RO on Music Theory Print

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 (disambiguation)

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

Music#

Rock music or rock & roll, a broader musical genre that includes a range of styles that evolved from rock and roll
Rock&Roll (band), a French indie rock band
Rock ’n Roll Records, an American record label

Albums#

Rock and Roll (Beyond album)
Rock’n Roll (Dread Zeppelin album)
Rock ’n’ Roll (Elvis Presley album), UK title of Elvis Presley
Rock ’n’ Roll (John Lennon album)
Rock and Roll (The Mark of Cain album)
Rock ’n’ Roll (Motörhead album)
Rock’n Roll (New York Dolls album)
Rock ’n’ Roll (Potshot album)
Rock n Roll (Ryan Adams album)
Rock & Roll (Vanilla Fudge album)
Rock and Roll: An Introduction to The Velvet Underground
Rock ’n’ Roll Music (album), by The Beatles
Foghat (1973 album), also known as Rock and Roll
Rock & Roll (EP), an EP by Frank Turner
Rock ’n’ Roll (Buckcherry album)

Songs#

“Rock n Roll” (Avril Lavigne song), 2013
“Rock and Roll” (Eric Hutchinson song), 2008
“Rock and Roll” (Gary Glitter song), 1972
“Rock and Roll” (Led Zeppelin song), 1972
“Rock ’n’ Roll” (Status Quo song), 1981
“Rock & Roll” (The Velvet Underground song), 1973
“Rock and Roll (I Gave You the Best Years of My Life)”, by Kevin Johnson, 1973; covered by the Cats (1973), Mac Davis (1974), and Terry Jacks (1975)
“Rock n’ Roll (Will Take You to the Mountain)”, a song by Skrillex from the EP Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites, 2010
“Rock and Roll Music” (song), by Chuck Berry, 1957; covered by the Beatles (1964), and the Beach Boys (1975)
“Rock and Roll”, by the Boswell Sisters for the film Transatlantic Merry-Go-Round, 1934
“Rock ’n’ Roll”, by the Cat Empire from Where the Angels Fall, 2023
“Rock’n Roll”, by Daft Punk from Homework, 1997
“Rock & Roll”, by Dio from Killing the Dragon, 2002
“Rock and Roll”, by Edan from Beauty and the Beat, 2005
“Rock + Roll”, by Eden from I Think You Think Too Much of Me, 2016
“Rock & Roll”, by Johnny Winter from Still Alive and Well, 1973
“Rock N Roll”, by Ken Carson from Project X, 2021
“Rock ’n’ Roll”, by Krokus from One Vice at a Time, 1982
“Rock and Roll”, by Mac DeMarco from Guitar, 2025
“Rock n Roll”, by Pusha T from It’s Almost Dry, 2022
“Rock ’n’ Roll”, by Remi Nicole from My Conscience and I, 2007

Film and television#

Rock’n’Roll (1959 film), a 1959 Australian documentary film
Rock & Roll (2007 film), a 2007 Malayalam film directed by Renjith
Rock’n Roll (2017 film), a 2017 French film
Rock & Roll (TV series), a 1995 television documentary series (aka “Dancing in the Street”) co-produced for PBS and the BBC

Other uses#

Rock ’n’ Roll (play), a play by Tom Stoppard
Rock ’n’ Roll (video game), a 1989 game for 8- and 16-bit systems
Rock and Roll (dance), a competitive form of dance
Rock ’n Roll (G.I. Joe), a fictional character in the G.I. Joe universe
Rocking and rolling, a name for cueing techniques in sound and video recording
Rock ’n Roll (pinball), a 1970 pinball machine by Williams
17058 Rocknroll, an asteroid in the Main Belt
Rock ’n’ Roll, a story of The Railway Series book “The Little Old Engine”

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

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

Rock music in Finland

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

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 Mexico

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

Origins: Orchestra and Jazz#

Rock activity in Mexico in the 1950s took place either in Mexico City and the surrounding area or in northern cities such as Mexicali, Monterrey, Nuevo Laredo, Ciudad Juárez and Tijuana, whose proximity to the United States gave them more exposure to American sounds. Rock & roll music was introduced to Mexico in the mid 1950s, as musicians like Elvis Presley and Bill Haley were at the peak of their popularity in the US, and their music began to be broadcast in Mexico and covered by Mexican bands. Except for Tijuana and Los Tj’s. In those early years, the first acts that performed and recorded rock & roll in the country were not rock “bands”, but rather orchestras that combined jazz sounds with the new genre. Gloria Ríos, an American-born actress and lounge singer, is often credited with introducing rock & roll music in Mexico. Born in Texas in 1928, Ríos arrived in Mexico in 1944 and began recording in 1955 with many musicians (and their orchestras), such as Héctor Hallal, Jorge Ortega, Pablo Beltrán Ruiz, and most importantly, with Mario Patrón and his Estrellas del Ritmo. Many of her recordings were covers of songs by Bill Haley and Elvis Presley, but with Las Estrellas del Ritmo she also recorded “La mecedora” in 1956, a song composed by Mario Patrón, which was said to be the first original song of Mexican rock & roll. Ríos became very popular at the time due to her starring roles in films like “Las locuras del rock and roll” (1956) and “La rebelión de los adolescentes” (1957), but she later married Mario Patrón and in 1960 she went with him to Europe, where they stayed for many years. This caused Ríos to be quickly forgotten in Mexico, as the new golden age of rock & roll was starting there and new bands claimed to be the ones who had introduced the genre in Mexico. Ríos died in 2002 at the age of 74 years old. These orchestras soon started to lose popularity as new rock bands appeared, formed by young musicians who mostly covered American and British songs. Los Lunáticos, founded in 1956, are considered by many to be the first Mexican rock and roll band, and later other bands like Los Locos del Ritmo, Los Rebeldes del Rock, Los Teen Tops, etc. became popular. Las Mary Jets, formed in 1959, were the first all-female rock band in Mexico. Rock, as elsewhere, became tied with the youth revolt of the 1960s. Many songs are credited as being the first original Mexican rock & roll songs, amongst them: *“La mecedora” (1956), written by Mario Patrón and recorded by his orchestra and Gloria Ríos. This is considered to be the first original Mexican rock song in Spanish. *“Mexican rock and roll” (1956), written by Pablo Beltrán Ruiz and recorded by his orchestra, it’s an instrumental piece. *“Where Did You Get It?” (1957), written by José Luis Arcaráz and recorded in English by Los Lunáticos. Bands of the 1950s and, to a lesser degree, were often associated with the middle-class youth of Mexico. Fearing a “Moral Crisis,” the PRI-controlled government imposed restrictions on rock music and films, in an effort to protect the “Buenas Costumbres,” or proper family values, by “avoid ing noxious or disturbing influences on the harmonious development of children and youth.” These guides caused any particularly “rebellious” media, including movies and rock, to conform to the PRI’s Buenas Costumbres to get their work officially published. In addition, both to protect Mexico’s record industry, and simultaneously discourage foreign-inspired challenges to the status quo, heavy tariffs were placed upon imported records. This combination of factors created the “Refrito” movement of the 1950s and early 1960s, where Mexican rock musicians reworked foreign songs to fit in with into the restrictions on music. One of the most popular examples is the song “La Plaga” by Los Teen Tops, a refrito cover of the Little Richard song “Good Golly Miss Molly,” where lyrics featuring elements of scandal and rebellion were toned down or altered by Los Teen Tops for the Mexican market. While many musicians of the refrito era saw success, both domestically and internationally, their music was often criticized by those on the left as “imperialist in nature,” and by those on the right for still being too “rebellious,” both of which would carry on into the La Onda era of the late 1960s,

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 opera

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

1960s and origins#

A number of rock artists became interested in the idea of creating a rock opera in the 1960s. An early use of the term “opera” in the context of rock music dates from 1963, when Frank Zappa said “We’re preparing the world’s first rock and roll teen-age opera for CBS " to describe a work in progress, I Was a Teenage Malt Shop. Zappa can be heard discussing his opera in a radio program: a recording of which is included on the album Joe’s Xmasage, on the track The Uncle Frankie Show. Don Van Vliet was to be cast as a character named “Captain Beefheart”. Zappa abandoned the project in 1964 after a demo tape with a few of the songs was rejected by CBS. In 1967 The Mothers of Invention’s second album Absolutely Free (recorded in 1966), included two “underground oratorios” Absolutely Free and The M.O.I American Pageant (with librettos available by mail order), composed, arranged, and conducted by Frank Zappa. Some of the songs from I Was a Teenage Malt Shop appeared in the oratorio The M.O.I. American Pageant (e.g. “Status Back Baby”) and other songs from the uncompleted opera appeared on later albums (e.g. I Was a Teen-age Malt Shop on the album Mystery Disc and My Guitar Wants to Kill your Mama on the album Weasels Ripped My Flesh). In 1979, Zappa wrote and produced the rock opera Joe’s Garage. Another early use of the term, the July 4, 1966, edition of RPM Magazine (published in Toronto) reported that “Bruce Cockburn and Mr William Hawkins (songwriter and poet) William Hawkins are working on a Rock Opera, operating on the premise that to write you need only ‘something to say’.” Mark Wirtz explored the idea in a project A Teenage Opera, from which an early song “Excerpt from A Teenage Opera (Grocer Jack)” recorded by Keith West was released and became a hit song in 1967. However, the album for the rock opera was not released until 1996, and it was only fully realised and staged in 2017. The Story of Simon Simopath: A Science Fiction Pantomime is the debut album by the British band Nirvana, and an early concept album from 1967. Songwriters Patrick Campbell-Lyons and Alex Spyropoulos formed Nirvana as a vehicle to perform their songs live. A short story on the album’s back cover helps tie the songs together in a narrative that some consider an early example of a rock opera. The tale follows the life of Simon Simopath, a lonely boy who wanted to grow wings and fly. One reviewer dismissed the “silly story” but described the songs as a “uniformly solid set of well-constructed psych-pop tunes with attractive melodies and rich, semi-orchestrated arrangements.” Another critic cites Donovan, The Incredible String Band, and Pet Sounds-era Beach Boys, as well as rock, pop, folk, baroque, and classical music as influences. Nirvana had limited commercial success with Simon Simopath. The Pretty Things released their album S. F. Sorrow in 1968, regarded by many as the first rock opera. The story follows the life of Sebastian F. Sorrow, from his birth on a starless night, to his disillusioned old age. Vocalist and lyricist, Phil May, said he had not heard of Nirvana or The Story of Simon Simopath at that time. Although the album was a progressive and innovative effort with well-crafted songs, it was not a commercial success and did not chart. The band’s record label, EMI, provided little support for the album, did not promote it as a rock opera, and released it in Great Britan soon after the release of The Beatles White Album and The Rolling Stone’s Beggars Banquet which overshadowed S.F. Sorrow. Additionally, the relatively complicated studio production could not be replicated in live performances at that time and there was no tour for the album. It was not released in the US until 1969, months after the release of The Who’s Tommy. The Who’s double album Tommy, released in May of 1969, was the first fully realized record to be explicitly billed as a rock opera. It was both a commercial and critical success. The album tells the story of Tommy Walker, a “deaf, dumb and blind kid.” Tommy displays the titular character’s experiences with life and his relationship with his family. Although the band’s songwriter and guitarist Pete Townshend denied taking any influence from S.F. Sorrow, critics have compared Tommy to it. The Tommy album developed into other media, including a Seattle Opera production in 1971, an orchestral version by Lou Reizner in 1972, a film 1975, and a Broadway musical in 1992. The original album has sold 20 million copies and has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. The Who had previously explored the concept of a rock opera in 1966, with their nine minute, six-movement track A Quick One, While He’s Away sometimes referred to as a “mini-rock opera”. The Who released a second rock opera, Quadrophenia in 1973. The Kinks made significant contributions to the genre. Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire), written by Ray Davies, was initiated in January of 1969 as the soundtrack for a Granada Television play in collaboration with Julian Mitchell. Although the television production never came to fruition, the album was released independently in October 1969, but it was largely overshadowed by the success of The Who’s Tommy which preceded Arthur by five months. Arthur, vaguely reflecting some autobiographical aspects of the composer’s life, is a nostalgic look at a family living in post-World War II London suburbs. Arthur was followed by a series of rock operas/narrative concept albums by the Kinks including: Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One (1970) about a songwriter and the music business; Everybody’s in Show-Biz (1972) about a touring musician and life on the road; Preservation Act 1 (1973) and Preservation Act 2 (1974), on dystopian politics; Soap Opera (1975), and Schoolboys in Disgrace (1975).

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.

Rocksteady

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

Characteristics#

The Jamaican musicians and producers who developed rocksteady had grown up learning and playing jazz and had played through ska. In a similar way to what happened at Motown, the musicians responsible for playing this new sound would go jam in a jazz club after work. Other influences were, most notably, American rhythm and blues–Fats Domino, Louis Jordan and many others– mento and African drumming. By the time rocksteady developed American soul music was popular, and that had an influence as well. The tempo became slower with the development of rocksteady than it had been in ska. The guitar and piano players began to experiment with occasional accents around the basic offbeat pattern. The slowing that occurred with rocksteady allowed bass players to explore more fat, dark, loose, slow tones than ska bass. The slower tempo and smaller band-sizes in turn led to a much larger focus on the bass line in general, which eventually became one of the recognizable characteristics of Jamaican music. In rocksteady, the lead guitar often doubles the bass line, in the muted picking style created by Lynn Taitt (as on “Run for Cover” by Lee “Scratch” Perry).

Rōkyoku

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

Performance style#

In a rōkyoku performance, the rōkyokushi (singer) will deliver the narrative singing in the centre of the stage, with a blend of sung sections (fushi) and spoken word (tanka). https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-topics/c030226/ The kyokushi (shamisen player) accompanies the singer and plays along. The will try to captivate and engage with the audience.

Instruments#

Yamabushi
Horagai
Shakujo

Origins and history#

Rōkyoku originated from the streets of Tokyo during the early Meiji period. It later evolved into popular entertainment which was watched by various social classes. By the end of the Meiji period, Rōkyoku was gaining attention across Japan and becoming a part of the nations culture. During the Edo period, performers were part of socially marginalized groups called the eta-hinin (穢多非人), or “lowborn people.”

Romance (music)

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

Instrumental music bearing the title “Romance”#

Typically, a Classical piece or movement called a “Romance” is in three, meaning three beats in the bar * Ludwig van Beethoven: two violin romances (Romanzen) for violin and orchestra, No. 1 G major, Op. 40; No. 2 in F major, Op. 50 take the form of a loose theme and variations * Johannes Brahms: Romanze in F major for piano, Op. 118, No. 5 (1893) * Max Bruch: “Romance for Viola and Orchestra in F” * Arthur Butterworth: Romanza for horn and string quartet with double bass ad libitum (or piano), Op. 12 (1951) * Antonín Dvořák: Romance in F minor for violin and orchestra, Op. 11 (1873/1877) * Edward Elgar: **Romance for bassoon and orchestra, Op. 62 (1910) **Enigma Variation XIII (Romanza: Moderato) * Edvard Grieg: String Quartet No. 1 in G minor, Op. 27 (1878), second movement * Erich Wolfgang Korngold: Romance from Concerto for violin and orchestra, second movement * Miguel Llobet: Romanza * Nikolai Medtner: Piano Sonata “Romantica” in B-flat minor, Op. 53, No. 1 (1929/1930), first movement * Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Romanze from Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, the second movement; Piano Concerto No. 20, second movement * Joseph Haydn: “Romance: Allegretto” from Symphony No. 85 in B, “La Reine,” the second movement * Romanza (Paganini-Ponce) * Camille Saint-Saëns: ** Romance in E major for cello and piano, from Suite for Cello and Piano Op. 16 (1862), later published as Op. 67 in 1866 as a standalone work for horn or cello and piano ** Romance in F major for horn (or cello) and orchestra, Op. 36 (1874) ** Romance in D-flat major for flute and piano (or orchestra), Op. 37 (1871) ** Romance in D major for cello and orchestra, Op. 51 (1877) * Clara Schumann: Drei Romanzen for violin and piano, Op. 22 (1853) * Robert Schumann: Drei Romanzen (for piano), Op. 28 (1839) * Robert Schumann: Drei Romanzen (for oboe or violin and piano), Op. 94 (1849) * Dmitri Shostakovich: Romance from The Gadfly Suite * Jean Sibelius: Romances for piano Op 24, Nos. 2, 5, and 9; Op. 78, No. 2 * Johan Svendsen: Romance for violin and orchestra, Op. 26 (1881) * Ralph Vaughan Williams: Romanza, in his Tuba Concerto (1954), and Romance for viola and piano (unknown) * Anonymous: “Romance/Romanza” for the classical guitar, known variously as Spanish Romance, Romance D’Amour, etc. Mozart subtitled the second movement of his piano concerto no. 20 in D minor (K.466) “Romanze” and the second movement of his third horn concerto “Romance”. Franz Liszt wrote a Romance in E minor in 1842 in Moscow. Robert Schumann was particularly fond of the title for lyrical piano pieces. Georges Bizet’s “Je crois entendre encore” from The Pearl Fishers (1863) is labelled a romance in the score. Giuseppe Verdi’s “Celeste Aida” from Aida (1871) is labelled romanza. Franz Lehar’s “Wie einen Rosenknospe” from “The Merry Widow” is labelled “Romance”.

Romani music

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

Romani folk music#

Romani folk music, a style based solely on Romani musical traditions and not on the traditions of the country in which they reside, is relatively rare. It is mainly vocal and consists of slow plaintive songs and fast melodies which may be accompanied by dancing. The fast melodies are accompanied with tongue-clacking, hand-clapping, mouth-basses, clicking of wooden spoons and other techniques. Romani folk music in the Balkans typically incorporates, or is sung entirely in, the Romani language. In some other countries however, knowledge and use of the language has diminished significantly over the centuries, with many Romani people not speaking any Romanes. There are five main components found in Romani folk music. The first is the use of three voices or parts: the melodic line, the terce and the quint, either through vocalization or instruments. The second is syncopation, where the music starts right after a beat while maintaining a consistent rhythm. The third is having the music played in different phrases, meaning that the entrance and exit of different musical themes are felt at different times throughout a song either through rhythm or instruments. The fourth is harmony, where a minor key center is often used instead of a major one. The last is singing, where natural vocal abilities are emphasized.

Romanian hip-hop

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

Summary#

The Romanian Revolution of 1989 was the main precursor of Romanian hip hop. Liberalization made the import of foreign hip hop tapes much easier. An underground market of tape exchanges among teens started flourishing in the early 90s. From just listening to hip hop to making hip hop there was only a small step. The first Romanian hip hop group was Vorbire Directă (Direct Speech) founded in late 1992, their first song being released in 1993 on UniPlus Radio. However, the first hip hop album was released only in 1995 by R.A.C.L.A. and was called Rap-Sodia efectului defectului (Defect Effect Rap-sody). Names such as Paraziții, B.U.G. Mafia, M&G, Renegații, Da Hood Justice, Delikt, Dublu Sens, Morometzii, Getto Daci and countless others started appearing between 1993 and 1995. Some of these early groups are still active today. The first songs were about politics, the struggle of life in post-communist Romania and crimes. The first hip hop concert in Romania took place on May 14, 1993, at Sala Polivalentă in Bucharest, which included guest performers from France such as Alliance Ethnik, Sléo, Démocrates D and Ragga Sonic. The divergence between east coast hip hop and west coast hip hop was soon imported into Romania with the creation of the Cartel (“Cartelul”) representing the west coast with groups like B.U.G. Mafia, La Familia, Il-Egal, Dana Marijuana, Don Baxter, M&G, and of RANS - “The Cry of National Agony - Syndicate” (“Răcnetul Agoniei Naționale - Sindicat”) representing the east coast with groups like R.A.C.L.A., Paraziții, Da Hood Justice, Ghetto Dacii, Delikt. However, this conflict was short-lived, and by the end of the 1990s there was peace among hip hop artists in Romania. The most notable songs released in this period were “Pantelimonu’ Petrece” and “Hoteluri” by B.U.G. Mafia in 1996 and 1997, “A vorbi e ușor” by Parazitii in 1997, “Cei care te calcă pe cap” and “Gara de Nord” by R.A.C.L.A. in 1997 and 1998 respectively. 1998 and 1999 brought a much better sound to Romanian hip-hop due to competing recording studios. Albums such as “De cartier” (Hood-like) by B.U.G. Mafia, “Nicăieri nu-i ca acasă” (There’s no place like home) by La Familia and especially “Nici o problemă” (Not a problem) by Paraziții had a far better sound quality than anything previously released. Since the turn of the millennium, even though they have received only sporadic radio and TV airplay, B.U.G. Mafia and Paraziții have earned a cult status among Romanians, and they are still popular to this day. B.U.G. Mafia were the first Romanian rap group to perform outside Romania, touring in Italy, Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom. In the late 2000s, besides the commercial success of La Familia member Puya, a new wave of rappers such as Guess Who, Grasu XXL, Spike, Cabron, Maximilian, Tranda, Nane and the groups CTC and Specii rose to prominence, some of them dominating the charts. Some current old-school-inspired groups and artists include Haarp Cord, El Nino, Jianu, Zale, F Charm, Nimeni Altu’, Vescan and Phunk B. In 2015, trap music was popularized in Romania by the group Șatra B.E.N.Z. Despite being criticized for lacking political and social messages and for their unorthodox style, even being compared to manele, their second album O.$.O.D. II (2017) and group member Killa Fonic’s mixtape Ramses 1989 (2016) were well received. Șatra B.E.N.Z. and Golani paved the way for YouTube-based artists such as Lino Golden, abi and 5GANG, who were popular through 2018 and 2019 among youngsters. From late 2018 throughout mid-2019, rappers such as Ian, Azteca, Amuly, Oscar and a stylistically changed Nane gained massive popularity, making trap the main musical current of the new generation. After the COVID-19 pandemic, many new artists emerged: Bvcovia, Marko Glass, Albert NBN, MGK666, Aerozen, Tussin, YNY Sebi, Petre Ștefan, Berechet, Călinacho, Șapte, Yakki, Bruja, M.G.L. etc. Besides trap, they have experimented with other styles such as pop, manele, R&B, drill, house, techno and rage. A documentary about the history of Romanian Hip-Hop under the name From the Shadows / Din Umbre was set to be released in 2015.

Romantic music

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

Background#

The Romantic movement was an artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe and strengthened in reaction to the Industrial Revolution. In part, it was a revolt against social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment and a reaction against the scientific rationalization of nature. It was embodied most strongly in the visual arts, music, literature, and education, and was in turn influenced by developments in natural history. One of the first significant applications of the term to music was in 1789, in the Mémoires by the Frenchman André Grétry. It was E. T. A. Hoffmann who established the principles of musical romanticism, in a lengthy review of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony published in 1810, and an 1813 article on Beethoven’s instrumental music. In the first of these essays Hoffmann traced the beginnings of musical Romanticism to the later works of Haydn and Mozart. It was Hoffmann’s fusion of ideas already associated with the term “Romantic”, used in opposition to the restraint and formality of Classical models, that elevated music, and especially instrumental music, to a position of pre-eminence in Romanticism as the art most suited to the expression of emotions. It was also through the writings of Hoffmann and other German authors that German music was brought to the center of musical Romanticism.

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.

Rondalla

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

History#

The rondalla has its origins in the folk playing bands from Spain that were forerunners of the present-day rondalla and included four types: groups of young men who played and sang regularly in front of homes, bands of musicians known as murza or murga who begged for alms, a group of musicians known as comparza who played on stage, and groups of university musicians known as estudiantina, dubbed “tuna”. The usual musical instruments used by estudiantina members were mandolins, violins, guitars, flutes, cellos, basses, tambourines, castanets, and triangles. Estudiantina musicians in Spain and Mexico, before and during the age of musical romanticism, wore 16th century attire such as “short velvet breeches, ornate shirts and a short cape with multicolored ribbons”.

Rondeau (forme fixe)

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

Verse structure#

The older French rondeau or rondel as a song form between the 13th and mid-15th century begins with a full statement of its refrain, which consists of two halves. This is followed first by a section of non-refrain material that mirrors the metrical structure and rhyme of the refrain’s first half, then by a repetition of the first half of the refrain, then by a new section corresponding to the structure of the full refrain, and finally by a full restatement of the refrain. Thus, it can be schematically represented as \mathrm AB ,, aAab ,, AB , where \mathrm A and \mathrm B are the repeated refrain parts, and \mathrm a and \mathrm b the remaining verses. If the poem has more than one stanza, it continues with further sequences of \mathrm aAab ,, AB , \mathrm aAab ,, AB , etc. In its simplest and shortest form, the rondeau simple, each of the structural parts is a single verse, leading to the eight-line structure known today as triolet, as shown in “Doulz viaire gracieus” by Guillaume de Machaut: In larger rondeau variants, each of the structural sections may consist of several verses, although the overall sequence of sections remains the same. Variants include the rondeau tercet, where the refrain consists of three verses, the rondeau quatrain, where it consists of four (and, accordingly, the whole form of sixteen), and the rondeau cinquain, with a refrain of five verses (and a total length of 21), which becomes the norm in the 15th century. :Allés, Regrez, vuidez de ma presence; :allés ailleurs querir vostre acointance; :assés avés tourmenté mon las cueur, :rempli de deuil pour estre serviteur :d’une sans per que j’ay aymée d’enfance. :Fait lui avés longuement ceste offence, :Ou est celluy qui onc fut ne en France, :qui endurast tel mortel deshonneur? ::Allés, Regrez, … :N’y tournés plus, car, par ma conscience, :se plus vous voy prochain de ma plaisance, :devant chascun vous feray tel honneur :que l’on dira que la main d’ung seigneur :vous a bien mis a la malle meschance. ::Allés, Regrez, … In the medieval manuscripts, the restatement of the refrain is usually not written out, but only indicated by giving the first words or first line of the refrain part. After the mid-15th century, this feature came to be regarded no longer as a mere scribal abbreviation, but as an actual part of the poetry. As the form was gradually divorced from the musical structure and became a purely literary genre, it is often not entirely clear how much of the refrain material was actually meant to be repeated. A rondeau quatrain in which the first refrain interjection (lines 7–8, rhymes \mathrm AB ) is preserved in full, while the final restatement of the refrain is reduced to a single line ( \mathrm A ) or again just two lines ( \mathrm AB ), ends up with a total of 13 or 14 lines respectively. This form is usually defined as the “rondel” in modern literary compendia. Another version has the refrains shortened even further. Both restatements are reduced to just the first two or three words of the first line, which now stand as short, pithy, non-rhyming lines in the middle and at the end of the poem. These half-lines are called . If derived from the erstwhile , this results in a 12-line structure that is now called the “rondeau prime”, with the in lines 7 and 12. If derived from the erstwhile 21-line , the result is a 15-line form with the in lines 9 and 15 (rhyme scheme \mathrm aabba – \mathrm aabR – \mathrm aabbaR ). This 15-line form became the norm in the literary rondeau of the later Renaissance, and is known as the “rondeau” proper today. The following is a typical example of this form: :Avant mes jours mort me fault encourir, :Par un regard dont m’as voulu ferir, :Et ne te chault de ma grefve tristesse; :Mais n’est ce pas à toy grande rudesse, :Veu que to peulx si bien me secourir? :Auprés de l’eau me fault de soif perir; :Je me voy jeune, et en aage fleurir, :Et si me monstre estre plein de vieillesse ::Avant mes jours. :Or, si je meurs, je veulx Dieu requerir :Prendre mon ame, et sans plus enquerir, :Je donne aux vers mon corps plein de foiblesse; :Quant est du cueur, du tout je te le laisse, :Ce nonobstant que me faces mourir ::Avant mes jours. A large corpus of medieval French rondeaux was collected, catalogued, and studied by Nico H.J. van den Boogaard in his dissertation Rondeaux et refrains du XIIe siècle au début du XIVe: Collationnement, introduction et notes (Paris: Klincksieck, 1969).

Rondeña

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

Etymology#

The name rondeña is commonly connected with the town of Ronda, in the province of Málaga. Some writers have also related the word to the Spanish verb rondar, meaning to go round or to serenade, especially in the older custom of young men singing beneath a woman’s window. Flamenco writers differ on the relative importance of these explanations. The usual flamenco interpretation is that the style is linked to Ronda or to the wider Serranía de Ronda, although the association with rondas or serenading has also been noted in flamenco literature. The feminine form rondeña in Spanish can also mean a woman from Ronda, or something characteristic of Ronda. In the musical sense, however, it refers to a genre rather than to a person.

Rondo

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

Etymology#

The English word rondo comes from the Italian form of the French rondeau, which means “a little round”. Today the word rondo is widely used in the English language to refer to any musical work, vocal or instrumental, containing a principal theme which alternates with one or more contrasting themes. However, some English and German speaking composers have also adopted the term rondeau over the term rondo to refer to their compositions utilizing this form; particularly when writing in a French compositional style. In France, the word rondeau was first used in the Medieval and Renaissance periods to refer to the ‘forme fixe rondeau; a type of poetic and chanson form extant to France in the late 13th through 15th centuries. It originally developed as monophonic music (in the 13th century) and then as polyphonic music (in the 14th century). It disappeared from the repertoire by the beginning of the 16th century. Along with the formes fixes ballade and virelai, the forme fixe rondeau was limited to only vocal music due to its use within the specific context of French language poetry.

Roots reggae

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

History#

The increasing influence of the Rastafari movement after the visit of Haile Selassie to Jamaica in 1966 played a major part in the development of roots reggae, with spiritual themes becoming more common in reggae lyrics in the late 1960s. The Wailers’ popularity in Europe opened the door for other artists, and roots reggae artists became popular with punk rock fans. While roots reggae was largely overtaken in popularity in Jamaica by dancehall, several artists from the original era, such as Culture, Burning Spear, and Israel Vibration continued to produce roots reggae, and artists like Beres Hammond and Freddie McGregor continued the use of roots reggae, as a musical style and thematically, through the 1980s. In the 1990s younger Jamaican artists became interested in the Rastafari movement and began incorporating roots themes into their music. Most notable among the new generation of “conscious” artists was Garnett Silk, whose positive spiritual message and consistent use of roots and rocksteady riddims gave him cross generational appeal with Caribbean audiences. While other notable dancehall stars like Capleton and Buju Banton became devout Rastas and changed their musical direction as a result. Other modern roots artists and bands also emerged at this time, including Luciano, Junior Kelly, Morgan Heritage, Anthony B, and Sizzla.

Roots revival

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

History#

The British folk revival was an academic movement to transcribe and record traditional British songs during the late 19th and early 20th century. Pioneers of this movement were the Harvard professor Francis James Child (1825–96), compiler of The English and Scottish Popular Ballads (1882–92), Sabine Baring-Gould (1834–1924), Frank Kidson (1855–1926), Lucy Broadwood (1858–1939), and Anne Gilchrist (1863–1954). The Folk Song Society was founded in 1898 to promote this new endeavour. A major figure in this movement was Cecil Sharp who was the most influential on the repertoire of subsequent performers and defining the nature of folk song. His lectures and other publications attempted to define a musical tradition that was rural in origin, oral in transmission and communal in nature. The American folk music revival, which focused on culture and entertainment, began in the 1930s and 1940s. During the Great Depression, folk music styles were disseminated around the country, as Delta blues, Latino and Cajun musicians, and itinerant honky tonk singers spread to cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City. The growth of the music industry in the same period was also important; higher potential profits from music placed pressure on artists, songwriters, and label executives to replicate previous hit songs. This meant that musical fads, such as Hawaiian slack-key guitar, never died out completely, since a broad range of rhythms, instruments, and vocal stylings were incorporated into disparate popular genres. The movement became global in the 1960s and 1970s. In most cases, the folk songs being revived were not quite extinct, though some had not been played for years or were moribund; such cases include the Celtic songs of Cornwall and the Isle of Man, for example. In other cases, such as Cameroon and the Dominican Republic, no revival was necessary as the music remained common, and was merely popularized and adapted for mainstream audiences at home and abroad.

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.

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Rock Against Communism

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Rock and roll revival

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Rock kapak

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

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

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

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Beat, pop, psychedelia (1960s)#