, Liquid Liquid, James Chance and the Contortions, Defunkt, Lizzy Mercier Descloux and Material. In addition, the Slits contributed to the genre in Britain, emphasizing the influence of reggae. These bands were influenced strongly by funk, avant-funk trends, disco, dub reggae, ska, new wave, and other dance music forms popular at the time. More culturally prominent acts from the late 1970s into the 1980s included Talking Heads, Public Image Ltd., New Order and Gang of Four. Emerging from the convergence of disco and punk influences, dance-punk exhibits a strong affiliation with urban environments, particularly in the way they are romanticized and portrayed. These spaces, whether they exist in the realm of imagination or reality, conjure up a sense of cosmopolitanism, artistic liberation, and a spirit of defiance against the confines of conventional mainstream culture.

Dance-rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Definitions#

Michael Campbell, in his book Popular Music in America, defines the genre as “post-punk/post-disco fusion”. Campbell also cited Robert Christgau, who described dance-oriented rock (or DOR) as an umbrella term used by various DJs in the 1980s. However, AllMusic defines “dance-rock” as 1980s and 1990s music practiced by rock musicians, influenced by Philly soul, disco and funk, fusing those styles with rock and dance. Artists like the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Duran Duran, Simple Minds, INXS, Eurythmics, Depeche Mode, the Clash, New Order and Devo belong, according to AllMusic, to this genre. Dance-rock embraces some experimental funk acts like A Certain Ratio, Gang of Four, and also mainstream musicians, for example Robert Palmer, Billy Idol and Hall & Oates.

Dark cabaret

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Precursors#

In a 2019 article for The New York Times writer Christopher R. Weingarten stated that “Any journey into cabaret-punk begins with the work of Bertold Brecht and Kurt Weill”. The pair’s work merged Weimar-era cabaret with elements of the country’s pop music, American jazz music and socialist themes. Weingarten specifically cited the “Alabama Song” (1930), as performed by Lotte Lenya, as a notable precursor, as well as its 1967 cover by rock band the Doors. Furthermore, the 1972 film Cabarets dark and cynical take on cabaret performance anticipated dark cabaret.

Dark wave

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

1980s: Origins in Europe#

Since the 1980s, the term “dark wave” has been used in Europe by the music press to describe the gloomy and melancholy variant of new wave and post-punk music. At that time, the term “goth” was inseparably connected with gothic rock, whereas “dark wave” acquired a broader meaning, embracing bands and solo artists that were associated with gothic rock such as Bauhaus, Joy Division, the Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Depeche Mode, French cold wave groups such as Clair Obscur and Opera Multi Steel have also been associated with the dark wave scene; Simultaneously, different substyles associated with the new wave and dark wave movements started to merge and influence each other, e.g. synth-wave ) with gothic rock, or began to borrow elements of post-industrial music. Attrition, Die Form (France), Pink Industry (UK), Psyche (Canada), Kirlian Camera (Italy) and Clan of Xymox (Netherlands) performed this music in the 1980s. Other bands such as Malaria! and the Vyllies added elements of chanson and cabaret music. This sort of dark wave music became known as cabaret noir (or “dark cabaret”, a term popularized by U.S. dark wave label Projekt Records). German dark wave bands were partially associated with the Neue Deutsche Welle (i.e. German new wave), and included Xmal Deutschland, Mask For, Asmodi Bizarr, and Pink Turns Blue.

Darkcore

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Origins#

By late 1992, breakbeat hardcore was beginning to fragment, and darkcore was one of the subgenres to emerge, in contrast with 4-beat. Darkcore is often characterised by dark-themed samples such as horror movie elements, cries for help, sinister sounding stabs and synthesizer notes, along with syncopated breakbeats in addition to 4-to-the-floor beats and low frequency basslines. It also saw the introduction of effects such as pitch shifting and time stretching to create mood.

Death 'n' roll

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

While the “death ’n’ roll” tag was first associated with Swedish death metal band Entombed, Daniel Ekeroth associates the style with a previous group called Furbowl. After Entombed released Wolverine Blues, the band became associated with what the music press dubbed as “death ’n’ roll”, a label which has followed Entombed’s career ever since. In the years following the album’s release, the sound was embraced by Dismember on Massive Killing Capacity (1995), Carcass on Swansong (1996) and Six Feet Under on Warpath (1997). Similar to Entombed, Dutch band Gorefest also transitioned from its origins in death metal to incorporate a death ’n’ roll style. Elements of this approach were first evident on the band’s 1994 album Erase, but it was more fully realized on the subsequent release, Soul Survivor (1996), which also demonstrated significant influence from classic rock. Proof of that influence was the club tour organized by the band that same year, where Gorefest played songs by AC/DC, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple. Gorefest broke up after their last 1990s album, Chapter 13, which continued the trend started in Soul Survivor, Two of its members currently play in Live & Dangerous, a Thin Lizzy tribute band from the Netherlands. When confronted with the “death ’n’ roll” label in interviews, the acts that the label is attached to react with skepticism. Entombed’s LG Petrov stated “We see it as Entombed music, if people see that as death ’n’ roll so be it. We just laugh, death ’n’ roll, why not? When we write songs, we aren’t thinking it has to be a particular style.”

Death metal

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Emergence and early history (early to mid–1980s)#

English extreme metal band Venom, from Newcastle, crystallized the elements of what later became known as thrash metal, death metal and black metal, with their first two albums Welcome to Hell and Black Metal, released in late 1981 and 1982, respectively. Their dark, blistering sound, harsh vocals, and macabre, proudly Satanic imagery proved a major inspiration for extreme metal bands. Another highly influential band, Slayer, formed in 1981. Although the band was a thrash metal act, Slayer’s music was more violent than their thrash contemporaries Metallica, Megadeth, and Anthrax. Their breakneck speed and instrumental prowess combined with lyrics about death, violence, war, and Satanism won Slayer a cult following. According to Mike McPadden, Hell Awaits, Slayer’s second album, “largely invent ed much of the sound and fury that would evolve into death metal.” According to AllMusic, their third album Reign in Blood inspired the entire death metal genre. It had a big impact on genre leaders such as Death, Obituary, and Morbid Angel. While attributed as having a Slayer influence, current and former members of the band had actually cited Venom and Motörhead, as well as early work by Exodus, as the main influences on their sound. Although the group had released only two studio albums and an EP in their formative years, they have been described by music journalists and musicians as either being “monumental” in developing the death metal style, or as being the first death metal band. Earache Records noted that “the likes of Trey Azagthoth and Morbid Angel based what they were doing in their formative years on the Possessed blueprint laid down on the legendary Seven Churches recording. Possessed arguably did more to further the cause of ‘Death Metal’ than any of the early acts on the scene back in the mid-late 80’s.” During the same period as the dawn of Possessed, a second influential metal band was formed in Orlando, Florida. Originally called Mantas, Death was formed in 1983 by Chuck Schuldiner, Kam Lee, and Rick Rozz. Inspired by the Brandon, Florida act Nasty Savage, they took the sound of Nasty Savage and deepened it. In 1984, they released their first demo entitled Death by Metal, followed by several more. The tapes circulated through the tape trader world, quickly establishing the band’s name. With Death guitarist Schuldiner adopting vocal duties, the band made a major impact in the emerging Florida death metal scene. The fast minor-key riffs and solos were complemented with fast drumming, creating a style that would catch on in tape trading circles. Schuldiner has been credited by AllMusic’s Eduardo Rivadavia for being widely recognized as the “Father of Death Metal”. Death’s 1987 debut release, Scream Bloody Gore, has been described by About.com’s Chad Bowar as being the “evolution from thrash metal to death metal”, and “the first true death metal record” by the San Francisco Chronicle. In an Interview Jeff Becerra talked about the discussions of being the creator of the genre, saying that Schuldiner cited Possessed as a massive influence, and Death were even called “Possessed clones” early on. Along with Possessed and Death, other pioneers of death metal in the United States include Macabre, Master, Massacre, Immolation, Cannibal Corpse, Obituary, and Post Mortem.

Death-doom

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

The first signs of the death/doom genre originated in the mid-1980s when early progenitors like Dream Death began to mix traditional doom metal with the sounds of the nascent death metal scene. Early records in the 1990s by such bands as Autopsy, Winter, Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride and Anathema combined the doom sound of mid-1980s Celtic Frost and Candlemass with growling vocals, female vocals, keyboards and, in the case of My Dying Bride, violins. The influence of these bands has been acknowledged by the likes of gothic metal bands Within Temptation, Lacuna Coil, The Gathering, Celestial Season and Saturnus. The tag of death/doom seemed to become less popular towards the end of the decade as many of the scene progenitors abandoned their early sound to embrace a more accessible or palatable direction. It is played at a very slow tempo, and places an emphasis on evoking a sense of emptiness and despair. Typically, electric guitars are heavily distorted and dark ambient aspects such as keyboards or synthesizers are often used to create a “dreamlike” atmosphere. Vocals consist of mournful chants or growls and are often in the background. Funeral doom was pioneered by Mournful Congregation (Australia), Esoteric (United Kingdom), Evoken (United States), Funeral (Norway), Thergothon (Finland) and Skepticism (Finland).

Deathcore

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

A fusion genre, deathcore melds elements of metalcore, hardcore and death metal. It is usually very fast and focuses on intensity. Deathcore typically combines deep ‘roaring’ and high ‘screaming’ vocals, down-tuned guitars, simplified death metal riffs, tremolo picking, double bass drumming and blast beat drumming. It is defined by its slower intense sections called breakdowns, which are also a key trait of metalcore. Vocals in deathcore are typically a mixture of deep roaring vocals similar to death growls, and higher-pitched screaming, as well as a style known as “pig squeals” or “pig squealing”. Sung vocals are rare, but they have been used by a few bands such as All Shall Perish (in the song “Awaken the Dreamers”) and Oceano (in the song “Incisions”). Lyrics in deathcore tend to be personal, angry and violent, often deal with male frustrations, and can include misogynistic language. In terms of fashion, deathcore is associated with short hair, baseball caps, earlobe plugs and sportswear, which is similar to metalcore and hardcore scenes, and differs from typical metalhead attire.

Deathrock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Deathrock songs usually incorporate a driving, repetitive rhythm section; the drums and bass guitar laying the foundation within a 4/4 time time signature while the guitars either play simple chords or effects-driven leads to create atmosphere. Chorus effects, such as those produced by the Boss CE-2 pedal, are commonly used by deathrock guitarists to create a wider and more haunting tone. The use of lyrics can vary, but are typically introspective and surreal, and deal with the dark themes of isolation, gloom, disillusionment, loss, life, death, etc.; as can the style, varying from harsh and dark to upbeat, melodic, and tongue-in-cheek. Deathrock lyrics and other musical stylistic elements often incorporate the themes of campy horror and sci-fi films. Despite the similar-sounding name, deathrock has no connection to death metal, which is a subgenre of heavy metal.

Desert blues

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Historical background#

The Tuareg people live in a region of North and West Africa that covers large portions of the Sahara across the modern-day national boundaries of Mali, Algeria, Niger, Libya, and Chad, and to a lesser extent, reaching into Burkina Faso and Nigeria. They had been nomadic pastoralists involved in trans-Saharan trade for many hundreds of years. At the turn of the 20th century, the Tuareg were subjected to French colonial rule, after a lengthy resistance movement and defeated rebellion. With the departure of colonial powers in the 1950s and 1960s, the lands inhabited by the Tuareg population were split primarily between the six new countries of Mali, Algeria, Niger, Libya, Burkina Faso and Chad, making them ethnic minorities across the region. For the next few decades, natural resources diminished due to increasing desertification and the Tuareg minorities have since been involved in a series of conflicts and rebellions, creating hardship for the survival of Tuareg people and their culture. In 1973, a major drought forced many of the Tamasheq-speaking people throughout the deserts to reconsider their traditional way of life as nomadic herders. Many took refuge in urban centers across the region, but with many lacking formal education, the Tamasheq were largely unemployed. The term ishumar began to be used describing young Tamasheq. A unique culture began to arise among many of the economically and politically marginalized youths, sometimes rebellious or revolutionary in nature, reasserting a cultural pride. Many young men, including future members of Tinariwen, took employment in a Tamasheq military unit being assembled by Libyan military leader Muammar al-Gaddafi. Besides receiving military training and weapons in the Gaddafi-sponsored camps, many of the young Tamasheq men were also exposed to revolutionary ideas, pan-Africanism, and popular music. In the decades to follow, the Tamasheq were involved in extended episodes of violence and rebellion against the various governments in the region, both as victim and perpetrator. The stories of socio-political unrest have been relayed through music, contributing to and partially shaping the Tamasheq people’s culture and ideals.

Digital hardcore

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Digital hardcore music is typically fast and abrasive, combining the speed, heaviness and attitude of hardcore punk, thrash metal, and riot grrrl with electronic music such as hardcore techno, The electric guitar (either real or sampled and usually heavily distorted) is used alongside samplers, synthesizers and drum machines. While the use of electronic instruments is a defining feature of the genre, bass guitars, electric guitars, and drum kits are optional. Vocals are more often shouted than sung by more than one member of the group. Typically, the lyrics are highly politicized and espouse left-wing or anarchist ideals. Some practitioners have been influenced by anarcho-punk.

Djent

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Development#

Fredrik Thordendal, lead guitarist of Swedish band Meshuggah, coined the term in 2011. In a 2018 interview by Rauta, Meshuggah guitarist Mårten Hagström apologized for the band’s role in creating the “djent” style of guitar playing, calling it “a drunk misunderstanding”. Other bands important in the development of the style are Animals as Leaders, Periphery, Tesseract, Monuments and Textures, with Periphery and Animals as Leaders both emerging at the beginning of the coining of the phrase “Djent” and both hailing from the Washington DC Suburban area. The scene has grown rapidly, and members of the original online community, including the bands Chimp Spanner and Sithu Aye have gone on to tour and release albums commercially. Other bands influenced by djent include A Life Once Lost, Veil of Maya, Vildhjarta, Xerath, and Uneven Structure. Born of Osiris have also been described as being inspired by the djent movement. and DVSR are djent bands that use rapping as a primary vocal style.

Dolewave

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Influences and style#

Dolewave music has been described as “intrinsically depressed … beautiful and poignant in an aggressively sad way, in a fashion we can only laugh along with.” Lyrics often contain local signifiers and other Australian pop cultural references, giving the songs a distinct sense of place that points both to the musicians’ fondness for Australia, and their “intense need to scrutinise” it. Academic Ian Rogers writes that dolewave bands often choose to sound “rough-and-ready, and occasionally unskilled”, and their recordings almost always have minimal production value. According to music critic Everett True, dolewave’s “recalcitrant and ramshackle” sound mirrors the “makeshift venue culture” that many of the bands find themselves in: “underneath decrepit Queenslanders, in open park spaces, in warehouses, rundown pubs, front rooms of share houses”.

Dominican rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Subgenres of Dominican rock#

The styles of rock bands from the Dominican Republic differ greatly. Not only is there regular Spanish pop rock, there are also subgenres such as alternative, punk, and metal. Most songs are sung in Spanish, though some bands (like ALF, Mithril, and 42-01 for instance) also sing in English. The band ALF is considered the pioneers of Emo Punk in the Dominican Republic.

Live#

Although the rock scene stays local and rarely goes international, it is large within the Dominican Republic, especially in the nation’s capital, Santo Domingo. Several bands as JLS (Spain), Transporte Urbano (U.S.A & Cuba) Sister Madness (Canada), ALF (USA), Pericles (USA, Costa Rica), Dark Miracle (USA), Cevix (Santo Domingo/USA), Los Pérex (USA, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Panama) La Armada (USA, Puerto Rico, Mexico), Bocatabú (USA, Puerto Rico), Futuros Divorciados (USA, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Panamá), Dronk (USA) and Santuario (Puerto Rico) have traveled to other countries to play. Many concerts are held in the indoor auditorium of the Domínico Americano, a local school. Bands of many different genres of Dominican rock play there. Some artists who have played there are “spam”, González, Sociedad Tabú, Shido, TKR, Toque Profundo, Cronicas del Eco, and Nux. Within the punk scene, there are a few venues which are regularly used for concerts. One of the most popular venues was Donde L’Abuela, a house which is regularly volunteered for concerts, as well as a small bar called Stilo Club, where bands such as Los Pérex, La Reforma, La Armada, Pericles, Shido and Mulligan have played. Nowadays, there are venues like Shots Bar, Cinema Café, Casa de teatro, Hard Rock Café Santo Domingo, Hard Rock Café Punta Cana which serves as the actual rock scene.

Doo-wop

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Origins#

Doo-wop has complex musical, social, and commercial origins.

Musical precedents#

Doo-wop’s style is a mixture of precedents in composition, orchestration, and vocals that figured in American popular music created by songwriters and vocal groups, both black and white, from the 1930s to the 1940s. Composers such as Rodgers and Hart (in their 1934 song “Blue Moon”), and Hoagy Carmichael and Frank Loesser (in their 1938 “Heart and Soul”) used a I–vi–ii–V-loop chord progression in those hit songs; composers of doo-wop songs varied this slightly but significantly to the chord progression I–vi–IV–V, so influential that it is sometimes referred to as the ’50s progression. This characteristic harmonic layout was combined with the AABA chorus form typical for Tin Pan Alley songs. Hit songs by black groups such as the Ink Spots (“If I Didn’t Care”, one of the best selling singles worldwide of all time, and “Address Unknown”) and the Mills Brothers (“Paper Doll”, “You Always Hurt the One You Love” and “Glow Worm”) were generally slow songs in swing time with simple instrumentation. Doo-wop street singers generally performed without instrumentation, but made their musical style distinctive, whether using fast or slow tempos, by keeping time with a swing-like off-beat, while using the “doo-wop” syllables as a substitute for drums and a bass vocalist as a substitute for a bass instrument. whose close four-part harmony derived from the vocal harmonies of the earlier barbershop quartet. The Four Knights’ “Take Me Right Back to the Track” (1945), the Cats and the Fiddle’s song “I Miss You So” (1939), and the Triangle Quartette’s even earlier record “Doodlin’ Back” (1929) prefigured doo-wop’s rhythm and blues sound long before doo-wop became popular.

Doom metal

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Instrumentation#

The electric guitar, bass guitar, and drum kit are the most common instruments used to play doom metal (although keyboards are sometimes used), but its structures are rooted in the same scales as in blues. Along with the usual heavy metal compositional technique of guitars and bass playing the same riff in unison, this creates a loud and bass-heavy wall of sound. Another defining characteristic is the consistent focus on slow tempos, and minor tonality with much use of dissonance (especially in the form of the tritone), employing the usage of repetitive rhythms with little regard to harmonic progression and musical structure.

Doujin music

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Genres and production#

Doujin music is not a musical genre in itself, but instead a term used for independently produced and self-published music. Doujin music may entail fan arrangements and remixes from anime and video games, or wholly original works in a variety of genres. Electronic music makes up around a third of all doujin music, though other genres such as rock and jazz can also be found. Vocaloid and utaite albums are often sold at doujin events. Doujin music is produced by circles, which can range from being individuals to small groups. Events dedicated to specific franchises are also held, such as the Hakurei Shrine Retaisai for Touhou Project Doujin music is also commonly sold in shops within Akihabara. Albums are sometimes promoted with dedicated sites, with some using specialized templates for Tumblr.

Dream pop

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Etymology and characteristics#

“Dreampop” was coined by Alex Ayuli of A.R. Kane to describe the duo’s sound in the late 1980s. Although distinct from shoegaze, both terms have sometimes been used interchangeably, and the style overlaps with much indie rock, indie pop and synth pop. According to Pitchfork editors, the term “was always more of a descriptor than a proper genre” and its defining features are “atmosphere, intimacy, a light coating of psychedelia, and, yes, dreaminess.” It is thought to relate to the listener’s “immersion” in the music. The AllMusic Guide to Electronica defines dream pop as “an atmospheric subgenre of alternative rock that relies on sonic textures as much as melody”. According to Paste staff, the genre emphasizes mood and sonics over lyrics, so that “chords and tracks blur seamlessly into one another so frequently that it can be difficult to even decipher when one song ended and another has begun.” Common characteristics are breathy vocals, guitar effects, and a densely produced sound, Effects such as reverb and echo are ubiquitous, with tremolo and chorus also heard on recordings to achieve the style’s “floaty, surreal, cloud-like haze”.

Drone metal

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Typically, the electric guitar is performed with a large amount of reverb or audio feedback while vocals may or may not be present. Songs often lack beat or rhythm in the traditional sense and are typically very long. The experience of a drone metal performance has been compared by novelist John Wray in The New York Times to listening to an Indian raga in the middle of an earthquake. Wray also states, “It’s hard to imagine any music being heavier or, for that matter, very much slower.” A pioneer band of drone metal called Sunn O))) has indicated a kinship with sound sculpture. Jan Tumlir indicates a “sustained infra-sound rumble of sub-bass—so-called brown noise”.

Dunedin sound

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

According to Matthew Bannister, Dunedin sound “was typically marked by the use of droning or jangling guitars, indistinct vocals and often copious quantities of reverberation.” Many Dunedin sound bands drew inspiration from punk rock, as well as pop, rock, and psychedelic music of the 1960s. The origin of the Dunedin sound is often associated with the particular venues that the bands played at, such as the Empire Hotel and the Oriental Tavern.

Dungeon synth

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

The genre employs aesthetics and themes typically associated with black metal juxtaposed to the typical heavy tremolo-picking, blast-beats, and harsh, shrieked vocals of black metal by way of compositions of instrumental or ambient music commonly used as introductions, interludes, or “outros” in black metal, death metal, and heavy metal albums throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Though often paired with medieval and fantasy motifs throughout the 1990s onward, some prominent contemporaries of dungeon synth reject the excessive prevalence of high-fantasy themes. Dungeon synth is contentiously likened to video game music, due to fantasy influences, the usage and layering of synths, and a focus on ambience. Though traditional acts such as Mortiis have rejected the influence of video game soundtracks on dungeon synth, more recent dungeon synth acts take heavy influence from video games, especially RPGs.

Dutch Punk

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The beginning of punk in the Netherlands (1977-1979)#

A seminal event for punk in the Netherlands was the Sex Pistols’ concert on January 6, 1977, at the Amsterdam Paradiso. The Sex Pistols played three shows in the Netherlands on that tour, along with the Heartbreakers and the Vibrators. On May 1, 1977, the Damned gave a concert in the Paradiso. On May 11, 1977, the Ramones and Talking Heads gave a concert in the Rasa in the Pauwstraat in Utrecht. In October 1977, Iggy Pop performed on the popular television show TopPop with Ad Visser. On November 19, 1977, Blondie played at the Amsterdam Paradiso. At the end of 1977, the VARA television program Wonderland also highlighted punk in a theme broadcast including performances by the Stranglers in the Paradiso in Amsterdam and the Sex Pistols in Maasbree. These concerts and performances by bands from the UK and USA led to an explosion of interest in punk in the Netherlands in 1977. Dutch punk bands and fanzines were rapidly established. In the audience of the Ramones’ Utrecht concert were Rob and Erik de Jong, who formed the band Blitzkrieg, sometimes hailed as the first punk band in the Netherlands (Blitzkrieg quickly changed their name to The Duds ). Two rock bands that predated punk, Ivy Green (formed in Hazerswoude-Dorp in 1975) and Flyin’ Spiderz (formed in Eindhoven in 1976), shifted to playing punk rock; these bands are often also discussed the first punk bands in the Netherlands. The lead singer for the Flyin’ Spiderz, Guus Boers, had not heard punk before a concert of the Vibrators in early 1977 at the Technical University of Eindhoven. In August 1977, the popular fanzine KoeCrand was founded, inspired by the UK fanzine Sniffin’ Glue. A second early Dutch fanzine Raket, associated with the Rotterdam punk scene and featuring the cult comic Red Rat, soon began being published, initially as a wall newspaper. The first punk single released by a Dutch band was the song “Van Agt Casanova,” released by Paul Tornado on the record label 1000 Idioten in 1977. This single was frequently played on the radio by the VPRO. This song references the Dutch Catholic politician Dries van Agt, who in 1977 required that pornographic films only be shown in cinemas with less than 50 seats, as a way to limit who could see such films. The first Dutch punk LP released was the self-titled album of the Flyin’ Spiderz, who opened for the Damned at their May 1977 show. Dutch punk bands from this period that were well known in the scene include the Speedtwins, Soviet Sex, Ivy Green, Jesus and the Gospelfuckers, Neo Punkz, Helmettes, the Filth, Tedje en de Flikkers, the Ex, The Suzannes, the Rondos, Panic, Subway, The Boobs, and Two Two 79. The first Dutch punks gathered around record labels and clubs. One of these was Rotterdam’s Huize Schoonderloo. The record label Plurex Records, founded by Wally van Middendorp (of the band the Tits, and later Minny Pops) in 1977, was also a hub of the early punk scene. A third important Dutch punk record label, Torso Records, was also founded in this period by Dick Polak, Hans Joustra, and Peter Dispa.

Early Norwegian black metal scene

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Ideology#

The Norwegian black metal scene was vehemently opposed to Christianity and organized religion as a whole. In interviews during the early 1990s, Euronymous and other members of the scene portrayed themselves as militant misanthropic devil worshippers who sought to spread hatred, sorrow, and evil. They criticized the Church of Satan for being too “humane.” The theistic Satanism they advocated was an inversion of Christianity. Euronymous was the key figure behind this ideology. When asked why such statements were made to the press, Ihsahn of Emperor stated, “I think that was very much to create fear among people.” He added that the scene “wanted to be in opposition to society” and “tried to concentrate more on just being ’evil’ than having a real Satanic philosophy.” Vikernes claimed that the reason they professed to advocate “evil” was to provoke. According to the book Lords of Chaos, many who knew Euronymous claim that “the extreme Satanic image he projected was, in fact, just that – a projection which bore little resemblance to his real personality.” Those making this assertion include Necrobutcher, Kjetil Manheim, while Metalion, who had known Euronymous since 1985 and considered him his best friend, remarked that Euronymous “was always telling what he thought… worshipping death and being extreme.” Regarding other members of the scene, Samuel Fridh suggests that there is no evidence to support their early claims of being devil worshippers, and Leif A. Lier, who led the police investigation following Euronymous’s death, stated that he and his team had not encountered a single Satanist. Tenebris from the Misanthropic Luciferian Order, a Swedish Satanic order, noted that the Norwegian scene “meant a lot as long as it lasted. Back then, in 1991, things mainly concerned black metal and ideological Satanism (not so much practical Satanism, but anyway…)… It grew quickly to become a sort of black metal army… and kind of stood and fell with Euronymous and his shop. Therefore, it vanished with his death in ‘93… Sadly enough, many people involved at the time betrayed their ideals and lost their interest when things fell apart. Like it was nothing more than a hype of temporary nature.” Regarding the term “black metal,” Euronymous stated that it applies to any heavy metal band that identifies as theistic Satanists and writes Satanic lyrics. At the time, bands with a style akin to Norwegian black metal but lacking Satanic lyrics tended to use alternative terms to describe their music. Some bands within the scene were intrigued by pre-Christian Norway and its traditions, and there was an undercurrent of romantic nationalism present. Additionally, some scene members engaged with Nazi imagery, primarily as a means of provocation. In a private letter written in the early 1990s, Euronymous asserted that “almost all” Norwegian black metal bands at the time were “more or less Nazis.” He expressed an interest in totalitarian communist states, claiming he wished to see people “rot under communist dictatorship.”

Ecuadorian rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Recognition and acceptance of the genre#

Rock music is widely listened to and enjoyed in Ecuador, however, some forms of the genres are not broadly accepted in certain more conservative sectors of Ecuadorian society where there can be a great deal of prejudice toward the genre. Until the midst of the 1990s rockeros of all kinds have been discriminated against. Consequently, a powerful alliance of segments of the Catholic Church, the police and other government institutions has been formed against rock music. Even in the new millennium the official media discourse is highly discriminative against the rockeros. Nevertheless, rock continues to be a popular genre in the country. Unlike Argentina or Mexico, which have dedicated rock record labels, Ecuador lacks a music industry that supports Ecuadorian rock bands. This is an issue of the Ecuadorian music industry that as a whole has had relatively limited support and investment. Although, in recent years, a small rock music industry has developed in Ecuador, many Ecuadorian bands believe the lack of a strong local music industry is the primary reason that Ecuadorian rock music has not found international commercial success.

Egg punk

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Etymology and characteristics#

The nomenclature of egg punk originated from a series of internet memes circulated in 2017 that proposed a spectrum of punk rock music between “egg punk” and “chain punk”. The meme was intended to distinguish between the traditionalism and aggression of those deemed “chain punk” with the more experimental and satirical approach of those considered “egg punk”. Pitchfork described the genre as “subversive”, “experimental”, and typified by “wry lyrics and cheapo keyboards”.

Electroclash

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Terminology and characteristics#

The term electroclash describes a musical movement that combined synthpop, techno, punk and performance art. The genre was in reaction to the rigid formulations of techno music, putting an emphasis on song writing, showmanship and a sense of humour, DJ Hell is widely credited as inventor and name giver of the genre, while DJ and promoter Larry Tee later popularized the term in the US by naming the Electroclash 2001 Festival in New York

Electronic rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Subgenres and other terms#

The term “progressive rock” (or “prog rock”) was originally coined in the 1960s for music that would otherwise be described as “electronic rock,” Electronic rock is also associated with industrial rock, synth-pop, dance-punk, indietronica, and new wave,

Synth-punk#

Synth-punk (originally techno-punk or electropunk) is a style of electronic music that mixes the aggression of punk rock with the use of synthesizers. Originally pioneered by New York band Suicide, formed in 1970. Their sound over their five studio albums mixed punk rock with various electronic-based genres such as electronic rock, synth-pop, and disco. Other artists such as Californian band the Screamers were labeled “techno-punk” by the Los Angeles Times in 1978. Rather than the usual electric guitars, the band’s instrumentation included a heavily distorted Fender Rhodes electric piano and an ARP Odyssey synthesizer. The term synth-punk (or electropunk) was coined in 1999 by Damien Ramsey. In the early 1980s, synth-punk fused with various electronic genres to create electronic body music, which would influence a number of subsequent industrial dance, industrial rock and industrial metal acts. It also influenced the hardcore punk inspired digital hardcore, which combines hardcore punk with electronic music, noise and heavy metal. It typically features fast tempos and aggressive sound samples. dance punk,

Electronicore

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Reception#

Attack Attack! is often recognized as the primary American contributor of the style, being inspired by British band Enter Shikari. Enter Shikari is an electronicore band that began in 1999 as Hybryd, adding their last member and adopting their current name in early 2003, in St Albans, England. The group has received international radio airplay and a substantial number of musical awards, from Kerrang!, NME, Rock Sound Magazine and BT Digital Music Awards. They express a relationship with electronic music genres such as trance and have been referred to as the “kings of trancecore.” In 2020, British band Bring Me The Horizon released Post Human: Survival Horror, which has notable elements of electronicore in a few tracks such as 1x1 which features duo Nova Twins.

Electronics in rock music

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Technology#

Experiments in tape manipulation or musique concrète, early computer music and early sampling and sound manipulation technologies paved the way for both manipulating and creating new sounds through technology. The world’s first computer to play music was CSIRAC in 1950–1, designed and built by Trevor Pearcey and Maston Beard and programmed by mathematician Geoff Hill. Early electronic instruments included the theremin, which uses two metal antennas that sense the position of a player’s hands and control oscillators for frequency with one hand, and amplitude (volume) to produce an eerie but difficult to manipulate sound. It was used by avant garde and classical musicians in the early twentieth century and was used on a large number of 1940s and 50s science fiction films and suspense. Electronic musical synthesizers that could be used practically in a recording studio became available in the mid-1960s, around the same time as rock music began to emerge as a distinct musical genre. The Mellotron, an electro-mechanical, polyphonic sample-playback keyboard, which used a bank of parallel linear magnetic audio tape strips to produce a variety of sounds enjoyed popularity from the mid-1960s. The initial popularity of the Mellotron would be overtaken by the Moog synthesizer, created by Robert Moog in 1964, which produced completely electronically generated sounds which could be manipulated by pitch and frequency, allowing the “bending” of notes and considerable variety and musical virtuosity to be expressed. The early commercial Moog synthesiser was large and difficult to manipulate, but in 1970 Moog responded to its use in rock and pop music by releasing the portable Mini-moog, which was much simpler, easier to use, and proved more practical for live performance. Early synthesisers were monophonic (only able to play one note at a time), but polyphonic versions began to be produced from the mid-1970s, among the first being the Prophet-5. MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) was created in 1982, as an industry-standard protocol that enables electronic musical instruments (synthesizers, drum machines), computers and other electronic equipment (MIDI controllers, sound cards, samplers) to communicate and synchronize with each other. Unlike previous analog devices, MIDI does not transmit an audio signal, but sends event messages about pitch and intensity, control signals for parameters such as volume, vibrato and panning, cues, and clock signals to set the tempo, allowing the building of more complex music and the integration of different devices. In the new millennium, as computer technology become more accessible and music software has advanced, interacting with music production technology is now possible using means that bear no relationship to traditional musical performance practices: for instance, laptop performance (laptronica) In the last decade a number of software-based virtual studio environments have emerged, with products such as Propellerhead’s Reason, Ableton Live and Native Instruments Reaktor finding widespread appeal. Such tools provide viable and cost-effective alternatives to typical hardware-based production studios, and thanks to advances in microprocessor technology, it is now possible to create high quality music using little more than a single laptop computer. Such advances have been seen as democratizing music creation, leading to a massive increase in the amount of home-produced electronic music available to the general public via the internet.

Electropop

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Early 1980s#

Depeche Mode’s composer Martin Gore said: “For anyone of our generation involved in electronic music, Kraftwerk were the godfathers”. During the early 1980s, Japanese artists such as Yellow Magic Orchestra and Ryuichi Sakamoto and British artists such as Gary Numan, Depeche Mode, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, the Human League, Soft Cell, John Foxx and Visage helped pioneer a new synth-pop style that drew more heavily from electronic music and emphasized primary usage of synthesizers.

Emo

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Emo originated in hardcore punk and is considered a form of Early emo bands used melody and emotional or introspective lyrics and that were less structured than regular hardcore punk, differentiating them from the aggression, anger, and structures of traditional hardcore punk. According to Chris Payne, author of Where Are Your Boys Tonight?: The Oral History of Emo’s Mainstream Explosion, emo is “often more melodic, more vulnerable than traditional hardcore — and often really over the top. There are also really performative aspects in emo.” Sandra Song of CNN describes emo as a “softer approach to hardcore punk, with warbly vocals and evocative lyrics that have other bands derisively calling it the sound of ’teen angst.’” Em Casalena of American Songwriter stated that the genre is characterized by an “angsty yet kind of miserable vibe”. Despite being rooted in hardcore punk, emo has also been associated with other related genres, such as alternative rock, indie rock, punk rock, and pop punk. During the 2000s, it became common for bands to fuse emo with harder styles such as heavy metal and metalcore to varying degrees by incorporating metallic riffs, guitar solos and breakdowns into their songwriting. Bands who have released songs in this style include From First To Last, Bullet for My Valentine, Escape the Fate, Underoath and My Chemical Romance. Andrew Sacher of Brooklyn Vegan has expressed his belief that the year 2001 was a “crossroads” of sorts for the genre, stating that “emo came in a lot of different varieties” during that year. He said: “There were bands who were still playing the style of second wave emo that was prominent in the 1990s, as well as bands beginning to define the sound of the third wave. Some bands leaned more towards post-hardcore, others more towards pop punk, others towards indie rock, and others towards softer, acoustic guitar and piano-based music.” The New York Times described emo as “emotional punk or or That is, punk that wears its heart on its sleeve and tries a little tenderness to leaven its sonic attack. If it helps, imagine Ricky Nelson singing in the Sex Pistols.” Author Matt Diehl called emo a “more sensitive interpolation of punk’s mission”. Lyrics, a focus in emo music, are typically personal and confessional, Themes usually deal with topics such as failed romance, self-loathing, pain, insecurity, suicidal thoughts, love, and relationships. Emo guitar dynamics use both the softness and loudness of punk rock music. According to AllMusic, most 1990s emo bands “borrowed from some combination of Fugazi, Sunny Day Real Estate, and Weezer”. Some emo leans toward the characteristics of progressive music with the genre’s use of complex guitar work, unorthodox song structures, and extreme dynamic shifts.

Emo pop

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Emo pop is a fusion between emo and pop-punk characterized by “bright, emotional, and heavily singable” melodic composition. AllMusic describes emo pop as blending “youthful angst” with “slick production” and mainstream appeal, using “high-pitched melodies, rhythmic guitars, and confessional lyrics concerning adolescence, relationships, and heartbreak.” MasterClass describes emo pop as featuring “soaring vocals and upbeat songs with melancholy lyrics.” During the 2000s, emo pop artists would fuse the “lyrical and visual elements of emo with radio-friendly sonics of pop-punk.” Quinn Villarreal of SiriusXM said: “If you were born between 1990 and 2000, this is the emo you know and heard feverishly across U.S. pop stations.” and less extreme use of loud/soft dynamics.

Emo rap

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Publications have described emo rap as taking influence from hip hop, nu metal, post-hardcore, and cloud rap. Emo rap departs from the traditional tones found in modern mainstream hip hop in favor of more emotional and personal lyrical content, described by The Wall Street Journal as “giving their elders the finger.” Lyrics tend to focus on topics such as depression, loneliness, anxiety, consumption of drugs and alcohol, nihilism, suicide, and self-medication. The genre is characterized by its combination of musical elements commonly found in conscious hip hop with indie rock instrumentals. Sampling often uses 2000s pop punk and emo songs. Much of the sampling has been influenced by artists who inspired the genre, such as Mineral, Underoath, and the Postal Service. Some emo rappers also make use of original instrumentation. Horse Head of the collective GothBoiClique has described the music as “…sort of nostalgic, but it’s new too…no one’s really done shit like this. It’s like emo rap and melodic trap”. Fans of the music are sometimes referred to as “sad boys”, in reference to emo rapper Yung Lean’s music group by the same name.

Emo revival

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Bands of the emo revival are predominately influenced by acts from the Midwest emo scene of the 1990s and early 2000s; according to Ultimate Guitar staff writer Maria Pro, the terms second-wave emo and Midwest emo are used interchangeably to describe that time period’s scene. Revival bands often display a “DIY sound” and lyrical themes ranging from nostalgia to adulthood. Pro, however, further writes that the revival only borrowed from the second wave in terms of aesthetics; sonically, it featured a distinct fusion of math rock, post-hardcore and pop punk.

Estonian punk

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

1970s#

Punk first developed in Estonia in the 1970s. Aleksander Müller, Irwin Art, Mihkel Pilve and Richard Nool were among the first Estonian punks. As punk as a subculture is ideologically against social norms, power and mass culture, the main target of the criticism of the Estonian punk was the Soviet order. Although youth rebellion was usually limited to defiant behavior and graffiti, there were also convinced anarchists and freedom fighters, such as Hillar Mardo, among the punks. The punks at that time were mostly of one generation, born in 1960–1965. Due to the publication of beliefs, punks had a lot of problems. At the same time, punk was a way out for young people who were in trouble with the law or their parents. Basically, punks could be recognized by their far-reaching clothing. Punk was a revolt against a totalitarian state and a one-man mass culture. The driving force behind the punk was anarchism, the spread of which was hindered by the state and its established laws as factors restricting freedom. Music was an important part of punk culture. In Estonia, punk rock - a style of music that grew out of rock ’n’ roll - spread, dividing into several styles. In the West, punk jazz and punkabilly also existed. Punk music had simplicity. It was characterized by fast tempo (at least 140 beats per minute), strong amplification, a markedly aggressive playing style and sharp and straightforward lyrics. Although many punks only listened to this music, a number of bands were born in the Estonian punk movement. Most of the punk bands were limited to a maximum of one concert in their hometown and then disappeared permanently, with few performing longer. As Tallinn was the capital and largest city of the Estonian SSR, most of the punk bands operated there. In December 1979, the Tallinn punk band The Rebels was formed: Artur Poland - vocals, guitar; Ahto Moses - drums; Urmas Tangsoo - bass. The band Cheese and the Tallinn 10th Secondary School band Sex Telegramm also appeared in Tallinn, where Toomas Pertelov, Jaak Männil and others played. The Pära Trust - Jaak Arro, Veljo Vingissaar, Jüri Kermik and Hardi Volmer - emerged in the same year, the bands Kaseke and Singer Vinger, which developed later, have received opposite evaluations. Sometimes they have been considered important influences on Estonian punk. According to other sources, Pära Trust, Kaseke and Singer Vinger were not punk bands themselves, but inspired punk bands like Cheese.

Ethereal wave

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Etymology#

In the mid-1980s, several Cocteau Twins/This Mortal Coil records were described as “ethereal”, “etherealism”, and “ethereal romanticism”. Billboard, and Option music magazine, started using the term “ethereal goth” more frequently, whereas European music magazines, primarily German zines such as Glasnost, Aeterna, Entry, Black, and Astan, had named the genre “ethereal wave” in the same vein as new wave, dark wave, and cold wave. Historically, the term was mostly applied to the roster of 4AD label − not only referring to music, but also regarding aesthetics of the graphical visualization. The “ethereal” designation has been taken over by authors such as Mick Mercer and Dave Thompson to delineate the same musical phenomenon in their books, while Simon Reynolds began using the term “goth-lite” (or “post-goth”, a term he coined in 1987 ) to describe the music of Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance, and related 4AD artists. “Goth-lite” first appeared in 1995 in magazines such as CMJ New Music Monthly (Douglas Wolk) and SPIN (Jody Press) as a retroactive description of Siouxsie and the Banshees’ Tinderbox album, which heavily relies on the use of guitar pedals and studio effects in songs such as “92 Degrees” and “Land’s End”.

Experimental rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Etymology#

Experimental rock was originally referred to as “avant-garde rock and roll” by music publications throughout the mid- to late 1960s. The earliest known use of the term was in 1966, in an issue of Sing Out!, which labelled New York City band the Fugs an “avant-garde rock and roll group”. That same year, Record Research also used the term “avant-garde rock” in an issue describing the musical catalog of radio station WPMU, while the following year Canadian publication Take One used the phrase to describe California’s the Mothers of Invention and the Gas Company, as well as New York’s the Velvet Underground. By the late 1960s and 1970s, several music publications published articles using the term as well as “experimental rock”. Additionally, some experimental rock acts would be referred to as “art rock”.

Extreme metal

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Definitions#

“Extreme metal” generally refers to heavy metal that is extreme in terms of its sound, instrumentation, vocals, lyrics, and imagery. Extreme metal usually has heavily distorted guitars, harsh vocals (such as shouting, screaming and death growls), and complex drumming (such as double bass drumming and blast beats). Most extreme metal styles have very fast tempos (usually between 150 and 250 beats per minute). Most extreme metal eschews conventional melody and verse-chorus-verse song structure. It also tends to omit the blues element of traditional heavy metal. Extreme metal’s lyrics and imagery typically deal with dark themes such as death, killing, war, horror and the occult. They are often anti-Christian and may include references to Satanism or Paganism. A small number of extreme metal bands reference Nazi Germany, for example Slayer and Marduk. the defining characteristics of extreme metal are clearly transgressive: the “extreme” traits noted above are all meant to violate or transgress cultural, artistic, social or aesthetic boundaries. Kahn-Harris says that extreme metal can sometimes sound “close to being a formless noise” to the uninitiated listener. In most of the world, extreme metal does not receive much radio-play or achieve high chart positions.

First-wave black metal

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

During the first wave, black metal was not a distinct genre, but was part of a broader extreme metal umbrella alongside the earliest death metal, grindcore and thrash metal groups. It was not until around 1987 that these styles began to distinguish themselves from each other, and the borders of what now constitutes black metal were drawn. Music historian Joel McIver called Satanic lyrics and imagery the defining characteristic of the first wave of black metal. However, most bands in the wave were not Satanists; rather, they used Satanic themes to provoke controversy or gain attention. One of the few exceptions was Mercyful Fate singer and Church of Satan member King Diamond, whom Lords of Chaos authors Michael J. Moynihan and Didrik Søderlind called “one of the only performers of the ’80s Satanic metal who was more than just a poseur using a devilish image for shock value”. Metal Injection writer J Andrew cited “the speed and attitude” of punk rock and hardcore punk as what separated the style of the first wave of black metal from earlier styles of heavy metal.

Florida death metal

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Features of death metal#

Death metal is an extreme sub-genre of heavy metal music that features fast, distorted, down-tuned, and sometimes palm-muted guitar instrumentation, growled and screamed vocals, and hyper-fast, blast beat drumming. Death metal lyrics typically feature graphic, sometimes pornographic and misogynistic, themes of violence, gore, disease, and death; Satanic, blasphemous, and anti-Christian content; or, to a lesser extent, war, apocalypse, social and philosophical concerns, and esotericism and spiritualism. Through the work of producers such as Scott Burns, the raw, primitive sound of early bands transformed into a thicker, more brutal sound. and Glen Benton of Deicide also influenced the development of the death growl.

Folk metal

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Origins#

The English band Skyclad was formed in 1990 after vocalist Martin Walkyier left his previous band, the thrash metal group Sabbat. Skyclad began as a thrash metal band but added violins from session musician Mike Evans on several tracks from their debut album, The Wayward Sons of Mother Earth, an effort described by Eduardo Rivadavia of AllMusic as “ambitious” and “groundbreaking.” The song “The Widdershins Jig” from the debut album has been acclaimed as “particularly significant” and “a certain first in the realms of Metal”. With a full-time fiddler in their lineup, the band’s second album feature a “now legendary folky jig style” and “more prominent inclusion of the fiddle playing lead lines and melodies normally associated with the lead guitar parts of most other rock bands.” With the release of their debut album Wolfheart in the following year, the band made a transition into gothic metal and within a matter of years “quickly evolved into one of the major players of the European goth-metal scene.” Cruachan were formed in 1992 in Dublin, Ireland. From the outset their intention was to mix the native Irish folk music of their home country with the more extreme side of metal music. Their debut album Tuatha Na Gael was released in 1995 and was a full folk metal album from start to finish. In the Italian book Folk Metal, Dalle origini al Ragnarök, a comprehensive history of the genre, author Fabrizio Giosuè credits Cruachan as being the very first real folk metal band. He acknowledges that Skyclad did have some folk parts in some songs before Cruachan however he goes on to say Cruachan used folk music as much as they used heavy metal music. Cruachan also used arrangements of known folk songs and melodies, Skyclad wrote folk “sounding” parts. Spanish band Mägo de Oz was among early folk metal artists that were influenced by the Celtic folk music. The band introduced folk elements and instruments in their power metal-based music from their 1994 debut album. Another early developer of folk metal is the Finnish group Amorphis. They formed in 1990 with their debut album, The Karelian Isthmus, following two years later. Their sophomore effort Tales from the Thousand Lakes was released in 1994 with “plenty of fascinating melodies and song structures that drew heavily from the traditional folk music of their native country.” The album received a favorable reception from fans with “its content quickly being exalted across the metal underground as perhaps the very pinnacle of atmospheric death metal achievement.”

Folk punk

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Folk punk is related to and/or influenced by various styles such as Celtic punk, gypsy punk, anti-folk, and alternative country. Folk punk is also linked with DIY punk scenes, and bands often perform in house venues in addition to more traditional spaces. Folk-punk musicians may perform their own compositions in the style of punk rock, but using additional folk instruments, such as mandolins, accordions, banjos, and/or violins. Folk punk possesses a rich history of progressive and leftist political views, involving topics like race, class, feminism, anti-fascism, animal rights, queerness, and anarchism.

Folk rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Definition and etymology#

“Folk rock” refers to the blending of elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the U.S. and UK in the mid-1960s. Dylan also contributed to the creation of the genre, with his recordings utilizing rock instrumentation on the albums Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited, and Blonde on Blonde. The term folk rock was coined by the journalist Eliot Tiegel, who used it in Billboard magazine on June12, 1965. In his article, “Folkswinging Wave On – Courtesy of Rock Groups”, Tiegel used the term principally to describe the music of the Byrds, who issued their debut album in the U.S. later that month. In the same article, he wrote that Billy J. Kramer, Jackie DeShannon and Sonny & Cher had all started incorporating “folk-oriented material on singles”, and he listed Rising Sons, Joe and Eddie and the Lovin’ Spoonful as new folk-rock acts.

Freak folk

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Etymology#

The etymology of “freak folk” is unclear. According to Stereogum, the term “freak folk” had been in informal use for decades before solidifying into a genre. In Seasons They Change: The Story of Acid and Psychedelic Folk (2010), author Jeanette Leech claims that contemporary usage of the term is likely a bastardization of the term “free folk.” For a short period of time, the terms were to a degree used interchangeably, but by 2006 “free folk” was no longer in mainstream use. In a 1998 review of Beck’s Mutations, Joshua Clover, writing for music magazine Spin, described the music as “some old-fashioned freak-folk”. In early 2003, music magazine Arthur, one of the earliest outlets to profile freak folk artist Devendra Banhart, called him a “freaked folknik” on the cover of its second issue. On April 1, 2004, Arthur ’s Bastet imprint released the Banhart-compiled various artists album The Golden Apples of the Sun. According to Pitchfork, the compilation “assisted greatly” in defining the term “freak folk”, while Stereogum notes the aftermath of its release as “the moment when a descriptive phrase solidified into a genre”. However, according to Stereogum, by 2005 the term “freak folk” had already become oversaturated.

Freakbeat

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Etymology#

In 1986, English music journalist Phil Smee would coin the term “freakbeat” when compiling the Rubble series of compilations. AllMusic writes that “freakbeat” is loosely defined, but generally describes the more obscure but hard-edged artists of the British Invasion era.

Compilations#

Much of the material collected on Rhino Records’s 2001 box-set compilation Nuggets II: Original Artyfacts from the British Empire and Beyond, 1964–1969 can be classified as freakbeat. The English Freakbeat series is a group of five compilation albums, released in the late 1980s, that were issued by AIP Records. The LPs featured recordings that were released in the mid-1960s by English rock bands in R&B and beat genres. The series served as a follow-up to the Pebbles, Volume 6 LP, itself subtitled The Roots of Mod, which was the only album in the Pebbles series that was devoted to English music. When the English Freakbeat series was reissued as CDs in the 1990s, the Pebbles, Volume 6 LP was adapted into the English Freakbeat, Volume 6 CD.

Freestyle music

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

1982–1987: Origin#

Freestyle music developed in the early 1980s, primarily simultaneously in the Hispanic (mainly Puerto Rican/Latin) communities of Upper Manhattan, Brooklyn, and The Bronx and in the Italian-American communities in Brooklyn, the Bronx, other boroughs of New York City, New Jersey, Westchester County and Long Island. It initially was a fusion of synthetic instrumentation and syncopated percussion of 1980s electro, as favored by fans of breakdancing. Sampling, as found in synth-pop music and hip-hop, was incorporated. Key influences include Afrika Bambaataa & Soul Sonic Force’s “Planet Rock” (1982) and Shannon’s “Let the Music Play” (1983), the latter was a top-ten Billboard Hot 100 hit. In 1984, a Latin presence was established when the first song recorded in the genre by a Latin American artist, “Please Don’t Go”, by newcomer Nayobe (a singer from Brooklyn and of Cuban descent) was recorded and released. The song became a success, reaching No. 23 on the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart. In 1985, a Spanish version of the song was released with the title “No Te Vayas”. By 1987, freestyle began getting more airplay on American pop radio stations. Songs such as “Come Go with Me” by Exposé, “Show Me” by the Cover Girls, “Fascinated” by Company B, “Silent Morning” by Noel, and “Catch Me (I’m Falling)” by Pretty Poison, brought freestyle into the mainstream. House music, based partly on disco rhythms, was by 1992 challenging the relatively upbeat, syncopated freestyle sound. Pitchfork considers the Miami Mix of ABC’s single “When Smokey Sings” to be proto-freestyle, despite that version being released in 1987. Many early or popular freestyle artists and DJs were of Hispanic or Italian descent, including Jellybean, Tony Torres, Raul Soto, Roman Ricardo, Mickey Garcia (who is of both Italian and Puerto Rican descent), Lil Suzy, and Nocera, which was one reason for the style’s popularity among Hispanic Americans and Italian Americans in the New York City area and Philadelphia.

French punk

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The 1970s#

By the early 1970s, Les punks, a Parisian subculture of Lou Reed fans, had already become well established. Initially, two central figures were Marc Zermati, who had founded Skydog Records in Paris in 1972, owned the Open Market record shop, and promoted American and British bands in France; and Michel Esteban, the owner of the Harry Cover rock merchandise shop and founder of Rock News magazine, who had associated with leading punk and new wave musicians in New York City. The first European Punk Rock Festival, organised by Zermati, took place at Mont-de-Marsan on 21 August 1976, and featured French bands Bijou, Il Biaritz and Shakin’ Street, as well as The Damned. Zermati later said: “The real punk movement started in New York, and Paris came before the UK because we were really connected to New York… it was exciting because we thought we were conspiring against the establishment.” He also claimed that he persuaded Malcolm McLaren to call the movement “punk” rather than McLaren’s preferred term, “new wave”. An important influence on the style and content of the movement in the UK was the French Situationist movement, led by Guy Debord. Formed in 1976, Métal Urbain and Stinky Toys were two of the first French punk bands, although at the time most French punk fans preferred English or American punk. Generally regarded as the most original of the early French punk bands, Métal Urbain gave their first performance in December 1976. Stinky Toys’ debut single, “Boozy Creed”, came out in September 1977 and was perhaps the first non-English-language punk rock record. The following month, Métal Urbain’s first 45, “Panik”, appeared. Other French groups formed, such as Abject and Dentist in Nice, Strychnine in Bordeaux, Starshooter in Lyon. In London, French all-girl group The Lou’s were part of the scene, as well as Private Vices, who featured three French members out of four, including Bruno Blum, who at the time wrote for influential French rock magazine Best. Most of these early groups, including Les Olivensteins and The Dogs, can be heard on the 1984 Les Plus Grands Succès du Punk (Skydog) double CD anthology.

Frenchcore

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Frenchcore is a product of the rave and freetekno scenes in France dating back to the mid-1990s. The first frenchcore act, Micropoint, was founded by DJ Radium and Al Core in 1992. In 1994, DJ Radium focused on his solo career and became known as the most significant contributor to the genre in the late 1990s. He founded Psychik Genocide, one of the first frenchcore labels. Radium eventually became a touring artist and performed across Europe and in the United States. The genre remained underground for many years, being based mostly in France and Italy with artists as Androgyn Network, The Sickest Squad, Psiko, Maissouille, X-Fly and DOM. In the second half of the 2000s the genre, which initially relied on industrial loops, percussion, vocal chops and rhythmic effects, started to develop an alternative melodic and psychedelic style, influenced by UK hardcore and trance music. This trend, initially experimented with by artists such as The Speed Freak, Hunterwolf and Roms, took a different direction from the classic frenchcore sound pioneered by DJ Radium. The 2010s saw the reinvention of frenchcore, the rise of new artists, and a heavy Dutch influence as the genre became increasingly more popular in the Netherlands. In 2011, the first edition of “Frenchcore S’il Vous Plait” took place in Culemborg; 2012’s edition of Thunderdome, the world’s biggest hardcore festival, had an area dedicated exclusively to frenchcore. In 2014, Defqon.1, the world’s largest hardstyle festival, added a frenchcore stage for the first time. The releases on Peacock Records deepened the shift in the genre to an even more harmonic and modern sound created by younger producers. In 2016, modern frenchcore’s popularity expanded beyond Europe for the first time when Dr. Peacock toured through the United States with performances in New York City, Denver, Phoenix and Pittsburgh. Dr. Peacock also performed in Sydney, Australia, that same year. Several members of Peacock Records started taking more inspiration from hardstyle artists and calling their genre “Euphoric frenchcore” around the year 2016. With the new melodic influence in the genre, the style began to appeal to listeners of hardstyle. Many frenchcore artists began experimenting with the integration of live instruments in their performances, as opposed to performances only using DJ equipment. The genre’s popularity grew rapidly when Dr. Peacock’s 17 year old protégé Sefa released his first album “Leven is Lijden” in 2018. The album introduced many hardstyle fans to frenchcore, and Sefa began to perform at major hardstyle festivals regularly. Frenchcore’s presence at harder styles festivals grew in the year 2018. Dr. Peacock performed on the main stage of Defqon.1 and closed out Qlimax, Q-dance’s yearly indoor event at the Gelredome. He was the first artist to play a frenchcore set in the event’s history. In 2019, Sefa was responsible for the first frenchcore Defqon.1 anthem, and performed the closing set of the festival. The music industry suffered significant losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, causing many events to happen virtually. Dr. Peacock performed with live musicians at the Pyramid of Austerlitz as part of the virtual edition of Defqon.1, and Sefa performed in a hot air balloon as part of Mysteryland’s virtual edition. That summer, Masters of Hardcore launched a new euphoric frenchcore label in collaboration with Re-Style, Rapture Records. In the fall of 2020, Q-dance released their first film Qlimax: The Source, which features a frenchcore section produced by Sefa. The film was added to Netflix on December 22. In 2021, Dr. Peacock and Sefa performed with several live musicians on the Dutch sailboat De Vrijheid on the IJsselmeer as part of Defqon.1 at Home. A few days later, they played a 30 minute frenchcore set on Dutch national radio station SLAM!. In the end of the summer, Sefa performed frenchcore sets at multiple Unmute Us protests in Amsterdam in protest of the Dutch government’s treatment of the entertainment sector during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. The protests filled the streets of Amsterdam with 70,000 protestors. At the Leiden edition of the protests in September, frenchcore and uptempo event organization BKJN Events organised a full lineup of frenchcore and uptempo music at the protest.

Funeral doom

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

An offshoot of death-doom, the genre was mostly inspired by the work of Autopsy, Winter, Cathedral and early Paradise Lost. Funeral doom truly came into being in the mid-1990s. The genre was birthed out of Finland; Thergothon and Skepticism are commonly cited as the earliest two bands in the style, as well as Unholy. Outside Scandinavia, the lines between death-doom and funeral doom pioneers were less clear cut. diSEMBOWELMENT, from Australia, Birmingham-based Esoteric, and American act Evoken are examples. With the turn of the millennium came releases of newer bands, such as Shape of Despair, Mournful Congregation, the “Nautik Doom” group Ahab and one-man-projects Nortt and Doom:VS. Funeral doom scenes cropped up over the world, such as the one in Russia. The Solitude Productions label, for example, became a major force in shaping its future. Like no metal subgenre before it, the internet boom greatly helped funeral doom reach new fans. Another sign of funeral doom’s increasing status was Peaceville’s move to buy the rights of Avantgarde Music’s back catalogue. Responsible for launching the careers of Autopsy, Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride and Anathema, Peaceville was the major player in shaping what became known as death-doom. This now meant that Peaceville had a significant stake in funeral doom’s history: it owned all of Thergothon’s and Unholy’s discography, along with two Evoken albums. Although it has a substantial following, funeral doom has also its share of criticism. Chronicles of Chaos co-editor Pedro Azevedo argued that, to the average listener, funeral doom might sound “boring and repetitive”. Ciarán Tracey, in an article for Terrorizer, acknowledged that the increasing popularity of funeral doom also meant that it now had its “share of hangers-on and can act as a repository for pseudo-literary teen poetry and artless abstraction, so a certain critical scrutiny has become necessary.”

Funk metal

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Funk metal has also been called thrash-funk or punk-funk. It was most prevalent in the American state of California, particularly in Los Angeles and San Francisco. According to AllMusic, funk metal “takes the loud guitars and riffs of heavy metal and melds them to the popping bass lines and syncopated rhythms of funk”. Faith No More, another Californian alternative group who emerged in the mid-1980s, have been described as a funk metal band that also dabbled in rap metal. Rage Against the Machine’s mix of funk and metal not only included rap, but also elements of hardcore. AllMusic formerly categorized funk metal as a style of alternative rock, in spite of the genre’s name. The website currently categorizes it as a style of heavy metal. Bands such as Primus and Mordred emerged from the thrash metal underground. Roy Shuker described the genre in his 1994 book Understanding Popular Music, writing: “the ‘classic’ distinction between rock and pop runs into some difficulties when we consider various forms of ‘alternative’ music, illustrating the difficulties of forcing genres into too rigid a typology. For example, where would we place the wild musical genre called ’thrash funk’, a fusion of 1970s funk, punk rock, rap, California surf, skateboard and hippy cultures, which, according to press reports, swept San Francisco clubs in 1990.” Shuker wrote about the genre again in the 2005 edition of his book Popular Music: The Key Concepts, calling it “less structured than earlier forms of metal, with the bass guitar relied on more than the lead.” The genre managed to gain some international popularity through foreign acts such as British groups Atom Seed and Scat Opera, as well as Super Junky Monkey, an all-female funk metal/avant-garde band from Japan. Although never breaking through in the United States, Swedish band Electric Boys attracted recognition throughout Europe, Funk metal’s prevalence in the late 1980s and 1990–91 predated the rise of grunge music in late 1991, which hurt the popularity of more traditional forms of hard rock/metal. In a January 1991 Spin article, Electric Boys singer Conny Bloom claimed funk metal had become a trend since people thought other hard rock of that era was “boring”.

Funk rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

1960s and 1970s#

Sly and the Family Stone gained funk rock hits such as “Sing a Simple Song” and “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)”. The Jimi Hendrix Experience album Electric Ladyland also included a couple of funk rock songs, such as “Gypsy Eyes” and “Still Raining, Still Dreaming”. George Clinton has been considered the godfather of this genre since 1970. Clinton created the name “P-Funk” include Funkadelic and Parliament for the innovative new concepts of funk that he culled from former members of James Brown’s band (such as Maceo Parker, Bootsy Collins and Fred Wesley) and new young players such as Eddie Hazel. His groups, Funkadelic and Parliament, practically defined funk since the release of the influential funk rock Funkadelic classic Maggot Brain (1971). Later funk rock albums by the group include Cosmic Slop, Standing on the Verge of Getting It On, Hardcore Jollies and Let’s Take It to the Stage. Later albums such as One Nation Under a Groove and Electric Spanking of War Babies had a bit more radio-friendly sound but still preserved much of group’s funk rock approach. Grand Funk Railroad pioneered the bass driven hard rock funk style in 1970 so well portrayed in their cover of the Animals song Inside-Looking Out and later picked up by Rage Against the Machine. Composer and guitarist Frank Zappa demonstrated the merge of styles in albums like Overnite Sensation, in themes such as “I’m the Slime”, covered in concert decades later by Funkadelic. Other pioneers evolved in the 1970s are American artists Rick Derringer, Redbone, the Bar-Kays, and Mother’s Finest. “We called ourselves funk rock”, recalled Mother’s Finest singer Glenn “Doc” Murdock. “I think we invented that. We even had a house where we all lived and we named it ‘Funk Rock, Georgia’. We felt that we were headlining that whole genre. We played with Lynyrd Skynyrd and AC/DC. Those bands had a lot of funk in their music. The real problem for us was when we played in black clubs. They told us we were too loud.” Funk rock acts were not favored by R&B recording companies. For example, Nile Rodgers, guitarist of Chic, wanted to be a rock band like Roxy Music, but they eventually became a disco act after being turned down by recording companies. Despite its considerable influence on later popular music, funk rock was not a very visible phenomenon during the 1970s. Only a few funk rock acts could be seen on record charts, notably David Bowie (“Fame”, 1975), Aerosmith (“Last Child”, 1976), The Rolling Stones (“Hot Stuff”, 1975), Gary Wright (“Love Is Alive”, 1976) and Steve Winwood (“I’m A Man”). When Glenn Hughes left Trapeze and joined Deep Purple along with David Coverdale, Deep Purple’s next two albums contained elements of funk and soul. When Ritchie Blackmore left Deep Purple in 1975, the band’s next album Come Taste the Band with Tommy Bolin was even more funky than its predecessor Stormbringer. However, Deep Purple broke up in 1976 and Tommy Bolin died from a drug overdose.

Future garage

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Details#

Future garage incorporates a variety of influences from UK garage and softer elements from 2-step garage. The name was coined by Whistla before the appearance of Future Garage Forum in November 2009. In Issue 108 of MusicTech Magazine from March 2013, it was suggested that future garage should employ re-pitched vocals, soft leads with a round attack or an acoustic lead, subbass or a square wave bass with a modulating filter, and a four-to-the-floor or 2-step garage drum beat with off-the-grid hi-hats. The distinct swing in future garage drum beats is the focus on “late” or humanized hi-hats between the kick and snare patterns.

Gabber

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Origins#

Gabber is a style of electronic music and a subgenre of hardcore. It was derived from house and techno in the early 1990s. blended with house-style breakbeats and hi-hat fillers. The music is generally between 140 and 190 beats per minute with samples taken from films or other tracks. The word gabber comes from an Amsterdam Bargoens slang, based on the Hebrew chaver meaning “mate” or “friend”, loaned through Yiddish. The word gained popularity in the Rotterdam music scene and people started to call themselves “gabbers”. Some, however, state that ‘gabber’ derives from usage at house clubs which gabbers visited, where ‘gabber’ became an insult that club security used to collectively describe these people, with often raucous and hooliganish behaviour, that were often seen as undesirable.

Gabberpop

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Beginnings and Success#

The genre emerged in the 1990s. The rise of gabberpop is exemplified by groups like Hakkûhbar and Party Animals, which capitalized on the popularity of happy hardcore. These groups gained fame by combining elements of hardcore with more accessible pop music and even children’s nursery rhymes. This approach helped them attract a broader audience. However, some members of the gabber scene viewed this evolution negatively. They saw the rise of “sold-out” artists, such as Gabber Piet and his parody hit Hakke & zage (which mixes children’s pop with gabber), as an attack on the original core of gabber culture.

Garage punk (fusion genre)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Etymology#

The earliest known use of the term “garage punk” appeared in Lenny Kaye’s track-by-track liner notes for the 1972 psychedelic music compilation Nuggets to describe a song by the 1960s garage rock band the Shadows of Knight as “classic garage punk”. The term “punk rock” was originally used to describe the music of mid-1960s American garage bands. When referring to 1960s groups, the term “garage punk” is usually deployed interchangeably with “garage rock”. MTVs Beverly Bryan says that “garage punk” may be used “more likely” to refer to “garage rock” or “garage revival”. While garage bands varied in style, the label of garage punk has been attributed by critic Michael Hann to the “toughest, angriest garage rockers” such as the 13th Floor Elevators and the Sonics.

Garage rock

History#

Fronted by Pop Will Eat Itself, the Wonder Stuff and Ned’s Atomic Dustbin, the bands quickly gained attention: Pop Will Eat Itself’s 1989 singles “Wise Up! Sucker” and “Can U Dig It?” both entered the UK Top 40 and Stourbridge briefly became a tourist attraction for young indie rock fans. The seminal albums from the scene were released between 1989 and 1993: the Wonder Stuff’s Hup and Never Loved Elvis; Ned’s Atomic Dustbin’s God Fodder and Are You Normal?; and Pop Will Eat Itself’s This Is the Day…This Is the Hour…This Is This! and The Looks or the Lifestyle?. In this period, the scene’s bands became fixtures, sometimes headliners, at Reading Festival, sold millions of albums and were frequently featured on the covers of magazines like NME and Melody Maker. Grebo bands were distinct from prior indie rock groups not only because of their broad influences, but their subversion of the twee or unhappy moods of most other bands in the genre, and their pursuit of a heavier sound and aesthetic. The scene came to include the stylistically similar bands of nearby Leicester: the Bomb Party, Gaye Bykers on Acid, Crazyhead, the Hunters Club and Scum Pups. The term has also been used to describe Jesus Jones from Wiltshire. A younger subset of grebo bands emerged around 1991, who were in turn labelled “fraggle” bands. During this movement, the dominant sound was a style of indie rock that was heavily indebted to punk and Nirvana’s Bleach album, while also occasionally making use of drum machines.

Greek punk

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Notable Bands#

Deus Ex Machina
Panx Romana
Genia Tou Chaous
Adiexodo
Thrax Punks
Naftia

External links#

Punk.gr information on Greek punk in English (Archived)
DIY Greek Punk/Crust/HC and more page on DIY Greek punk movement and punk collective
Diymusic site on Greek diy movement
Anexartisi site with many resources, also many Greek rock bands
Words and Stuff articles on Greek punk, punk rock show reviews and zines
squathost more links
Greek_Punk_blogspot Downloads, lives …

Grindcore

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Known for being “among the noisiest, fastest and rawest kinds of metal,” grindcore is influenced by crust punk, thrashcore, as well as noise musical acts like Swans. The name derives from the fact that grind is a British term for thrash; that term was prepended to -core from hardcore. Grindcore relies on standard hardcore punk instrumentation: electric guitar, bass and drums. A characteristic of some grindcore songs is the “microsong,” lasting only a few seconds. In 2001, the Guinness Book of World Records awarded Brutal Truth the record for “Shortest Music Video” for 1994’s “Collateral Damage” (the song lasts four seconds). In 2007, the video for the Napalm Death song “You Suffer” set a new “Shortest Music Video” record: 1.3 seconds. Beyond the microsong, it is characteristic of grindcore to have short songs in general; for example, Carcass’ debut album Reek of Putrefaction (1988) consists of 22 tracks with an average length of 1 minute and 48 seconds. It is common for grindcore albums to be very short when compared to other genres, usually consisting of a large track list but having a total length of only 15 to 20 minutes. Many grindcore groups experiment with tuned-down guitars and play mostly with downstrokes of the pick, power chords and heavy distortion. While the vinyl A-side of Napalm Death’s debut, 1987’s Scum, is set to Eb tuning, on side B, the guitars are tuned down to C. Their second album From Enslavement to Obliteration and the Mentally Murdered EP were tuned to C ♯. Harmony Corruption, their third full-length album, was tuned up to a D. Bolt Thrower went further, dropping 3½ steps down (A). The bass playing is often overdriven.

Grindie

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

In 2004, music journalist John Doran coined the term “grindie” as a joke. It was later adopted by grime producer Statik and the NME. The genre initially received some criticisms by grime fans who perceived it to be a fad created by magazines, rather than a fully fledged scene. Akira the Don, who signed to Interscope Records in 2004, released multiple mixtapes sampling rock and indie artists, including the “Third Hand Wire Riffs” mixtape featuring Elastica, Big Narstie, Lethal Bizzle, Martin Carr of the Boo Radleys and others. Jack Nimble and Marvin the Martian / Marv the Marsh have been credited for creating the first grindie song, “Stay Off the Kane”, released in 2005. The song was a remix of Art Brut’s song “Emily Kane”. Art Brut later invited Why Lout?, the group Marvin and Jack Nimble were members of, to be the opening act for them at Koko. In 2006, the group released Hoods & Badges EP on the Universal Digital record label. Akira the Don produced tracks for grime star Big Narstie’s “What’s the Story Brixton Glory” mixtape that sampled Oasis and Arctic Monkeys, that was later cited as an influence by Ed Sheeran. Grime artist Lethal Bizzle became a prominent artist in the subgenre, releasing multiple top 40 hits produced by Akira the Don that sampled the Clash, the Breeders and Sham 69, also collaborating with Statik, the Rakes, Babyshambles, Bloc Party, and Test Icicles. Lethal Bizzle was at the time struggling due to clubs banning him from performing. Grindie allowed Lethal Bizzle to find a new, indie, audience and platform. Charli XCX was dubbed the “Grindie Princess” during her early career. Hadouken! was also associated with the scene.

Groove metal

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Groove metal makes use of elements of thrash metal, but plays them in a slower tempo, making use of bouncy, unconventional rhythms. Music journalist Gary Graff also noted the influence of hardcore punk as integral to groove metal.

Origins#

In their book Hellraisers: A Complete Visual History of Heavy Metal Mayhem, journalists Axl Rosenberg and Christopher Krovatin traced the origins of groove metal to New Orleans’ Exhorder and New York’s Prong. Exhorder, formed in 1985, recorded their first demo in the summer of 1986, The band were immediately influential in the New Orleans metal scene, with pioneering sludge metal bands Eyehategod, Soilent Green and Crowbar all playing some of their earliest live performances in support of them. Prong, on the other hand, originated from the New York hardcore scene. The band originally played crossover thrash before slowing their tempos and incorporating heavier percussion on their second album Beg to Differ (1990). A number of writers have also noted the Bad Brains’s post-1987 music, particularly Quickness (1989), as helping to pioneer the genre. White Zombie, formed in 1985, playing music influenced by the noise rock of Honeymoon Killers, Swans and Pussy Galore, 1970s rock of Van Halen, Kiss and AC/DC, as well as Black Sabbath, the Cramps and gothic rock. Their early career was spent playing in the New York City noise rock scene, before being approached by the members of the Cro-Mags and Biohazard to instead begin playing in the New York hardcore scene. During this time, some New York hardcore bands were embracing metal influence and grooves, to the extent that bands including Sick of It All and Leeway self-identified as “Jackson Heights groove metal”. White Zombie began leaning into the nascent sound of groove metal on their second album Make Them Die Slowly (1989). The band achieved mainstream success in the mid-1990s, with La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Volume One (1992) peaking at number 2 on the Heatseekers Albums chart in 1993 and was certified double-platinum by the RIAA in July 1998. White Zombie’s music videos were featured on Beavis and Butt-Head, helping to increase the band’s sales. Their 1995 follow-up Astro Creep: 2000 peaked at number 6 on the Billboard 200 and sold 104,000 copies in its first week of release; it was certified double-platinum by the RIAA. White Zombie’s song “More Human than Human” achieved mainstream success in 1995, peaking at number 53 on Billboard ’s Radio Songs chart, number 7 on the Alternative Songs chart, and number 10 on the Mainstream Rock Songs chart. The song was played frequently on MTV and won the Best Metal/Hard Rock Video award at the 1995 MTV Video Music Awards. Venice crossover thrash band Excel’s second album The Joke’s on You (1989) took a more groove-driven direction. Far Out cited the introduction to the track “Tapping into the Emotional Void” as an early example of groove metal. Texas heavy metal band Pantera’s 1990 album Cowboys from Hell is often considered the album that codified and popularized groove metal. They continued releasing influential albums through the 1990s; the 1992 album Vulgar Display of Power featured an even heavier sound than its predecessor, while its follow-up Far Beyond Driven (1994) peaked at number 1 on the Billboard 200, selling 186,000 copies its first week of release. Thrash pioneers Metallica’s Black Album (1991) included multiple groove metal tracks, including “Sad but True” and “The Struggle Within”. Brazilian band Sepultura, previously established as having a deathrash sound, released their fifth studio album Chaos A.D. in 1993, which saw the band slow their tempos and embrace the influence of New York hardcore acts like the Cro-Mags, Agnostic Front and Sick of It All. Sound of the Beast author Ian Christe credited Chaos A.D. with helping to developing groove metal and as being widely influential. Machine Head released their debut album Burn My Eyes in 1994. The album helped the band achieve underground success and sold over 145,000 copies.

Group sounds

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

External links#

Cutie Morning Moon - Dedicated to Japanese 1960s garage punk
The Video Beat - What are the Group Sounds?
Showapop - Group Sounds Record & CD articles in English
Trans World ’60s Punk:Cutie Morning Moon - Provides Information Mostly About Garage Bands From Outside the United States

Grunge

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Etymology#

The term “grunge” is American slang for “someone or something that is repugnant” and also for “dirt”. In 1988, it was first recorded as being applied to Seattle musicians in a Sub Pop mail order catalog, when Bruce Pavitt described Green River’s Dry as a Bone EP as “Gritty vocals, roaring Marshall amps. Ultra-loose GRUNGE that destroyed the morals of a generation”. Although the phrase “grunge” has been used to describe bands since the 1960s, this was the first association of grunge with the sound of a Seattle rock band. Nirvana’s frontman Kurt Cobain, in one of his final interviews, credited Jonathan Poneman, cofounder of Sub Pop, with coining the term “grunge” to describe the music. The term “Seattle sound” became a marketing ploy for the music industry. Seattle musician Jeff Stetson states that when he visited Seattle in the late 1980s and early 1990s as a touring musician, the local musicians did not refer to themselves as “grunge” performers or their style as “grunge” and they were not flattered that their music was being called “grunge”. Robert Loss acknowledges the challenges of defining “grunge”; he stated that, while he can recount stories about grunge, they do not serve to provide a useful definition. Roy Shuker states that the term “obscured a variety of styles.” Stetson states that prominent bands considered to be grunge (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Mudhoney and Hammerbox) all sound different.

Grungegaze

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Etymology#

During the 2010s, Spotify had used the genre tag “dreamo” to describe the genre, which is a portmanteau of “emo” and “dream” (referencing its reverb-heavy guitars). “Grungegaze” was uncommon during this time. In 2021, Spotify began also tagging the genre as “grungegaze”, which was the common name by 2023. while in 2017 Vice Media had used it to refer to Goon.

Characteristics#

Grungegaze makes use of simple, heavy guitar riffs, thick guitar tones, hazey production and dynamics where verses are soft and choruses are loud. Clash writer Tom Morgan compared the genre’s lyrics to “teenage bedroom poetry”, noting them as “vague” and “undercooked”. Often, vocals are subdued in verses. It is rooted in soft grunge music and fourth-wave emo, incorporating grunge, shoegaze and alternative metal, and making use of emo-influenced melodies and harmonies. incorporating grunge’s energy, and shoegaze’s use of effects units. Everything Is Noise writer Carlos Vélez-Cancel called it “grunge and shoegaze-influenced alt rock”, noting it as caring more about “immersion”. Pittsburgh City Paper called it a fusion of “hardcore, metal, and alt-rock into a new idiom”, calling it a “genre-agnostic landscape”. Trblezine writer Tom Morgan called it “a blend of grunge and shoegaze with emo and hardcore elements thrown in”. Bands in the genre often use a visuals inspired by the Y2K aesthetic, particularly through VHS-inspired videography.

Guatemalan rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Guatemalan Rock Music#

Spanish language rock music originated in mid-1960s Guatemala. One of the biggest acts of this early period was Luis Galich and his band Santa Fé. Santa Fé played gigs and concerts in Guatemala City and across greater Guatemala. Bands such as Plástico Pesado (later renamed Quetzalumán), which was composed of Manu Ramirez, Tacuche, Rollin y Paco Lam, expanded Guatemalan rock, experimenting with psychedelic influences and original material. Other psychedelic bands of the time included: S.O.S. (Rony de Leon, Chepito Hope, David de Gandarias, Armando Fong), Caballo Loco, Apple Pie (Tito Henkle, Luis Zetina, Rico Molina & Gentry), Cuerpo y Alma, Banda Clásica, Cerebro, La Compañía, Siglo XX, Eclipse, and Pastel de Fresa. One remarkable milestone was the unprecedented creation in 1973–74 of the rock opera Corazón del sol naciente (Heart of the Sunrise) by Sol Naciente, a large youth group of dancers, vocalists, an extended chorus, as well as a band which included Guatemalan percussion instruments and unplugged acoustic guitars, piano, and solo violin. Some of the band members later formed the group Alción. A very important and popular band during the late 1990s and early 2000s was Alux Nahual. They are one of the Spanish lyric writing/singing rock bands that have released a number of recordings in Guatemala. In the beginning, they were heavily influenced by progressive rock’ bands such as Kansas (band) and Jethro Tull (band). Though they added a very important native theme to their lyrics, it never really evolved into their sound. Their members are active musicians playing reunion concerts but mostly keep working as individuals producing and performing. Another popular band was Extincion, which opened for bands such as Control Machete and Enrique Bunbury. They were characterized by their hard lyrics and speed metal sounds. Guatemalan rock bands such as Radio Viejo, Ricardo Andrade y los Últimos Adictos (which disbanded after their leader, Ricardo Andrade, was murdered in Sanarate, El Progreso), Bohemia Suburbana, Viernes verde and Viento en Contra enjoyed popularity among high-school and college students during the 1990s and 2000s. Also popular were Fabulas and La Tona, and Bohemia Suburbana, the most influential band to emerge from the scene around that decade. Fusing influences like U2 and Soda Stereo, Bohemia Suburbana created something rooted in well-crafted melodies and arrangements. Their most noted influences came from underground American and European sounds and some from South America and the Caribbean. The band has been active again after their reunion in 2012 called BS20; they released a new album entitled Imaginaria Sonora which put them back in the Guatemalan rock scene. Their recent single/video Pero Nadie received 20,000 views in one day. Additionally, Viernes Verde, who formed in 1993 (around the same time as Bohemia Suburbana) has continued to perform despite numerous lineup changes. Viernes Verde are also the founders of the rock festival La Garra Chapina, which was created by them to help newcomers get into the Guatemalan rock industry. According to their official band web page, the idea of this concert was to transmit their message through audiovisual aids to represent historical Guatemalan moments. This concert event was one of the first to be broadcast in its entirety by national radio stations in Guatemala. It had a full house and has been continued annually since 1999. Viernes Verde started as a grunge band, but has evolved to play different music styles which gives the band one of its distinctive characteristics. The sounds of Viernes Verde, based on the majority of their songs, would be described as alternative rock. One of the main factors that allowed the group to gain such a strong popularity is their ability to appeal to a broad audience. On their first album titled, Cenizas Bajo Tus Pies, they have six tracks in Spanish and four in English. Having songs in both languages allows them the opportunity to connect with a larger audience. Some Guatemalan rock bands active in the present are: Razones de Cambio, El Tambor de la Tribu, Malacates Trebol Shop, Viernes verde, Redhka, La Gran Calabaza, El Clubo, Viento en Contra, Anarkia, Sinattra, Legión, Vitriolo, Bohemia Suburbana, and Especies, among many others. Newer bands, like 4 Tiempos, have emerged in the early 2000s. Hedras Ramos is a young rock guitar player, perhaps the most prolific guitarist representing Guatemala in countries like England and Romania at rock world guitar competitions like Guitar Idol and Ziua Chitarelor 3 respectively. Guatemalan Rock and Roll came to be an influence in the broader Guatemalan society and was synonymous with rebellion, yet it never provided a medium in which a broad base of youth from the 60s and 70s could make something influential enough to affect change in all sectors of society. There were some major factors that prohibited it from being popularly accepted among the country of Guatemalans. During this period, there was a lot of corruption and social unrest in Guatemala. The police would often search and arrest audience members at rock gigs, as well as many other types of gatherings. On occasion, musicians would go missing and never be found or would be found dead. Another factor was that rock music was mainly produced in English. It took some time for the transition of rock music from English to Spanish to be accepted as rock by the people. Today, the sound of the bands has so much to do with what North America produces, and the only efforts to make something original have been attempts to fuse native elements with a rock sound. A unique case on the scene is the rock band Sobrevivencia from Huehuetenango, whose lyrics are sung in Mam, a Mayan language spoken in the Guatemalan northwest. In 2011, a new movement was born called El Ritmo de La Paz created by the company Impulsos Creativos. Its main approach was for new or amateur rock bands to compete for the prize of recording their first album with the company and promotion in the media. 13 amateur bands joined the movement and only seven made it to the finals; they played along with professional bands at Parque de la Industria such as Silent Poetry, Conciencia Sublime, Arena Rock, Nova Epica, Bhios (Huehuetenango), Artifice and Metal Requiem. The winner of the contest was a band called Iridium Mas Alla de Mi Tierra who have been promoted by Impulsos Creativos. They have appeared on national television, and they have been interviewed and their songs played on national radio stations. They are recording their first album as they play numerous concerts. El Ritmo de La Paz is an annual Rock Festival with a message for the utopian peace that every Guatemalan desires.

Gypsy punk

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

The origin of the term “gypsy punk” may be disputable, but it is agreed that the Romani culture is how the style of it began. The Romani people, who are spread out throughout the world, have affected the music industry in the west as seen through bands such as Gogol Bordello. Eastern European and traditional instrumentation and multilingual lyrics are both common characteristics of Romani music. In the case of Gogol Bordello, the upbeat tempo and “punk scream-singing” along with these common “gypsy” characteristics create a concrete example of what is known as gypsy punk. “The word ‘gypsy’ coupled with the term ‘punk’ has interesting implications in that punk encapsulates a particular mode of rebellion, anarchy, and resistance in a Western context”, which is good to note since at the time Gogol Bordello and other bands were introducing this genre, “the punk movement became identified in mass culture as the definitive statement of the annihilation of musical and societal norms, collectively rejecting the rules of the past because of the bleak and hypocritical present and future they provided”. This is to say that the Roma that have settled down in the west have taken elements from “Romani music in a style that is indebted to Western punk”. Because gypsy punk is a mixture of traditional music and popular music to the western culture, the Romani are colonizing and seemingly settling into a loose identity of their own. The music itself “is considered to be a post-colonial movement”.

Happy hardcore

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Origins#

The breakbeat hardcore rave scene was beginning to fragment by late 1992 into a number of subsequent breakbeat-based genres: darkcore (tracks embracing dark-themed samples and stabs), hardcore jungle (reggae basslines and influences became prominent), and 4-beat also known as “happy hardcore” where piano rolls and uplifting vocals were still central to the sound. DJs such as Slipmatt, DJ Sy , DJ Seduction , Clarkee , Wishdokta, DJ Dougal, DJ Vibes , and Billy Daniel Bunter continued to play and put out music of this nature throughout 1994 – notably Slipmatt’s ‘SMD’ releases, Wishdokta recording as the ‘Naughty Naughty’ pseudonym, and Seduction on his Impact Records label, as well as the labels Hectic, Homegrown, Kniteforce, and Just Another Label. Dreamscape, Helter Skelter, and Fusion were among the raves where the music was played.

Hard rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Definitions#

Hard rock is a form of loud, aggressive rock music. The electric guitar is often emphasised, used with distortion and other effects, both as a rhythm instrument using repetitive riffs with a varying degree of complexity, and as a solo lead instrument. The bass guitar works in conjunction with the drums, occasionally playing riffs, but usually providing a backing for the rhythm and lead guitars. In the late-1960s, the term heavy metal was used interchangeably with hard rock, but gradually began to be used to describe music played with even more volume and intensity. While hard rock maintained a bluesy rock and roll identity, including some swing in the back beat and riffs that tended to outline chord progressions in their hooks, heavy metal’s riffs often functioned as stand-alone melodies and had no swing in them. In the 1980s, heavy metal developed a number of subgenres, often termed extreme metal, some of which were influenced by hardcore punk, and which further differentiated the two styles. Despite this differentiation, hard rock and heavy metal have coexisted with one another, with bands frequently flirting with the boundaries of, or hybridizing the genres.

Hardcore punk in the United Kingdom

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

1980s#

The first wave of UK hardcore punk is often referred to as “UK 82” or simply “second wave punk”. The sound of the groups from this era is called street punk through its building upon the previous punk sound and added the heavy drumbeats and distorted guitar sound of new wave of British heavy metal bands and Motörhead. The term “UK 82” was taken from Edinburgh band the Exploited’s song of the same name. They contrasted with early American hardcore bands by placing an emphasis on appearance. Frontman Walter “Wattie” Buchan had a giant red mohawk and the band continued to wear swastikas, an approach influenced by the wearing of this symbol by 1970s punks such as Sid Vicious. Because of this, the Exploited were labelled by others in the scene as “cartoon punks”. Formed in 1977 in Stoke-on-Trent, Discharge were of the most prominent bands in UK 82. AllMusic calls the band’s sound a “high-speed noise overload” characterized by “ferocious noise blasts.” The sound of their many imitators was dubbed as D-beat, referring to the band’s distinctive drum beat. According to writer Ian Glasper, the Varukers from Leamington Spa, are often cited as the original D-beat band, due to their close sonic proximity to Discharge. Bands from this era, particularly Discharge and GBH were influential upon the development of multiple heavy metal styles, such as thrash metal and black metal, being cited as an influence by bands including Slayer, Anthrax, Sepultura and Metallica. Other prominent groups from this era include Broken Bones, Chaos UK, English Dogs. In the second half of the 1980s, it became increasingly normalised for UK hardcore bands to be influenced by heavy metal styles. At this same time, a sect of bands began making music with more elements in common with US groups than their UK contemporaries. The most notable of these included Heresy, the Stupids and Filler.

Hardvapour

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Beginnings#

On 29 November 2015, Canadian vaporwave producer Wolfenstein OS X (or WosX for short) released End of World Rave, the earliest notable hardvapour release, The album featured music that intentionally opposed aspects that were typically associated with the vaporwave sound. which announced the “death” of vaporwave and a “new era.” The album features a spoken word track with the lyrics, “Now, in the beginnings of the end of the world, vaporwave is dead. From now on, it will only be… the hardvapour.”

Heartland rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

The term heartland rock was not coined to describe a clear genre until the 1980s. In terms of style, it often uses straightforward rock music, sometimes with elements of Americana with a basic rhythm and blues line-up of drums, keyboards and occasional horn section instruments like a saxophone. However, this common definition may represent an oversimplification given that Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the U.S.A. made heavy use of synthesizers, most notably on the hit singles “Dancing in the Dark”, “Glory Days” and the title track. Lyrics are often presented in a style that is raspy and unpolished, adding a sense of authenticity. Creedence Clearwater Revival, and the Byrds. Verses in heartland rock songs often tell stories. In some songs, those stories are about people undergoing hard times; choruses are often anthemic in tone. The genre is associated with working-class regions of the Midwest and the Rust Belt. It has been characterized as a predominantly romantic genre, celebrating “urban backstreets and rooftops”, and its major themes include alienation, despair, “unemployment, small-town decline, disillusionment, limited opportunity and bitter nostalgia”.

Heavy metal genres

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Alternative metal#

Alternative metal is a style of heavy metal and alternative rock which emerged in the mid-1980s and gained popularity in the early 1990s. Alternative metal usually combines heavy metal with influences from genres like alternative rock, and in some cases, other genres not normally associated with metal as well. One of the main characteristics of alternative metal and its subgenres are heavily downtuned, mid-paced “chug”-like guitar riffs. Alternative metal bands are also often characterized by melodic vocals, unconventional sounds within other heavy metal genres, unconventional song structures, and sometimes experimental approaches to heavy music. Many of the early alternative metal bands originated from Los Angeles. Prominent bands in this genre include Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Faith No More, Helmet, Life of Agony, Rollins Band More modern bands include Breaking Benjamin, Chevelle, Godsmack and System of a Down.

Heavy metal music

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Heavy metal is traditionally characterized by loud, distorted guitars, emphatic rhythms, dense bass-and-drum sound, and vigorous vocals. Heavy metal subgenres variously emphasize, alter, or omit one or more of these attributes. In a 1988 article, The New York Times critic Jon Pareles wrote, “In the taxonomy of popular music, heavy metal is a major subspecies of hard-rock—the breed with less syncopation, less blues, more showmanship and more brute force.” The typical band lineup includes a drummer, a bassist, a rhythm guitarist, a lead guitarist and a singer, who may or may not be an instrumentalist. Keyboard instruments are sometimes used to enhance the fullness of the sound. Deep Purple’s Jon Lord played an overdriven Hammond organ. In 1970, John Paul Jones used a Moog synthesizer on Led Zeppelin III; by the 1990s, synthesizers were used in “almost every subgenre of heavy metal”. The electric guitar and the sonic power that it projects through amplification has historically been the key element in heavy metal. The heavy metal guitar sound comes from a combined use of high volumes and heavy fuzz. For classic heavy metal guitar tone, guitarists maintain gain at moderate levels, without excessive preamp or pedal distortion, to retain open spaces and air in the music; the guitar amplifier is turned up loud to produce the “punch and grind” characteristic. Thrash metal guitar tone has scooped mid-frequencies and tightly compressed sound with multiple bass frequencies. Most heavy metal songs “feature at least one guitar solo”, which is “a primary means through which the heavy metal performer expresses virtuosity”. Some exceptions are nu metal and grindcore bands, which tend to omit guitar solos. With rhythm guitar parts, the “heavy crunch sound in heavy metal … is created by palm muting” the strings with the picking hand and using distortion. Palm muting creates a tighter, more precise sound and it emphasizes the low end. The lead role of the guitar in heavy metal often collides with the traditional “frontman” or bandleader role of the vocalist, creating a musical tension as the two “contend for dominance” in a spirit of “affectionate rivalry”. Critic Simon Frith claims that the metal singer’s “tone of voice” is more important than the lyrics. The prominent role of the bass ‍is also key to the metal sound, and the interplay of bass and guitar is a central element. The bass provides the low-end sound crucial to making the music “heavy”. The bass plays a “more important role in heavy metal than in any other genre of rock”. Metal basslines vary widely in complexity, from holding down a low pedal point as a foundation to doubling complex riffs and licks along with the lead or rhythm guitars. Some bands feature the bass as a lead instrument, an approach popularized by Metallica’s Cliff Burton with his heavy emphasis on bass ‍solos and use of chords while playing the ‍bass in the early 1980s. Lemmy of Motörhead often played overdriven power chords in his bass lines. Heavy metal drumming is defined by a loud, consistent beat that drives the band, relying on the “trifecta of speed, power, and precision.” Heavy metal drumming “requires an exceptional amount of endurance”, and drummers have to develop “considerable speed, coordination, and dexterity … to play the intricate patterns” used in heavy metal. A characteristic metal drumming technique is the cymbal choke, which consists of striking a cymbal and then immediately silencing it by grabbing it with the other hand (or, in some cases, the same striking hand), producing a burst of sound. The metal drum setup is generally much larger than those employed in other forms of rock music. In live performance, loudness – an “onslaught of sound”, in sociologist Deena Weinstein’s description – is considered vital. Following the lead set by Jimi Hendrix, Cream and the Who, early heavy metal acts such as Blue Cheer set new benchmarks for volume. As Blue Cheer’s Dick Peterson put it, “All we knew was we wanted more power.” A 1977 review of a Motörhead concert noted how “excessive volume in particular figured into the band’s impact”. Weinstein makes the case that in the same way that melody is the main element of pop and rhythm is the main focus of house music, powerful sound, timbre and volume are the key elements of metal. She argues that the loudness is designed to “sweep the listener into the sound” and to provide a “shot of youthful vitality”. until at least the mid-1980s, with some exceptions such as Girlschool. and PopMatters’ Craig Hayes argues that metal “clearly empowers women”. In the power metal and symphonic metal subgenres, there has been a sizable number of bands that have had women as the lead singers, such as Nightwish, Delain and Within Temptation.

Horror punk

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Horror punk is defined by its fusion of punk rock music with the imagery and lyrical topics common in the horror film genre. Typically it references B movies, While both horror punk and gothic rock pull from many of the same points of reference, and sometimes early horror punk groups, particularly the Misfits, are themselves cited as being “proto-gothic”, the two genres are distinctly separate by modern definitions. However, the gothic rock genre death rock, with its emphasis on influence from punk rock, contains significant overlap with horror punk. Although, death rock lacks horror punk’s rockabilly and doo-wop influences, instead paying a greater attention to musical atmospheres. Psychobilly is also a closely related style to horror punk, particularly during the 2000s when the genres became increasingly intertwined. In an article by Kerrang!, writer Chris Krovatin stated that “the two genres have become so accepting of one another, that to make the distinction feels like splitting hairs”. Some psychobilly groups even take influence from horror punk imagery, notably Tiger Army.

Hungarian metal

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Gallery#

File:Mayhem - Jalometalli 2008 - 10.JPG Attila Csihar performing with Mayhem File:FreshFabrik prague.jpg FreshFabrik performing live in Prague, 2001, supporting AC/DC and Rammstein File:Ektomorf RockTheLake2007 01.JPG Ektomorf performing at Rock the Lake Festival in 2007

Hyperpop

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Hyperpop artists embody an exaggerated, eclectic, and self-referential approach to pop music and typically employ elements such as brash synth melodies, Auto-Tuned “earworm” vocals, and excessive compression and distortion, as well as surrealist or nostalgic references to 2000s Internet culture and the Web 2.0 era. Common features include vocals that are heavily processed; metallic, melodic percussion sounds; pitch-shifted synths; catchy choruses; short song lengths; and “shiny, cutesy aesthetics” juxtaposed with angst-ridden or ironic lyricism. According to Vice journalist Eli Enis, hyperpop is not so much about following music rules, but “a shared ethos of transcending genre altogether, while still operating within the context of pop”. The movement is often associated with the LGBTQ+ community, drawing primary influences from queer culture. The microgenre’s emphasis on vocal modulation has allowed artists to experiment with gender presentation and androgyny in their voices, Joe Vitagliano, writing for American Songwriter, said hyperpop is an “exciting, bombastic, and iconoclastic genre – if it can even be called a ‘genre and has “saw synths, auto-tuned vocals, glitch-inspired percussion and a distinctive late-capitalism-dystopia vibe”. According to Kieran Press-Reynolds writing for Pitchfork, artists in this style mix the avant-garde and pop music, often balancing between being addictively fun and a bit too much. He added that in 2024, hyperpop had become a “Frankensteinian macro-genre”. The Atlantic said the genre “swirls together and speeds up Top 40 tricks of present and past: a Janet Jackson drum slam here, a Depeche Mode synth squeal there, the overblown pep of novelty jingles throughout,” but also said “the genre’s zest for punk’s brattiness, hip-hop’s boastfulness, and metal’s noise”. According to Rolling Stone magazine, collectives such as Novagang and Helix Tears “feature artists of variously different styles and sounds, but find community with each other in their shared rejection of stylistic limits.”

Hypnagogic pop

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Etymology#

In August 2009, journalist David Keenan, who was known as a reporter of noise, freak folk, and drone music scenes, coined the term “hypnagogic pop” in issue 306 of British music magazine The Wire. His article was entitled Childhood’s End. Keenan applied the label to a developing trend of 2000s lo-fi and post-noise music in which artists engaged with elements of cultural nostalgia, The term reportedly originated with a comment by James Ferraro about the notion that 1980s sounds had seeped into the unconscious of contemporary musicians while they were toddlers falling asleep and their parents played music in another room. Among the artists discussed in Keenan’s article were Ariel Pink, Daniel Lopatin, the Skaters, the Savage Young Taterbug, Gary War, Zola Jesus, Ducktails, Emeralds, and Pocahaunted. According to Keenan, these artists drew on cultural sources subconsciously remembered from their 1980s and early 1990s adolescence while freeing them from their historical contexts and “hom ing in on the futuristic signifiers” of the period. He alternately summarized hypnagogic pop as “pop music refracted through the memory of a memory” and as “1980’s-inspired psychedelia” that engages with capitalist detritus of the past in an attempt to “dream of the future.” In a later article, Keenan identified Lopatin, Ferraro, Clark, and ex-Test Icicles member Sam Mehran as hypnagogic pop’s “most adventurous proponents”.

Incelcore

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Etymology and characteristics#

According to the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, writer Dan Collen stated that incelcore draws from “internet culture, symbolism and terminology”. The genre draws musical influences from punk, electronic and alternative rock. Collen adds that not all artists and fans identify with the incel movement; however, they evoke the same themes of self-hate, hopelessness and misogyny. Collen further stated that incelcore was a musical and online subculture influenced by the “imagery, attitudes and irony” of internet image boards and that references to mass shooters were a common subject. Merchandise of Varg Vikernes’ project Burzum is noted as “not uncommon among incelcore fans”.

Indian rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Early history#

India, in the 1950s and 1960s, had a record industry in the Gramophone Company of India (an EMI subsidiary), and LPs, EPs, and 45rpm records were freely available, including those of rock and roll acts from the US and Britain, but also of contemporary pioneering Indian rock bands. The president of the firm, Bhaskar Menon (who later became the President of Capitol Records in the United States) was the leading promoter of Western pop music in India. Later in 1970, Polydor, the German Label, began an India-based branch that distributed rock music locally. Of these mid-1960s to early 70s beat groups, as they were then termed, some of the most notable were the Mystiks from Bombay, the Beat-X from Madras, and The Cavaliers, Calcutta-16, and The Flintstones from Calcutta, who composed and played both early British Invasion influenced songs, and post-Sgt. Pepper hard rock. During this period from Delhi there were The Thunderbirds (featuring singer Ashwani Bali, Bass Guitarist Percy Singh), and WAFWOT (also with Ashwani on vocals, with organist Mark Spevak, from the U.S. and Bass Guitarist Percy Singh) These bands played regularly on the Indian university and college music circuits, and some had successful EP and LP releases. Also notable from this period (1964–1970) was the female R&B singer, Usha Iyer, now Usha Uthup, who had successful covers of “Jambalaya” and The Kingston Trio song, “Greenback Dollar”. A notable compilation LP titled “Simla Beat ‘70” was released during this period, from a contest of the same name. The winning bands recorded their versions of Western hard rock of the time. This tradition of covering Western rock would continue until the 1980s when it was more common to compose original songs. The rock n’ roll scene was also closely followed by Junior Statesman (or JS), a magazine started in 1965 contemporaneously with Rolling Stone magazine in the US and NME in the UK. Like Western rock bands at the time, Indian bands also began fusing rock with traditional Indian music from the mid-1960s onwards. A notable example of this is in the Cavaliers’ 1967 hit “Love is A Mango,” which incorporates sitar accompaniment alongside Beatlesque songwriting. However, filmi songs, those produced specifically for popular Bollywood films, often overshadowed the country’s budding rock scene, which otherwise contrasted from that within the film industry. Some of the more well known filmi songs (including styles such as funk rock, pop rock, psychedelic rock, raga rock, and soft rock) from Bollywood films include Mohammed Rafi’s “Jaan Pehechan Ho” in Gumnaam (1965), Kishore Kumar’s “O Saathi Re” in Muqaddar Ka Sikandar (1978), and Asha Bhosle songs such as “Dum Maro Dum” in Hare Rama Hare Krishna (1971), “Ae Naujawan Hai Sab” in Apradh (1972), and “Yeh Mera Dil Pyar Ka Diwana” in Don (1978).

Indie classical

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Terminology#

According to composer and co-founder of New Amsterdam Records, Judd Greenstein, the intention behind the term “indie classical” was a shorthand description of the kind of music they were making under a “do-it-yourself” institutional spirit. For New Amsterdam, indie classical was not intended to provide a context with which to comprehend its individual albums and compositions, but a term to brand the label’s identity and describe its innovations in the classical music market. The term’s usefulness is still debatable, and because it was promoted by publicists and accepted by journalists, “indie classical” could also be dismissed as outsider public relations jargon.

Indie folk

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

The staff of Paste Magazine said in 2020: “No music genre is particularly easy to define, but “indie folk” is about as nebulous as they come.” Indie folk hybridizes the acoustic guitar melodies of traditional folk music with contemporary instrumentation. The lyrical style commonly includes raw emotional experiences, social commentary and an introspective lens. The genre blends the ethos and experimental nature of indie music with the storytelling of folk music. Instruments frequently used in the genre include guitars, banjos, mandolins, and ukuleles.

Indie pop

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Indie pop is defined by its DIY ethos, upbeat melodies, and an overarching sense of “authenticity.” It primarily takes influences from post-punk, jangle pop, and its counterpart, indie rock. While sharing overarching similarities, indie pop is more melodic, simplistic, and accessible, eschewing the more abrasive and conventional aspects of indie rock. Music journalist Nitsuh Abebe noted in Pitchfork that: Music critic Simon Reynolds says that indie pop defines itself against “charting pop”. Abebe explains: Indie pop was an unprecedented contrast from the gritty and serious tones of previous underground rock styles, as well as being a departure from the glamour of contemporary pop music. Distinguished from the angst and abrasiveness of its indie rock counterpart, the majority of indie pop borrows not only the stripped-down quality of punk, but also “the sweetness and catchiness of mainstream pop”.

Indie rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Etymology and characteristics#

The terms “independent record label” or “independent music” were originally used in the 1930s to 1950s for American artists associated with jazz, rhythm and blues and early rock and roll, who were predominantly Black musicians initially sidelined by major labels, therefore relied on independent distribution to release their work. By the early 1980s, the earliest known use of the term “indie rock” was made in an article of Billboard magazine, titled “Despite Hard Times, Indie Rock Labels Survive” on 15 January 1983 by writer Roman Kozak, in which he used a short-hand for the term “independent rock”, to describe a growing trend of successful independent record labels in New York that primarily focused on the emerging alternative rock music scene. Indie rock originally described a style of alternative rock that was associated with small and relatively low-budget independent labels a do-it-yourself attitude. Drawing influences from punk, psychedelia and post-punk. Although record deals were later often struck with major corporate companies, “indie rock” became more closely associated with a specific style of rock music rather than its mode of distribution. AllMusic identifies indie rock as including a number of “varying musical approaches not compatible with mainstream tastes”. Linked by an ethos more than a musical approach, the indie rock movement encompassed a wide range of styles, from hard-edged, grunge-influenced bands, through do-it-yourself experimental bands like Pavement, to punk-folk singers such as Ani DiFranco. In his book DIY Style: Fashion, Music and Global Digital Cultures, Brent Luvaas described the genre as rooted in nostalgia, citing the influence of garage rock and psychedelic rock of the 1960s in progenitors the Stone Roses and the Smiths, in addition to a lyrical preoccupation with literature. In this same vein, Matthew Bannister defined indie rock as “small groups of white men playing guitars, influenced by punks and 1960s white pop/rock, within a broader discourse and practice of (degrees of) independence from mainstream musical values.” Indie rock is noted for having a relatively high proportion of female artists compared with preceding rock genres, a tendency exemplified by the development of the feminist-informed riot grrrl music of acts like Bikini Kill, Bratmobile, 7 Year Bitch, Team Dresch and Huggy Bear. However, Cortney Harding pointed out that this sense of equality is not reflected in the number of women running indie labels.

Indigenous metal music

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Themes and lyrics#

The term “indigenous metal” is sometimes conflated with “tribal metal,” which is more broadly influenced by pan-indigenous stories and follows Viking metal bands’ approach to capturing their culture. Indigenous metal is often explicitly defined as exploring themes of “experienced dispossession, liberation, and death” in addition to preserving linguistic and cultural heritage. Native American metal bands in the Southwest United States sometimes refer to their musical style as “Rez metal,” as it concerns political issues that make it popular among youth on reservations. Many bands focus on linguistic preservation by singing either partially or exclusively in their indigenous languages. Notably, New Zealand band Alien Weaponry have performed several songs in the Māori language on international stages. Bands Aborigene and Araña, who write about Maya civilization and Pipil stories, are among the most popular metal acts from El Salvador.

Indigenous rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Australia#

In Australia, Aboriginal rock mixes rock styles and instruments (e.g. electric (guitar, bass and drums) with Indigenous Australian instruments such as the didgeridoo and clapsticks. Aboriginal rock is mostly performed by Indigenous bands, although some bands include non-Aboriginal members. Bands include Yothu Yindi, Us Mob and No Fixed Address. Yothu Yindi, with vocalist Mandawuy Yunupingu has politicised lyrics, such as 1991’s “Treaty”. Other songs relate more generally to Aboriginal culture. Another major band was the Warumpi Band, which toured with Midnight Oil. The Warumpi Band focuses more on the Aboriginal aspects of the music, rather than the rock sound of Yothu Yindi. In the 2000s, Aboriginal bands such as NoKTuRNL have adopted a rap metal or nu metal sound. Formal training institutions include the Government sponsored Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts. Famous songs include “Treaty”, “My Island Home”, and “Blackfella/Whitefella”.

Indonesian rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

1940s - 1960s#

Rock music began to enter Indonesia around the 1950s during the western rock fever. However, the heyday of rock music in Indonesia was preceded by the band The Rolles (1967) with the genre of jazz rock music. They brought music with different concepts so that they were able to play with the tastes of music lovers at that time. The band was also able to survive and was still popular until the 1980s. In that era, Indonesian-Dutch rock bands were also very popular, such as The Tielman Brothers, which was founded in 1947 by several youths from Kupang (Reggy, Ponthon, Andy and Loulou Tielman). The band is generally seen as the founder of Indorock, although other Indorock bands have existed before them. Being ethnically Indonesian and playing Western music for white audiences in the Netherlands and Germany. During that time, Dara Puspita emerged as a pop rock group consisting of women from Surabaya, Indonesia, which was active in the 1960s and early 1970s. The band was formed in 1964, with Titiek Rachman and his sister Lies on guitar. Apart from that, Ani Kusuma is a rhythm guitarist, and Susy Nander is a drummer. When Lies left the band for a month in 1965 to complete his education, his bass position was replaced by Titiek Hamzah. When Lies returned, Ani Kusuma left the band, and Lies became a rhythm guitarist. This female rock band was also influential in the early development of rock music in Indonesia. In fact, not only the rock scene, Indonesian pop was also quite influenced by the Dara Puspita band. In July 1968, the band left Indonesia, and toured to Europe and Asia, including West Germany, Hungary, England, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Iran, and Turkey. Touring for three years, before returning to Indonesia on 3 December 1971. In this way, Dara Puspita also gained international popularity even though the support base was still larger in the local music scene.

Indorock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

The guitar was imported to the East Indies by Portuguese explorers in the 16th century. The traditional Portuguese song styles, saudade and fado, played with guitar accompaniment, later became kroncong music. Many Indorock musicians had a predilection for Hawaiian music, which was popular in the Netherlands at the time. Other significant influences include American country & western, and the rock & roll repertoire played on radio stations in Indonesia via American (AFN) stations from the Philippines and Australia. While Dutch audience were interested in Rock & Roll, white Dutch musicians did not perform the genre in the mid-1950s, and Indonesians and Moluccans filled the void at that time, and bands such as the Bellboys, the Room Rockers, the Hap Cats, and the Hot Jumpers performing to a mixed audience in venues such as pubs. Since the Dutch music industry offered few venues for Indorock artists, many of them went to Germany where it quickly became highly popular, at least until the advent of British beat music. The Indorock scene had largely faded in the Netherlands by the mid-1960s, as it was superseded in popularity by British rock as a result of the British Invasion. However, it would continue to be an influence in Indonesian rock music. Indorock has also been considered by some to be an early form of proto-punk, as some of its stylistic elements are similar to those in the punk rock movement of the 1970s.

Industrial metal

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Early innovators#

Though electric guitars had been used by industrial artists since the early days of the genre, archetypal industrial groups such as Throbbing Gristle displayed a strong anti-rock stance. British post-punk band Killing Joke pioneered the crossing over between styles and was an influence on major acts associated with industrial metal such as Ministry, Godflesh, and Nine Inch Nails. Another pioneer industrial rock group, Big Black, also impacted some later groups. By the late 1980s industrial and heavy metal began to fuse into a common genre, with Godflesh’s self-titled EP and Ministry’s The Land of Rape and Honey at the forefront. Godflesh was founded by former Napalm Death guitarist Justin Broadrick. Drawing from a wide array of influences—power electronics forefathers Whitehouse, noise rock band Swans, ambient music creator Brian Eno Faith No More, and Fear Factory. Ministry emerged from the scene surrounding Wax Trax! Records, a Chicago indie label dedicated to industrial music. Ministry’s initial foray into guitar rock happened during a recording session of The Land of Rape and Honey on Southern Studios, in London. The band’s frontman, the Cuban-born Al Jourgensen, explained this transition: Jourgensen seemed particularly fond of thrash metal. After the release of Land, he recruited guitarist Mike Scaccia from Texas thrashers Rigor Mortis. On one occasion, Jourgensen told the press that Sepultura was his favorite band. He also expressed the desire to produce a Metallica album. Jourgensen’s interest in dance-oriented electronic music did not entirely fade, however; he also formed the side-project Revolting Cocks, a more electronic body music-inflected collaboration with Richard23 of Front 242. German band KMFDM was another seminal industrial metal group. Although not a metal fan, KMFDM leader Sascha Konietzko’s “infatuation with ripping off metal licks” stemmed from his experiments with E-mu’s Emax sampler in late 1986. He told Guitar World that, A Swiss trio, The Young Gods, brushed with the style on their second album, L’Eau Rouge (1989). Prior to its release, singer Franz Treichler declared: Canadian thrash metal band Malhavoc became one of the earlier acts of the genre when they began to mix extreme metal with industrial music in the late 1980s. Pigface, formed by Martin Atkins and including Ministry drummer Bill Rieflin, emerged as an industrial metal collective of sorts, participating with many figures from the noise rock and industrial worlds. Nine Inch Nails, the “one-man-band” formed by Trent Reznor, brought the genre to mainstream audiences with albums such as the Grammy-winning Broken and the best-selling The Downward Spiral, accompanied by their groundbreaking performance at Woodstock ‘94. The rivethead subculture also developed at this time, along with the so-called “coldwave” subgenre, which encompassed Chemlab, 16 Volt, and Acumen Nation. Some electro-industrial groups adopted industrial metal techniques in this period, including Skinny Puppy (on their Rabies, co-produced by Jourgensen), and Front Line Assembly. British band Pitchshifter, formed in 1989 by brothers Jon and Mark Clayden, also started as an industrial metal band. The band later included elements of drum and bass. Frontman JS mentions:

Industrial rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Industrial rock is defined by the merging of rock music with influences lifted from industrial music, electronic, and avant-garde music. Industrial rock bands are characterized by harsh, abrasive sounds, blending distorted, aggressive guitar riffs with electronic textures and experimental production techniques. Exemplified by artists who signed to industrial focused independent record label Wax Trax! Records, while some industrial rock artists later overlapped with industrial metal.

Forerunners#

Cromagnon’s 1969 record Orgasm has been credited with foreshadowing the industrial rock sound, with AllMusic describing it as sounding “like it could be a Ministry … recording from 1989”. Pitchfork labelled the opening track “Caledonia” as a “pre-industrial stomp”. During the 1970s, industrial music emerged through the early works of Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire, NON, SPK and Z’EV. SAlongside, New York City band Suicide, formed in 1970, by Alan Vega and Martin Rev, whose 1977 debut album has been credited with providing “the blueprints for … industrial rock”. Furthermore, Iggy Pop who released his debut solo album The Idiot, produced by David Bowie, in 1977, was later retroactively recognized as a forerunner to industrial rock, particularly the closing track, “Mass Production’, which contains numerous “proto-industrial noises” created using tape loops, which Hugo Wilcken described as “early industrial electronica.” Ian Curtis of Joy Division, cited the album as an inspiration, and later influenced the work of Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, who’d cover their song “Dead Souls”. Other influences on industrial rock include Einstürzende Neubauten, Alien Sex Fiend, and Come.

Instrumental rock

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Early history#

Instrumental rock was most popular during rock and roll’s first decade (mid-1950s to mid-1960s), before the British Invasion. One notable early instrumental was “Honky Tonk” by the Bill Doggett Combo, with its slinky beat and sinuous saxophone-organ lead. Jazz musicians who scored pop hits include Earl Bostic and Arnett Cobb. Several rhythm and blues sax players had hit instrumental songs, including Big Jay McNeeley, Red Prysock, and Lee Allen, whose “Walking with Mr. Lee” was quite popular. There were several notable blues instrumental songs during the 1950s; Little Walter’s rollicking “Juke” was a #1 R&B hit. Instrumental hit songs could emphasize electronic organ (the Tornados’ “Telstar”, Dave “Baby” Cortez’s “The Happy Organ”, Johnny & the Hurricanes’ “Red River Rock”), or the saxophone (the Champs’ “Tequila”, Bill Black’s Combo’s “Don’t Be Cruel”, the Piltdown Men’s “McDonald’s Cave”), but the guitar was most prominent. Duane Eddy scored several hits (his best known probably being “Rebel-‘Rouser”). Eddy was the first rock & roll artist to release an album in stereo. The Fireballs, featuring the distinctive guitar work of George Tomsco, began their career in the late 1950s with instrumental hits such as “Torquay” and “Bulldog.” The band pioneered the guitar/guitar/bass/drums configuration, paving the way for the Ventures, the Shadows, and the surf music scene. The Fireballs were one of a few instrumental bands that successfully transitioned into vocal music, having the biggest hit of 1963 in the US (“Sugar Shack”). B Bumble & the Stingers gained hit “Nut Rocker”. In 1958, Link Wray’s “Rumble” proved to be a particularly influential instrumental rock single, with its pioneering combination of distortion, power chords and vibrato inspiring rock musicians including Pete Townshend, Jimmy Page and Iggy Pop. Its suggested resemblance to a street fight saw it banned by many radio stations, yet it went on to sell four million copies. The Shadows, from the UK, had several hit singles from 1960 onwards, including “Kon-Tiki” and “Apache”. The Shadows (alone and accompanying Cliff Richard) featured heavily in the UK charts until 1963 when Beatlemania arrived, combined with DJ indifference to non-vocal singles. The Ventures’ precise guitar work was a major influence on many later rock guitarists; they also helped shape surf music. The band reached chart success with songs such as “Walk-Don’t Run” and “Hawaii Five-O”. In the U.S. they greatly escalated the guitar instrumentals and use of the vibrato bar on the lead guitar. Surf music was quite popular in the early 1960s, and was generally rather simple and melodic—one exception being Dick Dale, who gained fame for his quick playing, often influenced by the music of the Middle East, and frequently using exotic scales. Around the time of the British Invasion, rock changed appreciably, and instrumental hits came mostly from the R&B world. Notable artists include Booker T. & the MG’s and saxophonist Junior Walker. Just before the British Invasion, Lonnie Mack’s version of Chuck Berry’s “Memphis” reached #5 on the Billboard Pop chart in June 1963. Employing both the blues scale and distortion, it ushered in the era of blues rock guitar of Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan. The early incarnation of Fleetwood Mac with bandleader Peter Green achieved number one chart positions with the guitar-based instrumental “Albatross” in February 1969. Previously, only three other rock guitar instrumentals had cracked Billboard’s top five: the Virtues’ “Guitar Boogie Shuffle” in 1959, and Duane Eddy’s “Because They’re Young” and the Ventures’ “Walk, Don’t Run” in 1960. In August 1964, Checker Records released the album Two Great Guitars, recorded by rock and roll pioneers Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley, which is one of rock music’s first recorded guitar jam sessions.

Iranian alternative rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

After the Iranian Revolution, rock music became illegal. After Iran-Iraq War, the youth needed some music to protest. In the following years, groups such as Kiosk, Ahoora and O-Hum provided important effects in this style. “Jurassic Park Coalition” is the best-known alternative rock Iranian song released by Kiosk Group. Alternative rock music is not yet recognized in Iran, so the groups that work in this genre continue to operate underground.

Iranian rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Early years#

Rock music was introduced in Iran by the 1960s, together with the arrival of other Western musical genres in the country’s music industry. Iranian rock music was developed by the emergence of artists such as Farhad Mehrad, Kourosh Yaghmaei, The Dangers and Scorpio . It soon grew as a popular musical genre among the young generation, especially at the nightclubs of Tehran and Abadan.

Couchini Restaurant#

The origin of many Iranian rock artists, including Farhad and the Black Cats, is Couchini Restaurant. The restaurant was founded by Vida Ghahremani in the early 1960s. Farhad Mehrad played the piano at this restaurant and was the lead singer of the Black Cats group. He also sings the songs of Ray Charles. The Americans in that area had given Farhad the nickname “Ray Charles of Iran”. Ebi also performed his first performance at Couchini Restaurant. After the Black Cats became famous, they no longer performed at the restaurant. That’s why other groups like Scorpio replaced them. In general, Couchini Restaurant was the most important place to cultivate Iranian rock music.

Israeli rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

1960s#

Israel’s initial attitude towards rock music was mixed, with the genre gaining popularity amongst the youth but receiving condemnation from the press and government, most notably in 1965 when the minister of education Hanoch Rinot prevented the funding for a possible concert in Ramat Gan by The Beatles, labeling their music as holding “no artistic value”. Israeli musicians of the time believed that it was a fad that would soon pass. The first Israeli rock bands began performing in the mid-1960s in nightclubs and discos, first in Ramla and later on HaMasger Street in Tel Aviv. These bands mainly performed cover versions of popular rock songs by bands like The Beatles and The Shadows. Rock culture, in the social and political sense, was nowhere in sight. The High Windows, The Lions (aka The Lions of Juda), The Styles (aka Uzi and the Styles), The Fat and the Thins, The Blue Stars, The Goldstars, The New Stars, The Generals, The Monks, The Spiders, The Electric Stage, The Seventh Radiance, and The Sing-Sing. In the euphoria that followed the Six-Day War, the performing groups of the Israel Defense Forces rose in status with a steady stream of songs about victory, bereavement and loss. Rock became part of the alternative music scene that was played mostly in clubs such as “Hakarish” and “Calypso”, formerly known as drug dens. Near the end of the decade rock and roll gained legitimacy. Western musicians arrived in Israel, and influences of the pop revolution permeated local culture. Some of the local bands added English musicians to their ensemble, creating several new bands that were based on the original rhythm bands. In the second wave of rhythm bands, three main bands led the local rock scene. The first was The Churchills, which consisted of five musicians including Canadian singer Stan Solomon, and British guitarist Robb Huxley. These were the most creative of the Israeli rock bands; they played innovative combinations of psychedelic rock mixed with Mediterranean Arab music. In 1970 the Israeli composer Noam Sheriff initiated a concert played by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and The Churchills, and their shared work with Arik Einstein, Oshik Levi and other artists from the mainstream Israeli pop music scene granted the Israeli rock scene a public stamp of approval. The second band, The Lions, was considered to be the first Israeli band to experiment with reggae music. The third prominent Israeli band of those years was the supergroup Uzi and the Styles, created by the former lead singer of The Fat and the Thins, Uzi Fox. The band’s varied style was derived from British pop and American soul music and was characterized by the compound-rich processings of wind instruments that resembled Blood, Sweat & Tears, Chicago, etc. By 1969, Arik Einstein had taken The Churchills under his wing as a backup band, and with their help he would record the groundbreaking album “Poozy”, which is often considered the mainstream breakthrough of the genre. The followup to the album would be the first of several fruitful collaborations with Shalom Hanoch with “Snail” and “Plastilna” both in 1970.

Italian beat

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Rock in Italy#

Italy is iconic worldwide for its mainstream “Neapolitan” melodic singing style, and historically, very xenophile but quite slowly receptive to musical influences from abroad. State (then monopolistic) radio and TV, and domestic show-business executives were lukewarm, or frankly hostile to the early rock’n’roll wave of the 1950s. Rock and roll was seen as a gimmick, or just noise for “teddy-boys” (actual term for young rogues) taste; only some mild-mannered “modern-style” singers (like Tony Renis of “When, when, when” fame) were allowed to be aired, publish records with main labels, and participate in the institutional “Festival di Sanremo” contest. The early pioneers of rock’n’roll (so-called urlatori) had some media coverage as novelties, but soon, those who wanted to pursue a career in music business had to switch toward the traditional mainstream. From 1961 to 1965, teenagers-oriented music was a mix of pretty-face pop, twist and French yé-yé influences. Situation changed slightly around 1965. Notably: Some visiting top acts, like the Beatles or the Rolling Stones The creation of “Whiskey-a-Go-go” or “Marquee” styled rock clubs (such as Rome’s Piper Club, Milan’s Paip’s, and Piper 2000 on the Tuscan Riviera), was soon imitated in smaller towns. The infamous “disc-eater”, a cheap 45 RPM player, that strongly boosted singles sales, and the massive diffusion of juke-boxes. The emergence of contests and festivals, friendly to new trends, like the Cantagiro, or Davoli Contest (sponsored by instrument manufacturers and distributors). The easy reception of powerful medium-wave foreign stations like Radio Luxembourg, Radio Montecarlo or Radio Koper allowed Italian youngsters to bypass the mediatic block, and stay updated to the latest anglosaxon trends (some radio enthusiasts even managed to catch the elusive Channel’s “pirate stations” like Radio Caroline, and German TV shows such as Beat Club). Under music executives’ pressure, the state broadcaster RAI reluctantly agreed to pay some attention to the “beat” hype, and the upcoming soul/R&B vogue.

Italian occult psychedelia

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Etymology and characteristics#

The music form has emerged as a form of hauntology, an engine of reactivation of an Italian collective memory. The features of this shared past are related to the imagery of Italian genre films as cannibal movies, spaghetti westerns, Italian B horror movies and their soundtracks, and are related also to the violent, obscure and esoteric folklore so well outlined in the essays of Ernesto De Martino and in the documentaries of Luigi Di Gianni. “The darkness of human mind and the superstitions of old religions are leit-motifs that run through Giallo films and the music of IOP bands is hardly surprising: Italy is a country bound by belief and superstitions.” Other references are the stories and the characters of Federico Fellini and Pier Paolo Pasolini. Musically, Italian occult psychedelia is a cross of post-punk, psychedelic rock, Italian progressive rock, Italian library music and “Mediterranean vibes.” According to Rumore, also other influences that “goes from Krautrock to Italian B-movie soundtracks, from drones to analog electronics, from lysergic folk to free jazz.” According to Joseph Stannard, “It’s equally clear that Italian occult psychedelia is far from sonically homogeneous.” Simon Reynolds identifies italian occult psychedelia as an Italian counterpart to hauntology.

J-core

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

J-core is often used as an umbrella term for many types of hardcore created by Japanese producers, including speedcore, 4-beat, and hardstyle. Despite the wide range of music under this umbrella, consistent elements include high tempos, samples derived from video games and anime, colorful kawaii imagery and album graphics, and the general borrowing of elements from otaku culture. Hardcore music created outside of Japan that incorporates these elements is also often labeled as J-core on platforms where users can upload and tag their own music.

Jam band

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Modern use and definition#

In the 1980s, the Grateful Dead’s fan base included a large core group that followed their tours from show to show. These fans (known as “Deadheads”) developed a sense of community and loyalty. In the 1990s, the band Phish began to attract this fan base. The term “jam band” was first used regarding Grateful Dead and Phish culture in the 1980s. In 1998, Dean Budnick wrote the first book devoted to the subject, entitled Jam Bands. He founded Jambands.com later that year and is often credited with coining the term. However, in his second book on the subject, 2004’s Jambands: A Complete Guide to the Players, Music & Scene, he explains that he only popularized it. Rolling Stone magazine asserted in a 2004 biography that Phish “was the living, breathing, noodling definition of the term” jam band, in that it became a “cultural phenomenon, followed across the country from summer shed to summer shed by thousands of new-generation hippies and hacky-sack enthusiasts, and spawning a new wave of bands oriented around group improvisation and super-extended grooves.” Another term for “jam band music” used in the 1990s was “Bay Rock”. It was coined by the founder of Relix magazine, Les Kippel, as a reference to the 1960s San Francisco Bay Area music scene, which included the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane and Moby Grape, among many others. By the late 1990s, the types of jam bands had grown so that the term became quite broad, as exemplified by the definition written by Dean Budnick, which appeared in the program for the first annual Jammy Awards in 2000 (Budnick co-created the show with Wetlands Preserve owner Peter Shapiro). Although in 2007 the term may have been used to describe nearly any cross-genre band, festival band, or improvisational band, the term retains an affinity to Grateful Dead-like bands such as Phish.

Jangle pop

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Origins#

In the late 1970s and 1980s, prominent early jangle pop groups included Big Star, R.E.M., the dB’s, 10,000 Maniacs, and the Smiths. In the early to mid 1980s, the term “jangle pop” emerged as a label for an American post-punk movement that recalled the sounds of “jangly” acts from the 1960s. Between 1983 and 1987, the description “jangle pop” was used to describe bands like R.E.M. and Let’s Active as well as the Paisley Underground subgenre, which incorporated psychedelic influences.

Japanese rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

1960s: Western music adaptation#

Rockabilly had a brief surge in popularity in Japan during the late 1950s. Suppressed by authorities, elements of it nevertheless managed to reach the mainstream through singers such as Kyu Sakamoto. In the 1960s, many Japanese rock bands were influenced by Western rock musicians such as the Beatles, Bob Dylan, and the Rolling Stones, along with other Appalachian folk music, psychedelic rock, mod and similar genres: a phenomenon that was called Group Sounds (G.S.). John Lennon of the Beatles later became one of the most popular Western musicians in Japan. By the late 1960s, Group Sounds bands such as The Tempters, the Tigers, the Golden Cups, the Ox, the Village Singers, the Carnabeats, the Mops, the Jaguars, the Wild Ones and the Spiders had big hits. After the boom of Group Sounds, there were several folk singer-songwriters. They were influenced by Bob Dylan and American folk music. The Tigers were the most popular Group Sounds band in the era. Later, some of the members of the Tigers, the Tempters, and the Spiders formed the first Japanese supergroup, Pyg. 70s “New Rock” group such as the Power House, the Blues Creation, Murasaki, Condition Green, and Bow Wow released rock albums. After seeing a show by then-upcoming artist Jimi Hendrix during a visit to Europe, Yuya Uchida returned home and formed Yuya Uchida & the Flowers in November 1967 in order to introduce a similar sound to Japan.

Jazz fusion

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Origins#

When John Coltrane died in 1967, rock was the most popular music in America, and DownBeat magazine went so far as to declare in a headline that: “Jazz as We Know It Is Dead”. AllMusic states that “until around 1967, the worlds of jazz and rock were nearly completely separate”, although the Daevid Allen Trio which later became the Soft Machine formed in 1963, while the jazz label Verve released the influential debut album, Freak Out!, by artist and composer Frank Zappa in 1966. In 1966, he started the band the Free Spirits with Bob Moses on drums and recorded the band’s first album, Axelrod said Davis had played the album before conceiving Bitches Brew.

Jewish rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Origins in America and Israel: 1960s to 1980s#

As early as the 1960s, established Jewish composers like Gershon Kingsley and Cantor Ray Smolover began using contemporary rock and jazz styles in their work. Simultaneously, Shlomo Carlebach, a German-born Hasidic rabbi and songwriter, began his career mixing traditional Jewish songs with the folk music and hippie subculture of the day for kiruv purposes, which would directly influence many Jewish artists over the course of his career. One of the first full-fledged rock acts in Orthodox music was the Diaspora Yeshiva Band, founded in 1975 by American-born students at the Diaspora Yeshiva in Jerusalem, which had been founded by a colleague of Carlebach’s. The founding lineup featured Avraham Rosenblum on guitar, Ben Zion Solomon on fiddle and banjo, Simcha Abramson on saxophone and clarinet, Ruby Harris on violin, mandolin, guitar, and harmonica, Adam Wexler on bass, and Gedalia Goldstein on drums. They played rock and bluegrass music with Jewish-themed lyrics, with the group self-describing its style as “Hasidic rock” and “Country and Eastern”. The Israeli group Tofa’ah emerged in 1981 as the first all-female Orthodox Jewish rock band, playing a mix of blues, jazz, and rock and roll. Around the same time, singer-songwriter Yosi Piamenta, a baal teshuva who had previously played with jazz legend Stan Getz, broke into Jewish music, where he pioneered the use of electric guitar. In the United States, Shlock Rock, formed in New York City in 1985, performed Jewish parody versions of many popular American songs, including rock music.

Jovem Guarda

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Brazilian rock began in 1955, with Bill Haley, with the arrival of artists such as Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry to success, several young people in Brazil began to admire this new style. In 1956 the first Brazilian rock band, The Jordans, appeared. In 1957, the singer Celly Campello, who is now considered the mother of Brazilian rock, appeared. At the beginning of the 1960s, several Brazilian rock artists and bands began to appear, having a lot of influence from Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis and others. In 1963 the song “She Loves You” by the Beatles was very successful in Brazil; the chorus “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah” became so popular among young people that the chorus became the name of the first Brazilian youth movement, the rock and roll movement. “Iê, ie, iê” became very popular throughout Brazil. In 1965 TV Record in São Paulo decided to show a program named Jovem Guarda every Sunday. The program would present Brazilian rock artists and bands featuring “Iê, iê, iê”. The Jovem Guarda program was presented by three artists who stood out in Iê, iê, iê, the singers Roberto Carlos and Erasmo Carlos, two of the pioneers of Brazilian rock, and the singer Wanderléa. The program was successful from the first episode, for this reason, the name of the movement was replaced by the youth from Iê, iê, iê to Jovem Guarda, after which, the singer Roberto Carlos was responsible for creating several slangs that were used by millions of young people in Brazil until today, including “Barra Limpa Mora!,” “Que Broto Lindo,” “Minha Caranga,” “Eai Bicho” and the most famous “É Uma Brasa Mora!” The Young Guard had mainly the Beatles as an influence, with rock and roll, pop rock and psychedelic rock. The band The Brazilian Bitles was the first to apply psychedelia in Brazilian rock. The name The Brazilian Bitles is a parody of the Beatles, but they are one of the most important bands in the Jovem Guarda. With the end of the program in 1968, the movement began to become weak with the emergence of tropicália, another very famous movement in Brazil. The Jovem Guarda were responsible for revolutionizing music in Brazil. As the country was going through a military dictatorship, many albums by international bands and artists were not sold in Brazil, so it was with the Beatles, that their songs were often released in compilations of greatest international hits. For this reason, several artists and bands from Jovem Guarda made versions of international songs with lyrics totally different from the original, following the same rhythm. It was very popular at the time, and before recording, the artists got in contact with the original composers to be able to record the version. The Jovem Guarda was similar to Beatlemania, with fans screaming and even invading the stage just to see their idols. Jovem Guarda changed the way of thinking of the youth of the time, being a movement that revolutionized Brazilian music with the use of rhythms. more agitated, with the voice screamed in some songs and also by the use of the organ in many songs. One of the most important bands in Jovem Guarda is the band Renato e Seus Blue Caps, who stood out with versions of Beatles songs such as “Menian Linda” version of “I Should Have Known Better” and “Meu Primeiro Amor” version of “You’re Gonna Lose That Girl.” The name Jovem Guarda was born from the phrase of the Russian leader Lenin: “The future belongs to the young guard because the old one is outdated.”

Kawaii metal

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History and characteristics#

Japanese heavy metal idol group Babymetal are considered the inventors of the kawaii metal genre. The concept of kawaii metal started with Key “Kobametal” Kobayashi, the producer behind the group Babymetal. In an interview conducted by Billboard, Kobayashi explains that he was “just trying to do something no one had heard before”. Kawaii metal gained international popularity in 2014, when the group Babymetal uploaded a song to Youtube called “Gimme Chocolate!!” Angelica Wallingford of City Times opined that Babymetal’s eponymous debut album had pioneered the kawaii metal musical genre. Wallingford also defined the genre, and album, as a “mixture of varying genres including pop, rock, heavy metal, electronic dance music, industrial and symphonic death metal”. A guest contributor at The Independent believed that the genre was a derivative of J-pop and various extreme metal genres, namely “speed metal, power metal, black metal, and industrial metal”. While discussing Babymetal, The Sydney Morning Heralds Rob Nash stated that the genre consisted of “sugary pop melodies over thrash metal”. Nash also believed that the group’s song “Awadama Fever” exemplified the genre, with its “slabs of angry guitar and undanceably fast breakbeats, while the girls Babymetal squeak about ‘bubble ball fever’ and chewing gum”. Babymetal has remained extremely popular. In 2019, Babymetal became the first Asian artists to top Billboard’s Top Rock Albums chart, with their third studio album, Metal Galaxy. Murray Stassen in Music Week commented that “Babymetal is, without a doubt, a genuine cross-genre musical phenomenon” and that, despite how the juxtaposition of metal and J-pop might not seem to make sense on paper: " Babymetal has proved that it can, and does work, and resistance to the Babymetal phenomenon is futile." Discussing Ladybeard, and Ladybaby, Jake Cleland of The Sydney Morning Herald defined the genre as “saccharine pop with his heavy metal growling”. Alex Weiss of Paper defined the genre as “hard rock with sugary sweet pop hooks”. Weiss also used Babymetal’s songs “Karate” and “Road of Resistance” as examples to explain the differing lyrical perspective between the kawaii metal and other metal genres, stating that kawaii metal songs “offer a perspective often missing from the hyper-masculine, aggressive lyrics usually present in most of the metal genre’s hits”. Felix Clay of Cracked.com also believed that the genre had less aggressive lyricism, citing the genre had lyrics about “pop music topics like kittens, chocolate, and fun”.

Kindie rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Early 20th century#

If one takes the precepts of Stefan Shepard’s Kindie Manifesto as a working definition for kindie music, then it is clear that kindie has existed since at least the early 20th century, with folk singers such as Lead Belly and Woody Guthrie performing and writing many children’s songs throughout their career. Music hall was also a source of children’s music in the past,

1970s–1990s#

During the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s, the field of music for children became more popular in the 1970s and ’80s, due largely to the advent of music-based children’s television shows such as The Bugaloos and Sesame Street. Artists who were separate from television also proliferated, with Canadian Raffi selling millions of albums, while other artists such as Barry Louis Polisar gained popularity and toured widely. Many other artists who still perform for children today began performing in the 1980s and ’90s, including Bill Harley and Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer.

Könsrock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Könsrock is commonly produced using the same line-up as punk rock, often including post-punk influences with drum machines, keyboards, and other electronic devices. Some bands use heavily distorted instrument similar to extreme punk, and some use a more experimental sound deliberately made to sound unpleasant. The lyrics are usually offensive and deal with topics such as handicapped people, homosexuality, pedophilia, bodily functions, Nazism, drugs, and violence. Könsrock has been popular in schools in Sweden and has on some occasions caused public outrage.

Korean indie

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

South Korea’s first modern wave of indie music began after the end of the military regime in 1987, coinciding with the rise of South Korea’s popular culture during the early to mid-1990s. While experienced rock musicians tried to revive their musical careers, the younger generation developed a new punk and rock community in the Hongdae area of Seoul. As a punk rock group, Crying Nut was formed in 1993 and is “Korea’s most successful indie band”, selling over 100,000 copies of their debut album in 1998. After the late 2000s, alongside the Korean wave, came a second wave of Korean indie, with notable bands including Kiha & the Faces, Broccoli, You Too?, and 9 and the Numbers. Kiha & The Faces were able to connect with a new audience thanks to their 2008 hit single, “Ssaguryeo Keopi” (English: Cheap Coffee). An indie rock group influenced by retro sounds, 9 and the Numbers, was also successful with their eponymous debut album in late 2009. By the time the second wave occurred, indie music in South Korea had become more diverse compared to its rock-dominated past. Mellow, acoustic sounds began to gain popularity. Due to globalization, young rock groups started incorporating English lyrics into their music, in contrast with the former nationalistic era, when musicians were accused of copying Western-style music. Although Korean indie is often considered subculture, influence from mass and viral media has made the internet the primary platform for indie music, giving individuals who wish to create music an easy opportunity to do so while also providing them a chance for viral success. Additionally, more financial support is being given to indie musicians in the form of concerts and festivals hosted by large corporations. Korean indie has also spread to other countries; Jambinai, the most successful overseas Korean indie band, and an increasing number of other indie groups have been performing abroad in locations such as Asia, Europe, and North America.

Korean rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

1950s#

Rock music was brought to South Korea in 1950 by U.S. soldiers fighting in the Korean War. After the war ended in 1953, many U.S. soldiers remained in South Korea, stationed on military bases, where local musicians and singers performed. One girl group called The Kim Sisters debuted on the U.S. military base stage, practiced their talents and skills, and then started their musical career in the United States.

Krautrock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Etymology#

Until around 1973, the word (“German Rock”) was used to refer to the new groups from West Germany. Other names thrown around by the British and American music press were “Teutonic rock”, “Überrock” and “Götterdämmer rock”. The British music press initially used as a pejorative, but the term lost its stigma after the music gained success in Britain. The term derives from the ethnic slur “kraut”. “Kraut” in German can refer to herbs, weeds, and drugs. The term was originally used by Virgin records in 1972. Various sources claim that “krautrock” was originally a humorous term coined in the early 1970s, either by British disc jockey John Peel or by the UK music newspaper Melody Maker, in which experimental German bands found an early and enthusiastic following. The first use of the term however, was found in a full-page advertisement from Popo Music Management and Bacillus Records promoting German Rock in the UK, in April 1971. The music emerging in Germany was first covered extensively in three concurrent issues of the UK music paper New Musical Express in the month of December 1972, by journalist Ian MacDonald. Its musicians tended to reject the name “krautrock”. This was also the case for “kosmische Musik”. Musicologist Julian Cope, in his book Krautrocksampler, says “krautrock is a subjective British phenomenon”, based on the way the music was received in the UK rather than on the actual West German music scene out of which it grew. For instance, while one of the main groups originally tagged as krautrock, Faust, recorded a seminal 12-minute track they titled “Krautrock”, they would later distance themselves from the term, saying: “When the English people started talking about krautrock, we thought they were just taking the piss… and when you hear the so-called ‘krautrock renaissance’, it makes me think everything we did was for nothing.”

Krishnacore

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Precedents (1980s)#

Punk rock and Hinduism have converged occasionally since the early days of the genre. Singer Poly Styrene of the English band X-Ray Spex joined ISKCON following the breakup of her band in 1980. In the New York hardcore punk scene, the main influence on some musicians to embrace ISKCON was the Washington D.C.’s hardcore band Bad Brains which, despite being Rastas, “grafted fervent spirituality onto an otherwise nihilistic and antitranscendental genre.”

Landfill indie

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

The Guardian defined the traits of landfill indie bands as having “angular, jangly guitars plus big riffs plus amusingly pretentious lyricism”. Reynolds later professed his belief that " n one of the groups could honestly be described as pointing the way to any kind of future; there was little about them that would have been incomprehensible to, say, a Smiths fan in 1985". However, publications like the NME championed many landfill bands at the time by frequently placing them on the front page. Metro Magazine later claimed that the 2000s landfill indie era was a time when “the NME ruled a new saviour of rock music seemingly every week.” Vice magazine dexcribed Razorlight’s Johnny Borrell as the “one man who defined, embodied and lived Landfill Indie” due to his forming of a “spectacularly middle-of-the-road” band, despite his close proximity to the Libertines.

Latin alternative

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Rock music has been produced in Iberian America since the late 1950s. Some rock bands started to use unusual instruments such as maracas and quenas. In the late 1960s, artists like Santana started using a different technique to make rock music; by incorporating influences of Latin jazz. Its sound was incorporated by young Latino-players in the US, as an answer to the rock en Español movement in Americas and Spain led by bands like Héroes del Silencio, Caifanes or Los Prisioneros. In the early 1990s, it was used by Mexican bands such as Maldita Vecindad and Café Tacuba, they were accepted on the Latino circuit in the US, especially by the Mexican community. Subsequently, experimental musician Lynda Thomas earned recognition and commercial success with alternative music in the same decade. With the passage of time and many musical styles in the US-Latin, Latin alternative has become as diverse as the rock music genre itself. Today, many music journalists and fans regard Latin alternative as a subgenre of rock en Español, and like rock en Español, it may be further divided into more specific genres of music.

Latin metal

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

An early mention of the term comes from critic Robert Christgau, who referred to Carlos Santana’s music from the 1970s as “Latin-metal pop,” making it a possible forerunner in the genre. Latin metal started in the 1970s and 1980s, originating in many countries of Latin America, thanks to the increasing worldwide popularity of heavy metal and heavy rock from Europe (obviously including Spain, with bands such as Baron Rojo and Angeles del Infierno singing in Spanish and reaching international success in the 1980s) and United States, with Argentina having an important scene as well (Rata Blanca, V8). It may also have profited from the “Latin explosion” in the United States of the 1990s, though some critics contend that the gap between Ricky Martin-style pop and metal is too great for Latin metal to have profited greatly. Still, record companies in the 1990s sought to profit from the rise of Latin pop, as evidenced from the Metalo compilation of Latin metal bands by the Grita! Records label, which included songs by Ill Niño and Puya, and bands from the 1990s such as Sepultura and Soulfly are cited as predecessors in the genre. In the United States, Ill Niño is probably the best-known exponent of the genre; their first two albums (with “philosophical and bilingual lyrics” about such topics as growing up fatherless) were commercially successful and got them strong radio play in for instance the San Antonio area.

Latin rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Origins (1950s–1960s)#

Rock and roll music of the 1950s originated from a variety of sources including rhythm and blues, blues, gospel, country, bluegrass, western swing, and Tin Pan Alley pop music. Also, there was some influence of the traditional Latin music. Caribbean rhythms like calypso were used in surf music; and there were some rock and roll songs based on cha-cha-chá or mambo. Latin rock was born in the United States during the late 1950s, though the term was not yet created. In 1958 an adaptation of a Mexican folk song called “La Bamba” was recorded by the Chicano rock artist Ritchie Valens. That same year, instrumental rock band the Champs released “Tequila”, a song that incorporates clear Latin sounds and was composed by the band’s chicano saxophonist Danny Flores). During the 1960s, there were more examples of rock artists like Thee Midniters, Question Mark & the Mysterians, Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs or Sir Douglas Quintet that included Latin rhythms on their compositions. Also Chicano rock became popular in California; although not all of these can be considered early Latin rock artists since many of them lacked the Latin folk influences. In some Latin American countries, Latin rock started to develop as well. In Peru, Colombia, Argentina, but specially Brazil where Tropicália appeared in the mid-1960s with the first releases of Os Mutantes, Gal Costa and Caetano Veloso from 1967 to 1970, a music movement that merged rock music with bossa nova, psychedelia and other Latin elements, and this can be regarded as the main root of the genre.

Lento violento

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Origins#

The first tracks with the lento violento sound were “Anima Ladina” by Ottomix (1991), “Panic Mouse (stress mix)” by Gigi D’Agostino (1996), “Ibiza” by Ottomix (1998) and Alex Castelli’s “Enjoy”, that was co-produced by Ottomix. Although at that time, they were not called “lento violento” yet. These tracks were influenced by the more techno and trance-oriented tracks like Mauro Picotto’s “Lizard”, “Iguana”, “Pulsar”, “Tuttincoro” or “Raggattak” by Joman (Joy Kitikonti), all from the Italian BXR label. While some individual tracks were popular in the clubs, the style itself was not established until DJ/producer Gigi D’Agostino started with a series of productions in 2003, like “Ripassa”. Indeed, he coined the name for this style, and he releases most of his lento violento songs on his own label Noise Maker, using aliases like Dottor Dag, Lento Violento Man, Uomo Suono, Orchestra Maldestra, or La Tana Del Suono, to distinguish these songs from his Italo dance work. Other artists started to create similar tracks after the success of this style. Also several compilation CDs are released with lento violento music, like the Movimentolento series.

Lo-fi music

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Evolution of the term and its scope#

Lo-fi is the opposite of high fidelity, or “hi-fi”. and ran during a thirty-minute prime time evening slot every Friday. In the fall 1986 issue of the WFMU magazine LCD, the program was described as “home recordings produced on inexpensive equipment. Technical primitivism coupled with brilliance.” A third definition was added to the Oxford Dictionary in 2008: “unpolished, amateurish, or technologically unsophisticated, esp. as a deliberate aesthetic choice.” In 2017, About.coms Anthony Carew argued that the term “lo-fi” had been commonly misused as a synonym for “warm” or “punchy” when it should be reserved for music that “sounds like it’s recorded onto a broken answering-machine”.

Madchester

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Pre-Madchester#

The music scene in Manchester immediately before the Madchester era was dominated by the Smiths, New Order, and the Fall, who became significant influences on the Madchester movement. The opening of The Haçienda nightclub in May 1982, an initiative by Factory Records, was also instrumental in shaping Manchester’s popular culture. During its early years, the club primarily featured club-oriented pop music and hosted gigs by artists such as New Order, Cabaret Voltaire, Culture Club, Thompson Twins, and the Smiths. DJs like Hewan Clarke and Greg Wilson contributed to the club’s prominence. By 1986, The Haçienda shifted its focus from being a live venue to a dance club. The Festival of the Tenth Summer in July 1986, organised by Factory Records, reinforced Manchester’s reputation as a hub for alternative pop culture. The festival featured film screenings, a music seminar, art exhibitions, and performances by the city’s leading bands, including an all-day concert at Manchester G-Mex with A Certain Ratio, the Smiths, New Order, and the Fall. According to Dave Haslam, the festival showcased how “the city had become synonymous with larger-than-life characters playing cutting-edge music. … Individuals were inspired and the city was energised; of its own accord, uncontrolled.” In addition to these venues and events, the warehouse parties organised by Steve Adge were crucial in the development of the scene. The Stone Roses’ warehouse parties, first held in 1985, were significant, with DJ Dave Booth supporting the Stone Roses’ live performances. These parties, including the notable “Warehouse 1, The Flower Show” event on 20 July 1985, played a vital role in establishing the band’s following and the burgeoning music scene in Manchester. Booth was an influential DJ in Manchester’s music landscape. He co-created the Playpen nights and the Blood Club and was a resident DJ at several key venues in Manchester’s alternative club network. He began his career at the Roxy Room in Pips and performed at other clubs like Devilles, Berlin, Cloud 9, and Legends, helping to create a network of venues that fostered the growth of Manchester’s alternative music scene. The city’s emerging bands, including the Stone Roses, frequented these clubs and drew inspiration from the diverse music played by DJs. The Haçienda transitioned from making a consistent loss to selling out by early 1987. During that year, it hosted performances by American house artists such as Frankie Knuckles and Adonis. Other clubs in the Manchester area began embracing house music, including Devilles, Isadora’s, Konspiracy, House, Soundgardens, and Man Alive in the city centre, as well as Bugsy’s in Ashton-under-Lyne and the Osbourne Club in Miles Platting. Another key factor in the rise of Madchester was the sudden availability of the drug MDMA in the city, starting in 1987 and increasing in the following year. According to Haslam, " MDMA use changed clubs forever; a night at the Haçienda went from being a great night out to an intense, life-changing experience". The British music scene was such that The Guardian later stated, “The ’80s looked destined to end in musical ignominy”. The Madchester movement flourished as its sound was fresh and innovative, quickly gaining popularity. Music by artists such as the Stone Roses and Happy Mondays began to chart highly in 1989, with New Order releasing the acid house-influenced Technique, which topped the UK Albums Chart.

Mainstream hardcore

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

The mainstream hardcore sound derives from early hardcore (still called gabber at the time). In the late 1990s, early hardcore became less popular than Hardstyle. After surviving underground for a number of years, in 2002 Gabber regained some popularity in the Netherlands, although the sound is more mature, darker, and industrial. Some producers started embracing a slower style characterized by a deeper, harder bass drum that typically had a longer envelope than was possible in the traditional, faster style. In this aspect, this new form of gabber obviously cannot be considered less powerful than its precursor. This newer sound was referred to as “New Style” or “Mainstream” and as the tempo got slower and slower it began to become similar to Chicago hard house. Many hardcore enthusiasts hated Chicago hard house and the club scene it typified, and frequently DJs would be booed by one group of fans and cheered for by another at the same party, depending on the tempo and style of music they were playing. This is similar to the rivalry and mutual dislike that surfaced earlier between fans of “regular” hardcore and happy hardcore. Eventually the two styles met in the middle, and most gabber today is produced in a range of 160-180 bpm. This style is typically a bit slower than the Rotterdam style of the mid-1990s.

Mainstream rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Format background#

Mainstream rock stations represent a cross between classic rock, active rock and alternative rock on the programming spectrum, in that they play more classic rock songs from the 1970s and 1980s and fewer songs from emerging acts than active rock and alternative rock stations, and only rarely play songs on the softer edge of the classic rock format or the harder edge of the active rock format. They program a balanced airplay of tracks found on active rock, alternative rock and classic rock playlists, but the music playlist tends to focus on charting hard rock music from the 1970s through the 2000s. Mainstream rock is the true successor to the widespread album-oriented rock (AOR) format created in the 1970s. However, mainstream rock can be used as a modernized update of classic rock if any radio station playlist has to cut back on some active rock artists and songs due to ratings and popularity demand, which is an absolute variable in each local market by each state and each franchised or locally owned radio company operation. To this day, there are a select few mainstream rock programmed stations that will purposely play any new rock artist while keeping the classics involved, which sits on a borderline scale being influenced by active rock strongly. Meanwhile, some stations consist of playing all 40 years worth of rock hits, ranging from classic hard rock and hair metal artists all the way to 2000s hard rock and metal artists, the format is an open variable. Acts that receive heavy airplay on classic rock stations, including the Beatles, Elton John, Fleetwood Mac, Eagles, or Supertramp receive some airplay on mainstream rock stations, albeit less frequently than acts like Green Day, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, Red Hot Chili Peppers, or Alice in Chains. Classic hard rock artists of the mid to late 1970s to the late 1980s as well as all of the 1990s alternative and grunge artists completely highlight what mainstream rock is. It is less common to hear many newer rock artists. Mainstream rock has evolved into a sequel for the classic rock radio format. It has begun to remove hard rock and metal artists that are from the early 2000s as well as the 2010s on some rock radio stations, to avoid overlapping into the active rock format. This is a following trend since almost all classic rock stations rarely play harder songs and artists within their format. Outside the United States and Canada, mainstream rock refers generally to rock music deemed “radio friendly”. It very rarely is referred to as a specific radio format.

Mákina

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Early 1990s: Origins#

Dance music in Spain became prominent in 1988 with the rise of acid house. Mákina followed this trend and has its origins in the early 1990s in Valencia, Spain. Derived from another style called bakalao, the local name given to an association of electronic dance music played together with pop and rock tunes in Valencian clubs in the second half of the 1980s.

Mid-1990s: Breakthrough and success#

The genre gained prominence in 1991 when Spanish producer Chimo Bayo released his single, “Así me gusta a mí”. The song succeeded throughout Europe and the genre soon gained prominence. The genre became extremely popular throughout Spain from 1995 to 1997, as many mákina-oriented singles reached number one on the Spanish Singles Chart. Spanish mákina group EX-3 had two number-one singles, “Extres” and “Ex-P-Cial” in 1995 and 1996, respectively. Perhaps the most recognized mákina single in the United States is “Streamline” by Newton, which was popularized by a 2006 Pepsi television advertisement starring Jimmy Fallon. From the late 1990s to current times, the genre is the staple of the rave scene in North East England and Scotland. Following the closures of the most prominent venues – in particular The New Monkey nightclub – its popularity has slightly faded in those areas and has been partially replaced with scouse house. Despite this, it still retains a strong cultural legacy, regularly heard blasting from coaches when Newcastle United and Sunderland AFC play away matches.

Malaysian rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Rock kapak#

Rock kapak is considered one of the most iconic and popular types of rock in Malaysia. Emerging in the late 1980s, it is characterized by its heavy guitar riffs, melodic vocals, and often emotionally charged lyrics. Pioneering bands such as Search, Wings, XPDC, and helped define this genre, combining elements of classic rock with local musical influences. These bands enjoyed massive popularity throughout the 1990s and became a cornerstone of the Malaysian rock scene.

Mallsoft

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Mallsoft originated in the early 2010s, with the release of Vacant Places by Hantasi in 2012 via self-released limited edition CD run of 100 copies. Initially, it was not characterized as a vaporwave release, but was tagged as mallsoft later in March 2013. Other artists, such as Cat System Corp, Disconscious, and 식료품groceries, would soon follow up with their releases of the mallsoft genre.

Characteristics#

Some artists simply slow down and reverberate 1980s pop songs to make them sound as if emanating from the overhead speakers in an empty or abandoned mall. YouTube videos frequently pair mallsoft tracks with images of malls, with an emphasis on those that appear to have been produced in the 1980s and 1990s. The visuals intend to invoke a sense of loneliness along with the cold nature of meandering through overly corporate mercantile environments.

Mangue bit

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Origin#

The basis for Mangue started towards the end of Brazil’s military dictatorship at the beginning of the 1980s. The relaxation of censorship increased the availability of imported music, especially from the United States and the United Kingdom, leading to an increase of Brazilian-made rock music. In Recife, university students, including some of the founding characters of the movement, DJ Renato L. and Fred 04, started a radio show called Décadas, further facilitating the influence of rock music, especially underground music from England, leading to a large increase in Recife-based rock bands. Fred 04 notes that when Mundo Livre S/A began in 1984, poor economic circumstances and the lack of a music circuit in Recife, made it especially difficult for them, and similar music groups to find places to play. In the early 90s, Paulo Andre Pires, who would become Nação Zumbi’s impresario, began producing shows in Recife and invited both local and international bands to perform. Despite being both being cited as founders for the Mangue movement, Chico Science and Nação Zumbi (CSNZ), and Mundo Livre S/A have different influences and backgrounds. Chico Science was born to a lower-middle-class family in the neighborhood of Rio Doce in the city of Olinda. Having grown up being surrounded by regional folk music he also was heavily influenced by music of Recife such as maracatu, ciranda, embolada, and côco. Chico with his friend, Jorge du Peixe, joined several groups; Legião Hip Hop, Orla Orbe, and Loustal, before finding and meeting members of Lamento Negro, a bloco afro specializing in samba-reggae, in 1990 and forming what would be CSNZ. Lead singer Fred 04, described the idea for the band as “a fusion, a bridge between Johnny Rotten of the punk band. the Sex Pistols and Jorge Ben a pioneering Brazilian pop musician who fuses funk. soul. and samba and Moreira da Silva a samba musician from the 1930s and ’40s , understand? …. It would be a type of new wave but very Brazilian, really very Brazilian, that would be identified neither as rock nor as MPB an acronym for Música Popular Brasileira, “Brazilian Popular Music” “. When first hearing Chico Science in a mashup performance of Loustal and Lamento Negro, he thought the combination of the local/global juxtaposition, as well as the difference in geographical location, could launch what would become the Mangue movement into something that would highlight Recife’s diversity.

Math rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History and precursors#

The albums Red and Discipline by King Crimson, as well as Spiderland by Slint, are generally considered seminal influences on the development of math rock. The Canadian punk rock group Nomeansno (founded in 1979 and inactive as of 2016) have been cited by music critics as a “secret influence” on math rock, predating much of the genre’s development by more than a decade. An even more avant-garde group of the same era, Massacre, featured the guitarist Fred Frith and the bassist Bill Laswell. With some influence from the rapid-fire energy of punk, Massacre’s influential music used complex rhythmic characteristics. Black Flag’s 1984 album, My War, also included unusual polyrhythms. Two songs on Yes’ album Fragile (1971) have drawn attention – Paul Lester of Classic Rock writes that “Five Per Cent for Nothing” finds drummer Bill Bruford “inventing math rock”, while “Heart of the Sunrise” was described by Pitchforks Chris Dahlen, Dominique Leone and Joe Tangari as “a deftly constructed proto math-rock epic”. Polvo, Don Caballero, Slint, Bitch Magnet, Bastro and Ruins are the genre’s pioneers. Examples of modern math rock bands include Delta Sleep, Covet, Tricot, and TTNG.

Mathcore

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Mathcore has been referred to as the “nerdy fusion cousin” of metalcore by Ultimate Guitar. According to the staff of Metal Hammer, the genre is akin to “the sound of metal being twisted into startling new shapes.” but Loudwire stated that the genre is “almost indistinguishable from progressive metal.”

Instrumentation#

Mathcore typically features irregular time signatures, polymeters, syncopations and tempo changes, while retaining the intensity of hardcore. In the words of The Dillinger Escape Plan bassist Liam Wilson, their “choppy rhythms that people get kind of tongue-twisted on” are “Latin rhythms” mixed with the speed and “stamina” of heavy metal, drawing a parallel between them and John McLaughlin’s use of Eastern sounds within a jazz context. Most pioneering mathcore drummers had jazz, orchestral or academic backgrounds, including Dazzling Killmen’s Blake Fleming, Craw’s Neil Chastain, Coalesce’s James Dewees, Botch’s Tim Latona, The Dillinger Escape Plan’s Chris Pennie, and Converge’s Ben Koller. As with the rhythm section, the guitars perform riffs that constantly change and are seldom repeated after one section. Early bands were almost completely atonal with the guitars or all the instruments playing polyphonic dissonance. In a 2016 article, Ian Cory of Invisible Oranges described mathcore’s emphasis on technical complexity as “the means by which” they attain the aggressiveness of punk, “but never the end unto itself”, distinguishing it from “the overflowing excess” of progressive metal.

Medieval folk rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Medieval folk rock is characterised by three major elements used in various combinations. First, the playing of extant early music involving rock instrumentation. Second, the creation of original music that incorporates compositional features of early music, such as use of musical modes beyond those now considered major and minor keys. Third, the incorporation of the sounds of early music into rock songs, through vocal techniques, the use of additional instruments that characterise early music, or the simulation of early music sounds on rock instruments (for example, the use of a drone sound on an electric guitar). A final element that does not affect the nature of the music, but often accompanies it, is the adoption of perceived elements of ‘medievalism’ in lyrics, actions, dress or artwork.

Medieval metal

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Precursors#

The medieval folk band Corvus Corax was formed in 1989 and released a debut album in the same year. The group relies on period instruments that include the cister, hurdy-gurdy, biniou, buccina, davul, riq and cornetto curvo with the most prominent being the shawm and bagpipes. They describe their approach as “louder, dirtier and more powerful than any interpretation of medieval music before.” The result has been associated more with medieval taverns and pubs rather than the royal courts or church. one of the inspirations for the genre is the English folk metal band Skyclad. Formed in 1990 as a thrash metal band, they added violins from session musician Mike Evans on several tracks from their debut album, The Wayward Sons of Mother Earth, with the song “The Widdershins Jig” was acclaimed as “particularly significant” and “a certain first in the realms of Metal”. The band added a full time violinist to their ranks and has since been credited not only as the originators and pioneers of folk metal but also as a direct inspiration for medieval metal bands.

Melodic death metal

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Melodic death metal combines death metal with elements of traditional heavy metal ranging as far as the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, especially melodic or harmonized guitar riffs, with the heavily distorted guitars, fast double-bass drum patterns and occasional blast beats of death metal. Alternative Press Magazine describes the style as “incorporat ing stylistically ‘pretty’ and epic sounds” into the death metal formula, augmented by “blazing” guitar solos and “buzz-saw”-like guitar tones. The vocal style typically features harsh screams or low-pitched growling (similar to traditional death metal) but often features clean sung vocals as well. Melodic death metal is said to be more musically diverse than traditional death metal. According to Vlad Nichols of Ultimate Guitar, the boundaries of melodic death metal " grant much more artistic freedom" to artists as opposed to traditional death metal, and enables enjoyment of death metal sounds by a wider audience. He assessed, “the heaviness was still there, but it was now made all the more enjoyable by the diversity of musical and thematic expression it provided.” Some melodic death metal bands fuse the style with other styles of heavy metal and extreme metal. For example, Finnish band Children of Bodom is known for incorporating strong elements of power metal into their style.

Melodic hardcore

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Melodic hardcore differentiates itself from standard hardcore punk by incorporating melodic elements such as guitar harmonies, riffs using octave chords, as well as playing the notes of a chord individually in succession, rather than all at once. Bands in the genre also have a tendency to take influence from a range of genres including emo, post-punk, screamo, pop-punk, metalcore, post-rock and gothic rock. Many melodic hardcore bands put a greater emphasis on lyrical intellectualism than bands in other styles of hardcore. This manifested through politics in the case of bands like Strike Anywhere, and dark, poetic lyrics in the case of bands like American Nightmare and Dead Swans. Concept albums are also common amongst groups including the Carrier and Defeater. According to Brooklyn Vegan writer Andrew Sacher, “melodic hardcore is not an easy thing to define”, due to it encompassing a variety of disparate sounds including the early pop-punk of Descendents, emo of Dag Nasty, skate punk of NOFX, and heavy, nihilistic but tuneful hardcore punk bands like Modern Life Is War and the Hope Conspiracy. In his two articles on the topic, he differentiated between the heavy and nihilistic style based in modern hardcore that he labeled as simply “melodic hardcore” and the more traditional, punk-based “melodic punk” style “that ties together Against Me! to Hot Water Music to Strike Anywhere to the Lawrence Arms”. PopMatters writer Ethan Stewart instead suggested that melodic hardcore “as we know it today” began with late 1980s bands like Inside Out and Turning Point who merged youth crew hardcore with emo and tough guy hardcore, due to their influence upon much of the subsequent acts in the genre.

Melodic metalcore

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Origins#

In the late 1990s, a wave of metalcore bands began incorporating elements of melodic death metal into their sound. This formed an early version of what would become the melodic metalcore genre. The first band to make use of this fusion was Overcast, who were soon followed by Shadows Fall on Somber Eyes to the Sky (1997), Undying on This Day All Gods Die (1999), Darkest Hour on The Prophecy Fulfilled (1999), Unearth on Above the Fall of Man (1999) and Prayer for Cleansing on Rain in Endless Fall (1999). CMJ writer Anthony Delia also credited Florida’s Poison the Well and their first two releases The Opposite of December… A Season of Separation (1999) and Tear from the Red (2002) as “design ing the template for most of” the melodic metalcore bands to come. Killswitch Engage have also been called a pioneering force in the genre by publications such as Revolver, along with artists such as 7 Angels 7 Plagues, Chimaira, Dead to Fall and Heaven Shall Burn. Belgian groups also played a large part in the development of the genre in its early years, as bands such as Arkangel began embracing the sounds of melodic death metal in their traditional metalcore sound, as early as 1998.

Metalcore

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Etymology#

The term “metalcore” is a portmanteau of the words “metal” and “hardcore”, and was originally tongue-in-cheek. During the 1980s, Maximumrocknroll had used early variations of the term, referring to Richmond band Black Pyramid as “heavy-metal core” in February 1985; Oxnard band False Confessions as “metal-core” in December 1985; Mesa band Desecration as “death metal core” in May 1986; and Austin band Last Will as “ghoulish metal/core” in December 1986. Phillip Trapp of Loudwire states that Shai Hulud guitarist Matt Fox is widely credited for playing a role in “popularizing” the term. However, in a 2008 interview, Fox claimed the term had already been in use before his band began releasing music. He recalled: “There were bands before Shai Hulud started that my friends and I were referring to as ‘metalcore.’ Bands like Burn, Deadguy, Earth Crisis, even Integrity. These bands that were heavier than the average hardcore bands. These bands that were more progressive … my friends and I would always refer to them as ‘metalcore’ because it wasn’t purely hardcore and it wasn’t purely metal … so we would joke around and say, ‘Hey, it’s metalcore. Cool!’ But it was definitely a tongue-in-cheek term.” Alternatively, Jorge Rosado of Merauder claimed in a 2014 interview that he and his band coined the term. Luke Morton of Metal Hammer stated that the word “means different things to different people,” highlighting the fact that the tag has been variously applied to stylistically dissimilar bands such as Killswitch Engage, Earth Crisis, Asking Alexandria and Parkway Drive.

Midwest emo

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

According to The Chicago Reader critic Leor Galil, the second-wave bands of the Midwest emo scene “transformed the angular fury of D.C. emo into something malleable, melodic, and cathartic—its common features included cycling guitar parts, chugging bass lines, and unconventional singing that sounded like a sweet neighbor kid with no vocal training but plenty of heart.” Incorporating elements from indie rock, the genre also features “gloomy chord progressions” and arpeggiated guitar melodies, Texas Is the Reason guitarist Norman Brannon has stated that the 1993 albums The Problem with Me by Seam, In on the Kill Taker by Fugazi, and On the Mouth by Superchunk were particularly influential, having been “name-checked by every second-wave emo band I knew.” Post-hardcore band Jawbox also impacted the sound of Midwest emo, being cited as an influence by such bands as Braid, Elliott, the Jazz June, and Boys Life. The definable traits of the Midwest emo have proven to be easily fused with other genres of underground independent music. Revival bands including The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die mixed the Midwestern emo sound with genres such as post-rock and orchestral music. Other outfits, including Patterns Make Sunrise, The Pennikurvers, and Everyone Asked About You, introduced elements of twee pop and indie pop into the sound of Midwest emo. This proved influential to the aforementioned emo revival scene, with groups like Dowsing and Empire! Empire! (I Was a Lonely Estate) taking a similar approach. Midwest emo has also been described as a “whole band potluck” with several bands bringing in experimental sounds to develop the genre. The result is “a musical casserole of introspective lyrics, DIY sprinkles, and heartfelt garnishes that cooked up the signature Midwest Emo scene, where everyone brought their own instruments to the party”. This style of shared sound and experimentation in the scene helped to develop the scene in the Midwest, where many alternative people feel there is a lack of culture.

Minimal wave

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background and etymology#

Veronica Vasicka, founder of the Minimal Wave record label, claims to have coined the genre name. She stated in a 2009 interview: For a 2009 publicity piece, Vasicka wrote that the music overlaps with several other genres, “The Minimal Wave genre actually formed only several years ago, as a result of a resurgence of interest in the roots of pre-MIDI electronic new wave (1978–1985), mainly from North America, Europe and Japan. This music is sometimes referred to as minimal electronic, minimal synth, coldwave, new wave, technopop, or synth-pop, depending on the particular style, year, and location of the band.”

Minneapolis hardcore

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Venues#

The Triple Rock Social Club, a popular hardcore venue in Minneapolis. It was owned by some of the members of Dillinger Four. It closed in 2017.
NOFX’s 2006 single “Seeing Double at the Triple Rock”, from the Wolves in Wolves’ Clothing album, is a tribute to the Triple Rock club where they also filmed the video for the song.
The Beat Coffeehouse
Memory Lanes Punk Rock Bowling
The Hexagon Bar
Station4

DIY#

The Minneapolis hardcore and punk scene has a strong DIY ethic. Accomplishments have included community-sponsored venues to basement shows to an all-volunteer independent record store Extreme Noise Records.

Minneapolis sound

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Identifying characteristics#

While the Minneapolis sound incorporates many of funk’s quintessential elements, it bears several distinguishing characteristics: * Synthesizers generally replace horn sections of trumpets and saxophones, and are used more as accent than as fill or background. * The rhythm is often faster and generally less syncopated than traditional funk, owing much to new wave music. At the same time, dominant rhythm lines are often accented with repeating percussive fills at fixed intervals, often courtesy a Linn or other drum machine. * Lead guitar is frequently much louder and more aggressively processed during solos than in most traditional funk, while a wah-wah effect is heavily relied upon for rhythm guitar accompaniments. * Compositions often incorporate orchestral string arrangements, adding a symphonic pathos. * The “bottom” of the sound is less bass-heavy than traditional funk; drums and keyboards fill more of the “bottom”.

Mod revival

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Beginnings#

The late 1970s mod revival combined musical and cultural elements of the 1970s pub rock, punk rock and new wave music genres with influences from 1960s mod jazz and power pop bands such as the Who, Small Faces and the Kinks. The mod revival was largely set in motion by the Jam and their fans. The band had adopted a stark mod look and mixed the energy of punk with the sound of 1960s mod bands. Their debut album In the City (1977), mixed R&B standards with originals modelled on the Who’s early singles. They confirmed their status as the leading mod revival band with their third album All Mod Cons (1978), on which Paul Weller’s song-writing drew heavily on the British-focused narratives of the Kinks. The revival was also spurred on by small concerts at venues such as the Cambridge Hotel, Edmonton, Hop Poles Hotel and Howard Hall both in Enfield, the Wellington, Waterloo Road, London, and the Bridge House in Canning Town. In 1979, the film Quadrophenia, which romanticised the original 1960s mod subculture, widened the impact and popularity of the mod revival across the UK. The original mod revival fanzine, Maximum Speed started in 1979 and spawned other home-produced fanzines from then until the mid-to-late 1980s. Bands grew up to feed the desire for mod music, often combining the music of 1960s mod groups with elements of punk music, including the Chords, Secret Affair, Purple Hearts and the Lambrettas. These acts managed to develop cult followings and some had pop hits, before the revival petered out in the early 1980s. More R’n’B based bands such as the Little Roosters, the Inmates and Nine Below Zero also became key acts in the growing mod revival scene in London. In 1979 the mod scene in Australia began and took off particularly in Sydney & Melbourne, led by bands such as The Sets, Little Murders, Division 4, The Introverts & The Go. There was a documentary made in early 1981 called The Go-Set about the mod revival scene in Sydney & Melbourne. There was also a book published about the mod scene in Australia from 1979 to 1986.

Modern rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Radio format#

Modern rock (also known as alternative radio) is a rock format commonly found on commercial radio; consisting primarily of the alternative rock genre. Generally beginning with hardcore punk but referring especially to alternative rock music since the 1980s, the phrase “modern rock” is used in the US to differentiate the music from classic rock, which focuses on music recorded in the 1960s through to the early 1990s. A few modern rock radio stations existed during the 1980s, such as KROQ-FM in Los Angeles, XETRA-FM in San Diego, WHTG-FM (now WKMK) on the Jersey Shore, WLIR on Long Island, and WFNX in Boston. Radio & Records, a US trade publication, began tracking airplay from several of these stations on their New Rock weekly track chart beginning in January 1989, calling them “radio’s most successfully adventurous current-intensive stations” that would serve as “the proving ground for many of tomorrow’s stars”. The 1988 episode of the VH1 show I Love the ’80s discussed INXS, the Cure, Morrissey, Depeche Mode, and Erasure as modern rock artists representative of that year. In, the breakthrough success of the grunge bands Nirvana and Pearl Jam resulted in many American radio stations switching to the format. The format has gone through two distinct periods, dividing the line from classic modern rock and the current alternative rock format used today. Up until grunge went mainstream, the format featured a wide variety of up-tempo danceable music from a diverse group of artists that were being played in rock discos and clubs. This was a legacy from new wave music and the Second British Invasion that immediately preceded it. Of all the artists who had songs hit the top 30 in the first modern rock chart, only seven of them were American. Between 1992 and 1994, most of the female, foreign and dance music had largely disappeared from the chart. While the chart still featured a variety of alternative rock music, it was largely guitar rock created by male Americans. By 1996, the modern rock chart was largely identical to the mainstream rock chart; it was therefore surveying what was then mainstream rock music.

Nagoya kei

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Early notable Nagoya kei acts include Silver~~Rose (formed 1989), Kuroyume, and Merry Go Round (both formed 1991). According to Fanatic Crisis guitarist Shun, Silver~~Rose and Kuroyume were the “big two” of the early scene. Keito Ozaki of Japanese pop culture website Real Sound wrote that many Nagoya kei bands eventually diverge into different directions; Kuroyume turned to punk rock and hardcore punk, Laputa turned to a digital sound, Fanatic Crisis went pop, and Merry Go Round went in a “maniacal, ero guro and underground direction.” However, Ozaki wrote that Lynch. has more than a few traits in common with Nagoya kei. Particularly noting how, due to the popularity of Dir En Grey, many contemporary bands have heavier sounds with low-tuned guitars, including those in Nagoya. Despite not being from Nagoya, Arlequin (formed 2013) were influenced by its bands and have labeled themselves the “next generation of Nagoya kei.”

National Socialist black metal

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Black metal#

Black metal is generally not political music and the vast majority of bands do not express political views. Black metal originated in the 1980s from the work of thrash metal bands such as Venom (whose 1982 album Black Metal coined the term), Mercyful Fate, Bathory, Slayer, Hellhammer, Celtic Frost, and Sodom. These bands did not form a scene of their own, nor did they have a common musical style. A lyrical focus that is anti-Christian, Satanist, neopagan, or a combination thereof, is often considered a prerequisite for the genre, and originally the term “black metal” was synonymous with “Satanic metal”. A stricter definition still requires Satanism for a band to be classified as black metal. Non-Satanic bands from the same surroundings originally used other terms for their own music, such as pagan metal or Viking metal. In the late-1980s and early-1990s, the early Norwegian black metal scene, developed by bands such as Mayhem, Thorns, Immortal, Darkthrone, Burzum, Emperor, Satyricon, and Ulver, established a more specific sonic template that came to define Norwegian black metal blast beats and double-bass drumming, a thin, shrieking vocal style , heavily distorted guitars played with tremolo picking and power chords,

Nazi punk

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Bibliography#

Blush, Steven, American Hardcore: A Tribal History
Condemned Magazine issue #2.
Morrison, Eddy, Memoirs of a Street Soldier: A Life in White Nationalism
National Front, The Punk Front: 1978–79
Reynolds, Simon, Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978–1984
Sabin, Roger, Punk Rock: So What?

Nederbeat

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

In the 1960s, The Beatles and the Merseybeat sound began to dominate the Dutch charts. The popularity of such music led to interest among Dutch musicians in forming bands to play this type of rock music, replacing a previous genre Indorock performed by Indonesian immigrants in the Netherlands. The interest was further spurred on by the Beatles concerts in the Netherlands in 1964 that drew large crowds, followed by a performance by The Rolling Stones at the Kurhaus in Scheveningen disrupted by an excited audience. The Hague was the country’s beat capital, where bands such as “the Golden Earrings” (the predecessor of Golden Earring), InCrowd, Q65, Het, Sandy Coast and The Motions were formed, along with its neighbouring coastal town Scheveningen. The clubs on its boulevard, from where Veronica’s pirate ship was constantly visible, became the locus for Dutch talent. Other bands such as the Outsiders also emerged in Amsterdam. These bands generally performed in English, with the exception of a few such as Het who performed in Dutch. Their guitarist Robbie van Leeuwen would later form Shocking Blue. Other popular groups were the Outsiders, Q65, Golden Earring, Ro-d-ys, The Shoes, and Cuby & the Blizzards. Nederbeat had association with the psychedelia and counterculture of the 1960s in the Netherlands. The beat sound was popular for a few years before the sound started to change, and the musical style of the bands evolved. Soul and Rhythm and blues became more popular, groups that performed in such style include Rob Hoeke Rhythm & Blues Group. The Cats shifted into the palingsound they created, while Cuby & the Blizzards developed their own distinct style of blues. The bands were mostly popular only in the Netherlands, but a few bands found success internationally. In 1970, Tee-Set had a top 10 hit with “Ma Belle Amie” in many countries, while Shocking Blue did better with “Venus”, which became the first ever No. 1 single by a Dutch band on Billboard Hot 100. Later in 1973, Golden Earring also had a worldwide hit with “Radar Love”. However, despite the successes, the genre had faded in the 1970s as popular music moved on to other genres and tastes such as Disco.

Neo-prog

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Neo-prog is characterised by deeply emotional content, often delivered via dramatic lyrics and a generous use of imagery and theatricality on-stage. The music is mostly the product of careful composition, relying less heavily on improvised jamming. The subgenre relies very much on clean, melodic and emotional electric guitar solos, combined with keyboards. The main musical influences on the neo-prog genre are bands from the first wave of progressive rock such as early Genesis, Camel, and to a lesser extent Van der Graaf Generator and Pink Floyd.

Neo-psychedelia

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Neo-psychedelic artists primarily borrow a variety of musical, visual and aesthetic elements from 1960s and 1970s psychedelic music. Artists such as the Soft Boys, Spacemen 3 and the Church merged post-punk and jangle pop with psychedelic rock, pop, acid and folk music. According to AllMusic: Some neo-psychedelic bands were explicitly focused on drug use and experiences, and like the acid house movement of the same era, evoked transitory, ephemeral, and trance-like experiences. Several bands have used neo-psychedelic elements, or perform neo-psychedelia, to accompany surreal or political lyrics. In the view of author Erik Morse, “the sounds of American neo-psychedelia emphasized the cryptic margins of avant-rock, incorporating evanescent textures over an immutable bassline, producing a ‘heavy’ metallic ambience, contra-distinct to the sing-song filigree of British psychedelia”.

Neoclassical metal

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Definition#

Neoclassical metal takes its name from a broad conception of classical music. In this it is a concept distinct from how neoclassicism is understood within the classical music tradition. Neoclassical music usually refers to a movement in musical modernism which developed roughly a century after the end of the Classical period and peaked during the years between the two World Wars. On the other hand, neoclassical metal music does not restrict itself to a return to classical aesthetic ideals, such as equilibrium and formalism. Its influences include both the Romantic musical period and the Baroque period of the seventeenth and first half of the eighteenth centuries. The music of late Baroque composers such as Vivaldi, Handel and Bach was often highly ornate. Neoclassical metal musicians such as Yngwie Malmsteen are inspired by this aspect of Baroque music and also by later composers such as the violinist Niccolò Paganini in using runs and other decorative and showy techniques in their performances. Neoclassical metal music thus looks to classical music as broadly understood by the general public and not to the more specialist technical definition used within classical circles.

Nepalese rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

The history of rock music in Nepal dates back to the 1970s when there were a few acts influenced by Western bands such as The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, and later Led Zeppelin, The Who, the Grateful Dead, Pink Floyd, Iron Maiden, Deep Purple and Bob Marley. Bands in Kathmandu consisted mostly of local people from Kathmandu (capital of Nepal and famous hippie destination during 1970s), who got close with the hippies around the world to the extent that guitars and records were bought from them. Prism, who formed in 1976, was one of the earlier bands to start playing English songs. The members of Prism are still active playing either in other bands or in hotels and restaurants, and they still reunite sometimes as “Prism” to play on some special occasions. Most of the bands did not record any of the originals during the 70s and 80s but recording culture gradually started to change with bands such as The Influence and Crossroads. These bands introduced pop-rock elements to the Nepali music scene. Both bands released a few albums and were very popular at the time. These records were monumental in encouraging bands to record their own original material. After these bands came other bands such as The Peace, The Crisis, The Move, Metal Cross and Zenith. They also went on to produce their own records. There was a change in the direction of the music that the newer bands were making, and the stage was set for the bands and artists to record and perform their original compositions. Newaz is considered to be the first hard-rock band and released their debut album in 1991. This was shortly followed by Cobweb releasing their debut album called Anjaan in 1993. They are still active and releasing albums, although they are mostly confined to pub concerts. A few years later in 1996, Milestone, a band from Pokhara, released their debut album - Milestone. The album contained eight tracks, six of which were rock ballads but the other two Adhuro Prem and Mayalu were on the heavier side with a lot of guitar distortions, sweeping solos and screaming vocals. Music video for Adhuro Prem was also aired on limited Nepali television channels at the time. That type of music was unheard in the mainstream music industry and hence the track nor the album was fortunate enough to make a break in the industry. In the late 1990s, a few songs from the band Drishty (formed by Iman B. Shah while he was in the US) hit the FM airwaves on a few rock shows. While in the US, Drishty recorded two albums in the bedroom studio set up by Iman B. Shah, but none of the albums were formally released. Mukti and Revival, which consisted one of the most senior rock and blues musicians, also released Kalanki Ko Jam in 2000. In the same period, Robin n Looza: also made it big in the rock scene. There were, of course, already many other regulars as well as “one gig” bands that were doing metal covers live. During the early and mid 1990s, a few Iron Maiden songs and Diamond Head’s “Am I Evil?” were concert staples. Almost every hard rock show would have those two songs played by at least one band. Many such bands have never been documented. Ugra Karma’s release of the demo Himalayan Metal of Death in 2000 can be cited as the first Death Metal release by a Nepali band. Ugra Karma went on to release a full-length album named Blood Metal Initiation in 2001. This marks the beginning of Extreme Metal music in Nepal and Ugra Karma is regarded as the pioneering initiators of the underground Metal subculture in South Asia. The emergence of BMI Studios (otherwise known as Sacred Soundz) was an important event in the history of Metal in Nepal. The owner/engineer Iman B. Shah (Guitarist – Drishty and formerly of Vegetarian Vampires) was a ‘metalhead’ himself and was familiar with capturing the essence of metal - heavy riffs, thundering drums, thumping bass and deafening vocals – in the recording studio. Out of the few albums/songs that were ever recorded by local bands at that time, most of them like Ugrakarma’s “Himalayan Metal of Death”, “Blood Metal Initiation” and Albatross’ “Hi : Fly” were done at BMI/Sacred Soundz. The existence of a ‘metal’ recording studio opened up a lot of avenues for future bands trying to cut a record or a demo. Following the release of Ugra Karma’s full-length album ‘Blood Metal Initiation’ in 2001, there were a horde of bands in the valley playing quite a range of metal music. An indie rock scene had also emerged, with punk bands like Rai Ko Ris (www.raikoris.com), with singer and bass player Sareena Rai, leading the way to a nascent DIY movement. Several band contests, where an original was mandatory to compete, also fueled the new bands to seek the creativity within them and come up with something imperative. While such contests more than often yielded nine pop bands for every metal band, it still was a very significant step forward. More gigs were being organized, and more bands emerged. But the difference between these gigs and the gigs five years ago was monumental – these new bands were playing their own songs. One of those bands was Refused 13 from Nakhipot, Lalitpur. The band had played their first gig opening for Dead Soul (on Metallica Anthology Concert, 2001). The band started creating a formidable reputation in the valley as a very “tight” metal band with an in-your-face attitude, conceived by many as the band to pick metal where Dead Soul had left and then elevate the scene into another level. During the band’s active years, the band organized another memorable gig “Keep Suffering” at Nakhipot. Anuraag Pokhrel, former vocalist of Albatross on the band says, “Refused 13 was definitely a force - the band and the persona of the band. I still remember that when they would walk into a concert, I would try to look at them without getting caught, because they were Refused13 and they looked like hardcore badasses that would kill you if you looked at them wrong”. Formed in late 2001, Nastik became the new leader among the metal bands, solely because of the use of growling vocals (aided by the fact that even though Ugrakarma is the first death metal band, they really never performed live). Nastik released a self-titled demo album in 2002, which featured “Maukil” – a fan favorite song in concerts. Nastik then released Judge Death – an all-out death metal album in 2003. However, as in many other cases, the album was never released officially but fans had their own ways to get their hands on the album. Third World Chaos’s four song EP Inferno was released in 2003 which is significant in the terms that it introduced hardcore influenced metal into Kathmandu’s scene. During the active days, TWC performed regularly in concerts with Nastik and X-mantra and helped the scene to become stronger. The release of X-mantra’s debut album Crying for Peace in 2003 hit the underground metal scene like a tsunami and created an astonishing aftermath. Their “No Cover Songs in Gigs” code created an astounding impact among other active bands in the scene. Several bands started performing originals who gradually realized that performing decent originals was more important than doing any magnificent cover songs. “Shalik” and “Chidiya Ghar” became new anthems in the metal concerts. In simple words, X-mantra did it. What Cobweb stood for the mainstream rock scene in Nepal, X-mantra proudly stood for the metal and underground scene in Nepal. Anuraag Pokhrel (ex-Albatross): “Even though the album “Crying for Peace” is 50% crap and the band eventually lost it, the other half of the album that does work is too well-done and too innovative to ignore. I think “Crying for Peace” paved the way for a more noise-receptive audience than there would have been otherwise.” Until their philosophical demise and in an attempt to garner commercial limelight by changing the direction, X-mantra’s first two albums (the second one being Kurshi, 2004) set a standard in the Nepali Metal history – proving that it was possible to fuse aggression in the almost poetic styled Nepali lyrics with riff based groovy metal. The same year saw the recording of a song titled “Itihaas” by Maya. With a melodic death/black metal style riffing and strong lyrics, Maya had an admirable influence on the next generation of black metal bands like Cruentus and Antim Grahan. The same year, members of Nastik and Albatross also joined forces as Abattoir and recorded a self-titled album before disbanding. At the end of 2004, bands like Ugra Karma, Nastik, TWC, Albatross, Refused 13 and X-mantra were either inactive, had disbanded or had moved away from the underground scene. By 2005, a new wave of bands such as Cruentus, Antim Grahan, Muga:, Brutal, Holocaust, and Breeding Pestilence started to bring new and innovative stuff into the scene. And later, bands like Epitaph, Morgoth and Vhumi forged new styles into the scene. Cruentus started as a metal cover band playing generally Sepultura on concerts. Their choice of music gradually shifted towards black metal and eventually Cruentus started covering Immortal, Amon Amarth, Graveworm and so on. The band started to perform originals and started to gain a huge sense of respect in the underground community as one of the most tightest live bands in Ktm. They recorded their EP Massacre of the Holy Ones in 2004 and later in 2005, recorded a full-length album, Asantusta Aatma – another milestone in the history of Nepali metal. Ashantusta Aatma featured rawness and aggression of black metal with a touch of death metal and the title song became a new anthem in the metal concerts. At the end of 2005 The Lakhey (First Newa Metal Band) recorded their first Newa Metal song Dhampa Tacha. Individually, Antim Grahan’s band members were just a bunch of average musicians, however as a band, their live performance was tight. The release of EP Forever Winter in the early 2005 was a bold testimony of their brand of symphonic black metal. Without wasting much time just after three months, Antim Grahan released their full-length album Tales of the Darkened Woods. Recorded and mixed in the Sacred Soundz, the album was able to capture the atmosphere and aggression of black metal. These two albums were very popular because of their melodic lines. Holocaust was a pure death metal outfit while Breeding Pestilence introduced somewhat technical death metal to the scene. At the same time, Blood Blisters were creating a strong following within the Lalitpur area. Blood Blisters started out as a cover band playing Iron Maiden exclusively. The band also participated in several band competitions - increasing their popularity - and inspiring some new bands in Patan like Morceous, Metalbox and Bequeath. 2006 saw the formation of progressive rock band Atomic Bush. Formed by the members of Breeding Pestilence, Ozzobozo and Elysium – Atomic Bush propelled the scene into a new and interesting frontier of progressive, virtuoso and eclectic rock. They had recorded an album called P Jam. The year 2007 was a great year for local underground as well with the releases of Barbaric Regulation (Epitaph) and The Last Verse of Madness (Morgoth/Lost Oblivion). A thrash/death band called 72hrs, formed by members of Ugra Karma and Refused 13 also released an EP, “Kunike”. When it comes to rock and heavy metal bands in Pokhara, it goes far back to the early 1990s when there were bands like Vagabond and Anamnesis. These bands mostly covered Jimi Hendrix, Black Sabbath, UFO, Deep Purple, Iron Maiden, and Metallica to name few. These two bands are believed to have set the heavy metal scene in Pokhara. Vagabond also released an album with Music Nepal. Vivax and Milestone were also notable names from the Pokhara scene. Bands such as Grease and Numskull who are credited for starting grunge/punk movement. Anorak started the melodic punk in the scene.

Neue Deutsche Härte

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

describes a crossover style that is influenced by Neue Deutsche Welle, alternative metal and groove metal combining it with elements from electro-industrial and techno. The lyrics are generally in German. NDH uses the basic setup of instruments for metal: electric guitar, bass guitar, drums and vocals, along with keyboard, synthesizers, samples and sometimes additional percussion. Emphasis is on a demonstration of predominance, by over-pronouncing certain syllables and sounds (such as the uvular or alveolar trill). The vocals are dominantly presenting in deep, male and clean voice. Some bands use screaming and death growls, which is also common, being heard in certain songs by Oomph!, Rammstein, Joachim Witt, Megaherz and Eisbrecher. NDH imagery is often strongly masculine and militaristic. Guitars are tuned low, usually to drop D or drop C, and are generally heavily distorted. The NDH style has crossed borders and its popularity has grown in recent years to such an extent that there are already bands outside Germany, such as the Spanish band Bloody Kitchen, who do not use German in their songs as usual and their lyrics are also entirely in Spanish.

Neue Deutsche Welle

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History#

The history of Neue Deutsche Welle consists of two major parts. From its beginnings to 1981, the genre was mostly an underground movement with roots in British punk and new wave music. It quickly developed into an original and distinct style, influenced in no small part by the sound and rhythm of the German language, which many of the bands had adopted early on. Whilst some of the lyrics of artists like Nena and Ideal epitomized the zeitgeist of urban West Germany during the Cold War, others used the language in a surreal way, merely playing with its sound or graphic quality rather than using it to express meaning. This includes bands and artists such as Spliff, Joachim Witt, and Trio. The main centers of the NDW movement during these years were West Berlin, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Hanover, Hagen, Zurich, and Bern, as well as, to a lesser extent, the Frankfurt Rhein-Main Region, Limburg an der Lahn, and Vienna. From about 1980 on, the music industry began noticing Neue Deutsche Welle. However, because of the idiosyncratic nature of the music, focus shifted to creating new bands more compatible with the mainstream rather than promoting existing ones. Many one-hit wonders and short-lived groups appeared and were forgotten again in rapid succession. The overly broad application of the NDW label to these bands, as well as to almost any German musicians not using English lyrics, even if their music was apparently not influenced at all by the original NDW sound, quickly led to the decay of the entire genre when many of the original musicians turned their backs in frustration. A revival of interest in the style in the Anglophone world occurred in 2003, with the release of DJ Hell’s compilation New Deutsch. NDW has come to be acknowledged as a forerunner to later developments in dance-punk, electronic body music, and electroclash.

New musick

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Etymology#

On 26 November 1977, Sounds magazine published an issue entitled “New Musick”, the front cover was done by Steven Lavers with editorials by music journalists Jane Suck and Jon Savage. Savage wrote a piece on an emerging scene and style of music known as “new musick”, suggesting that punk rock was becoming stagnant and evolving into new, more experimental forms, which he noted as “post punk projections”. His editorial stated “New Musick is too many cigarettes, too much depression and too little heart.” Savage then remarked: He described the movement as “Clean teen beat groups cleaning up and minting millions from where the Groovies’ left off and starting where the Jam got boring. Synthemesc nouveau pop”. Music journalists Simon Reynolds, David Buckley, David Wilkinson, and Theo Cateforis retrospectively cited Savage’s editorial as the starting point for post-punk as a musical genre. During the late 1970s, the terms “new musick”, “new wave” and “post-punk” would all be used interchangeably by British music publications. Additionally, the subgenre “cold wave” would also be coined in the November 1977 Sounds “New Musick” article, with members of Kraftwerk, Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider, being displayed on the front cover. Writer Mimi Haddon suggested the term “New Musick” may have referred to the division of Germany into East and West and that the emphasis on “all things German in opposition to “American and rock ‘n’ roll,” that Reynolds identifies may also have inspired the quasi-Germanic spelling of “Musick,” which resembles the German word Musik, as well as the quasi-Germanic capitalization of the words.”

New Partisans

Progressive rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The term “progressive rock” is related to and sometimes considered synonymous with “art rock”, “classical rock” (not to be confused with classic rock), and “symphonic rock”. Historically, “art rock” has been used to describe at least two related, but distinct, types of rock music. The first is progressive rock as it is generally understood, while the second usage refers to experimental rock groups who rejected psychedelia and the hippie counterculture in favour of a modernist, avant-garde approach. Similarities between the two terms are that they both describe a mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility. However, art rock is more likely to have experimental or avant-garde influences. “Prog” was devised in the 1990s as a shorthand term, but later became a transferable adjective, also suggesting a wider palette than that drawn on by the most popular 1970s bands. Progressive rock is varied and is based on fusions of styles, approaches, and genres, tapping into broader cultural resonances that connect to avant-garde art, classical music and folk music, performance and the moving image. Although a unidirectional English “progressive” style emerged in the late 1960s, by 1967, progressive rock had come to constitute a diversity of loosely associated style codes. When the “progressive” label arrived, the music was dubbed “progressive pop” before it was called “progressive rock”, with the term “progressive” referring to the wide range of attempts to break with standard pop music formula. A number of additional factors contributed to the acquired “progressive” label: lyrics were more poetic; technology was harnessed for new sounds; music approached the condition of “art”; some harmonic language was imported from jazz and 19th-century classical music; the album format overtook singles; and the studio, rather than the stage, became the focus of musical activity, which often involved creating music for listening, not dancing. Critics of the genre often limit its scope to a stereotype of long solos, overlong albums, fantasy lyrics, grandiose stage sets and costumes, and an obsessive dedication to technical skill. While progressive rock is often cited for its merging of high culture and low culture, few artists incorporated literal classical themes in their work to any great degree, and only a handful of groups purposely emulated or referenced classical music. Writer Emily Robinson says that the narrowed definition of “progressive rock” was a measure against the term’s loose application in the late 1960s, when it was “applied to everyone from Bob Dylan to the Rolling Stones”. Debate over the genre’s criterion continued to the 2010s, particularly on Internet forums dedicated to prog. According to musicologists Paul Hegarty and Martin Halliwell, Bill Martin and Edward Macan authored major books about progressive rock while “effectively accept ing the characterization of progressive rock offered by its critics. … they each do so largely unconsciously.” Academic John S. Cotner contests Macan’s view that progressive rock cannot exist without the continuous and overt assimilation of classical music into rock. Author Kevin Holm-Hudson agrees that “progressive rock is a style far more diverse than what is heard from its mainstream groups and what is implied by unsympathetic critics.”

Proto-prog

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Definition#

Although a unidirectional English “progressive” style emerged in the late 1960s, by 1967, progressive rock had come to constitute a diversity of loosely associated style codes. When the “progressive” label arrived, the music was dubbed “progressive pop” before it was called “progressive rock”, with the term “progressive” referring to the wide range of attempts to break with standard pop music formula. Music writer Doyle Greene believes that the “proto-prog” label can stretch to “the later Beatles and Frank Zappa”, Pink Floyd, Soft Machine, and United States of America. Edward Macan, an author of progressive rock books, says that psychedelic bands like the Nice, the Moody Blues, and Pink Floyd represent a proto-progressive style and the first wave of English progressive rock. Conversely, academics Paul Hegarty and Martin Halliwell identify the Beatles, the Beach Boys, the Doors, the Pretty Things, the Zombies, the Byrds, the Grateful Dead and Pink Floyd “not merely as precursors of prog but as essential developments of progressiveness in its early days”. At the time, critics generally assumed King Crimson’s album In the Court of the Crimson King (1969) to be the logical extension and development of late 1960s proto-progressive rock exemplified by the Moody Blues, Procol Harum, Pink Floyd, and the Beatles. According to Macan, the album may be the most influential to progressive rock for crystallizing the music of earlier “proto-progressive bands … into a distinctive, immediately recognizable style”. He distinguishes 1970s “classic” prog from late 1960s proto-prog by the conscious rejection of psychedelic rock elements, which proto-progressive bands continued to support.

Proto-punk

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Etymology#

The term proto-punk has been defined differently by several writers and publications. In his essay Protopunk: the Garage Bands, music critic Lester Bangs applied the term to 1960s garage rock acts as well as Ritchie Valens’ 1958 cover of “La Bamba”. The book further states that “Although largely an American phenomenon, proto-punk can also be found in Britain. In Britain, however, it went under different names, and it is commonly referred to as either glam rock or pub rock”.

Psychedelic folk

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Characteristics and terminology#

Psychedelic folk generally favors acoustic instrumentation although it often incorporates other instrumentation. Chanting, early music and various non-Western folk music influences are often found in psych folk. Much like its rock counterpart, psychedelic folk is often known for a peculiar, trance-like, and atmospheric sound, often drawing on musical improvisation and Asian influences.

Acid folk#

The term acid folk was coined in late 1969 by Australian journalist Lillian Roxon to describe the music of Pearls Before Swine. In her Rock Encyclopedia, she explained: In Seasons They Change: The Story of Acid and Psychedelic Folk (2010), author Jeanette Leech states that the term “acid folk” was a “perfect summation” of the music of Pearls Before Swine and similar acts: The term was nonetheless not used widely until some time after it was coined. Tom Rapp of Pearls Before Swine commented that “acid folk as a label is fine in that it implies borderlessness.”

Psychedelic funk

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Origins: Late 1960s#

Inspired by Jimi Hendrix and psychedelic culture, the psychedelic soul group Sly and the Family Stone borrowed techniques from psychedelic rock music, including wah pedals, fuzz boxes, echo chambers, and vocal distorters. This psychedelic sound would also be reflected in the late 1960s output of iconic Detroit label Motown.

Development: 1970s–1980s#

In 1970, Hendrix released the trio album Band of Gypsys, described as “ground zero” for psychedelic funk. The Parliament-Funkadelic collective developed the sensibility, employing acid rock-oriented guitar and synthesizers into open-ended funk jams. Funkadelic’s 1971 album Maggot Brain was labeled a monument in the genre by Pitchfork. Led by George Clinton, P-Funk would shift the genre away from song-form and toward groove and texture, emphasizing the abject elements of psychedelia. The Isley Brothers and Bobby Womack would be influenced by Funkadelic and draw on this sound. During the early 1970s, the main elements of psychedelic funk were adopted as signifiers of “urban blackness” and incorporated into blaxploitation films. Jazz musician Miles Davis, newly influenced by Sly Stone and Brown, explored the genre on his 1972 album On the Corner. The group War recorded in a psychedelic funk-rock style alongside lyrics protesting racism and police brutality. The 1974 album Inspiration Information by Shuggie Otis explored psychedelic funk and soul, and despite receiving little attention upon release, it later achieved acclaim when it was reissued by the Luaka Bop label. In the late 1970s, new wave band Talking Heads explored psychedelic funk, influenced by George Clinton and P-Funk, on a trilogy of acclaimed albums. Prince drew on the style, Author Michaelangelo Matos described Prince’s 1987 track “The Ballad of Dorothy Parker” as psychedelic funk, “not in the sense of Funkadelic or Hendrix’s Band of Gypsys, but in the sense that its rhythms and textures achieve a molten-lava sense without surrendering the groove.

Psychedelic pop

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Characteristics#

According to AllMusic, psychedelic pop was not too “freaky”, but also not very “bubblegum” either. It appropriated the effects associated with straight psychedelic music, applying their innovations to concise pop songs. The music was occasionally confined to the studio, but there existed more organic exceptions whose psychedelia was bright and melodic. AllMusic adds: “What’s strange is that some psychedelic pop is more interesting than average psychedelia, since it had weird, occasionally awkward blends of psychedelia and pop conventions – the Neon Philharmonic’s 1969 album The Moth Confesses is a prime example of this.”

Psychedelic rap

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Psychedelic rap is defined by “deep musicality, anchored by dusty drum breaks and samples often lifted from jazz records”, resulting in music that is “both comforting and otherworldly — both retro and Afrofuturistic”. The genre has its roots in the psychedelic rock of Jimi Hendrix, whose “hypnotic, laidback vocal style” on songs like “Crosstown Traffic” would " foreshadow the stoned swagger of a West Coast hip-hop MC", according to Tidal magazine. Psychedelic soul, such as Sly Stone, and funk, were also key influences on psychedelic rap. Parliament-Funkadelic are among hip-hop’s most sampled artists. Betty Davis was cited as another precursor to psychedelic rap, as her recordings “wove singularly freaky funkiness with proto-rap aggression”, particularly on “Shut Off the Light,” in which Davis has been described as “barking, screeching and howling in a spoken-sung style over a barbed-wire slap-bass riff”. Her ex-husband, jazz musician Miles Davis, “chased head-trip sounds through tape-splicing studio experimentation and electric chaos”, which predated sampling.

Psychedelic rock

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Etymology#

As a musical style, psychedelic rock incorporated new electronic sound effects and recording effects, extended solos, and improvisation. Features mentioned in relation to the genre include: * electric guitars, often used with feedback, wah-wah and fuzzbox effects units; * elements of Indian music and other Eastern music, including Middle Eastern modalities; * non-Western instruments (especially in British psychedelia), specifically those originally used in Indian classical music, such as sitar, tambura and tabla; * elements of free-form jazz; * extended instrumental segments, especially guitar solos, or jams; * disjunctive song structures, occasional key and time signature changes, modal melodies and drones; * droning quality in vocals; * electronic instruments such as synthesizers and the theremin; * lyrics that made direct or indirect reference to hallucinogenic drugs; * surreal, whimsical, esoterically or literary-inspired lyrics with (especially in British psychedelia) references to childhood; * Victorian-era antiquation (exclusive to British psychedelia), drawing on items such as music boxes, music hall nostalgia and circus sounds. The term “psychedelic” was coined in 1956 by psychiatrist Humphry Osmond in a letter to LSD exponent Aldous Huxley and used as an alternative descriptor for hallucinogenic drugs in the context of psychedelic psychotherapy. The New York-based folk group the Holy Modal Rounders would use the term “psychedelic” on their version of Lead Belly’s “Hesitation Blues” in 1964. In May 1965, drummer John Densmore joined guitarist Robby Krieger in a band called the Psychedelic Rangers which was formed in Los Angeles, California. The duo took LSD legally and wrote only two songs, one of them called “Paranoia”. The group was one of the earliest instances of a rock band referring to themselves as “psychedelic”. However, John Townley and David Blue formed a short-lived group of the same name that same year in New York. Townley compared the band to the Holy Modal Rounders and had also been roommates with Steve Weber. In January 1966, Texan band the 13th Floor Elevators would coin the term “psychedelic rock” on business cards which contained an image of a third eye. That same year, the band released The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators in October, which was later recognized as the earliest known use of the term “psychedelic” in an album title. This was followed by New York acts the Deep and Blues Magoos releasing Psychedelic Moods and Psychedelic Lollipop in November. As the countercultural scene developed in San Francisco, the terms acid rock and psychedelic rock were used in 1966 to describe the new drug-influenced music and were being widely used by 1967. The two terms are often used interchangeably, but acid rock may be distinguished as a more extreme variation that was heavier, louder, relied on long jams, focused more directly on LSD, and made greater use of distortion.

Psychedelic soul

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Etymology#

In 1967, New York band the Freak Scene used the phrase “psychedelic soul” as the title of their debut album, Psychedelic Psoul, stylized as “psoul”. However, the term “psychedelic soul” to refer to a style of music would be coined the following year in 1968. In 1972, British magazine Beat Instrumental wrote a piece on the Temptations, stating that when Dennis Edwards replaced David Ruffin in 1968, the group began branching out into “what was then christened ‘psychedelic soul’ by the media.”

Psychobilly

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History#

The evolution of psychobilly as a genre is often described as having occurred in waves. The first wave occurred in New York City in the 1970s and reached Britain in the early 1980s, the second wave took place at the end of that decade and spread through the rest of Europe, and the third crested in the late 1990s with the genre finding international popularity.

Precursors#

The wildly theatrical shock rock aesthetic of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins in the 1950s, and the outsider music of the Legendary Stardust Cowboy in the late 1960s have been cited as a precursor to what would become psychobilly. The members of the Meteors and the Cramps both cited the song “Love Me” (1960) by the Phantom as the first song in the genre.

Psydub

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History#

The pioneers of the genre were mostly interested in the combination between ambient music and dub. The Orb can be seen as one of the first producers to combine the two genres. Several tracks on their first album “The Orb’s Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld”, released in 1991, already sound a lot like contemporary Psydub. Psydub developed further by the influence of Psytrance. Psytrance producers have always had a keen interest in all kinds of music and a few of them have produced tracks that have big Dub influences. produced in 1994 and released on triple vinyl in 1998 by Bustin’ Loose Recordings, who were two of the first acts to produce psybient music.

Pub rock (Australia)

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Background#

The emergence of the Australian version of the pub rock genre and the related pub circuit was the result of several interconnected factors. From the 1950s to the 1970s, mainly because of restrictive state liquor licensing laws, only a small proportion of live pop and rock music in Australia was performed on licensed premises (mostly private clubs or discotheques); the majority of concerts were held in non-licensed venues like community, church or municipal halls. These concerts and dances were ‘all-ages’ events—often with adult supervision—and alcohol was not served. During the 1960s, however, Australian states began liberalising their licensing laws. Sunday Observance Acts were repealed, pub opening hours were extended, discriminatory regulations — such as the long-standing ban on women entering or drinking in public bars — were removed, and in the 1970s the age of legal majority was lowered from 21 to 18. Concurrently, the members of the so-called “Baby Boomer” generation — who were the main audience for pop and rock music — were reaching their late teens and early twenties, and were thus able to enter such licensed premises. Pub owners soon realised that providing live music (which was often free) would draw young people to pubs in large numbers, and regular rock performances soon became a fixture at many pubs.

Pub rock (United Kingdom)

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Characteristics#

Pub rock was deliberately nasty, dirty and post-glam. Bands looked menacing and threatening, “like villains on The Sweeney”. According to David Hepworth, Dr. Feelgood looked as if they had “come together in some unsavoury section of the army”. Pub rock groups disdained any form of flashy presentation. Scene leaders like Dr. Feelgood, Kilburn and the High Roads and Ducks Deluxe played simple, “back to mono” rhythm and blues in the tradition of white British groups like the Rolling Stones and the Yardbirds, with fuzzy overdriven guitars and whiny vocals. While pub rockers did not have expensive stage shows, they took inspiration from early R&B and increased the dynamism and intensity of their live shows. Pub rock allowed a variety of singers and musicians to perform, even if they did not adhere to a clearly defined musical genre. This means that pub rock labels could afford to put out records with a tenth of the sales of mainstream bands. The pub rock scene was primarily a live phenomenon. During the peak years of 1972 to 1975, there was just one solitary Top 20 single (Ace’s “How Long”), and all the bands combined sold less than an estimated 150,000 albums. Many acts suffered in the transition from pub to studio recording and were unable to recapture their live sound. Pub rock’s small venue approach increased the importance of good songwriting and well-written lyrics, in contrast to mainstream pop which had marginalised both elements. The UK pub rock scene wound down by 1976. The record industry was already looking into early punk, thinking it might be the next “big thing”. In 1976, some pub rock labels were putting out both the harder-edged pub rock acts and early punk bands such as The Damned.

Punk blues

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Origins#

Before the beginning of the punk movement of the late 1970s, several important forerunners such as the MC5, the Stooges, the Rolling Stones, the Who, the Sonics, Captain Beefheart, and the New York Dolls displayed a fascination with American blues. AllMusic states that punk blues draws on the influence of the “garage rock sound of the mid-’60s, the primal howl of early Captain Beefheart, and especially in the raw and desperate sound of the Gun Club’s landmark Fire of Love LP from 1981”.

Punk funk

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History#

Punk funk emerged in the late 1970s, however, it was eclipsed in the 1980s by dance-punk, avant-funk, and funk metal later in the 1980s, all of which are also alternatively described as punk funk. Despite this, punk funk has been occasionally used in more recent years to describe bands such as CSS and their 2005 album Cansei de Ser Sexy.

1970s#

Ian Dury and the Blockheads, formed in 1977, have been described as punk funk. The earliest punk funk band is probably Talking Heads, having formed in 1975. Their track “Psycho Killer” opens with a funky bassline, and following this, they brought in Bernie Worrell from Funkadelic into their live band.

Punk in Sweden

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

The most famous Swedish punk band was Ebba Grön, followed by KSMB; other notable bands were Asta Kask, Kriminella Gitarrer, Tant Strul, Pink champagne, The Pain and Göteborg Sound. In the 1980s hardcore punk, kängpunk and raw punk became popular in Sweden. The two most influential bands are Mob 47 and Anti Cimex, whose music has also inspired many foreign bands. Early punks in Sweden clashed with the youth movement Raggarna, which was working class and centered around cars, drinking, and rockabilly music. These conflicts were described in lyrics, for example by the Rude Kids and P-Nissarna. In the beginning, there were several venues and cultural meeting points associated with the Swedish punk subculture. One of the first of these was the Oasen in Rågsved, followed by Ultrahuset in Haninge, and Vita huset in Täby. Venues where a lot of punk is played today include the Kafé 44 on Södermalm in Stockholm, and Verket in Umeå. Punk in Sweden also connected with the hardcore scene that emerged in Umeå and other northern cities in the 1990s, with bands such as Refused (Umeå) and Raised Fist (Luleå) in the lead. Refused had a strong base in the genre’s traditional roots and may in part represent how it sounded then, but experimented and stretched the limits sufficiently to their most famous songs rather have come under the term post-hardcore. In the 1990s, the punk scene also turned more towards crust punk with bands like Driller Killer, Skitsystem, Wolfbrigade, and Disfear. In the 2000s many of the first and second wave Swedish punk bands such as Asta Kask, Dia Psalma, Mob 47, Moderat Likvidation and De lyckliga kompisarna reunited. They released new albums, with new songs. This decade many hardcore punk bands from Umeå and northern Sweden started to play more pop-influenced punk and the early Swedish punk like Ebba Grön and KSMB, for example Invasionen with Dennis Lyxzén from Refused and Knugen Faller with Inge Johansson from Totalt jävla mörker.

Punk jazz

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1970s–1980s#

The first band to approach the genre were The Stooges, more specifically on three songs from their second album, Fun House: “1970”, “Fun House”, and “L.A. Blues”. Those songs featured saxophone played by Steve Mackay, and were released in 1970, several years before the genre expanded. Late 1970s New York no wave bands broke with blues rock-influenced punk in a style that instead combined elements such as free jazz noise, experimental drone rock, and other avant-garde influences. Examples of this style include Lydia Lunch’s album Queen of Siam, the work of James Chance and the Contortions, who mixed funk with free jazz and punk rock. In London, the Pop Group began to mix free jazz, along with dub reggae, into their brand of punk rock. The Birthday Party’s sound on Junkyard (1982) was described by one journalist as a mix of “no-wave guitar, free-jazz craziness, and punk-processed Captain Beefheart angularity”. The Lounge Lizards was the first group to call themselves punk jazz. Bill Laswell and his band Material mixed funk, jazz, and punk while his band Massacre added improvisation to rock. James Blood Ulmer applied Coleman’s harmolodic style to guitar and sought out links to no wave. Bad Brains, widely acknowledged to have established the rudiments of the hardcore style, began by attempting jazz fusion. Guitarist Joe Baiza executed his blend of punk and free jazz with Saccharine Trust and in Universal Congress Of, a group influenced by the work of Albert Ayler. Henry Rollins has praised free jazz, releasing albums by Matthew Shipp on his record label and collaborating with Charles Gayle. The Minutemen were influenced by jazz, folk and funk. Mike Watt of the band has spoken about being inspired by listening to John Coltrane. Dutch anarcho-punk group the Ex incorporated elements of free jazz and particularly European free improvisation, collaborating with Han Bennink and other members of the Instant Composers Pool.

Punk pathetique

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Origin#

The name of the genre was coined by Sounds journalist Garry Bushell, who actively championed many of its exponents. Punk pathetique was initially an attempt to characterize a group of London bands that embodied Cockney culture with a Dickensian working class attitude. Musically, it was related to (and had crossover with) the Oi! subgenre. The cover of the 1980 Bushell/Sounds compilation album Oi! The Album described the record as featuring “ruck ’n’ rollers and punk pathetiques”. In contrast to harder-edged Oi! bands with more serious lyrics, punk pathetique bands focused on the naughty, silly and trivial. Max Splodge of Splodgenessabounds said: “The pathetique bands are the other side of Oi! We’re working class too, only whereas some bands sing about prison and the dole, we sing about pilchards and bums. The audience is the same”. Half Man Half Biscuit, the Shapes, the Gonads, the Adicts, Notsensibles, Auntie Pus, the Postmen, Desert Island Joe, the Hoopers, Pierre the Poet (Garry Butterfield), Paul Devine, Lord Waistrel & the Cosh Boys, Stephen Louis Knoche Jr & His Raging Cronies, the Alaska Cowboys, Patronage, Percy Throwers Man Eating Plans, SexyCows, the Orgasm Guerrillas, the Implications, and Doughnut & the Donor. Later, the mantle was inherited by the Bus Station Loonies, Monkish and Macc Lads, who performed comic punk singalongs in very much the same style. Toy Dolls, Peter and the Test Tube Babies, the Gonads, Splodgenessabounds and Auntie Pus & The Men From Uncle continue to tour and record.

Punk rap

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Vocals and structure#

Some artists makes use of sonic elements of punk rock, such as screaming, whereas others make use of its attitude and melodic style. Lil Jon’s harsh style of vocalization has also been cited as influence on the development of the genre. In a way, hardcore punk was a “radical departure” from alternative and popular music of that era; this was because it was played “louder and harder,” “wasn’t verse-chorus rock,” and “dispelled any notion of what songwriting is supposed to be and it’s its own form” punk rap songs share some of the “unorthodox” characteristics. They are “short, repetitive, wrapped in distortion and grimly effective.” One of the earliest proponents of the scene was Odd Future, due to their merging of hip-hop and shock humor. In an article for the BBC, journalist Thomas Hobbs referred to the rise of the genre as being a rebellion against the politics of the period, with artists showing disdain for topics such as Brexit, the presidency of Donald Trump and global warming.

Punk rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Outlook#

The first wave of punk rock was “aggressively modern” and differed from what came before. According to Ramones drummer Tommy Ramone, “In its initial form, a lot of 1960s stuff was innovative and exciting. Unfortunately, what happens is that people who could not hold a candle to the likes of Hendrix started noodling away. Soon you had endless solos that went nowhere. By 1973, I knew that what was needed was some pure, stripped down, no nonsense rock ’n’ roll.” John Holmstrom, founding editor of Punk magazine, recalls feeling “punk rock had to come along because the rock scene had become so tame that acts like Billy Joel and Simon and Garfunkel were being called rock and roll, when to me and other fans, rock and roll meant this wild and rebellious music.” According to Robert Christgau, punk “scornfully rejected the political idealism and Californian flower-power silliness of hippie myth.” Technical accessibility and a do it yourself (DIY) spirit are prized in punk rock. UK pub rock from 1972 to 1975 contributed to the emergence of punk rock by developing a network of small venues, such as pubs, where non-mainstream bands could play. Pub rock also introduced the idea of independent record labels, such as Stiff Records, which put out basic, low-cost records. Musical virtuosity was often looked on with suspicion. According to Holmstrom, punk rock was “rock and roll by people who didn’t have very many skills as musicians but still felt the need to express themselves through music”. British punk rejected contemporary mainstream rock, the broader culture it represented, and their musical predecessors: “No Elvis, Beatles or the Rolling Stones in 1977”, declared the Clash song “1977”. 1976, when the punk revolution began in Britain, became a musical and a cultural “Year Zero”. As nostalgia was discarded, many in the scene adopted a nihilistic attitude summed up by the Sex Pistols’ slogan “No Future”; While “self-imposed alienation” was common among “drunk punks” and “gutter punks”, there was always a tension between their nihilistic outlook and the “radical leftist utopianism” of bands such as Crass, who found positive, liberating meaning in the movement. As a Clash associate describes singer Joe Strummer’s outlook, “Punk rock is meant to be our freedom. We’re meant to be able to do what we want to do.” Authenticity has always been important in the punk subculture—the pejorative term “poseur” is applied to those who adopt its stylistic attributes but do not actually share or understand its underlying values and philosophy. Scholar Daniel S. Traber argues that “attaining authenticity in the punk identity can be difficult”; as the punk scene matured, he observes, eventually “everyone got called a poseur”.

Punk rock in Australia

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

1973–1976#

The Saints, formed in Brisbane, Queensland, in 1973, were one of Australia’s first punk bands. The earliest incarnation of the Saints was formed by Ed Kuepper (guitar) and Chris Bailey (vocals). They shared a background in immigrant families (Kuepper’s German and Bailey’s Irish), and an admiration for high energy 1950s and 1960s music, such as the Detroit rock of the Stooges and MC5. During that time, Queensland was under the control of the conservative, allegedly authoritarian Country Party democratic government of Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen. In mid-1976, the Saints recorded and distributed copies of their single “(I’m) Stranded”, which met nearly no critical or public response in Australia. In the UK, however, Sounds magazine received a copy, and declared it: “single of this and every week”. As a result, the band was signed to a three-album contract with EMI. Later the same year they recorded their first LP, which was also called (I’m) Stranded. Hampered by poor production and the indifference of radio stations, the LP failed commercially. In December the Saints moved to Sydney. During 1974, Radio Birdman formed in Sydney, led by another immigrant, Detroit-born medical student Deniz Tek. They also shared an interest in the Stooges and MC5, albeit with a result arguably more akin to hard rock than punk. Their dynamic live shows soon gained a fanatical following at inner city venues. Radio Birdman released an EP (Burn My Eye) and an album (Radios Appear) with better production values, but with similar commercial results to the Saints’ endeavours. In Adelaide, the first punk band was Black Chrome, which formed in 1975, followed by JAB in 1976. Black Chrome’s music attacked Australian apathy, its urban wasteland and its non-existent youth culture. JAB billed themselves as “Synthetic Shock Rock” and were the first Australian punk band to use live synthesisers and tape loop guitar and synthesiser solos. Adelaide in this period was a staid, conservative, and unreceptive city, and consequently the bands were ignored, feared, and could not secure gigs unless they booked venues themselves without disclosing that they were punk bands. Black Chrome’s Simon Stretton, who also founded the record label Tomorrow Records, recorded many early punk bands, including JAB, the Chosen Few, Bohdan X, the Accountants, the U-Bombs, the Dagoes, Psychosurgeons, the Lipstick Killers, Riff Raff, and Young Modern, as well as later punk. In some cases, they are the only audio record of the band. Riff Raff played at the Seacliff Hotel, while Irving and the U-Bombs were mixing reggae with punk at the Belair Hotel. The Dagoes were later described by Donald Robertson of Roadrunner as “a mutant brainchild of various import record store owners”. The Accountants learnt to play in the northern suburb of Elizabeth. In Perth – a geographically isolated city with social and political similarities to Brisbane – young musicians like Kim Salmon, Dave Faulkner and James Baker were also influenced by the Detroit bands, as well as New York proto-punk figures like Lou Reed and the New York Dolls. Salmon led the Cheap Nasties, and then the Scientists, before embarking on a solo career (and is regarded as a pioneer of grunge). Baker was in a short-lived act called the Geeks, before forming the Victims with Faulkner in 1977. They recorded an acclaimed single, “Television Addict”, before breaking up. Baker later joined the Scientists. Faulkner gravitated towards poppier sounds. In 1981, he and Baker founded a successful retro rock act, the Hoodoo Gurus.

Punk rock in Spain

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Hardcore Punk#

In Spain, among the best known hardcore groups are HHH, Subterranean Kids, TDeK, GRB, 24 Ideas and X-Milk among others, which are characterized by also having parts of fast punk, which demonstrate the link between punk and hardcore. . Other groups to highlight would be El Corazón del Sapo, Nevergood, Nuevenoventaicinco, groups from the Aragonese scene. However, other groups, less known to the general public, but no less important, such as MG-15 and Último Gobierno, which played d-beat, forerunners of this genre in the State, must be named; or the wave of Catalan hardcore groups from the 1980s, such as Anti / Dogmatikss, GRB, L’Odi Social, Subterranean Kids, HHH, Rouse and, already in the 1990s, Corn Flakes, Innocents, Tropel Nat, 24 Ideas, X-Milk, Sowplot. In the Basque Country there were also classic groups related to this genre such as BAP !! (Anti Polizialak Brigade), Eskoria-tza, Soziety Alkoholika or Noise of Rage, influenced by metal. Also noteworthy at the beginning of the most hardcore metal scene with groups like Prap’s. Although it would be necessary to add bands that changed the scene a lot at different times, such as 24 Ideas, a Barcelona band that introduced New York Hardcore with a straight edge influence in the State; Alarma Social, a group from Burgos, one of the first to go out, Shorebreak with the signing in Good Life, seemed to open up the state scene to Europe, something that has hardly been seen since; and it would also be necessary to highlight all the number and enormous number of bands from within punk, hardcore, crust, etc. They are the ones that have achieved the most the state scene is present outside this country, bands like Answer, Ictus, Machetazo, Looking For an Answer, ZInc, Ekkaia, Disface, Disflesh, Defeat Proud’z, Insomnia, Über, Horrör, Antiplayax, Black Panda, Alert! and a very long etc.

Punk rock in Yugoslavia

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

The punk scene emerged in the late 1970s, influenced by the first wave of punk rock bands from the United Kingdom and the United States, such as the Sex Pistols, The Clash and the Ramones. The DIY punkzine scene also began to develop. The Yugoslav punk rock bands were the first ones formed in a communist country. Punk rock spread across Yugoslavia in northwest–southeast direction, finding its earliest supporters in: Ljubljana, Rijeka, Zagreb, Novi Sad and other cities. The first punk rock bands in the country were Pankrti from Ljubljana and Paraf from Rijeka, both formed around 1977. Other notable acts were: Buldogi, Berlinski Zid, Grupa 92, Problemi, Termiti and others. Among this generation of bands was the early Prljavo kazalište, but they became a mainstream rock act later. These artists were featured on the compilation album “Novi Punk Val 78-80”, compiled by Igor Vidmar. Meanwhile, in Novi Sad, the notable band Pekinška patka emerged. The late-1970s and early 1980s bands from Belgrade included: Defektno Efektni, Urbana Gerila and Radnička Kontrola. Notable members of these bands were: Cane, who later came to prominence as a vocalist of Partibrejkers; Srđan Todorović, later a movie actor; and Vladimir Arsenijević, later a notable punk writer. This generation of bands was included on the Artistička Radna Akcija compilation. Električni orgazam was also a punk rock band during its early period, but it became a mainstream rock act later. During this period, the punkabilly artist Toni Montano emerged, first as a vocalist of the band Radost Evrope, but later became a solo artist. Also, the punk writer Ivan Glišić from Šabac emerged in this period. The first punk band in Skopje, is considered to be Fol jazik, formed in 1978. Other notable acts from Skopje included Badmingtons and Saraceni, both led by Vladimir Petrovski Karter. The bass player of Saraceni, Goran Trajkoski, previously played with Klime Kovaceski in the punk band Afektiven naboj from Struga. Later they went into post punk and gothic rock and together formed the bands Padot na Vizantija and Anastasia. In Sarajevo, the following acts emerged: Ozbiljno pitanje (which later evolved into the mainstream act Crvena Jabuka), Ševa (later Bombaj Štampa led by the internationally acclaimed actor Branko Đurić), and the cult band Zabranjeno pušenje. These bands formed the punk-inspired New Primitives movement. In the late 1970s, some punk bands were affiliated with the Yugoslav new wave scene, and were labeled as both punk rock and new wave. During a certain period, the term new wave music was interchangeable with punk. One of the most important compilations of the Yugoslav new wave era is Paket Aranžman. The 1980s saw the emergence of streetpunk and Oi!, followed later by: hardcore punk and other subgenres. Notable hardcore punk acts during the 1980s included: Niet, U.B.R., Ćao pičke, Odpadki civilizacije, Tožibabe, III Kategorija, Stres DA, Epidemija and Quod Massacre (all from Ljubljana); S.O.R. (from Idrija); C.Z.D. (Maribor); Blitzkrieg, Z.R.M., Patareni and Sköl (Zagreb); KUD Idijoti, Gola jaja, Besposličari and Pasmaters (all from Pula); Rukopotezno povlačilo (Slavonska Požega); The Dissidents (Prijedor) and Ženevski Dekret (Mostar); Solunski front, Distress, Necrophilia, Crist and Mrgudi (all from Belgrade); KBO! (Kragujevac); Nade iz Inkubatora, Giuseppe Carabino, Marselyeza and Process (all from Subotica); Incest (Novi Bečej); Napred U Prošlost (Banatsko Novo Selo); and the Oi! or streetpunk bands Dva minuta mržnje and Vrisak generacije (both from Novi Sad). A notable pop punk band during the 1980s was Psihomodo pop from Zagreb, which was very much influenced by the Ramones. Many foreign punk bands played concerts in former Yugoslavia in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s: The Ruts, Siouxsie and the Banshees, UK Subs, Angelic Upstarts, The Exploited, Charged GBH, The Anti-Nowhere League, Discharge, Youth Brigade and Amebix. In 1983 The Anti-Nowhere League released their album Live in Yugoslavia, while Angelic Upstarts released a live album of the same title in 1985.

Punk rock subgenres

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Afro-punk#

Afro-punk (sometimes spelled AfroPunk) refers to the participation of African Americans in the punk and alternative music cultures. Afro-punks represent a majority in the punk culture in predominantly black regions of the world that have burgeoning punk communities, such as in parts of Africa. There are many punk rock bands with black members, and several with lineups that are all black.

Anarcho punk#

Anarcho-punk is punk rock that promotes anarchism. The term anarcho-punk is sometimes applied exclusively to bands that were part of the 1970s/1980s anarcho-punk movement in the United Kingdom. Some, however, use the term to refer to any punk music with anarchist lyrical content.

Queercore

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Origins#

In the early 1980s, several U.S. hardcore bands wrote queer-themed songs, and Gary Floyd of the Dicks along with Randy Turner of Big Boys were both openly gay. In England, in the anarcho-punk scene, Andy Martin of The Apostles was equally forthright. Politically motivated U.S. bands such as MDC and 7 Seconds also introduced anti-homophobia messages into their songs at this time, while the Nip Drivers included a song titled “Quentin”, dedicated to Quentin Crisp, in their repertoire. The zine J.D.s, created by G.B. Jones and Bruce LaBruce, is widely acknowledged as being the zine which launched the movement. “J.D.s is seen by many to be the catalyst that pushed the queercore scene into existence”, writes Amy Spencer in DIY: The Rise of Lo-Fi Culture. Emerging out of the anarchist scene, at first the editors of J.D.s had chosen the appellation “homocore” to describe the movement but replaced the word homo with queer to better reflect the diversity of those involved, as well as to disassociate themselves completely from the confines of gay and lesbian orthodoxy. The first issue was released in 1985, with a manifesto entitled “Don’t Be Gay” published in the fanzine Maximum RocknRoll following soon after; inspiring, among many other zines, Holy Titclamps, edited by Larry-bob, Homocore by Tom Jennings and Deke Nihilson, Donna Dresch’s Chainsaw, and Outpunk by Matt Wobensmith, these last two later functioning as music labels. These zines, and the movement, are characterised by an alternative to the self-imposed ghettoization of orthodox gay men and lesbians; sexual and gender diversity in opposition to the segregation practiced by the mainstream gay community; a dissatisfaction with a consumerist culture, proposing a DIY ethos in its place in order to create a culture of its own; and opposition to oppressive religious tenets and political repression.

Raga rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Definition#

Ragas are specific melodic modes used in the classical music of the Indian subcontinent. The term “raga rock” originated in March 1966 as a description of rock music that featured Indian sitar styling. According to musicologist Jonathan Bellman, citing Lillian Roxon’s 1969 book Rock Encyclopedia: “This catchphrase eventually came to describe any Rock song that evoked an Indian or general Oriental mood, whether by use of sitar or another instrument imitating it.” Music journalist Rob Chapman says the phrase was a “catch-all term” and “something of a misnomer”, since it was often applied to any piece of rock music that “used non-European instrumentation or music styles to denote its exotic qualities”. A major influence on raga rock was the music of Bengali sitarist Ravi Shankar. He himself became a pop music icon in 1966, following the rise of the raga rock trend. Rock’s use of elements from the Indian classical tradition included: * sitar (usually serving the role of an electric guitar) * drone, provided by tambura in raga performances and by Indian harmonium in vocal pieces * modal melodies based on Indian scales * vocal stylings * additive, rather than divisive, rhythms (tal) * question-and-answer interplay (jawab-sawal) between lead instruments * lead instruments mirroring the vocal line * lyrical themes related to mysticism or religious symbolism. Don Snowden of The Los Angeles Times acknowledges the 1960s raga rock movement, as well as Santana’s mix of blues rock and Afro-Cuban percussion later in the decade, as parts of a broader phenomenon that would come to be known as worldbeat in the 1980s.

Rap metal

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Origins and early development (1980s–early 1990s)#

Rap metal’s roots are based both in hip hop acts who sampled heavy metal music, such as Beastie Boys, Cypress Hill, Esham and Run-DMC, and rock bands who fused heavy metal and hip hop influences, such as 24-7 Spyz and Faith No More. Scott Ian of Anthrax (who helped pioneer the genre) believes Rage Against the Machine invented the genre. In 1987, the heavy metal band Anthrax fused hip hop with heavy metal for their extended play I’m the Man. The next year rapper Sir Mix-a-Lot teamed up with Metal Church for his 1988 single “Iron Man”, from his debut album Swass, loosely based upon the Black Sabbath song of the same name. Rap metal can be found in a track from the industrial metal band Ministry in their 1989 album The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste on the track “Test” for which they hired rappers The Grand Wizard (K. Lite) and The Slogan God (Tommie Boyskee) to perform vocals. In 1990, the rapper Ice-T formed a heavy metal band called Body Count, and while performing at the 1991 Lollapalooza tour performed a set that was half rap songs and half metal songs. Stuck Mojo and Clawfinger, both formed in 1989, are considered to be another two pioneers of the genre. Anthrax in 1991 teamed up with Public Enemy for a remake of the latter’s “Bring the Noise” that fused hip hop with thrash metal. Also in 1991, the thrash metal band Tourniquet featured the hip hop group P.I.D. on the song “Spineless” from their album Psycho Surgery. That same year the hair metal band Whitecross featured a rap by Alton Hood of the hip hop group D.O.C. on their album In The Kingdom.

Rap rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

AllMusic characterized rap rock songs as rock songs in which the vocals were rapped rather than sung. Session player Eddie Martinez, who created the guitar parts for hip hop group Run-DMC’s rap rock song “Rock Box”, recognized that “a rap-rock song needn’t feature a new change in the chorus; rather, it’s a spot where the guitarist can just solo over the same riff that drives the verses.”

Old school rap rock (1980s to mid-1990s)#

Early hip hop DJs utilized breaks from rock records, such as Billy Squier’s “the Big Beat”, the Monkees’ “Mary, Mary” and Steve Miller Band’s “Take the Money and Run”, in order to “flaunt their vinyl guile”. Although the Cold Crush Brothers’ “Punk Rock Rap” did not see much success and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five would wind up being jeered opening for the Clash, Run-DMC saw a crossover audience with their rap rock sound, helping gain rock fans’ acceptance of hip hop. Public Enemy brought a punk rock attitude to hip hop; Another link between hip hop and punk rock was producer Rick Rubin, who split his time between working with hip hop artists Run-DMC and Beastie Boys, and punk-influenced bands like Slayer and the Cult. However, a rap rock collaboration between Run-DMC and the rock band Aerosmith helped diminish such biases. It was the first Billboard top ten rap rock success played on radio. The music video signaled “both a literal and metaphoric merging of hard rock and rap”; the recording revitalized Aerosmith’s career. as demonstrated by songs like “Rhymin’ and Stealin’”, which was built around samples from Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and the Clash, “(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)” and “No Sleep till Brooklyn”, which featured guitar playing by Slayer’s Kerry King. Public Enemy’s 1988 album It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back contained a song which sampled Slayer, and in 1991, the hip hop group would re-record their song “Bring the Noise” with the metal band Anthrax, After releasing “two albums of pure Beastie Boys worship”, Kid Rock began to explore his Southern rock influences on Early Mornin’ Stoned Pimp (1996), and Devil Without a Cause (1998), the latter of which “extended the lineage of rap-rock” and helped to “ignite the rap-rock genre”.

Red dirt music

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Oklahoma has been the source of several pop music movements that can be traced not only to a specific city but to a specific location within the city. Those music scenes include Western swing (attributed to Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa), and Leon Russell’s Tulsa sound from his Tulsa church-turned-studio called The Church Studio. Like those two, red dirt music grew from a specific place in Stillwater. The place was an old two-story, five-bedroom house called “The Farm”, for two decades the center of what evolved into the red dirt scene. The house, located on the outskirts of Stillwater, was the country home of Bob Childers. Eventually Childers left The Farm, but the red dirt scene continued to grow and thrive. Childers said, “I found something in Stillwater that I just didn’t find anywhere else. And I looked everywhere from Nashville to Austin. I always came back to Stillwater—it’s like a fountainhead for folks trying to get their vision.” The first usage of “red dirt” was by Steve Ripley band Moses when the group chose the label name Red Dirt Records for their 1972 self-published live album. One of many bands representing red dirt music—as their name signifies—is the Red Dirt Rangers. The Rangers (John Cooper, Brad Piccolo and Ben Han) have been making music since the late 1980s and, along with Childers, were part of The Farm’s earliest musical brotherhood, which also included Jimmy LaFave and Tom Skinner. These musicians and others jammed in the living room, on the front porch, in the garage (known as the Gypsy Cafe), and around campfires in the yard where “the sheer joy of creating music with friends transcended everything else.” Cooper said, “The Farm was as much an attitude as a physical structure. It allowed a setting where freedom rang and all things were possible. Out of this setting came the music.” The physical structure burned down in 2003.

Reggae punk

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

1970s#

Reggae punk first appeared in the late-1970s in England by punk rock bands incorporating reggae (and even lovers rock) elements into their music. The most notable band to have done this was the Clash. When Clash bassist Paul Simonon was getting his start in the music business and learning to play the bass, he found it easier to play along to reggae songs rather than traditional rock songs. In 1977, the Police would form. Initially considered a punk rock band, they soon expanded their sound to incorporate pop, new wave and reggae. In a retrospective assessment, AllMusic’s Stephen Thomas Erlewine argued that the notion of the Police as a punk band was only true “in the loosest sense of the term”, and stated that the band’s “nervous, reggae-injected pop/rock was punky” and had a “punk spirit” but it “wasn’t necessarily punk”. The Slits have also been described as punk-reggae by The Independent.

Reggae rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Riot grrrl

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Origins#

The riot grrrl movement originated in 1991, when a group of women from Olympia, Washington, and Washington, D.C., held a meeting about sexism in their local punk scenes in the United States. The word “girl” was intentionally used in order to focus on childhood, a time when children have the strongest self-esteem and belief in themselves. Riot grrrls then took a growling “R”, replacing the “I” in the word as a way to take back the derogatory use of the term. Both double and triple “R” spellings are acceptable. The first documented use of this was from a July 1991 zine titled riot grrrl, compiled and published by Kathleen Hanna, Molly Neuman, Allison Wolfe, and Jen Smith. The Seattle and Olympia, Washington, music scenes in the Pacific Northwest had sophisticated do it yourself (DIY) infrastructure. While the model of politically themed zines had already been used in punk culture as an alternative (to mainstream) culture, zines also followed a longer legacy of self-published feminist writing that allowed women to circulate ideas that would not otherwise be published. There was a lot of anger and self-mutilation. In a symbolic sense, women were cutting and destroying the established image of femininity, aggressively tearing it down. Riot grrrl bands were influenced by groundbreaking female punk and mainstream rock performers of the 1970s to the mid-1980s. While many of these musicians were not originally associated with each other during their time and came from a variety of backgrounds and styles, as a group they anticipated many of riot grrrl’s musical and thematic attributes. These performers include the Slits, Poly Styrene, Siouxsie Sioux, the Raincoats, Joan Jett, Kim Gordon, and Kim Deal, among others. Of Kim Gordon, in particular, Kathleen Hanna noted, “She was a forerunner, musically … Just knowing a woman was in a band trading lead vocals, playing bass, and being a visual artist at the same time made me feel less alone.”

Risecore

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

In the mid-2000s, many pop screamo bands began to push their music further into the prevailing metalcore sound, particularly Alesana, Drop Dead, Gorgeous, Blessthefall and From First to Last. In turn, Drop Dead, Gorgeous, Alesana, Blessthefall, A Skylit Drive and Escape the Fate became early pioneers of Risecore. By the end of the decade, this style had been popularised by Attack Attack!, the Devil Wears Prada, I See Stars, We Came As Romans and Of Mice & Men. By early 2012, Risecore had declined in popularity, as the metalcore scene shifted towards srscore.

Rock Against Communism

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

The Rock Against Communism movement originated in the United Kingdom in late 1978 with far right activists associated with the National Front (NF). It was intended to counter the Rock Against Racism organisation. and father of Nick Griffin, an NF organiser who later became the national chair of the British National Party. By the late 1980s, the RAC name had given way to the White Noise Club (another NF-based group), and later Blood and Honour, which was set up by Donaldson when they fell out with the NF leadership.

Rock and roll

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Terminology#

The term “rock and roll” is defined by Greg Kot in Encyclopædia Britannica as the music that originated in the mid-1950s and later developed “into the more encompassing international style known as rock music”. The words rock and roll had become associated in the late eighteenth century, when “Rock and Roll” brimstone (i.e. sulfur) was advertised ; rock brimstone being the naturally-occurring form and roll brimstone being in the form of sticks or blocks, made by allowing liquid sulfur to solidify in (esp. cylindrical) moulds. The phrase “rocking and rolling” originally described the movement of a ship on the ocean, but by the early 20th century was used both to describe the spiritual fervor of black church rituals and as a sexual analogy. A retired Welsh seaman named William Fender can be heard singing the phrase “rock and roll” when describing a sexual encounter in his performance of the traditional song “The Baffled Knight” to the folklorist James Madison Carpenter in the early 1930s, which he would have learned at sea in the 1800s; the recording can be heard on the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library website. Various gospel, blues and swing recordings used the phrase before it became widely popular. “Bosom of Abraham”, an African-American spiritual that was documented no later than 1867 (just after the Civil War), uses the phrase “rock my soul” frequently in a religious sense; this song was later recorded by musicians from various genres, including various gospel musicians and groups (including The Jordanaires), Louis Armstrong (jazz/swing), Lonnie Donegan (skiffle), and Elvis Presley (rock and roll/pop/country). Blues singer Trixie Smith recorded “My Man Rocks Me with One Steady Roll” in 1922. It was used in 1940s recordings and reviews of what became known as “rhythm and blues” music aimed at a black audience. In 1934, the song “Rock and Roll” by the Boswell Sisters appeared in the film Transatlantic Merry-Go-Round. In 1942, before the concept of rock and roll had been defined, Billboard magazine columnist Maurie Orodenker started to use the term to describe upbeat recordings such as “Rock Me” by Sister Rosetta Tharpe; her style on that recording was described as “rock-and-roll spiritual singing”. By 1943, the “Rock and Roll Inn” in South Merchantville, New Jersey, was established as a music venue. In 1951, Cleveland, Ohio, disc jockey Alan Freed began playing this music style, and referring to it as “rock and roll” on his mainstream radio program, which popularized the phrase. Several sources suggest that Freed found the term, used as a synonym for sexual intercourse, on the record “Sixty Minute Man” by Billy Ward and his Dominoes. The lyrics include the line, “I rock ’em, roll ’em all night long”. Freed did not acknowledge the suggestion about that source in interviews, and explained the term as follows: “Rock ’n roll is really swing with a modern name. It began on the levees and plantations, took in folk songs, and features blues and rhythm”. In discussing Alan Freed’s contribution to the genre, two significant sources emphasized the importance of African-American rhythm and blues. Greg Harris, then the executive director of the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, offered this comment to CNN: “Freed’s role in breaking down racial barriers in American pop culture in the 1950s, by leading white and black kids to listen to the same music, put the radio personality ‘at the vanguard’ and made him ‘a really important figure. After Freed was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the organization’s Web site offered this comment: “He became internationally known for promoting African-American rhythm and blues music on the radio in the United States and Europe under the name of rock and roll”. Not often acknowledged in the history of rock and roll, Todd Storz, the owner of radio station KOWH in Omaha, Nebraska, was the first to adopt the Top 40 format (in 1953), playing only the most popular records in rotation. His station, and the numerous others which adopted the concept, helped to promote the genre: by the mid 50s, the playlist included artists such as “Presley, Lewis, Haley, Berry and Domino”.

Rock and roll revival

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

As the Sixties ended, several early rock and rollers like Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Bill Haley & His Comets and Bo Diddley, who had been out of fashion since the British Invasion, experienced a resurgence in popularity, performing their old hits to a mix of old and new fans. Rock and roll revival festivals became popular, and anticipated the “oldies show” package tours of later years. Bo Diddley announced “I’m back and I’m feelin’ fine” in his comeback single titled Bo Diddley 1969, released by Checker Records. Sha Na Na performed “At the Hop” at the Woodstock Festival in 1969, in the revival spirit. John Lennon and Yoko Ono had a surprise hit album in 1970 with Live Peace in Toronto 1969, recorded at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival in September 1969. Appearing on the spur of the moment, with a hastily assembled band (composed of Lennon, Ono, Eric Clapton, Klaus Voormann and Alan White), Lennon led off their set with familiar songs (like “Blue Suede Shoes” and “Money (That’s What I Want)”) that suited the mood of the program. In 1970, Dave Edmunds scored a big hit on both sides of the Atlantic with his cover of “I Hear You Knocking”, and Chuck Berry’s only song to hit #1 on the Billboard charts, his 1972 single “My Ding-a-Ling”, were both written in the 1950s by Dave Bartholomew. Elton John’s 1972 hit “Crocodile Rock” was an homage to early rock ’n ‘roll. In 1977 and 1978, British band The Darts scored three top-10 singles on the UK charts with covers of early rock/doo-wop oldies. Showaddywaddy, a rock and roll group formed in Leicester, England, in 1973. Specialising in revivals of hit songs from the 1950s and early 1960s, while also issuing original material. They have spent 209 weeks on the UK Singles Chart, and had 10 Top Ten singles, one reaching number one, “Under the Moon of Love”, in 1976. The popularity of the movement peaked with the release of the George Lucas film, American Graffiti, in 1973, with the soundtrack featuring rock and doo-wop hits from the late 1950s and early 1960s. By the mid-1970s, however, record sales of rock ’n’ roll reissues and retro releases had greatly declined as the music industry turned its attention to other musical trends.

Rock en español

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Beginnings (1956–1964)#

Rock and roll is a musical style created by the Afro-descendant community in the United States following the end of World War II in 1945. In the 1950s, musicians such as Little Richard, Chuck Berry, along with white artists like Elvis Presley and Bill Haley, helped popularize the genre, which evolved into a global culture. Spanish-language rock production began in the second half of the 1950s, with musical bands that mostly performed American rock and roll hits translated into Spanish. Although it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly when it began to develop, it’s true that the first rock recordings featuring Spanish vocals were released around 1956. However, the first major international hit came from saxophonist Danny Flores with the band The Champs, achieving great popularity in the United States (and much of the world) by reaching number one on the Billboard charts in March 1958 with the hit «Tequila». Shortly afterward, also in 1958, «La Bamba», a regional Mexican song performed in a rock rhythm and sung in Spanish by Ritchie Valens, entered the U.S. charts. The early years of rock en español were generally based on the emergence of groups that tended to cover Anglo-American rock hits by translating them into Spanish. During the transition to the new decade, bands like Los Llopis—who were actually focused on melodic songs and more standardized genres— or Los Teen Tops —who found success both in Latin America and Spain—adapted several early rock and roll songs into Spanish. During the early 1960s, rock began to spread widely, and the media started giving it increasing coverage across Spanish-speaking regions. Given its enormous appeal among young audiences, entertainment venues and music promoters began systematically organizing rock concerts; in a short time, the genre became a true mass phenomenon. However, as rock gained more attention, various groups and solo artists gradually emerged who performed original songs in Spanish, moving away from covering American hits and establishing themselves as songwriters, as Dúo Dinámico did. Also notable was the influence of other non-English-speaking European countries, with the arrival of the yé-yé phenomenon. Additionally, in some South American countries, the term Nueva ola (new wave) was coined to encompass artists who adopted the musical influence of rock from the United States and the pop culture patterns of Europe. This pop style, mixed with twist, beat, and rock, gained great popularity in Ibero-America. However, the explosion that came with the arrival of the British Invasion in the mid-decade would be decisive for the development of Spanish-language rock.

Rock in Opposition

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Henry Cow spent most of their last five years touring mainland Europe. There they encountered many innovative groups who were virtually unknown outside their own countries. What Henry Cow had in common with these groups was that record companies were not interested in their music. Henry Cow’s contract with Virgin Records was cancelled when Virgin realised the band were not profitable. In early 1978, Nick Hobbs, Henry Cow’s manager at the time, decided to expose some of these European groups to British audiences and invited them to tour the United Kingdom with Henry Cow under the banner “Rock in Opposition”. With the help of a £1000 grant from the British Arts Council, Hobbs organised a Rock in Opposition festival in London with the slogan: “The music the record companies don’t want you to hear”. The event took place on 12 March 1978 at the New London Theatre with the following groups performing: :*Henry Cow (England) :*Stormy Six (Italy) :*Samla Mammas Manna (Sweden) :*Univers Zero (Belgium) :*Etron Fou Leloublan (France) The tour of the UK never materialised, but the festival did generate “a lot of press around the world”, and this prompted the five bands to discuss future plans. While “Rock in Opposition” was never intended to be a formal organisation, they met at Sunrise Studio in Kirchberg, Switzerland in December 1978 to reconstitute the movement as a collective. By this time Henry Cow no longer existed as a group, but as RIO’s prime mover its former members still actively participated. RIO’s primary aim was to represent and promote its members. It was decided that membership should remain closed and small, although new members would be welcome provided they (i) adhered to “musical excellence” (as evaluated by the collective); (ii) worked actively “outside the music business”; and (iii) had a “social commitment to Rock”. Using these criteria, three new members were elected: :*Art Zoyd (France) :*Art Bears (England, made up of former Henry Cow members) :*Aksak Maboul (Belgium) A second RIO festival, organised by Stormy Six, took place between 26 April and 1 May 1979 at al Teatro dell’Elfo in Milan, Italy where all seven groups performed, the original four (minus Henry Cow) plus the three new groups. During the festival, the RIO members met formally again to discuss the way forward. However, despite some constructive discussion, disagreements arose between the groups regarding RIO’s role and matters were left unresolved. Two further RIO festivals took place in Sweden and Belgium, but no new meetings, and by the end of 1979, RIO as an organisation had “quietly slipped away”.

Rock kapak

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Etymology#

The Malay term kapak literally translates to “axe” in English. However, in this instance, it is considered to be a corruption of the English term, “car park”. Many early Malaysian rock bands would put on performances, also known as “fun fairs”, in car parks, as they were a readily available and affordable urban public space. The name “rock kapak” was thus adopted as a somewhat ironic term, distinguishing local, Malaysian rock artists from more established, “foreign” rock artists performing in stadiums. A major subset of rock kapak music is labelled as “jiwang”, a Malay slang term used to denote (an often extravagant or excessive level of) romanticism or sentimentalism, in a similar way to the English slang terms “soppy” or “schmaltzy”. The term gained popularity in tandem with the elaborate, romantic rock kapak ballads that dominated Malaysian pop charts and popular culture throughout the 1990s.

Rock music

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

The sound of rock is traditionally centered on the amplified electric guitar, which emerged in its modern form in the 1950s with the popularity of rock and roll. It was also greatly influenced by the sounds of electric blues guitarists. The sound of an electric guitar in rock music is typically supported by an electric bass guitar, which pioneered jazz music in the same era, and by percussion produced from a drum kit that combines drums and cymbals. This trio of instruments has often been complemented by the inclusion of other instruments, particularly keyboards such as the piano, the Hammond organ, and the synthesizer. The basic rock instrumentation was derived from the basic electric blues band instrumentation (prominent lead guitar, second chordal instrument, bass, and drums). Rock music is traditionally built on a foundation of simple syncopated rhythms in a meter, with a repetitive snare drum back beat on beats two and four. Melodies often originate from older musical modes such as the Dorian and Mixolydian, as well as the major and minor scales. Harmonies range from the common triad to parallel perfect fourths and fifths and dissonant harmonic progressions. and particularly from the mid-1960s onwards, rock music often used the verse–refrain structure derived from blues and folk music, but there has been considerable variation from this model. Critics have stressed the eclecticism and stylistic diversity of rock. Because of its complex history and its tendency to borrow from other musical and cultural forms, it has been argued that “it is impossible to bind rock music to a rigidly delineated musical definition.” In 1981, music journalist Robert Christgau said, “the best rock jolts folk-art virtues—directness, utility, natural audience—into the present with shots of modern technology”. Unlike many earlier styles of popular music, rock lyrics have dealt with a wide range of themes, including romantic love, sex, rebellion against the establishment, social concerns, and life styles. Christgau characterizes rock lyrics as a “cool medium” with simple diction and repeated refrains, and asserts that rock’s primary “function” “pertains to music, or, more generally, noise.” The predominance of white, male, and often middle class musicians in rock music has often been noted, and rock has been seen as an appropriation of Black musical forms for a young, white and largely male audience. As a result, it has also been seen to articulate the concerns of this group in both style and lyrics. Christgau, writing in 1972, said in spite of some exceptions, “rock and roll usually implies an identification of male sexuality and aggression”. Since the term “rock” started being used in preference to “rock and roll” from the late 1960s, it has usually been contrasted with pop music, with which it has shared many characteristics. However, rock is often distanced from pop: the former has an emphasis on musicianship, live performance, and a focus on serious and progressive themes as part of an ideology of authenticity that is frequently combined with an awareness of the genre’s history and development. According to Simon Frith, rock was “something more than pop, something more than rock and roll” and “rock musicians combined an emphasis on skill and technique with the romantic concept of art as artistic expression, original and sincere”. Christgau has used the term broadly to refer to popular and semipopular music that caters to his sensibility as “a rock-and-roller”, including a fondness for a good beat, a meaningful lyric with some wit, and the theme of youth, which holds an “eternal attraction” so objective “that all youth music partakes of sociology and the field report.”

Rock music in Albania

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

1960s#

American and British influence marked Albanian rock music in its first steps. The first known Albanian rock band was called Blue Star. They appeared in 1964 in Prishtinë and were later renamed as Modestët (The Modests).

1970s#

In the beginning of the 1970s, the rock scene present in Mitrovicë, Kosovo (then Yugoslavia) was made of Albanian and Serbian bands. Some of these bands, like MAK had both Albanian and Serbian musicians. Another bi-ethnic band was FAN also based in Mitrovicë. In 1978 the famous guitarist and composer Nexhat Macula formed one of the best Albanian rock bands of all time, called “TNT” in Mitrovica. Between 1978 and 2006 the band published ten albums.

Rock music in Australia

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

1950s to early 1960s: “First wave” of Australian rock#

In the mid-1950s American rockabilly and rock and roll music was taken up by local rock musicians and it soon caught on with Australian teens, through films, records and from 1956, television. Although issued in 1954, “Rock Around the Clock”, a single by United States group Bill Haley and His Comets, did not chart in Australia until 1956. Initially considered a novelty song, the track and the related film of the same name: “was like a beginner’s guide to rock and roll, and inspired legions of local copyists”. In July 1956 Frankie Davidson’s cover version of another Haley single, “Rock-A-Beatin’ Boogie”, was released and is the first charting example of Australian recorded rock and roll, albeit as a minor hit. Other early recorded examples by Australians include non-charting singles: “Saturday Night Fish Fry” by Les Welch (1954), “Rock Around the Clock” by Vic Sabrino (August 1955) and “Washboard Rock ’n’ Roll” by the Schneider Sisters (November 1956). Back in September 1953 US entrepreneur, Lee Gordon, arrived in Sydney and soon established himself nationally by organising a record-breaking tour by US singer Johnnie Ray in August 1954. Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, described Gordon as “the ‘midwife’ of Australian rock ’n’ roll, he cut an imposing figure in his role as label manager, tour promoter and all-round music entrepreneur”. From 1954 to 1962 Gordon’s Big Show promotions brought to Australia—in many cases for the first or only time—dozens of US jazz, rock and popular stars, including Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Artie Shaw, Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Bill Haley & the Comets, Little Richard, Buddy Holly & the Crickets, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Chuck Berry. He also promoted local talent by using Australian acts as support on those tours. In 1956 the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers (AARM) was established to regulate the music industry’s releases. United Kingdom’s EMI had dominated the Australasian record market since the end of WWII, and they made UK music a powerful force in the late 1950s and 1960s with signings like Cliff Richard and the Shadows, the Beatles, the Hollies and Cilla Black. EMI (Australia) also locally distributed Decca (the Rolling Stones’ label) as well as the US Capitol label (the Beach Boys). During this period, however, a number of local companies in Australia expanded into the growing Australian music market, which grew considerably after the emergence of the first wave of American rock ’n’ roll. In 1952 merchant bank, Mainguard took over a struggling Sydney engineering firm, retooled and relaunched it as Festival Records. Its main local competition was ARC (Australian Record Company), a former radio production and disc transcription service that established the successful Pacific, Rodeo and Coronet labels and competed with Festival as a manufacturer and distributor in New South Wales. Although most of the major labels were Sydney-based, Melbourne’s vibrant dance and concert scene powered a local boom in rock ’n’ roll and pop music and it became Australia’s pop capital in the 1960s. During the 1950s luthier Bill May expanded his Maton guitar company, becoming one of the first local manufacturers of the new electric guitars and amplifiers. In 1953 precision engineering company White & Gillespie established a custom recording division, which their company history claims was the first in Australia to press records in the new vinyl microgroove format. The new division soon included the W&G label and studio, which arguably had its biggest success with the earlier Australian releases of Melbourne band, later based in London, the Seekers. In 1960 Melbourne consumer electronics company Astor Electronics created its own record division, Astor Records, which established the Astor label and also became a leading distributor. Festival grabbed an early lead in rock ’n’ roll by releasing Haley’s “Rock Around the Clock” in Australia in 1956 after it had been turned down by EMI and Decca. It became the biggest-selling hit released in the country up to that time, and its success set Festival on its way to becoming the dominant Australian local record company for the next fifteen years. During this period Australia experienced an increase in migration, as hundreds of thousands fled post-war Europe. The majority of migrants were from the UK, many of whom were “Ten Pound Poms” who took advantage of the Australian government’s A£ 10 assisted-passage fare. Also, for the first time since the 1850s Gold Rush, large numbers of non-Anglo-Celts came from other European countries including Greece, Italy, Malta, Spain, Portugal, Yugoslavia, Hungary and Poland. These arrivals exerted a powerful influence on all aspects of Australian society and notably in popular music: many Australia pop and rock performers of the 1960s were migrants or their children. By mid-1957, inspired by Elvis Presley and Little Richard, Sydney-based singer Johnny O’Keefe achieved local acclaim after his breakthrough appearances on a Gordon-promoted tour by Haley. O’Keefe carved out a national profile to become a legend of Australian rock music. He hosted one of Australia’s first TV rock shows, Six O’Clock Rock (1959 to 1961), and worked as an A&R with Gordon’s label, Leedon. He was the first Australian rock ’n’ roll performer to attempt to break into the US market. In early 1960 O’Keefe’s 35 state US tour “made little impact” although his single, “It’s too Late”, charted locally in New Orleans. Iggy Pop covered O’Keefe’s March 1958 Australian hit “Real Wild Child” in 1986. Pop re-recorded it in 2008 with the Australian band Jet. For a few years, O’Keefe and other local rockers including Lonnie Lee & the Leemen, Dig Richards & the R’Jays, Col Joye & the Joy Boys, Alan Dale & the Houserockers, Ray Hoff & the Off Beats, Digger Revell and the Denvermen and New Zealand’s Johnny Devlin & the Devils whipped up excitement on a par with their US inspirations. In 1959, Lee Gordon would commission Lee Robinson to produce the first ever feature-length film of a Rock’n’ Roll concert held at Sydney Stadium, entitled Rock’n’Roll. It is likely the only one of its kind in existence, and features a number of the aforementioned Australian artists. In January 1960 Festival was purchased by rising media magnate Rupert Murdoch, and in April ARC was taken over by US-owned CBS, which closed the Coronet label and replaced the Australian CBS label. The success of the “first wave” rock ’n’ roll acts was brief: by the early 1960s the first boom had begun to fade. Between O’Keefe’s last major hit in 1961 and Billy Thorpe’s first hit in 1964, the local rock music scene had become blander and more conservative. The charts were dominated by clean-cut acts, many were regular guests on TV pop show Bandstand (1958 to 1972) and toured as members of the “Bandstand family”, most were signed to Festival. Bandstand explicitly “appealed to anyone from eight to eighty”. An alternative to mainstream pop acts were instrumental surf groups, for instance the Atlantics and the Denvermen in Sydney, and Melbourne’s the Thunderbirds. Many of the players in these dance bands had come from the jazz scene, and were also influenced by R&B and jump music of performers like Louis Jordan. Others were inspired by US surf guitarists Dick Dale and Duane Eddy, or UK’s the Shadows and US band the Ventures. The influence of the Shadows and their lead guitarist Hank Marvin on Australasian pop and rock music of the 1960s and 1970s is underrated. Australian instrumental bands played at dance venues in capital cities and regional towns. Like Australian jazz groups, these rock ’n’ roll musicians became accomplished players. Dance patrons moved as couples to traditional rhythms, and bands played a wide variety of musical styles. One of the popular dance crazes of the era was “The Stomp”. According to Digger Revell of the Denvermen “it was like what the Red Indians do when they’re dancing around the teepee. I don’t know where it came from but everyone was doing it at the time”.

Rock music in Belarus

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Censorship#

There is another side to Belarusian music life which is censorship. Researchers Maya Medich and Lemez Lovas reported in 2006 that “independent music-making in Belarus today is an increasingly difficult and risky enterprise”, and that the Belarusian government “puts pressure on ‘unofficial’ musicians - including ‘banning’ from official media and imposing severe restrictions on live performance.” In a video interview on the website, the two authors explain the mechanisms of censorship in Belarus. Another black list became known in 2011, when Krama, Krambambula, Lyapis Trubetskoy, N.R.M., Naka, Palats, Neuro Dubel among others were banned from performing concerts in Belarus. In January 2024, three members of the band Nizkiz, whose song “Pravily” was a protest anthem during the 2020-2021 Belarusian protests, were detained in Mogilev. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty later reported that the members were declared extremists and sentenced to freedom of movement restrictions for 30 months.

Rock music in Belgium

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

1955-1963: The introduction of rock and roll to Belgium#

In Belgium, as in Europe in general, rock and roll began to spread at the end of the 1950s, in part due to the presence of American troops stationed in Europe in the post-war period. Among the first rock and roll songs to arrive in Belgium was Rock Around the Clock (Decca, 1954) by Bill Haley & His Comets. In 1956 the film of the same name was released in Belgium, which kicked off a rock and roll craze. This was followed by the remake of the Belgian folk song Ik zag Cecilia komen with the new title Cecilia Rock (Philips, 1960). Among the many songs by the Jokers that later achieved popular success in Belgium were Ronny Boy (Discostar, 1963), Tabou (Discostar, 1964), and Gemini Boogie (Arcade Records, 1965). An instrumental rock band, The Cousins, released a rock version of the folk song Kili Watch (Palette, 1960). Other important releases of this period include the Shakespears (“Shake it over”, 1965), the Pebbles (“Seven horses in the sky”, 1968), and the Wallace Collection (“Daydream”, 1969). Other notable artists got evolved in the rock scene, including blues and folk musicians like the Antwerps protest singer Ferre Grignard who released the songs Ring Ring and Drunken Sailor in 1966.

Rock music in Denmark

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Historical development#

While American rock and roll music was influential, it remained difficult to obtain in Denmark in the 1950s; Elvis Presley records were not officially released there until 1958. This left ample room for both Danish and British artists to gain mindshare. Danish jazz and dance bands and soloists like Ib Jensen, Otto Brandenburg, Peter Plejl and Ib Glindemann brought the style to Danish listeners. At the end of the decade, the English band The Shadows was a major influence on the first pioneers of the era, The Cliffters and The Rocking Ghosts. In the early 1960s, British R&B and beat bands inspired Danish counterparts like The Hitmakers, Sir Henry & His Butlers, The Defenders and The Beefeaters, as well as the breakthrough band Steppeulvene, whose 1967 LP Hip revolutionized the field of Danish rock by fusing American folk rock. Young Flowers was the first rock trio; some of their songs were in Danish language, but several others were adaptions of Walt Whitman lyrics. Alrune Rod and Savage Rose were among the popular bands in Denmark throughout the 1960s and early 1970s. Still, Danish rock and pop music in those days resembled more of German schlager than American or British rock. Jazz bands like Blue Sun, Burnin Red Ivanhoe, Secret Oyster and Maxwells also moved towards rock. At the close of the decade, much of the rock world was incorporating sociopolitical lyrics, along with the rise of the counterculture. Denmark’s contribution to this field included Gasolin, Gnags, Jomfru Ane Band and Røde Mor. Among middle-aged and older Danes, schlager-resembling Danish folk rock was gaining popularity those days, chiefly artists like John Mogensen, Otto Brandenburg and Kim Larsen. By the 1980s, however, pop-rock bands like Sneakers, Anne Linnet, Sebastian and Lis Sørensen were popular, alongside punk-influenced Miss B. Haven, TV-2, Sort Sol and Kliché. Best selling was the cowpunk band, D-A-D, who in the late eighties turned into a Ronnie James Dio inspired Heavy Metal band. The following decade saw the rise of pop bands like Michael Learns to Rock, Safri Duo and Aqua, guitar rock bands like Dizzy Mizz Lizzy, Kashmir and Psyched Up Janis. The current Danish rock scene is dominated by indie influences in bands such as The Raveonettes, and Mew. Other popular Danish rock groups include Iceage, Sort Sol (Black sun), VETO, Figurines, Kira and The Kindred Spirits, Carpark North, Saybia, Tim Christensen, The Floor Is Made of Lava and the Danish folk metal band Svartsot. Some hard rock bands to come out of Denmark are Volbeat, Red Warszawa, Mercenary, Mercyful Fate (later King Diamond), Artillery, Pretty Maids, Freak of Nature / Mike Tramp (former singer of White Lion) and Royal Hunt. For alternative rock, Cryoshell started out in affiliation with LEGO, gaining it some market. A popular newer Danish band is Nephew, who play a blend of indie and electro rock and utilize a mixture of Danish and English lyrics. Famous Danish rock musicians are among other Lars Ulrich, the drummer and co-founder of Metallica, and Mike Tramp, the vocalist and co-songwriter of White Lion. More extreme Danish metal bands include Mnemic, Illdisposed, Illnath, Corpus Mortale, Panzerchrist, Konkhra, Hatesphere, Marodium, Nortt and Iniquity.

Rock music in Estonia

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Rock music in Finland

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Timeline#

Finnish rock followed the common trends during the 50s and 60s. Usually Finnish rock bands performed covers or hit songs translated into Finnish. Eero Raittinen and his brother Jussi Raittinen are among the earliest rockers of the 1960s, alongside groups such as Jormas, Topmost and Ernos. The British band The Renegades found their biggest success in the 1960s Finland. Helsinki was the centre of Finnish rock and pop music during this period. Love Records was one of the first domestic record labels dedicated to Finnish rock, even though the label’s roster also included jazz and political songs. Suomen Talvisota 1939-1940 represented Finnish underground, and their only album Underground-Rock (1970) is cited as a big influence among many current Finnish music-makers. Other Finnish underground/psychedelic bands of this era were The Sperm, Apollo and the ground-breaking Blues Section, which spawned Wigwam and Tasavallan Presidentti after its split. At the beginning of the 1970s new artists emerged. Singer-songwriters such as Hector and Juice Leskinen started writing songs in Finnish, combining shades of irony, poetry and introspection with rock sound. Later in the seventies the new wave and punk brought more artists such as Pelle Miljoona, Eppu Normaali and Hassisen kone. Finnish rock had by now become independent. Names such as Dave Lindholm, Tuomari Nurmio and Ismo Alanko continued with their own styles. Tampere became at the turn of the 1970s and 80s the most vibrant town in rock culture, spawning “Manserock” as rock music by the town’s artists was called. Hurriganes, fronted by Remu Aaltonen, was one of the best-known groups in Finland. This 1970s group played hard-hitting, boogie-based simple rock, and their song “Get on” is almost anthemic in Finland. Ex-Hurriganes guitarist Albert Järvinen would later collaborate with the likes of Lemmy Kilmister of Motörhead fame, issuing the Countdown 12" single, with Lemmy featuring on lead vocals on the title track, under the name of Albert Järvinen Band. Other seminal groups were Dingo, a pop-rock group idolized by teenagers, and Yö, whose “Joutsenlaulu” remains to the day one of the most played songs in radio and karaoke. Kingston Wall was a cult band of the early 90s, combining psychedelic influences with hard rock, played by power trio and fronted by Petri Walli. J. Karjalainen has also remained popular since the early 1980s. Well-known Finnish band CMX also formed in 1985, transforming from a hardcore punk sound through progressive, metal, and hard rock sounds.

Rock music in France

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Singers and groups#

In the following lists, artists and groups are classified by their decade of origin, even if their career spans multiple decades, or if they took time to become famous.

1950s#

Magali Noël
Henri Salvador
Mac Kac
Chou Rave Hageur et ses Hot Dogs Note: Magali Noël and Henri Salvador’s output was parody.

1960s#

Les 5 Gentlemen
Frank Alamo
Richard Anthony
Antoine
Brigitte Bardot
Alain Bashung
Ronnie Bird
Les Blousons noirs
Georges Braudel
Danny Boy et ses Pénitents
Billy Bridge
Les Chats sauvages
Les Chaussettes noires
Long Chris
Christophe
Clothilde
Jean Bernard de Libreville
Delphine
Noël Deschamps
Jacques Dutronc
Nino Ferrer
Les Fleurs de pavot
Brigitte Fontaine
Claude François
Serge Gainsbourg
France Gall
Les Gam’s
Danyel Gérard
Johnny Hallyday
Françoise Hardy
Anna Karina
Herbert Léonard
Charlotte Leslie
Les Lionceaux
Dany Logan et Les Pirates
Gérard Manset
Martin Circus
Eddy Mitchell
Monty
Michel Paje
Michel Polnareff
Claude Puterflam
Dick Rivers
Sheila
Yves Simon
Les Sunlights
Le Système Crapoutchik
Jacqueline Taïeb
Michèle Torr
Stella Vander
Les Variations
Sylvie Vartan
Pierre Vassiliu
Dominique Walter
Zoo
Zouzou

Before punk#

Alpes (with Catherine Ribeiro)
Ame Son
Ange
Alice
Art Zoyd
Atoll
Au Bonheur des Dames
Michel Berger
Jane Birkin
Bonneville
Bottom Blues
Emmanuel Booz
Francis Cabrel
Jean-Patrick Capdevielle
Catharsis
Alain Chamfort
Chico Magnetic band
Pascal Comelade
Joël Daydé
Bill Deraime
Dynastie Crisis
Ergo Sum
Eskaton
Etron Fou Leloublan
Léo Ferré
Fille Qui Mousse
Forgas
The Frenchies
Gong
Dashiell Hedayat (aka Jack-Alain Léger)
Heldon
Jacques Higelin
Ilous & Decuyper
René Joly
Alain Kan
Komintern
Michel Kricorian
Catherine Lara
Lard Free
Bernard Lavilliers
Mahjun
Magma
Albert Marcœur
Jean-Pierre Massiera
Thierry Matioszek
Mona Lisa
Moving Gelatine Plates
Odeurs
Richard Pinhas
Potemkine
Présence
Pulsar
Red Noise
Renaud
Rhésus O
Véronique Sanson
William Sheller
Shylock
Alain Souchon
Taï Phong
Tangerine
Mama Béa Tekielski
Hubert-Félix Thiéfaine
Trans Europe Express
Triangle
Volcania
Verto
Laurent Voulzy
Wapassou
ZNR
Téléphone

After punk#

Asphalt Jungle
Bijou
Cyclope
Dogs
Edith Nylon
Electric Callas
Extraballe
Jacno
Little Bob
Marie et les Garçons
Marie France
Marquis de Sade
Métal Urbain
Ocean
Les Olivensteins
Shakin’ Street
Starshooter
Stinky Toys
Strychnine
Suicide Roméo
Trust

1980s#

Les Ablettes
ADX
Agressor
Attentat Rock
Jean-Louis Aubert
Les Avions
Daniel Balavoine
Banlieue Rouge
Barbelés Cardiac
Axel Bauer
Louis Bertignac
Bérurier Noir
Blasphème
Bernie Bonvoisin
Buzy
Café Noir
Camera Silens
Los Carayos
Carte de séjour
Chagrin d’amour
Challenger
Charles De Goal
Chihuahua
Coronados
Patrick Coutin
Charlélie Couture
Étienne Daho
Daniel Darc
Elli et Jacno
Louis Deprestige
Gill Dougherty
Patrick Eudeline
Mylène Farmer
Fisc
Charlotte Gainsbourg
Gamine
Les Garçons Bouchers
Gogol Premier
Jean-Jacques Goldman
H-Bomb
High Power
Hot Pants
Indochine
Jad Wio
Kas Product
Killers
La Souris Déglinguée
Marc Lavoine
Lili Drop
Lio
Les Lolitas
Loudblast
Ludwig von 88
Mano Negra
Marc Seberg
Corinne Marienneau
Massacra
Mathématiques modernes
Elli Medeiros
Modern Guy
Morsüre
Jean-Louis Murat
Les Négresses Vertes
Minimum Vital
Niagara
Noir Désir
Norma Loy
Oberkampf
Orchestre rouge
OTH
Oui Oui
Parabellum
Vanessa Paradis
Passion Fodder
Paul Personne
Les Playboys
Raoul Petite
Pigalle
Les Porte Mentaux
Presence
Les Rita Mitsouko
Rockin’ Rebels
Satan Jokers
Les Satellites
Les $heriff
Sortilège
Les Soucoupes violentes
Squealer
Stocks
Taxi Girl
Tear of a Doll
Têtes Raides
Les Thugs
Tokow Boys
Treponem Pal
Tulaviok
Tupelo Soul
Arnold Turboust
Les Valentins
The Vietnam Veterans
Les VRP
Vulcain
Les Wampas
Warning
Wild Child
Wunderbach

1990s#

Dominique A
L’Affaire Louis’ Trio
Air (French band)
Anorexia Nervosa
Antaeus
Aston Villa
Autour de Lucie
Babylon Circus
Belenos
Belkètre
Billy ze Kick et les Gamins en Folie
Black Murder
Blacklodge
Blankass
Blut Aus Nord
Rodolphe Burger
Burning Heads
Calc
Manu Chao
Le Cri de la mouche
Daisybox
Daran et les chaises
Diabologum
Dionysos
Dolly
Doriand
Eiffel
Elend
Elmer Food Beat
Enhancer
L’Esprit du clan
Eths
FFF
Freedom for King Kong
Gérald de Palmas
Les Innocents
Kat Onoma
Philippe Katerine
La Ruda first known as La Ruda Salska
Lilicub
Lofofora
Louise Attaque
Matthieu Chedid also known as simply -M-
Marcel et son Orchestre
The Married Monk
Mass Hysteria
Matmatah
Mendelson
Mercyless
Merrimack
Mickey 3D
Miossec
Mütiilation
No One Is Innocent
Nuit-blanches
Les Ogres de Barback
Osculum Infame
Pleymo
Portobello Bones
Prohibition
Pull
Red Cardell
Rinôçérôse
La Rue Kétanou
Saez
Seth
Silmarils
Stormcore
Svinkels
Tagada Jones
Rachid Taha
Tanger
Torgeist
Ulan Bator
Ultra Orange
Uncommonmenfrommars
Vlad Tepes
Watcha
Weepers Circus
Welcome to Julian
Yan et les Abeilles
Zazie
Zebda

2000s#

10 Rue d’la Madeleine
AaRON
Albin de la Simone
Alcest
Alister
Aluk Todolo
Anaïs
Keren Ann
AqME
Arkhon Infaustus
Asyl
A.S. Dragon
BB Brunes
Bertrand Belin
Bénabar
Benighted
Benjamin Biolay
Black Bomb A
Black Rain
The Black Noodle Project
The Blueberries
Boxon
Bukowski
Café Bertrand
Cali
Calogero
Camille
The Cheeraks
Jeanne Cherhal
Crash Normal
Dahlia
Deathspell Omega
Debout Sur Le Zinc
Déportivo
devianz
Eiffel
Expérience
Frànçois & the Atlas Mountains
Freedom For King Kong
Frustration
Gojira
La Grande Sophie
Hacride
HushPuppies
Ipecacuana
Izïa
K
Kaolin
Kyo
The Little Rabbits
Les Fatals Picards
Lex Riders
The Limiñanas
Renan Luce
Luke
M83
Mademoiselle K
The Magnetix
Florent Marchet
Arman Méliès
Hubert Mounier
Music Is Not Fun
Mustang
Naast
J. P. Nataf
Nosfell
Nouvelle Vague
Nude
Pep’s
Peste Noire
Phoenix
Plastiscines
Pony Pony Run Run
Programme
Prototypes
Quidam
Olivia Ruiz
Raphael
Revolver
Sexy Sushi
Shades
Shaka Ponk
The Shapers
Sidilarsen
Spektr
Stuck In The Sound
Stupeflip
Subway
Superbus
Tahiti 80
Tarmac
Temple of Baal
Ultra Vomit
Vanity Case
Vegastar
Wäks
Wünjo
Yelle

2010s#

Jeanne Added
Aldaaron
Archimède
Bab L’ Bluz
Bazar et Bémols
Brigitte
Caravaggio
Détroit
La Femme
Forever Pavot
Fuzzy Vox
Grand Blanc
Granville
Éric Lareine & Leurs Enfants
Lescop
Mademoiselle K
Mars Red Sky
Melody’s Echo Chamber
Minuit
Moodoïd
Les Sans Culottes
Sutcliffe
We Were Evergreen
Woodkid

Rock music in Germany

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

1960s and 1970s: Krautrock#

Mostly instrumental, the signature sound of krautrock mixed rock music and “rock band” instrumentation (guitar, bass, drums) with electronic instrumentation and textures, often with what would now be described as an ambient music sensibility. By the end of the 1960s, the American and British counterculture and hippie movement had moved rock towards psychedelic rock, heavy metal, progressive rock and other styles (from which Scorpions rose to prominence), incorporating, for the first time in popular music, socially and politically incisive lyrics. The 1968 student riots in Germany, France and Italy had created a class of young, intellectual continental listeners, while nuclear weapons, pollution and war inspired protests and activism. Music had taken a turn towards electronic avant-garde in the mid-1950s. These factors all laid the scene for what came to be termed krautrock, which arose at the first major German rock festival in 1968 at Essen. Among others, the political rock group Floh de Cologne from Cologne played there. Like their American and British counterparts, German rock musicians played a kind of psychedelia. That same year, 1968, saw the foundation of the Zodiak Free Arts Lab in Berlin by Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Conrad Schnitzler, which further popularized the psychedelic-rock sound in the German mainstream.

Rock music in Greece

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

1960s#

Greek rock (, ) originated in the early 1960s with the creation of several anglophone pop-rock bands such as The Forminx (which included composer Vangelis), The Charms, The Idols , The Olympians, Juniors, M.G.C. and many more. 1968 in Paris saw the formation of Aphrodite’s Child, (Vangelis, Demis Roussos and Loukas Sideras) one of the most important and successful Greek rock bands that achieved international fame with their albums It’s Five O’Clock (1969) and 666 (1972). Another aspect of Greek rock in the late ’60s saw the release of the first albums by Dionysis Savvopoulos, who combined Greek folk-music with rock elements. In the beginning of the ’80s there was a small but energetic number of punk and New Wave bands and in the 1990s hip-hop elements also entered the mainstream rock scene in Greece.

Rock music in Hungary

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

1960s#

In 1968, the New Economic Mechanism was introduced, intending on revitalizing the Hungarian economy, while the band Illés won almost every prize at the prestigious Táncdalfesztivál. In the 70s, however, the Russians cracked down on subversives in Hungary, and rock was a major target. The band Illés was banned from performing and recording, while Metró and Omega left. Some of the members of these bands formed a supergroup, Locomotiv GT, that quickly became very famous. The remaining members of Omega, meanwhile, succeeded in achieving stardom in Germany, and remained very popular for a time.

Rock music in Iceland

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Rock came to the island beginning in the mid-1950s. Rock’s popularity increased steadily over the next few years. This wave peaked with the tour by Tony Crombie & His Rockets in May 1957. A few bands with their own style did emerge, however, including City, Disco and Lúdó. From 1930 until the mid-1980s, radio broadcasting in Iceland was a state monopoly which did not allow much time for rock music. But despite this state of affairs, Icelandic popular culture was not completely isolated from the outside world. Crews of Icelandic fishing boats and commercial aircraft would buy rock records in America, England and Germany and bring them back home to Iceland. Also, the US Navy base in Keflavík, Iceland, operated a radio station for the troops (AFRS 1484 on the radio dial) that mainly played rock music and was very popular with young Icelanders in the Reykjavík area and remained important to Icelandic rock music until at least the mid-1970s. Some of the disc-jockeys from the early ’70s were Tom Wiecks, Jim Roark, Karl Phillips, Ron Smart, Tom Hughes and Mark Lazar. The British Invasion and Beatlemania arrived in Iceland in 1964, and the indigenous groups Hljómar from Keflavík and Dátar from Reykjavík arose as Icelandic counterparts to The Beatles, later followed by Flowers, Bendix and other bands. Beginning in about 1969, the English language period of Icelandic rock began, with bands like Trúbrot, Náttúra and Pelikan becoming popular. From 1973 to 1979, the Reykjavík rock scene was dominated by progressive rock and funk groups such as Eik and Cabaret (these two groups merged under the name Eik in 1977). The mid to late 1970s saw the rise of Gunnar Þórðarson and Magnús Eiríksson, who revitalized the field of Icelandic rock and created a more distinctive national style. A wave of punk rock based out of Reykjavík occurred in about 1981 and temporarily displaced more traditional rock music, much like rock had displaced jazz in the early 1960s. Notable mid to late 1980s Icelandic rock bands include Grafík and Tobmobile as well as the alternative rock band The Sugarcubes featuring Björk. Towards the end of the 20th century and continuing to the present (2005), the group Quarashi with its mixture of rock and rap has achieved international attention; the same applies to the hard rock group Mínus and the post-rock band Sigur Rós. From the late 1980s continuing to the present (2005) the band Sálin hans Jóns míns or just Sálin has had a strong presence on the Icelandic rock scene. Icelandic metal bands include Skálmöld and Auðn (took 3rd place at W:O:A Metal Battle at Wacken Open Air in 2016). Iceland has competed in Eurovision Song Contest with rock songs; the metal singer Eiríkur Hauksson has competed for Iceland many times, including with a rock song, and the first time Iceland competed with a non-rock song, and he’s a famous singer, for many types of music, also independently of Eurovision. The band Dimma was most recently voted second place in the national (Söngvakeppnin) selection process with a rock song, “Almyrkvi”, sung in Icelandic (but lost to a non-rock song sung in English, that went viral despite the 2020 contest actually being cancelled because of COVID-19). Bubbi (who almost exclusively sings in Icelandic with the exception of the 1988 English-language album Serbian Flower), one of Iceland’s most famous and prolific singer, starting with punk and rock bands, such as Egó, before going solo (and much later collaborated with Dimma) has said he would never compete in Eurovision, though he eventually did so in 2010 when he cowrote a song with Oscar Paul (who had written the song, sung by Yohanna, that placed second after Fairytale).

Rock music in Ireland

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

1960s#

In the 1960s being part of a ‘Showband’ was essentially the only way a professional musician in Ireland could make a living. Van Morrison, Henry McCullough and Rory Gallagher started working in Irish showbands, but went on to put Ireland on the rock music map. Van Morrison, growing up on Hyndford Street, was inspired by fellow resident George Cassidy, a jazz musician. Cassidy taught Morrison how to play tenor saxophone and music notation lessons, which made them bond and become friends. Van Morrison achieved international success in the 1960s with the beat group Them before launching a very successful solo career. Rory Gallagher formed the blues rock trio Taste and went on to achieve critical acclaim in his solo career which lasted until his death in 1995. He is considered by many music critics to be among the greatest rock guitarists of all time. The Strangers from Balbriggan were also very popular and had a unique sound. Their record “Strangers” made # 6 in the Irish charts. Eire Apparent, a rock band from Belfast who formed in 1967 is noted for launching the careers of Henry McCullough and Ernie Graham, and for having Jimi Hendrix play on, and produce, their only album.

Rock music in Italy

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

1960s and 1970s#

The first distinctively Italian singer-songwriter was Piero Ciampi, whose style was reminiscent of the French chansonniers. The United States and United Kingdom during the 1960s were in the midst of the psychedelic rock boom, which inspired Italian psychedelic bands such as Mario Schifano and Le Orme. At the time of the 1968 student uprisings, many young and educated Italians began to identify with the counterculture in France, Mexico, the US and across the world. Young Italians still had a well-educated familiarity with classical music composers like Bach. The result was an influx of classically influenced rock bands which fit right into the international move towards progressive rock. Italian progressive bands include: *Banco del Mutuo Soccorso *Celeste *Devil Doll *Goblin *Jacula *Latte e Miele *New Trolls *Premiata Forneria Marconi (PFM) *Reale Accademia di Musica *Saint Just *Le Orme Some bands, like Osanna, Area, Perigeo and Arti & Mestieri (Arti e Mestieri), fused progressive rock with jazz, fusion and world music. Il Balletto Di Bronzo’s YS is one of the most debated Italian prog-rock albums; Some calling it trash and others extolling it as one of the greatest progressive albums ever made. Another important album of the time was Arbeit macht frei by Area. They merged agit-prop lyrics, jazz-rock jamming, raw electronics, middle-eastern scales and psychotic warbling, creating an original mixture of different music styles. Area were fronted by Demetrio Stratos, one of the most original singers of his age, who recorded experimental albums entirely devoted to the human voice such as Cantare la Voce. The same period, the early 1970s, also saw the rise of Italian singers and songwriters like Lucio Battisti, Fabrizio De André, Franco Battiato, Paolo Conte and Francesco Guccini. By the end of the 1970s, Italian punk and comedy rock pioneers Skiantos had released 1978’s Monotono, which kickstarted the Italian punk scene. Later bands like The Confusional Quartet and Gaznevada fused new wave and Italian varieta with punk and other influences.

Rock music in Lithuania

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

1960s-1970s#

During this period, the Communist government of the Lithuanian SSR confronted rock music, which was considered a decadent and corrupting cultural invasion from the West. The younger post-World War II Lithuanian generation under Soviet rule had few means to get acquainted with popular Western music. One was Radio Luxembourg, the only radio station available on Soviet frequencies that played current, popular rock. Another means was to smuggle LPs of popular Western bands into Lithuania and copy them onto magnetic tape. The Beatles were one of the first influences on Lithuanian rock musicians. The first local rock bands started to emerge around 1965 and included Kertukai, Aitvarai and Nuogi ant slenksčio in Kaunas, and Kęstutis Antanėlis, Vienuoliai, and Gėlių Vaikai in Vilnius, among others. Most of these bands did nothing more than play covers of The Beatles and Rolling Stones, sometimes adapting Lithuanian lyrics to these songs. The dominance of covers bands started to change around 1968, when local artists started to explore original songwriting. Such bands were popular at student parties, known as sessions. These parties were deemed illegal by the communist establishment, which considered them a corrupting influence. The most famous session of the time took place in Vilnius in 1971, when major local and Latvian bands performed before a crowd of several hundred - a huge number of people to attend such an event at that time. After the concert, its organizers were persecuted by the KGB. In addition, a distinct genre of song formed during this period. Musicians like Vytautas Kernagis and Vytautas Babravičius created intimate acoustic ballads featuring their own lyrics and those of other Lithuanian poets. Due to conditions imposed by the totalitarian regime, almost no records from this period survive to this day. Despite the regime’s stance against invasive Western culture, some musicals influenced by rock-and-roll managed to surface. For example, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s rock-opera ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ was staged by Lithuanian composer Kęstutis Antanėlis on December 25, 1971, at the Vilnius Academy of Art. It was the first staging of ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ in Europe. Lithuania’s first and most popular movie musical ‘Velnio nuotaka’ (‘The Devil’s Bride’), written by Viačeslavas Ganelinas, was released in 1975. Its catchy melodies combine traditional folk motifs with a rock-and-roll rhythm. Spirited and emotional, The Devil’s Bride tells the supernatural story of an impish devil who used to be an angel but got tired of singing Hosannah, and was thus condemned to live on Earth. From his home in a windmill, he pursued love and happiness in a hilarious and sometimes tragic tale of turmoil that affects the whole countryside. Shortly afterwards, in 1976, another musical was staged. ‘Ugnies medžioklė su varovais’, with the music of composer Giedrius Kuprevičius and participation of Vytautas Kernagis and Gintarė Jautakaitė. This musical proved to be a huge success - during the period from 1976 to 1983 it was performed 185 times in cities and towns across Lithuania and the Soviet Union.

Rock music in New Zealand

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

1950s#

Rock music began in New Zealand in 1955 when Wellington-based country singer Johnny Cooper (popularly known as the “Maori cowboy”) recorded a cover version of American Bill Haley’s hit song “Rock Around the Clock” for HMV, the first rock and roll record recorded outside the United States. In 1956, Cooper wrote and recorded an original song called “Pie Cart Rock and Roll”. The song referred to a pie cart that he visited while managing talent shows in Whanganui. The song is believed to be New Zealand’s first indigenous rock and roll recording, although “Resuscitation rock”, written by Wellington teenager Sandy Tansley in March 1957, may have been released a few weeks earlier than Cooper’s song. Singer Johnny Devlin was touted as New Zealand’s Elvis Presley and his cover of “Lawdy Miss Clawdy” remains one of New Zealand’s biggest-selling singles, having sold 100,000 copies in 1959–60. In 1959, Mabel Howard, Minister of Social Welfare, went to see Johnny Devlin perform at the Christchurch Town Hall, declaring at half-time, “There’s nothing much wrong with rock and roll”. New Zealand’s studios lagged behind their counterparts in the Northern Hemisphere and 1950s recording stars The Tumbleweeds recorded six of their hit albums in the living room of one of their band members.

Rock music in Norway

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

1950s and 1960s#

The most known rock and roll performers in the 1950s were Per Granberg, Per Hartvig (Rocke-Pelle), Jan Rohde and Odd Gisløy (Smiling Tommy). Gisløy even penned his own rock and roll composition: “Dancing with My Rockin’ Shoes”. In the early 1960s the so-called Shadow bands (named after the British instrumental group The Shadows) were popular. Among the most notable were The Beatniks and The Vanguards. In the mid-1960s The Pussycats recorded two albums: one in Great Britain and one in West Germany, both produced by Sven-Erik Børja. Most of the songs were composed by group member Trond Graff.

Rock music in Poland

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

1960s#

After the era of Big-beat, (aka “big-bit", a Polish style of simple rock’n’roll), one of the earliest pioneers of Polish rock was Tadeusz Nalepa, a singer, guitarist and songwriter who began his career playing pop music in his group - Blackout, before turning to blues rock and changing the band’s name to Breakout in 1968. Their debut album Na drugim brzegu tęcz", is often referred to as the “first Polish rock album”. Significant Big-beat artists include Czerwone Gitary, Niebiesko-Czarni, Czerwono-Czarni, Trubadurzy, and Karin Stanek.

Rock music in Portugal

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

1950s to 1970s#

In the late 1950s, singer Joaquim Costa was one of the first rock artists, but it was only during the 1960s that the genre’s popularity began rising, with bands such as “Quinteto Académico” and “Sheiks”, who played mostly in clubs and student associations. Most of these groups played covers of American and British bands or were influenced by artists such as the Beatles and The Shadows. The rock scene’s development was limited in its commercial and creative scope due to the country’s isolation, which was under a strict dictatorship until 1974. During the 1970s, and particularly after democracy was established after the 1974 Carnation Revolution, Portugal became home to an active progressive rock scene, which included bands like Tantra, Petrus Castrus, Banda do Casaco and the highly successful Quarteto 1111. During the latter part of the decade, José Cid, Quarteto 1111’s vocalist and keyboardist, pursued a solo career, releasing the landmark symphonic album 10,000 Anos Depois Entre Venus E Marte before turning to mainstream pop music. Portugal’s progressive rock epoch came to a close with the release of Ascenção e Queda, a rock opera by Petrus Castrus. Most of these records remain in short supply to this date. Until the end of the 1970s, Portuguese folk music and protest songs were generally the most popular types of music - but gradually more rock bands and styles began to appear, benefiting from the country’s new-found openness.

Rock music in Romania

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Rock music, which rapidly gained momentum during the 1960s in communist Romania, was a rather controversial topic, mainly because of the regime’s propaganda against Western culture. In 1971, this fear culminated with the famous July Theses. Thanks to its growing popularity, rock music was regulated, but allowed to flourish in Romania, often triggering a generation gap not dissimilar to that of the West or other Eastern European countries.

“Electric guitar bands”#

Rock and roll didn’t really gain solid ground in Romania until the early 1960s. During the 1950s, all art forms were highly influenced with proletkult. The 1950s’ vogue in music was latin jazz and tango. The music was sometimes thought of as inventive, but it mostly resembled kitsch. Little is known about the beginning of rock music in Romania; however, some of the earliest artists were: Uranus (founded in 1961, in Timișoara), Cometele (The Comets, 1962, Bucharest), Sfinţii (The Saints, 1962, Timișoara), Entuziaştii (The Enthusiasts, 1963, Bucharest). Such early bands survived for only a couple of years (Except for Sfinţii, who later became Phoenix and is still active), but the musicians carried on playing in other bands, soon to become famous. The rock trend started in Romania with The Young Ones (1961), a feature film starring singer Cliff Richard. Rock music was actually seldom called by its name in Romania (and in other East European countries); however, the term beat was sometimes used instead (this was also the name of an EPs series, released in the late 1960s). However, rock bands were much more often referred to as “electric guitar bands” (ro. formaţii de chitare electrice). The use of alternative names in the 1960s does not mean that the term “rock” was banned or avoided, but shows that there was a different perspective on the whole phenomenon.

Rock music in Russia

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The early 1960s: Local bard music and first western influences#

By the mid-1960s, beat groups had formed in Moscow and Leningrad, at first performing cover versions of foreign hits on home-made equipment. Among these groups were “Sokol”, “Scythians”, “Buffoons” and “Slavs” (Alexander Gradsky’s groups), and “Forest Brothers”. In 1965, the band Sokol released the first rock song in Russian, “Gde tot krai?” (). The beat quartet “Integral” performed jazz music and compositions in the style of The Shadows and The Swinging Blue Jeans, and also composed their own twists and rock ’n’ rolls. With the spread of Beatlemania, almost every school had its own rock band. The movement was partly influenced by the ideology of the Western hippies. At the same time, Russian rock was partly influenced by bard music, a style referred to as avtorskaya pesnya (), mostly played on unaccompanied acoustic guitar. It was characterized by a strong emphasis on lyrics that sometimes carried a subversive meaning, as well as a lively and informal approach to the theme - romance, everyday life, military songs, patriotic songs, satire, irony etc. The most famous performers of the bard song were Alexander Galich, Vladimir Vysotsky, Bulat Okudzhava. Meanwhile, Western music was either being smuggled across the border or released by Melodiya as part of what was essentially state-run media piracy, with The Beatles taking a firm place in Soviet popular culture, and artists such as The Rolling Stones and Deep Purple completing a somewhat distorted picture of Western music.

Rock music in Serbia

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Rock pioneers (late 1950s – late 1960s)#

The first rock acts emerged in the late 1950s. Influenced by the rock and roll and rockabilly acts, many young people started performing the so-called “električna muzika” (“electric music”), naming themselves “električari” (“electricians”). One of the first Serbian rock and roll musicians who rose to fame was guitarist Mile Lojpur from Belgrade, often considered the first Serbian or even Yugoslav rock and roll musician. He rose to fame at the dances he and his band Septet M organized at Red Star basketball courts at Kalemegdan. Although Lojpur did not make any recordings, he had a great influence on subsequent development of the scene. Another notable rock and roll artist was Perica Stojančić from Niš, whose debut single was released in 1961. The singer Đorđe Marjanović became the first Yugoslav superstar. Despite essentially being a schlager singer, Marjanović also performed rock and roll songs. He is also notable as the first Yugoslav popular music singer who had an energetic on-scene appearance. He was the first pop singer to walk off the stage into the audience and perform songs in theatrical manner. His popularity led to the release of his album in 1959, the first popular music solo album released by PGP-RTB, the biggest Serbian record label. The media often promoted rivalry between Siluete and Elipse. Initially formed as a beat band, Elipse moved to soul music and added a brass section when they were joined by vocalist Edi Dekeng, an African student from Congo, in 1967. Crni Biseri featured the prominent musician Vlada Janković “Džet”, who later formed the band Tunel and became a well-known Radio Belgrade host. Sanjalice were one of the first former Yugoslav all-female rock bands. The members of Džemtlmeni, brothers Žika and Dragi Jelić, later formed the highly successful progressive/hard rock band YU Grupa. Although all of these bands released only 7-inch singles and extended plays – with the exception of Crni Biseri, which recorded their only studio album Motorok in 1976, and Bele Višnje, which recorded their old songs and released them on the album Pesme naše mladosti in 1994 – they had major influence on the subsequent development of the scene.

Rock music in Spain

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Beginnings (1950s–early 1960s)#

At first, rock music was influenced by the surrounding countries like France or Italy. Despite Francoist censorship, many albums were released and mass media started to introduce the new sounds of international music. The most important rock scenes were in Madrid, Zaragoza, Sevilla, Cádiz, Barcelona, and Valencia.

Beat, pop, psychedelia (1960s)#

Rock in Spain started to spread nationally. After the British Invasion, many artists such as Los Bravos, , Los Brincos and Miguel Ríos appeared. Los Brincos achieved some international success in France, Portugal and Italy. Los Bravos hit some international charts with their single “Black Is Black”, as did Mike Ríos with “A Song of Joy”.

Rock music in Switzerland

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Summary#

The first Swiss rock band of note were Les Sauterelles, formed in 1962 and often referred to as “the Swiss Beatles”. Their Shadows influenced all-instrumental 1965 single, “Hongkong”, was the first beat song to hit number 1 on the Swiss Hitparade. Even more successful, their 1968 single, “Heavenly Club”, topped the Swiss charts for seven weeks. After the group’s demise in 1970, members of Les Sauterelles would go on to other Swiss bands such as Krokodil, Toad and TEA; vocalist Tony Vescoli would launch a solo career as a singer/songwriter. Formed in 1969, Krokodil was an influential early Swiss progressive rock group, using exotic instruments such as the sitar. Comprising Zürich scene veterans Hardy Hepp, Walty Anselmo and Düde Dürst (ex-Les Sauterelles), with Mojo Weideli and English bassist Terry Stevens rounding out the line-up, Krokodil released a total of 5 albums through 1973. The Swiss progressive rock and psychedelia scene also produced bands such as The Shiver, Brainticket, Island, Ertlif and Flame Dream. Bern’s Sinus Studio was long the most influential studio in Switzerland. The commercially most successful Swiss rock band of the 1970s were Rumpelstilz, fronted by “the Bob Dylan of Switzerland”, Polo Hofer. Rumpelstilz were pioneers of Mundartrock preferring to sing in Bernese German rather than English. Their 1976 album Füüf Narre im Charre (five jesters in the wheelbarrow) produced the massive hit singles “Teddybär” and “Kiosk”, respectively. After the breakup of Rumpelstilz in 1978 Hofer would go on to a very successful solo career. His 1985 song “Alpenrose”, co-written with former Rumpelstilz bandmate Hanery Ammann, was voted “Biggest Swiss Hit” of all time in 2006 by a Swiss German television audience. Rumpelstilz and Hofer were highly influential on bands like fellow Bernese rockers Züri West and Patent Ochsner, Switzerland most successful Mundartrock bands today. Notable 1970s Swiss hard and heavy rock acts include Brainticket off-shoot Toad, a bluesy power trio perhaps best known for their debut single “Stay!”, Marc Storace fronted semi-progressive outfit TEA, and Krokus who quickly rose to become the most popular Swiss hard rock hand when they added the aforementioned Storace as their new lead vocalist in time for 1980’s more heavy metal influenced Metal Rendez-Vous, their international break through. Their Tom Allom produced 1983 album, Headhunter, peaked at #25 on the U.S. Billboard 200 charts and was RIAA certified gold in the United States, making it the best-selling Swiss record in history. Other Swiss hard rock bands to emerge in the wake of Krokus included their Solothurn neighbors Killer, Black Angels, Crown, Steve Whitney Band, Stormbringer, Witchcraft, Bloody Six, Paganini as well as China, Satrox and Alison in the latter part of the 1980s and early 90s. At about the same period, there were a number of punk and pub rock influenced bands, including the Looney Tunes, The Swiss Horns, Red Devil Band, Circus and Irrwisch. In the early 1980s, extreme metal pioneers Hellhammer emerged from suburban Zürich before morphing into the more sophisticated Celtic Frost, a groundbreaking band whose pivotal early albums, Morbid Tales, To Mega Therion (with cover artwork by famed Swiss artist H.R. Giger) and Into the Pandemonium, revolutionized heavy metal musically as well as aesthetically. After the initial breakup of Celtic Frost, band leader Tom Warrior, a.k.a. Tom Gabriel Fischer, formed industrial rock outfit Apollyon Sun before successfully reforming Celtic Frost in 2001. As of 2008, Fischer was leading the CF spin-off Triptykon. Equally as influential and acclaimed as Celtic Frost are The Young Gods from Switzerland’s French speaking Romandy region. Formed in 1985 and debuting with their self-titled album in 1987, the experimental Industrial Rock trio, led by sole constant member Franz Treichler, a.k.a. Franz Muse, have released 8 studio albums to date and have been acknowledged as an influence by the likes of David Bowie, U2’s The Edge and Faith No More’s Mike Patton. Other Romandy acts of international repute are Valais extreme metal band Samael and Geneva’s futuristic cyber metalists, Sybreed. Another Zürich area band, with ties to Celtic Frost, are internationally renowned progressive thrash trio Coroner who released a string of highly acclaimed albums such as No More Color and Mental Vortex in the late 1980s through the mid 1990s. After the demise of Coroner, guitarist Tommy T. Baron, a.k.a. Tommy Vetterli, briefly joined German thrashers Kreator while drummer Marquis Marky, a.k.a. Markus Edelmann, became a member of Tom Warrior’s short lived Apollyon Sun. As of 2010, Coroner were active again doing live shows. Yet another Zürich area metal band that made an impression in the late 1980s were Uster based five-piece Drifter with two major label releases, Reality Turns to Dust and Nowhere to Hide, to their credit. Other notable Swiss extreme metal acts of that era include Messiah, Excruciation, Bloodstar and Calhoun Conquer. In the early 1990s, a very active neo-prog scene began to flourish in the Southern Swiss Canton of Ticino, primarily exemplified by two bands, Clepsydra (InsideOut Music) and Shakary (SHK Records). Another Ticino band, Lugano based Gotthard, emerged in 1992 with their eponymous debut album (their only album not to reach number 1 on the Swiss album charts) and, guided by former Krokus bassist Chris von Rohr, went on to become the most commercially successful Swiss hard rock group since the heyday of Krokus, with numerous gold and platinum certified releases in Switzerland during the course of their 25-year career. The group’s best selling album, Homerun, has been certified 3 x platinum for sales in excess of 90,000 copies in their home country. In the shadows of Gotthard, Bern natives Shakra, who first came on the scene with their self-titled 1998 debut album, have established a solid career with several of their releases entering the Swiss and German album charts. Switzerland’s internationally most success new band of the last 10 years have been Eluveitie whose eclectic folk metal style incorporates characteristics of melodic death metal combined with the melodies of traditional Celtic music. Their 2014 album, Origins, reached number 1 on the Swiss album charts.

Rock music in the Netherlands

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Mainstream#

Pioneers of Dutch rock were the so-called Indorock bands from the late 1950s, like The Tielman Brothers and the Blue Diamonds. They played rock guitar instrumental music at a time when white Dutch musicians did not perform rock ’n’ roll. They stemmed from the Indo community in The Hague, which was also the center of the succeeding genre in the mid-1960s, Nederbeat, when Dutch musicians formed bands influenced by British beat groups and rock music. It earned the city the title of Beatstad (‘Beat city’) in later years. With 1960s bands like Golden Earring and Shocking Blue, Vandenberg in the 1980s, and Kane, Di-Rect and Anouk in the 1990s, 2000s The Hague became synonymous for mainstream rock. More progressive music emerged in the 1960s in Amsterdam. In 1964 (see 1964 in music), The Outsiders were the first Dutch psychedelic rock band to become successful. Well known was the ‘Haagse Scene’ - many of the popular bands of the 1960s came from The Hague, such as Shocking Blue, which topped the US charts in 1970 with Venus, Golden Earring, Q65, The Motions and Earth & Fire (“Seasons”, 1970). Shocking Blue released “Never Marry a Railroad Man” (1970) and “Inkpot”(1972). Other representatives from this period include the Cats, Tee Set, Bintangs, Sandy Coast, Cuby & the Blizzards and Brainbox. George Baker Selection acquired international fame with the songs “Little Green Bag” (1969), and “Una Paloma Blanca” (1975). From the late 1960s the post war generation gained political influence. Many state subsidised rock venues opened all over the country. These clubs, like Amsterdam’s Paradiso and Melkweg, were stepping stones for many alternative rock bands on their first European tour and the Dutch crowd stayed well informed about new British and American acts. In the 1970s some artists stood out. Mouth and MacNeal had a hit “How Do You Do” (1972) in the US chart. Herman Brood became the ultimate Rock ’n Roll icon. He even scored a hit in the US with “Saturday Night”. He became the epitome of the “rock’n’roll junkie” he sang about. As an artist he was in the media until his suicide in 2001. Other bands from the 1970s include Supersister, Gruppo Sportivo, Massada, Vitesse, Solution, the Nits, Kayak, Focus (who had a hit, “Hocus Pocus” in 1973) and Golden Earring with their biggest hit, “Radar Love” (1974), which hit the Top 10 in the US. The late 1970s and early 1980s gave many one hit wonders and some bands that lasted longer. Female bands Luv’ and Dolly Dots but also disco bands Spargo and Time Bandits were the most successful. Together with Golden Earring, which scored some of their biggest hits with “Twilight Zone” (1983) and “When the Lady Smiles” (1984). The Nits developed a large audience outside the Netherlands, including in Finland, Switzerland, Germany, France, Belgium, Greece and Canada and in 1989 were the first Dutch band to play in the (then still) Soviet Union. Urban Dance Squad was a cross-over band, combining hip-hop with funk and rock. The band’s minor American success proved to be influential. Their music style (rapcore) influenced bands like Rage Against the Machine. Van Halen was created by Edward Van Halen who is of Dutch heritage. Dutch bands in the 2000s are Intwine, Kane, The Sheer, Krezip, Di-rect, Heidevolk and Johan. Current rock acts include Anouk, Voicst, Di-Rect, Kane, Destine, De Staat, Navarone, John Coffey.

Rock music in Ukraine

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Beginnings#

The history of rock music in Ukraine started in the second half of the 1950s with the spread of beat music among the youth in countries which were then part of the Soviet Union. This process resulted in the emergence of VIA youth collectives, which were a form of compromise between the official ban on “bourgeois” Western music by Soviet authorities and increased demand for modern entertainment during the Khrushchev Thaw era. Government pressure and frequent bans forced many musicians of that era to perform underground, and the Iron Curtain combined with censorship limited the possibilities of bands to adopt new musical styles. As a result, musical compositions tended to be eclectic and used elements of different styles in a selective manner. VIA songs lacked the traditional protest elements, and their topics were limited to lyrical and romantic images. At the same time, close connections with bard music, as well as the wish of young performers to underline their national identity, led to the integration of folkloric motives into Ukrainian rock music, which showed parallels to the folk revival trends in the West.

Rock music of Canada

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

Since before Canada’s emergence as a nation in 1867, the country has produced its own composers, musicians and ensembles. From the 17th century onward, Canada has developed a music infrastructure that includes concert halls, conservatories, academies, performing arts centres, record companies, radio stations and national music video television channels. The success of the gramophone at the beginning of the 20th century allowed Canadian songwriters to broaden their potential audiences. Following quickly on the gramophone’s spread came World War I. The war was the catalyst for the writing and recording of large numbers of Canadian-written popular songs, some of which achieved lasting international commercial success. The 1920s saw Canada’s first radio stations, this allowed Canadian songwriters to contribute some of the most famous popular music of the early 20th century. Canada has produced a number of notable international recording artists who appeared on the Billboard record sales chart called Hit Parade first published in 1936. Among them was the World War II era bandleader, Guy Lombardo, who with his brother has sold an estimated 250 million phonograph records during their lifetimes. Over the course of his career, which began in 1944, Montreal’s jazz virtuoso Oscar Peterson released over 200 recordings, won seven Grammy Awards, and received many other awards and honors. Oscar Peterson is considered to have been one of the greatest pianists of all time. Nova Scotia-born and raised Hank Snow who signed with RCA Victor in 1936 and went on to become one of America’s most innovative country music superstars.

Rock musical

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

The first musical to hint at what was to come was the final Ziegfeld Follies in 1957. This production featured one rock and roll number, “The Juvenile Delinquent”, performed by fifty-year-old Billy De Wolfe. This was followed by another precursor to the rock musical, Bye Bye Birdie (1960), which included two rock and roll numbers. The rock musical became an important part of the musical theatre scene in the late 1960s with the hit show Hair. Styled “The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical,” the anti-war free-love hippie-themed, nude-scened Hair premiered in 1967 as the first production staged at The Public Theater. It moved to Broadway in October 1968. Your Own Thing also opened in 1968 and featured a gender-switching version of William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. Jesus Christ Superstar, composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, began as an album musical in 1970. The money made from album sales was used to fund the subsequent stage production in late 1971. This show and some other rock musicals that have no dialogue or are otherwise reminiscent of opera, with dramatic, emotional themes, are sometimes styled “rock operas”. The musical Godspell (1971), had similar religious themes (albeit with a less controversial treatment) and pop/rock influences. The rock musical soon moved in other directions with shows like The Wiz, Raisin, Dreamgirls and Purlie, which were heavily influenced by R&B and soul music. The rock musical saw a decline in popularity through the 1980s. Except for a few outposts of rock, like Little Shop of Horrors (1982) and Chess (1986), audience tastes turned to shows with European pop scores, like Les Misérables and The Phantom of the Opera, as well as to more nostalgic fare. However, the rock musical achieved a renaissance in the 1990s, due in no small part to the popularity of Jonathan Larson’s rock musical Rent (1996). This was followed by Off-Broadway rock musicals like Bat Boy: The Musical (1997) and Hedwig and the Angry Inch (1998), John Cameron Mitchell’s Off-Broadway show about a transgender rocker. The end of the 1980s saw the beginning of a new form, jukebox musicals, such as Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story, Mamma Mia! and Jersey Boys, which feature the songs of a popular band, performer or genre. The rock musical has seen a resurgence since the late 1990s, with shows by composers like Elton John (Aida, 1998), as well as a number of successful jukebox musicals with rock scores. Recent major original rock musical productions include Spring Awakening (2007), Passing Strange and Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (both 2008), Rock of Ages and Next to Normal (both 2009), American Idiot (2010)

Rock urbano

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

References#

Rock urbano definition
Babas, Kike & Turrón, Kike; Maneras de vivir: Leño y el origen del rock urbano, Impresionarte, 2013,
Granados, Chema; La calle no calla!!, Quarentena Ediciones, 2009

Rock violin

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Early history#

The emergence of rock music in the 1950s and 1960s is rooted in the basic instrumentation of drum kit, electric bass guitar and lead electric guitar; all of this instrumentation was fed into tube amplifiers until the emergence of the transistor. Building on this basic setup, other instruments were added as transistor technology advanced, typically the electric keyboard, which became popular after the introduction of the Moog synthesizer. Rock violin emerged in the art rock movement, which had experimented with classical instruments and musical influences associated with early music. Examples include Jethro Tull, King Crimson, Velvet Underground, and later Kansas. In the same era that Ian Anderson popularized the use of flute in rock, others added violin to their line up. These bands included Jefferson Airplane, Fairport Convention, Mahavishnu Orchestra and John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers.

Rockabilly

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

There was a close relationship between blues and country music from the very earliest country recordings in the 1920s. The first nationwide country hit was “Wreck of the Old 97”, backed with “The Prisoner’s Song”, which also became quite popular. Jimmie Rodgers, the “first true country star”, was known as the “Blue Yodeler”, and most of his songs used blues-based chord progressions, although with very different instrumentation and sound from the recordings of his black contemporaries like Blind Lemon Jefferson and Bessie Smith. During the 1930s and 1940s, two new sounds emerged. Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys were the leading proponents of Western Swing, which combined country singing and steel guitar with big band jazz influences and horn sections; Wills’s music found massive popularity. Recordings of Wills’s from the mid 1940s to the early 1950s include “two beat jazz” rhythms, “jazz choruses”, and guitar work that preceded early rockabilly recordings. Wills is quoted as saying “Rock and Roll? Why, man, that’s the same kind of music we’ve been playin’ since 1928!… But it’s just basic rhythm and has gone by a lot of different names in my time. It’s the same, whether you just follow a drum beat like in Africa or surround it with a lot of instruments. The rhythm’s what’s important.” After blues artists like Albert Ammons, Meade Lux Lewis and Pete Johnson launched a nationwide boogie craze starting in 1938, country artists like Moon Mullican, the Delmore Brothers, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Speedy West, Jimmy Bryant, and the Maddox Brothers and Rose began recording what was then known as “hillbilly boogie”, which consisted of “hillbilly” vocals and instrumentation with a boogie bass line. After World War II, The Maddox Brothers and Rose were at “the leading edge of rockabilly with the slapped bass that Fred Maddox had developed”. They had shifted into higher gear leaning toward a whimsical honky-tonk feel, with a heavy, manic bottom end and high volume. The Maddoxes were known for their lively, antic-filled shows, which were an influential novelty for white listeners and musicians alike. Along with country, swing and boogie influences, jump blues artists such as Wynonie Harris and Roy Brown, and electric blues acts such as Howlin’ Wolf, Junior Parker, and Arthur Crudup, influenced the development of rockabilly. The Memphis blues musician Junior Parker and his electric blues band, Little Junior’s Blue Flames, featuring Pat Hare on the guitar, were a major influence on the rockabilly style, particularly with their songs “Love My Baby” and “Mystery Train” in 1953. Zeb Turner’s February 1953 recording of “Jersey Rock” with its mix of musical styles, lyrics about music and dancing, and guitar solo, is another example of the mixing of musical genres in the first half of the 1950s. Bill Monroe is known as the Father of Bluegrass, a specific style of country music. Many of his songs were in blues form, while others took the form of folk ballads, parlor songs, or waltzes. Bluegrass was a staple of country music in the early 1950s and is often mentioned as an influence in the development of rockabilly, in part owing to its favoring of fast tempos. The Honky Tonk sound, which “tended to focus on working-class life, with frequently tragic themes of lost love, adultery, loneliness, alcoholism, and self-pity”, also included songs of energetic, uptempo hillbilly boogie. Some of the better known musicians who recorded and performed these songs are: the Delmore Brothers, the Maddox Brothers and Rose, Merle Travis, Hank Williams, Hank Snow, and Tennessee Ernie Ford.

Romo

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Birth of Romo#

Club Skinny was created in spring 1995 by promoters Kevin Wilde and Paul “HiFi” Nugent as a club playing stylish 1980s pop as an antidote to the fashion for indie-derived Britpop. The club was originally located at Camden’s Laurel Tree venue, then the home of top Britpop clubnight Blow Up. Wilde and Nugent regarded it as a subversive and “punk” act to host their glamorous pop night at a major epicentre of the indie/Britpop movement they were opposing. Although initially forced to make the compromise of including concerts by upcoming Britpop bands in order to attract punters, the club gained momentum after members of Persecution Complex, a female David Bowie-influenced band noted for their flamboyant dress sense, became regulars at the club, attracting a flow of further flamboyant club-goers in their wake. A further development was the recruitment of two glamorous 1980s-styled bands Plastic Fantastic and DexDexTer. The former was a Brighton-based Roxy Music/Japan-influenced outfit fronted by former Scorpio Rising/Supercharger frontman Stuart Miller with bassist John Gold and German brothers Conrad and Shadric Toop on guitars/keyboards interchangeably. The latter were initially known as MkII featuring Basques Even and Gage on keyboards and bass, guitarist Gjeih and Irish singer Xav aka Xavior (born Paul Wilkinson, also formerly known as Paul Roide) a future Placebo keyboardist. The two Basques had been making synth-based music in Spain for several years before relocating to England and recruiting Xav and Gjeih. The two bands were duly scheduled to double-headline the 17 August edition of Club Skinny. In addition, one of the aspiring Britpop bands who had been playing at the club, Viva, led by Derek ‘Del’ Gray, were inspired by the club to reinvent themselves as a pure pop/disco outfit in the same vein as ABC circa The Lexicon of Love. Wilde would subsequently become the manager of both Viva and DexDexTer.

Roots rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

In 1966, as many rock artists moved towards expansive and experimental psychedelia, Bob Dylan spearheaded the back-to-basics roots revival when he went to Nashville to record the album Blonde on Blonde, using notable local musicians like Charlie McCoy. Other acts that followed the back to basics trend in different ways were the Canadian/American group The Band and the California-based Creedence Clearwater Revival, both of which mixed basic rock and roll with folk, country, and blues, to be among the most successful and influential bands of the late 1960s. At the same time the Grateful Dead, a band previously associated with the San Francisco sound and known for ferocious psychedelic improvisation, followed in the footsteps of Crosby, Stills & Nash to focus on Americana-styled songwriting for their 1970 albums Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty. The same movement saw the beginning of the recording careers of Californian solo artists like Ry Cooder, Bonnie Raitt, and Lowell George.

Samba rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Origins#

Samba rock’s origins lie in the predominantly black favelas of São Paulo during the late 1950s, when Brazilian radio and dance halls were reached by the global spread of American rock and roll and related African-American music such as blues and jazz. Its first incarnation was as a dance phenomenon at community block parties that began to play these styles alongside traditional samba and bolero music. These parties eventually moved to larger venues hosted by disc jockeys. The first known samba-rock deejay Osvaldo Pereira—known by his stage name “Orquestra Invisível (Invisible Orchestra) Let’s Dance”—debuted in 1958 in downtown São Paulo. “The parties started to get crowded, and the rooms for the parties started to get larger”, Pereira recounted. “Then, I thought of building my own equipment, which had to be powerful, and faithful to the sound of the live orchestras.” His early equipment included a 100-watt sound system featuring a rudimentary version of a crossover, which allowed Pereira to control the frequencies of the music.

Sampledelia

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Sampledelia describes a variety of styles which involve the use of samplers to manipulate and play back appropriated sounds, often drawn from outside familiar contexts or from foreign sources. According to critic Simon Reynolds, sampledelic music expands upon the recording methods of 1960s psychedelia, which saw artists abandon “naturalistic” recording practices in favor of using studio-based techniques and effects to create sounds that could not be achieved through live performance. Reynolds identifies two contrasting tendencies amongst sampledelic artists: postmodernist versus modernist, with the former viewing sampling as a form of collage and pop art referentiality, and the latter approaching it as an update of musique concrète’s techniques of sonic manipulation and transformation. Theorist Kodwo Eshun has described sampledelia as a kind of mythology in which “sounds have detached themselves from sources and substitute themselves for the world,” inducing an experience of “synthetic defamiliarisation.”

San Francisco sound

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

The new sound, which melded many musical influences, was perhaps heralded in the live performances of Jefferson Airplane (from 1965 on), who put out an LP record earlier than nearly all the other new bands (August 1966). According to writer Douglas Brinkley, celebrated author Hunter S. Thompson, one of the Bay Area cultural-scene boosters, was a big early fan of the group: “Thompson extolled the sonic energy of the Jefferson Airplane as it pulsed around the California locales that nursed the psychedelic era…” The bohemian predecessor of the hippie culture in San Francisco was the “Beat Generation” style of coffee houses and bars, whose clientele appreciated literature, a game of chess, music (in the forms of jazz and folk style), modern dance, and traditional crafts and arts like pottery and painting. Acoustic music had had an avid following far and wide, but it was “a fading world of traditional folk and Brechtian art songs.” The entire tone of the new subculture was different. According to biography author Robert Greenfield, “Jon McIntire manager of the Grateful Dead from the late sixties to the mid-eighties points out that the great contribution of the hippie culture was this projection of joy. The beatnik thing was black, cynical, and cold.” The Beats tended to be cagey, keeping their lives discreet (save for the few who published, in literary bursts, about their perceptions, enthusiasms, and activities); in a word, they generally “kept cool.” The young hippies were far more numerous, less wary, and had scarcely any inclination to keep their lifestyles concealed. The new music was loud and community-connected: bands sometimes presented free concerts in Golden Gate Park and “happenings” at the city’s several psychedelic clubs and ballrooms. The many bands that formed signalled a shift from one subculture to the next. Monterey, California is about 120 road miles south of San Francisco. At the June 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, Bay Area groups performed from the same stage as established and fast-rising musical groups and well-known individual artists from the U.S., the UK, and even India. Soon after, Ralph J. Gleason and Jann Wenner, based in San Francisco, established Rolling Stone magazine (first issue’s date: November 1967). Each San Francisco band had its characteristic sound, but enough commonalities existed that there was a regional identity. By 1967, fresh and adventurous improvisation during live performance (which many heard as being epitomized by the Grateful Dead and by the “cross-talk” guitar work of Moby Grape) was one characteristic of the San Francisco sound. A louder, more prominent role for the electric bass—typically with a melodic or semi-melodic approach, and using a plush, pervasive tone—was another feature. This questing bass quality has been wryly characterized as a “roving” (rather than the conventional “stay-at-home”) style. In jazz it had been exuberantly pioneered by numerous musicians. A musician who was a leading example of this, Jack Casady of Jefferson Airplane (and the offshoot Hot Tuna) pioneered the approach, perhaps best represented on the album Bless Its Pointed Little Head. Phil Lesh, bassist with the Grateful Dead, furthered this sound. Lesh had developed his style on the foundation of having studied classical, brass-band, jazz, and modernist music on the violin and later the trumpet. Exploration of chordal progressions previously uncommon in rock & roll, and a freer and more powerful use of all instruments (drums and other percussion, electric guitars, keyboards, as well as the bass) went along with this “psychedelic-era” music. Brasses and reeds, such as trumpets and saxophones were rarely used, unlike in contemporary R&B and soul bands and some of the white bands from the U.S. East Coast (e.g., Blood, Sweat & Tears or Chicago). Sly & the Family Stone, a San Francisco–based group that got its start in the late 1960s, was an exception, being a racially integrated hippie band with a hefty influence from soul music, hence making use of brass instrumentation. “Rock & roll” was the point of departure for the new music. But well known stars of rock & roll “were being called fifties primitives” by this time. This was the period when “rock” was differentiating itself from rock & roll, partly due to the upshot of the British Invasion. Among these British acts, according to music journalist Chris Smith, writing in his book on the most influential albums in American popular music, the Beatles inspired the emergence of the San Francisco psychedelic scene following their incorporation of folk rock on the 1965 album Rubber Soul, which reflected the reciprocal influences shared between the group and Bob Dylan. San Francisco historian Charles Perry recalled that in Haight-Ashbury, “You could party hop all night and hear nothing but Rubber Soul”, and that “More than ever the Beatles were the soundtrack of the Haight-Ashbury, Berkeley and the whole circuit.” In San Francisco, musical influences came in from not only London, Liverpool and Manchester, but also included the bi-coastal American folk music revival of the 1950s and 1960s, the Chicago electric blues scene, the soul music scenes in Detroit, Memphis, and Muscle Shoals, and jazz styles of various eras and regions. A number of key San Francisco rock musicians of the era cited John Coltrane and his circle of leading-edge jazz musicians as important influences. The journalist Ed Vulliamy wrote: “The Summer of Love had an empress, and her name was Janis Joplin.” Women, in a few cases, enjoyed an equal status with men as stars in the San Francisco rock scene—but these few instances signaled a shift that has continued in the U.S. music scene. Both Grace Slick (singing with Jefferson Airplane) and Joplin (singing initially with Big Brother & the Holding Company) gained a substantial following locally and, before long, across the country. Coming of age in the San Francisco Bay Area, famed singer/songwriter Stevie Nicks gained her first performing experience there in the 1960s with Lindsey Buckingham and his band. Nicks and Buckingham went on to bring that San Francisco sound to established British rock band Fleetwood Mac when they both joined in 1975.

Sapphic pop

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Sass (music)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Etymology#

The name sass was derived from sass, referencing the genre’s flamboyant vocal expressions and lyrics. Svenonius submitted himself to the competition, later stating in an interview with the The Washington Post that “To me, different qualities define sassiness: disrespect to authority, to be youthful and zestful, and be sharply dressed”. A January 1993 issue of Maximum Rocknroll called the band the “sultans of sass”. While many sass bands crossed over into the mainstream, the name “sass” was only used in the hardcore scene during its initial popularity. In the mainstream, it was more often called hardcore or screamo. Around 2018, SeeYouSpaceCowboy began to self-identify as sasscore, a portmanteau of sass and metalcore that the band considered themselves to have coined, to clarify their influences from both styles. In the following years, the term became a popular synonym for all sass; however, in a 2021 article, BrooklynVegan editor Andrew Sacher expressed that “sasscore” encompassed a narrower selection of bands than simply “sass”, excluding the softer, less hardcore-based sound of the Blood Brothers, Death From Above 1979 and Hot Hot Heat. In a 2021 interview, the band’s vocalist Connie Sgarbossa stated of the term’s use as synonym that “It’s kind of funny that ‘sasscore’ has become such a thing, because I came up with that stupid genre tag for SpaceCowboy back in the day, and there’s become this like cult around sasscore. I think people think that’s what they actually called it back then.” In a 2004 article by Loyola College in Maryland student newspaper The Grayhound, the Blood Brothers vocalist Jordan Blilie was noted as self-identifying his band as “sasscore”, noting his preference for the term over screamo.

Scottish Gaelic punk

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Punk in the Welsh language, particularly the bands connected with the Anhrefn record label, was an early inspiration to the Gaelic punk scene in Scotland. The Scottish rock band Runrig’s first album (Play Gaelic) in 1978 is considered to be the first notable modern Scottish Gaelic-language music album; other than Ultravox’s 1984 album “Lament”, which contained some Gaelic lyrics in the song Man of Two Worlds, and mid-1990s grindcore band Scatha, from Tomintoul who featured Gaelic in several of their songs, there were no further albums of modern music all in Gaelic until spring 2005, when Oi Polloi and Mill a h-Uile Rud both released all-Gaelic EPs. They are occasionally active, although they have not released any new material in some time. Oi Polloi, from Edinburgh, Scotland started performing in English in 1981. They released a Gaelic EP, Carson?, in 2005, followed by an all-Gaelic LP, Ar Ceòl, Ar Cànan, Ar-a-mach, in 2006, and the all-Gaelic LP, Dùisg!, in 2012. Their live set features a mix of English and Gaelic material, although they tend to favour the Gaelic material when they play in Scotland. At some concerts in Portree and Stornoway, all of their songs and stage banter were in Gaelic. The backgrounds of the musicians in the subgenre are diverse, from Tim (Mill a h-Uile Rud), who hails from Seattle in the United States, to Anna Rothach (Nad Aislingean and Oi Polloi), who was born and raised in South Uist. The uniting feature of all of these bands is that most of the Gaelic-speaking members have spent some time at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, a Gaelic college on the Isle of Skye. In DIY-punk style, the Gaelic punks started out by teaching each other the language at Gaelic for Punks classes; first held at the Edinburgh European City of Punk festival in 1997. After these individuals gained fluency, they took advantage of scholarships available at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, and there has been a small, but steady, stream of punks at the college ever since. The Gaelic punk band Mill a h-Uile Rud were featured in the BBC arts documentary series Ealtainn, which followed them on a tour of Europe and filmed them at concerts in the Gaelic-speaking heartland of the Isle of Lewis. The Scotsman, a national Scottish paper based in Edinburgh, regularly covers the Gaelic punk scene, and the American publications Maximum Rocknroll and Punk Planet have carried features on the subgenre.

Screamo

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Screamo is a style of hardcore punk-influenced emo with screaming. Screamo uses typical rock instrumentation, but is notable for its brief compositions, chaotic sounds, harmonized guitars, and screaming vocals. Screamo is characterized “by frequent shifts in tempo and dynamics and by tension-and-release catharses”. These lyrics are usually introspective, similar to that of softer emo bands. Some groups were also unusually theoretical in inspiration: Angel Hair cited surrealist writers Antonin Artaud and Georges Bataille,

Sentimental ballad

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Early history#

Sentimental ballads have their roots from medieval French chanson balladée or ballade, which were originally “danced songs”. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of the British Isles from the later medieval period until the 19th century. They were widely used across Europe, and later in the Americas, Australia and North Africa. As a narrative song, their theme and function may originate from Scandinavian and Germanic traditions of storytelling. Musically they were influenced by the Minnesinger. The earliest example of a recognizable ballad in form in England is “Judas” in a 13th-century manuscript. A reference in William Langland’s Piers Plowman indicates that ballads about Robin Hood were being sung from at least the late 14th century and the oldest detailed material is Wynkyn de Worde’s collection of Robin Hood ballads printed about 1495.

Shaman punk

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

When Galloping Coroners (Hungarian: Vágtázó Halottkémek or simply VHK) was formed in 1975, there was not a defined category for the musical genre that they were exploring. Frontman Atilla Grandpierre was a student of shaman’s music infusing Galloping Coroners with shamanistic philosophies and concepts from the start. Because the group was formed 1–2 years before the western punk movement the band didn’t initially use the term “shaman punk” to define their music. In late 1970s as punk rock emerged, VHK’s relationship to punk and hardcore become obvious for both the band, fans and journalists. “Shamanistic punk”, “psychedelic hardcore” and also “ethno punk” were expressions that began to be used retroactively by western musical press from the 1980s and was also applied by the Hungarian press after the political changes around 1989. Some critics who regard tribal shaman music as an ancient form of folk music suggested the use of “ethno punk”, while others claim that VHK’s musical style should be regarded as a folk punk subgenre. But, while typical “folk punk” groups include national folk elements in their music, VHK’s repetitive, ecstatic sound with distorted guitars and inarticulate howls is much closer to hardcore or even industrial rock. Today the “shaman punk” expression is widely used in Hungarian and western musical media when talking about Galloping Coroners. To date there is no other group that is regarded as “shaman punk”.

Shitgaze

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Shitgaze has been referred to as a “microgenre”, a category that proliferated in underground music culture in the late 2000s. while drawing influence from bands in the genres of garage punk, noise pop, and noise rock. Additionally, artists primarily gained popularity through early music blogs and online music forums within the emerging blog rock movement. A Spin magazine feature described bands labeled as shitgaze as " Audio clipping spik ing in the red and cloaked in caustic fuzz. Vocals are intelligible every so often, and snare hits resemble chopsticks on tinfoil. You could say Psychedelic Horseshit’s bass drum sounds like a cardboard box", and that their music was “not too far removed from the output of fellow Ohioans Guided by Voices.”

Shock rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Etymology#

On December 25, 1966, The New York Times published an article entitled Shock Rock: Take Musical Satire One Step Further by journalist Robert Shelton. In the article, Shelton would coin the term “shock rock” to describe musician Frank Zappa and his group the Mothers of Invention, he stated:

Influences and precursors#

Screamin’ Jay Hawkins has been seen as a pioneer for shock rock. After the success of his 1956 hit “I Put a Spell on You”, Hawkins began to perform a recurring stunt at many of his live shows: he would emerge from a coffin, sing into a skull-shaped microphone and set off smoke bombs. Another artist who performed similar stunts was the British singer-songwriter Screaming Lord Sutch.

Shoegaze

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Origins#

The term shoegaze—originally shoegazing—was coined by Andy Ross, who was a part-time Sounds contributor and head of Food Records, the label that promoted Blur. On March 15, 1991, Ross attended Lush’s concert at the Venue in New Cross with his then assistant Polly Birkbeck, where Blur and Moose also performed as support. According to writer Ryan Pinkard, an erroneous story claimed that Ross introduced the word “shoegazing” in a live review of the concert published in Sounds. This use predated Ross’s recollection in his 2016 HuffPost article, in which he stated that he pitched “shoegazing” to Lamacq and fellow NME writer Simon Williams over lunch on October 9, 1991, after Sounds was shut down and he no longer had a publication in which he could promote his “groundbreaking genre”. According to Pinkard, the appearance of the term in print several months earlier than Ross’s conversation with Lamacq and Williams suggested a problem with Ross’s timeline, with the most likely explanation being that he “got the dates wrong”.

Ska punk

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Ska punk combines ska music with punk rock music. Ska punk often features wind instruments, especially horns such as saxophones, trombones and trumpets, making the genre distinct from other forms of punk rock. It is similar to traditional Jamaican ska, but faster and heavier.

Predecessors and early development (late 1970s to early 1990s)#

Before ska punk started, many ska bands and punk rock bands performed on the same bills together and appealed to the same audiences. A ska revival occurred simultaneously around the beginning of British punk rock and the near-simultaneous rebirth of the late 1970s British mod and skinhead movements. During the late 1970s and early 1980s in United Kingdom, many punk rock bands mixed punk rock with ska influences. Pioneering punk rock band the Clash incorporated influences from ska alongside a range of other genres on their seminal 1979 post-punk album London Calling. Songs like 1978’s “Kill the Hippies” by the Deadbeats prominently featured horns, although there are no ska elements. Other British bands that were influenced by both punk rock and ska included the Specials, the Beat and Madness. With both films like the 1981 documentary film Dance Craze and supportive radio stations like Los Angeles, California’s KROQ, ska crossed the Atlantic. During the 1980s in America, ska punk was underground. However, Fishbone, one of the earliest ska punk bands, achieved moderate success. Another band in America that was semi-popular came from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, called the Pressure Boys. Other ska punk bands from the 1980s and early 1990s include Operation Ivy, The Toasters, Culture Shock, Voodoo Glow Skulls, the Porkers, Sublime, Citizen Fish, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, the Suicide Machines, MU330 and Dance Hall Crashers.

Skate punk

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Characterized as “the perfect soundtrack to limb-threatening aerial stunts” and “thrash metal’s snotty younger brother,” skate punk is also known as “skate rock” and “skatecore”. Noted by AllMusic for having “high-energy”, skate punk features fast tempos. Skate punk music often features singing and vocal harmonies. Rolling Stone described skate punk as “a sort of pop hardcore”. Some skate punk music has lyrics that are about humor - “mostly of the smartass variety”. and the Suicide Machines, also play ska punk. Some skate punk bands, including Suicidal Tendencies and Excel, also play thrash metal or crossover thrash.

Slacker rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Etymology and characteristics#

Slacker rock was initially intertwined with “slacker” culture which emerged in the 1980s and 1990s amongst Generation X, with its association with a specific cultural attitude being primarily popularized by director Richard Linklater’s 1990 cult film, Slacker. The term “slacker” described a teenager that showcased a nonchalant attitude and general blasé approach to life. Slacker rock became musically reflective of slacker culture, employing less emphasis on technical proficiency and production quality, in favor of stripped down lo-fi aesthetics and an apathetic singing style.

Slowcore

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Slowcore prominently incorporates stylings and traits from indie rock and contemporary folk music. Similarly, contemporary folk refers to a musical style representative of traditional folk music but with modernthe 20th century and onwardsinterpretations, ultimately spawning subgenres like folk rock and indie folk in the later stages of the century, both of which influenced slowcore to different extents. Americana, Drone and ambient music are also cited as being similar. There is no definitive characterisation of the genre, Backing instrumentation is sparse, contrasting with the genres from which slowcore is derived. Slowcore uses simple melodies over a prolonged period to evoke saddening emotions; Andrea Swensson of Pitchfork wrote that the genre “gently pulls the listener out of linear time”. While the songs can implement choruses, they often lack intense changes in instrumentation. Chris Brokaw of Codeine facetiously remarked that he could “play a snare hit, go get a drink and be back at the drumkit before the next beat”. Lyrics in slowcore songs are often melancholic, with the vocal performances subdued. Emotion is a core component of slowcore, and the sparse instrumentation emphasises the singer’s voice. Stuart Braithwaite, a founding member of the renowned post-rock band Mogwai, said “You weren’t going to play slowcore at parties, but it was beautiful: the lyrics bare and honest, the musicality sparing”.

Sludge metal

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Alex Deller of Metal Hammer describes sludge metal as a “mutant cousin to both doom and stoner metal”, incorporating the “misery of the former and the prodigious narcotic consumption of the latter while spewing nihilism, self loathing and frenzied punk rock aggression into the vomitous mix.” He also described the style as “arguably the biggest, ugliest mutt” of the extreme metal subgenres. The key characteristics of sludge metal are a slow tempo combined with down-tuned, heavily distorted guitars. Many sludge bands also make use of elements of industrial music, southern rock Drug addiction is a common theme, while discussion of poverty and pollution are also prevalent. Sludge bands who lean more towards hardcore are sometimes called sludgecore by music historians including Garry Sharpe-Young and David Pearson. New Orleans is the birthplace of the sludgecore movement, with Eyehategod being this style’s frontrunner.

Soft grunge (music)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Etymology#

Prior to the coining of “soft grunge”, many fans called the style “emo grunge”, and due its prominence on the record label Run for Cover Records, some adopted the name the “Run for Cover sound”. “Soft grunge” was coined in reference to the fashion style soft grunge, whose communities on Tumblr the genre was popular with. The term was originally used disparagingly, implying the genre appealed to the site’s female teen usership, was overconcered with aesthetics and downplaying its heaviness. Much of its popularity was due to its frequent use by Stuff You Will Hate. Sense Music Media stated that its use of “soft” is “very deceptive”, noting a live performance by soft grunge band Fleshwater as being “heavier than the brick walls around us”.

Soft rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Mid-to-late 1960s#

Softer sounds in rock music could be heard in mid-1960s songs, such as “A Summer Song” by Chad & Jeremy (1964) and “Here, There and Everywhere” by the Beatles and “I Love My Dog” by Cat Stevens, both from 1966. By 1968, hard rock had been established as a mainstream genre. From the end of the 1960s, it became common to divide mainstream rock music into soft and hard rock, with both emerging as major radio formats in the US. The Bee Gees were considered soft rock in the late 1960s.

Sophisti-pop

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Sophisti-pop is characterized by its extensive use of electronic keyboards, synthesizers, and polished arrangements. Artists also utilized cutting-edge studio technology and perfectionist recording methods. The genre has been described as mellow, romantic, and atmospheric, with artists often adopting a sharp, well-dressed and well-groomed visual presentation.

History#

Stylus Magazine suggested that acts had been influenced by the work of Roxy Music (such as 1982’s Avalon, often cited as the first sophisti-pop album), and Bryan Ferry’s Boys and Girls (1985) and Bête Noire (1987). Sweetwater named major artists in the genre as including the Blue Nile, Prefab Sprout, the Style Council, Scritti Politti, Everything but the Girl, and Danny Wilson. Its popularity declined in the 1990s.

SoundCloud indie

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Etymology#

In August 2025, music critic Kieran Press-Reynolds, writing for Pitchfork, coined the term “BandLab rock”, referring to the free online digital audio workstation, to describe “a new wave of SoundCloud indie rock” made by artists emerging from the underground SoundCloud rap scene who began to take an interest in alternative rock music while using beatmaker techniques. Press-Reynolds referred to the movement as an “online ‘indie music’ boom”.

Characteristics#

According to music critic Kieran Press-Reynolds, SoundCloud indie artists tend to be members of SoundCloud collectives and use beatmaker techniques like opening and ending songs with slowed versions of the instrumental, or “spamming sound effects like ad-libs.” Press-Reynolds noted that bedroom producers in the scene posted video tutorials on YouTube for “indie rock beats (without a real guitar)”. The scene is primarily inspired by artists Jaydes and Wifiskeleton. Artist Ayowitty stated that in 2025 a new wave of musicians began producing “Wifiskeleton type songs” and replicating his sound to the point of cliche, with fellow artist Bunii adding that artists imitating Wifiskeleton’s sound were popular across TikTok.

Southern rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

1950s and 1960s: origins#

Southern rock’s origins lie mostly in the blues, country and rock music of the American South. Many stars from the first wave of 1950s rock and roll such as Bo Diddley, Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Buddy Holly, Fats Domino, and Jerry Lee Lewis hailed from the Deep South. However, the British Invasion and the rise of folk rock and psychedelic rock in the middle 1960s shifted the focus of new rock music away from the rural south and to large cities like Liverpool, London, Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco. In the 1960s, rock musician Lonnie Mack blended black and white roots-music genres within the framework of rock, beginning with the hit song “Memphis” in 1963. Music historian Dick Shurman considers Mack’s recordings from that era “a prototype of what later could be called Southern rock”. Late 1960s, The Box Tops, Sir Douglas Quintet, and Dale Hawkins were popular in southern states. The Allman Brothers Band, from Jacksonville, Florida, made their national debut in 1969 and soon gained a loyal following. Duane Allman’s playing on the two Hour Glass albums and an Hour Glass session in early 1968 at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama had caught the ear of Rick Hall, owner of FAME. In November 1968, Hall hired Allman to play on an album with Wilson Pickett. Allman’s work on that album, Hey Jude (1968), got him hired as a full-time session musician at Muscle Shoals and brought him to the attention of a number of other musicians, such as Eric Clapton, who later related how he heard Pickett’s version of “Hey Jude” on his car radio and called Atlantic Records to find out who the guitarist was: “To this day,” Clapton said, “I’ve never heard better rock guitar playing on an R&B record. It’s the best.” Early 1970s, popular musicians in the southern area included Creedence Clearwater Revival (from California), Delaney & Bonnie, Janis Joplin, Leon Russell, and Tony Joe White. Charlie Daniels’ self-titled debut album, released in 1970, was a pivotal recording in the development of the Southern rock genre, “because it points the way to how the genre could and would sound, and how country music could retain its hillbilly spirit and rock like a mother,” according to Stephen Thomas Erlewine. Erlewine described Daniels as “a redneck rebel, not fitting into either the country or the rock & roll … but, in retrospect, he sounds like a visionary, pointing the way to the future when southern rockers saw no dividing lines between rock, country, and blues, and only saw it all as sons of the south.” Daniels later formed the Charlie Daniels Band, a group which fused rock, country, blues, and jazz. Erlewine described the band’s sound as “a distinctly Southern blend” which emphasized improvisation in their instrumentation. After the success of “The Devil Went Down to Georgia”, a single which Erlewine described as a “roaring country-disco fusion”, Daniels shifted his sound from rock to country music and “helped shape the sound of country-rock”.

Space rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Origins: 1950s–1960s#

Humanity’s entry into outer space provided ample subject matter for rock and roll and R&B songs from the mid-1950s through the early 1960s. It also inspired new sounds and sound effects to be used in the music itself. A prominent early example of space rock is the 1959 concept album I Hear a New World by British producer and songwriter Joe Meek. The album was inspired by the space race and concerned humanity’s first close encounter with alien life forms. Meek then went on to have a UK and US No 1 success in 1961 with “Telstar”, named after the newly launched communications satellite and thus intended to commemorate the new space age. Its main instrument was a clavioline, an electronic forerunner of the synthesizers. Pink Floyd’s early albums contain pioneering examples of space rock: “Astronomy Domine”, “Pow R. Toc H.” and “Interstellar Overdrive” from their 1967 debut album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn are examples, with free-form improvisations from lead guitarist and then-bandleader Syd Barrett. Their second album A Saucerful of Secrets contained further examples: “Let There Be More Light” and “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun” with explicit science fiction themes, and their third, More (1969), had “Cirrus Minor”. Jimi Hendrix is also an early innovator of the genre, with such tracks as “Third Stone from the Sun”, “1983… (A Merman I Should Turn to Be)” and “The Stars That Play with Laughing Sam’s Dice”.

Speed garage

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Speed garage features sped-up NY garage 4-to-the-floor rhythms that are combined with breakbeats. Snares are placed as over the 2nd and the 4th kickdrums, so in other places of the drum pattern. Speed garage tunes have warped, heavy basslines, influenced by jungle and reggae. Sweeping bass is typical for speed garage. It is also typical for speed garage tunes to have a breakdown. Speed garage tunes sometimes featured time-stretched vocals. As it is heavily influenced by jungle, speed garage makes heavy use of jungle and dub sound effects, such as gunshots and sirens.

Speed metal

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

New wave of British heavy metal#

One of the key influences on the development of speed metal was the new wave of British heavy metal, or NWOBHM. This was a heavy metal movement that started in the late 1970s in Britain and achieved international attention by the early 1980s. NWOBHM bands toned down the blues influences of earlier acts, incorporated elements of punk, increased the tempo, and adopted a “tougher” sound, taking a harder approach to their music. It was an era directed almost exclusively at heavy metal fans and is considered to be a major foundation stone for the extreme metal genres. The NWOBHM came to dominate the heavy metal scene of the early-mid-1980s. It was musically characterised by fast upbeat tempo songs, power chords, fast guitar solos and melodic, soaring vocals. Groups such as Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Venom, Saxon and Motörhead as well as many lesser-known ones, became part of the canon that influenced American bands that formed in the early eighties.

Speedcore

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Aside from tempo, speedcore can often be distinguished from other forms of hardcore mainly by the accompanying space now being punctuated with percussion fills. Most producers will overdrive their kicks to an extent of overtly resembling square waves. Producers often resort to transgressive themes in their music to push the boundaries of the genre. Since the 2000s, the use of digital audio workstations (DAWs) has grown, preferred to the use of analog synthesizers or trackers.

Stoner rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Stoner rock is typically slow- to mid-tempo and features a heavily distorted, groove-laden bass-heavy sound, melodic vocals, and “retro” production. Due to the similarities between stoner and sludge metal, there is often a crossover between the two genres. This hybrid has traits of both styles, but generally lacks stoner metal’s laid back atmosphere and its usage of psychedelia. Bands such as Weedeater, High on Fire and Electric Wizard creatively fuse both styles.

Straight edge

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

1970s and early 1980s#

Straight edge grew out of hardcore punk in the late 1970s and early 1980s and was partly characterized by shouted rather than sung vocals. Straight-edge individuals of this early era often associated with the original punk ideals such as individualism, disdain for work and school, and live-for-the-moment attitudes. The movement was influenced by the political and social climate of its origin, around the time of the “Just Say No” campaign and a rise in conservative viewpoints. The discipline of the subculture came from a mix of leftist radicalism and conservative influences. Straight edge sentiments can be found in songs by the early 1980s band Minor Threat. This anti-inebriation movement had been developing in punk before Minor Threat, but their song “Straight Edge” was influential in giving the scene a name, and something of a (somewhat unwilling) figurehead. Minor Threat frontman Ian MacKaye is often credited with birthing the straight edge name and movement and in later years has often spoken out about how he never intended it to be a movement. Straight edge sentiments can also be found in the song “Keep it Clean” by English punk band The Vibrators, and the Modern Lovers song “I’m Straight”, recorded in 1973, which rejected drug use. Ted Nugent was a key influence on the straight edge ideology as one of the few prominent 1970s hard rock icons to eschew alcohol and other drug use explicitly. Straight edge started in Washington, D.C., and quickly spread throughout the United States and Canada. By the 1980s, bands on the West Coast, such as America’s Hardcore, Stalag 13, Justice League, and Uniform Choice, were gaining popularity. In the early stages of this subculture’s history, concerts often consisted of both punk bands and straight edge bands. Circumstances soon changed, and the early 1980s eventually was viewed as the time “before the two scenes separated”.

Street punk

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Street punk lyrics commonly address topics such as fighting, drinking, partying, inner-city turmoil, gang violence, blue-collar issues, union or organized labor issues. Punk veteran Felix Havoc said:

Origins (late 1970s and early 1980s)#

Street punk grew out of working class young people who disliked the first wave of punk’s more artistic nature. The AllMusic guide credits Sham 69 as the band which brought street punk to prominence around 1978–1979, while an article by the i hailed the U.K. Subs and their 1979 debut album Another Kind of Blues as one of the first examples of street punk. Writer Ian Glasper credited the Cockney Rejects 1980 single “Bad Man” as setting a “new standards for what was to become known as street punk” due to its “melodic lead guitar, belligerent vocal delivery and gang backup chants”. However, as the sound began to form, it was quickly split between two separate punk scenes: the anarcho-punk scene, which saw the sound as inherently political due to its working class ties; and the oi! scene, which was largely apolitical.

Sufi rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

It is mostly based on the poetry of famous sufi poets such as Rumi, Hafez, Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, Bulleh Shah, Waris Shah and even Kabir and is mostly sung in languages such as Urdu, Pashto, Punjabi, Sindhi, Persian and Turkish.

External links#

*The New Sufiana – Indian Express

Sunshine pop

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Origins and definition#

Sunshine pop originated from California-based pop songwriters and producers. The West Coast music scene of the mid- to late 1960s had provided a fertile environment for studio-oriented pop musicians experimenting with rock, folk, and psychedelic influences. Within this milieu were numerous artists who contributed to the development of sunshine pop, including Brian Wilson, leader of the Beach Boys, and John Phillips, leader of the Mamas & the Papas, who combined idealistic themes with undercurrents of melancholy, along with lesser-known acts that achieved fleeting commercial success. A.V. Club contributor Noel Murray argued in 2011 that records by Phillips and Wilson had attained a cultural stature so large “that it’s hard today to hear them as part of any kind of trend”, in direct contrast to the less successful contemporaneous work of producer-songwriter-performer Curt Boettcher. The genre’s boundaries remain loosely defined partly due to the absence of contemporary self-identification by artists as “sunshine pop” practitioners. Many of the groups straddled multiple styles, including folk rock, bubblegum pop, garage rock, and psychedelia. In addition to receiving limited critical attention during their initial activity, many acts had existed briefly while adapting to evolving musical trends. Other rock and pop bands not normally associated with the genre occasionally produced singles or albums that integrated its sound. Music critic Richie Unterberger defined the genre as “the most ridiculously optimistic, commercial outgrowth of folk-rock that could be imagined”, adding that the style “was not so much folk-influenced rock as folk-rock-influenced pop, sometimes very much in an easy listening, Mamas-&-the-Papas mold, such as Spanky & Our Gang”. Author David Howard characterizes “soft pop” as a “harmonic, slightly psychedelic vocal music genre” that modernized “traditional pop vocals via hip lyrics, breezy harmonies, and an effervescent production style”. Associated acts usually drew elements from easy-listening, commercial jingles, and countercultural themes, often juxtaposing idyllic imagery with a subtle awareness of societal change, and bore names referencing fruits, colors, or “cosmic concepts”. While occasionally incorporating elements of psychedelia, they generally avoided overt drug-related imagery, instead drawing from what AllMusic termed the “whimsical” and “warm” aspects of psychedelic pop. Stylistically, sunshine pop also intersected with baroque pop, folk-pop, and Brill Building pop. Author and musician Bob Stanley, who identifies sunshine pop as an early soft rock variant, frames the genre as developing upon the progressive “instrumentation”, “musical complexity”, and subversion of rock traditions exemplified by the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds (1966) and the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967). Stanley additionally traces the genre’s preoccupation with exotic arrangements and unorthodox combinations of instruments to the work of Burt Bacharach and Hal David. According to AllMusic, the “star” sunshine pop acts included the Beach Boys circa Pet Sounds, the Association, and the Mamas & the Papas, among others, with later reappraisals bringing renewed attention to lesser-known groups like Sagittarius, the Yellow Balloon, and the Millennium. While Wilson’s production techniques substantially influenced subsequent sunshine pop developments, the Beach Boys’ output largely diverged from the genre’s core characteristics. Murray states that Phillips, to a clearer extent than Wilson, “practically created the blueprint for sunshine pop, with little of Wilson’s uncommercial weirdness.” Howard traces the genre to Boettcher and his collaborations with Gary Usher—especially Boettcher’s reconfigurations of the “California sunshine sound” originally formulated by Wilson and Terry Melcher. Compilation albums and retrospectives have since anthologized works from the genre, though some recordings appear interchangeably across “bubblegum pop” collections. Murray felt that while sharing superficial similarities with bubblegum, the latter’s repetitive structures and superficial themes contrast with the “emotional richness” of the “best” examples of sunshine pop. In Bubblegum Music Is the Naked Truth (2001), contributor Chris Davidson writes that the “most blinding sunshine pop matches bubblegum’s oomph”, although “where bubblegum says, ‘I got love in my tummy,’ s-pop exclaims: ‘I love the flower girl.’”

Surf music

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Form#

Surf music emerged in the late 1950s as instrumental rock and roll music, tone than the “built-in” amp reverb, due to different circuitry. Guitarists also made use of the vibrato arm on their guitars to bend the pitch of notes downward, electronic tremolo effects and rapid (alternating) tremolo picking. Guitar models favored included those made by Fender (particularly the Jazzmaster, Jaguar and Stratocaster), Mosrite, Teisco, or Danelectro, usually with single coil pickups (which had high treble in contrast to double-coil humbucking pickups). Surf music was one of the first genres to universally adopt the electric bass, particularly the Fender Precision Bass. Classic surf drum kits tended to be Rogers, Ludwig, Gretsch or Slingerland. Some popular songs also incorporated a tenor or baritone saxophone, as on the Lively Ones’ “Surf Rider” (1963) and the Revels’ “Comanche” (1961). Often an electric organ or an electric piano featured as backing harmony.

Swamp rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Swamp rock fuses rockabilly and soul music with swamp blues, country music and funk. Swamp blues provided swamp rock with its defining guitar sound, which was low toned and often reverberated. The sound also frequently uses horns, due to its soul influence, although solos are more commonly performed on guitars. Also contributing influence to the sound of swamp rock was the hard, guitar-driven sound of British Invasion bands, as well as country blues, Cajun music and New Orleans rhythm and blues. The genre’s lyrics are often “dark and menacing”, drawing from young Americans’ dissatisfaction with the political establishment, as well as environmentalist concerns.

Swedish death metal

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Precursors#

The Swedish death metal scene’s earliest originators were influenced more by punk rock, especially the D-beat and hardcore punk scene, than they were metal bands. The most influential of these bands upon the burgeoning Swedish extreme metal scene was Gothenburg’s Anti Cimex. Influenced by such Swedish punk bands as Asocial, Mob 47 and Anti Cimex, emerged the country’s first extreme metal band Bathory. Subsequently, becoming a primary influence for the black metal scene, Bathory were a pivotal group in Swedish extreme metal. Mefisto, Obscurity and Merciless were some of the earliest bands to follow in Bathory’s footsteps, combining their sound with influences from German groups like Sodom and Destruction. Although Mefisto and Obscurity only released two demos each, and rarely performed live, Merciless became prominent in the extreme metal underground. Their live performances became notorious for bassist Fredrik Karlén’s reckless behaviour, including climbing up buildings and jumping off of balconies. Furthermore, the band’s 1988 demo Realm of the Dark, led to them becoming the first Swedish extreme metal band after Bathory to be signed to a record label, in this case of Euronymous’s label Deathlike Silence Productions, who released Merciless’s 1990 debut album The Awakening.

Symphonic black metal

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

One of the earliest forerunners in what would come to be the sound of symphonic metal was Celtic Frost on their 1987 album Into the Pandemonium. The first extreme metal bands incorporating classical, orchestral, and operatic elements into their music were Mekong Delta, Bulldozer on their album Neurodeliri (1988), Believer on Sanity Obscure (1990) and Dimensions (1993), Master’s Hammer on Ritual (1991) and Jilemnický okultista (1992 demo and 1993 album) and Sigh on their debut Scorn Defeat (1993). The style on Emperor’s In the Nightside Eclipse (1994) had a pioneering influence though and was the main inspiration for many keyboard-based black metal bands following after. Troll’s Drep de kristne (1995) and Arcturus’ Aspera Hiems Symfonia (1996) are other notable early works of symphonic black metal, before the genre was commercialised by the international success of bands like Dimmu Borgir and Bal-Sagoth.

Symphonic metal

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Musical characteristics#

The metal subgenres most typically featuring a subset of symphonic bands are gothic metal, power metal, black metal, death metal and classic heavy metal. As with many other metal bands, those adopting a symphonic style may feature influences from several metal subgenres. Music workstation keyboards and orchestras are often a key feature of the style, distinguishing symphonic from non-symphonic bands within the same metal subgenre. Other instruments, including guitars, bass and drums, may in some cases play relatively simple parts in contrast to the complex and nuanced keyboard and/or orchestral parts, typically in the case of symphonic heavy metal and symphonic gothic metal acts. The use of such instruments (as well as the lead vocals) to play simpler, catchier melodies than those of the average non-symphonic band arguably makes the symphonic style one of the most accessible in metal. Bands that do not use live orchestral instrumentation on their recordings or when playing live typically utilize factory presets on workstation keyboards (i. e., strings, choirs, pianos, pipe organs, etc.) to conjure up a “pseudo-orchestral” sound, where parts are played idiomatically according to keyboard technique. This is particularly characteristic of lesser-known bands on tighter budgets. Some symphonic metal bands abstain from using keyboards entirely, preferring to use orchestral backing tracks pre-recorded by a live symphony orchestra and/or choir during an album session, or recorded using virtual software instruments in a sequencer. This is particularly characteristic of bands that feature deeper and more complex arrangements which could be more difficult for one or two keyboardists to reproduce faithfully in a live performance. On average, songs under the symphonic metal umbrella are often highly atmospheric, though more upbeat than those of many non-symphonic metal bands; songs with morbid themes routinely feature prominent major-key fanfares. Particularly central to creating mood and atmosphere is the choice of keyboard timbre. It is nonetheless hardly possible to generalize about the role played by the classic metal instruments (guitars, bass and drums) within symphonic bands, as it can entirely vary depending on the metal subgenre to which the symphonic band mostly belongs. Lyrics cover a broad range of topics. As with two of its often overlapping elements, power metal and opera (including symphonic progressive rock), fantasy and mythological themes are common. Concept albums styled after operas or epic poems are not uncommon. Bands in this genre may often feature a female lead vocalist, usually a soprano. Male vocalists (baritone or bass-baritone), are also common in gothic metal. Growling, death-metal-style vocals are not unknown but tend to be used less frequently than in other metal subgenres (a notable exception being Mark Jansen in Epica). Backing vocals, often consisting of a choral ensemble or full choir, may be employed. It is common for bands, particularly female-fronted bands, to feature operatic lead vocals. Such bands may be referred to as operatic symphonic metal and include the likes of Epica, Nightwish (Tarja Turunen, then Floor Jansen), Haggard,

Synth-pop

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Synth-pop is defined by its primary use of synthesizers, drum machines and sequencers, sometimes using them to replace all other instruments. Borthwick and Moy have described the genre as diverse but “characterised by a broad set of values that eschewed rock playing styles, rhythms and structures”, which were replaced by “synthetic textures” and “robotic rigidity”, often defined by the limitations of the new technology, Many synth-pop musicians had limited musical skills, relying on the technology to produce or reproduce the music. The result was often minimalist, with grooves that were “typically woven together from simple repeated riffs often with no harmonic ‘progression’ to speak of”. Early synth-pop has been described as “eerie, sterile, and vaguely menacing”, using droning electronics with little change in inflection. Because synthesizers removed the need for large groups of musicians, these singers were often part of a duo where their partner played all the instrumentation. Although synth-pop in part arose from punk rock, it abandoned punk’s emphasis on authenticity and often pursued a deliberate artificiality, drawing on the critically derided forms such as disco and glam rock. It owed relatively little to the foundations of early popular music in jazz, folk music or the blues, Later synth-pop saw a shift to a style more influenced by other genres, such as soul music.

Synthwave

Drastic Measures, Drastic Movement (1979), Plurex; (re-released 2004, LTMCD 2384, LTM)
Sparks in a Dark Room (1982), Factory Benelux; (re-released 2003, LTMCD 2351, LTM and 2014, FBN 15 CD, Factory Benelux)
Secret Stories (2003), LTMCD 2353, LTM
Standstill to Motion (2012), LTMCD 2566, LTM - CD/DVD

Nasmak#

Nasmak Plus Instruments/Instruments Plus Nasmak (Plurex, 1980)
Indecent Exposure 1 & 2 (Music For Brass, Wood, Drums And Violins) (cassette, self-released, 1981)
Indecent Exposure 3 & 4 (The Smell Remains) (Plurex, 1981)
4our Clicks (Plurex, 1982)
Indecent Exposure 5 & 6 (Only This Day And 77 Others) (Plurex, 1982)
Duel (Plurex, 1983)
Silhouette (Plurex, 1983)

Tox Modell#

Parkhof 11/04/1981 C30 cassette (Lebel PERIOD, Amsterdam 1981)
Groote Keyser 21-3-81 C46 cassette (Lebel PERIOD, Amsterdam 1981)

The Young Lions#

No News, Strange Rumours, Plurex 0013 (Amsterdam, 1980)
Small World (live at Ultra, cassette), Amphibious (Amsterdam, 1983)

Compilations#

Ultra - Octopus Amsterdam, C90 cassette (Lebel PERIOD, Amsterdam 1981)

Literature#

Harold Schellinx, ULTRA. Opkomst en ondergang van de Ultramodernen, een unieke Nederlandse muziekstroming (1978-1983), Lebowski Publishers, Amsterdam, 2012. ISBN 9789048812400.
Dirk Polak. Mecano: een muzikaal egodocument. Lebowski Publishers, Amsterdam, 2011. ISBN 978-9048851751
Oscar Smit. De Paradiso Punk Jaren Deel 4: 1979-1981 Nederpunk(s) En Ultra.Black Olive Press, Amstelveen, 2021. ISBN 9789072811271.
Foster, R. (2020), Mapping Subcultures from Scratch: Moving Beyond the Mythology of Dutch Post-Punk. In: van der Steen, B., Verburgh, T. (eds) Researching Subcultures, Myth and Memory. Palgrave Studies in the History of Subcultures and Popular Music. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Richard Foster, “Afwijkende mensen.” Formulating perspectives on the Dutch ULTRA scene. studenttheses Universiteit Leiden