Post by Imorta Thaw on Nov 12, 2008 10:03:10 GMT -8
A speach on 1960's music....
POP AND ROCK MUSIC STYLES
1960s Influence
By the end of the 1960s rock and pop music reflected the explosive change and growth that was happening in society at large. Bands and musicians as diverse as the Kinks, Jim Morrison, and John Fogerty were pushing the boundaries of the music, creating new forms ("rock operas" and concept or theme albums), and marrying music to fashion and image to an unprecedented degree. Meanwhile, an increasingly pervasive media was covering the younger generation as never before—their tastes, their fads, their political opinions. Talented guitarists such as Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton were hailed as gods, while black-or blues-inspired vocalists such as Janis Joplin and Mick Jagger lent credibility to rock singing. Innovation in the studio (the Beatles) and scorching pyrotechnics onstage (the Who) combined to give rock the new aura of art. And the soaring popularity of soul, rhythm and blues, and jazz styles among white and black audiences made color seem both empowering ("Black is beautiful") and irrelevant, as millions turned on to the sounds of Motown artists, Sly Stone, and Aretha Franklin. Rock music reached a zenith of creativity, influence, and range even as it united youthful audiences with its social, political, and cultural relevance.
The softest, sweetest, and most successful balladeers of all were the Carpenters, who in the early 1970s sold millions of wholesome, smiley, squeaky-clean pop records. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.The softest, sweetest, and most successful balladeers of all were the Carpenters, who in the early 1970s sold millions of wholesome, smiley, squeaky-clean pop records. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.
What Happened?
As the 1960s became the 1970s, the sense of cultural unity built around rock music began to erode. Like artists and writers of the period, musicians felt that the limits had been reached, that the universalhigh was over. The Beatles broke up, then in succession Hendrix, Joplin, and Morrison died. Millions of young Americans, disappointed by the failure of social revolution and their own Utopian ideals, turned inward to more personal goals. This new era of self-importance (and self-indulgence) was labeled the me decade by Tom Wolfe and "The Culture of Narcissism" by Christopher Lasch. The rock audience fragmented into smaller groups, each preferring its own favorite sound and style—soul versus hard rock, radio pop versus reggae, funk versus southern boogie, jazz rock versus singer-songwriters. In some cases such diversity made for exciting new music; more often, though, the new rock music sounded stale, homogenized, and largely interchangeable. Rock music made more money than ever in the 1970s, but it failed to seize the public imagination through blockbuster albums, corporate-sponsored tours, and progressive radio formats. By middecade it had never sounded more tired.
Album Rock
The burgeoning sense of rock as an art form in the late 1960s left its mark on rock in the 1970s: the album, not the single, was the new yardstick of serious rock. Although many artists contributed pompous, long-winded concept albums during the decade, many classics were produced. British bands such as the Who and the Rolling Stones were at the forefront of album rock in the early 1970s, the Who issuing Who's Next (1971) and the double set Quadrophenia (1973) and the Stones releasing Sticky Fingers (1971) and their double album Exile on Main Street (1972). Bob Dylan, meandering through most of his records since 1966, came back in 1974 with Blood on the Tracks. Led Zeppelin's untitled 1971 release (often called "ZoSo") is considered among their best recordings, while Aerosmith's Toys in the Attic (1975) is a prime example of hard rock. Pink Floyd'sDark Side of the Moon (1973) proved so definitive a statement that it remained on the charts for fifteen years. The year 1970 produced several lasting albums, including Rod Stewart's Every Picture Tells a Story, Van Morrison's Moondance, Creedence Clearwater Revival's Cosmos Factory, and Velvet Underground's Loaded. David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust (1972) epitomized glam (glamour) rock. Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run and Patti Smith's Horses (both 1975) turned out to be highly influential, as did the debut albums The Ramones [ramones] (1976) and The Clash (1977). Reggae produced an enduring soundtrack in The Harder They Come (1973), as soul did in Superfly (1972). Other soul classics were Marvin Gaye's What's Goin On and Sly Stone's possible answer There's a Riot Goin On (both 1971).
Singer-Songwriters
The singer-songwriters were an offshoot of the hippie sensibility of the late 1960s. Folksingers such as Joan Baez and Judy Collins, who used music for political and social protest or enlightenment, gradually gave way to singers with more personal agendas. Joni Mitchell made the transition, as did Neil Young and Paul Simon when they left successful groups (Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young; Simon and Garfunkel) to become solo acts. Their writing began to express emotions of frustration, confusion, and loss that were tempered by a sense of irony and humor. The style of most singer-songwriters was highly confessional, which could be both refreshingly candid and irritatingly self-indulgent. Randy Newman contributed straight-faced satires. Leonard Cohen tackled romance with wit and sophistication. Van Morrison howled through the depths of loneliness. Dylan reemerged singing about uneasy commitments. Women had huge success, particularly in the early 1970s, as singers of their own material. Carole King's Tapestry(1970), an album of upbeat but cynical folk pop, sold in the millions. Carly Simon ("That's the Way IVe Always Heard It Should Be," "You're So Vain") and Janis Ian ("At Seventeen") recorded classic feminist songs, and Phoebe Snow and Joan Armatrading added a black woman's point of view. As the music moved further from folk, individual personalities emerged. Cat Stevens tried political pop, while Al Stewart engaged in wistful wishing. Jim Croce, Harry Chapin, and Billy Joel stuck to storytelling. Jackson Browne and Warren Zevon waxed poetic about love. And Springsteen just wanted to rock.
Progressive Rock
Also called art rock, progressive was a style rooted in England, where a sense of history and class distinction made popular the influence of classical sources on rock music. Borrowing motifs from classical composers and imagery from myths, legends, and poetry, British bands such as Emerson, Lake, and Palmer; the Moody Blues; King Crimson; Yes; and Genesis displayed their technical virtuosity in ambitious songs and dense albums. During the decade almost every band dabbled in progressive rock at some point, from Deep Purple to Jethro Tuli. Led Zeppelin made constant use of mystic imagery in their songs (from "Ramble On" to "Kashmir"), and the spacey, otherworldly sound perfected by Pink Floyd on Dark Side of the Moon was progressive rock at its most popular. The style, with its heavy use of synthesizers, was close in spirit to the "head" music popularized by late 1960s San Francisco bands such as the Jefferson Airplane. Later progressive-oriented British bands included Queen, ELO, Supertramp, and the Alan Parsons Project, while the American wave was headed by Kansas, Styx, and Boston.
Heavy Metal
Heavy metal was a style typified by aggressive guitar riffs played at a generally loud volume and high speed. Metal songs featured strong sexual over-tones and sometimes violent imagery. However dark or decadent the subject matter, there was a wild, celebratory energy to the best hard rock that made it ideal for teenagers who loved to play "air guitar" (or "air drums," for that matter). Like progressive rock, heavy metal was an out-growth of the psychedelic rock that flourished in the late 1960s, particularly that produced by British bands such as the Rolling Stones and Cream. Rather than inflate the music with arty frills, however, heavy metal bands tried to strip it down to its raw basics. Deep Purple, Ted Nugent, AC/DC, Uriah Heep, Montrose, Jethro Tuli, and Thin Lizzy were among the leading exemplars of the style. Some metal artists, most notably Alice Cooper, Kiss, and Black Sabbath, used stage theatrics and dark and violent images to paint themselves as modern Lucifers. Aero-smith, though originally accused of being a Rolling Stones ripoff, helped define the florid fashion (leather, headbands, scarves) later associated with heavy metal. Led Zeppelin tempered the grungy sound of metal with strong blues shadings, Jimmy Page's innovative guitar solos, and lead singer Robert Plant's macho swagger and plaintive vocals. By the time of their fourth studio album, with its FM hit "Stairway to Heaven," Zeppelin had established themselves as the biggest and most innovative heavy metal band of the 1970s. Later in the decade, Los Angeles rockers Van Halen adopted a tongue-in-cheek, almost self-parodied style of macho rock they continued to popularize in the 1980s.
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"JESUS" ROCK
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"JESUS" ROCK
Even as heavy metal flirted with Satan in the 1970s, pop music was being touched by God. George Harrison was the first to knock on heaven's door when he released "My Sweet Lord" in 1970. The following year, the Canadian group Ocean ascended the charts with "Put Your Hand in the Hand (of the Man from Galilee)." Two 1971 Broadway musicals were based on Jesus parables—Godspeil and Jesus Christ Superstar—and each produced a hit. "Day by Day" arose from Godspeil, while Yvonne Elliman and Helen Reddy both confessed, "I Don't Know How to Love Him." Other holy hits during the early 1970s included the movie theme "One Tin Soldier" (from Billy Jack) and the Doobie Brothers' eulogy "Jesus Is Just Alright." Apollo 100 turned a traditional hymn into a pop instrumental with "Joy," and Sister Janet Mead made a hit out of "Lord's Prayer." Such songs were close kin to the peace, love, and ecology anthems of the time ("Give Peace a Chance," "Mercy Mercy Me," "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing"). As the me decade progressed, however, the public seemed more attuned to Judas Priest than Jesus Christ, and religious rock faded. But in 1977 Debby Boone single-handedly revived the trend when she claimed that she sang her Grammy-winning megahit "You Light Up My Life," the longest-running number one single of the decade, directly to God.
Source:
Joel Whitburn, The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits (New York; Billboard Publications, 1985).
Anthem Rock
Not as hard as the metal bands were the purveyors of "anthem" rock, which promoted a partying, AM-radio kind of rebellion. Everyone from Aero-smith ("Dream On") to Queen ("Bohemian Rhapsody") to Slade ("Mama Weer All Crazee Now") contributed to the fist clenching and banner waving. Alice Cooper was represented with his teen anthems "Eighteen" and "School's Out." Brownsville Station celebrated "Smokin' in the Boys' Room," Sweet promised and delivered "Action," and Gary Glitter contributed the cheerfully moronic "Rock and Roll Part 2." The bands most representative of this distinctly teenage subgroup were Grand Funk Railroad, Bachman Turner Overdrive (BTO), theGuess Who, and Three Dog Night. All of them generally dabbled in hard rock, but their sensibilities were less aggressive. Grand Funk Railroad's anthem was "We're an American Band." The Guess Who's trademark was the 1970 hit "American Woman." One of its original members, Randy Bachman, left soon after to form BTO, whose anthems included "You Ain't Seen Nothin Yet" and "Takin' Care of Business." Three Dog Night had a stranger repetoire, running from social commentary to Joe Cockerish pop. Their signature songs, however, were the antiparty anthem "Mama Told Me Not to Come" and the sublimely silly "Joy to the World." A few more sophisticated entries into the form included the MC5 ("High School") and Britain's Mott the Hoople.
Glam Rock
Less a style of music than a fashion, glam rock (also known as glitter rock) was a short-lived movement that spotlighted a growing number of artists who specialized in rock as theater. Though shock-rock artists such as Alice Cooper and Kiss shared some of glam's exhibitionist tendencies, most of the inspiration came, again, from England. In the late 1960s Marc Bolan and T-Rex mixed their decadent pop sound with glamorous costuming that flirted with androgyny. Picking up on their theatricality, Mott the Hoople pushed it further by adding drag touches to their image. Their biggest hit was "All the Young Dudes," which became an underground anthem in the gay community. The song was written by David Bowie, who exploded onto the rock scene with a series of arty albums and expensive tours in which he assumed the persona of a pop space alien, Ziggy Stardust, complete with makeup, an orange shag haircut, and glittery costumes. Bowie's gender-bending pushed the limits of camp and of rock theatricality. Artistically, his chameleon posturing allowed him to explore the possibilities of rock as pure image. Elton John adopted some of Bowie's androgynous and bisexual posing but went on to create his own style of costumed camp that was far less decadent. John's romantic sensibility and slick, unfailing musical instinct created a highly infectious and undeniably catchy brand of pop. By the mid 1970s he was rock's biggest superstar, pounding his piano in outrageous getups, selling out stadiums, and ruling the radio. English compatriots Queen, ELO, and Slade also made the charts with glam-rock anthems. In the rock underground, meanwhile, Roxy Music's Brian Eno (who later produced albums for Bowie) played with glamour-boy artifice, while Lou Reed and Iggy Pop (both on albums produced by Bowie) flirted with the darker sides of glitter's bisexuality. The New York Dolls slapped a campy drag look over their sly and street-tough rock 'n' roll, inspiring Kiss and the entire punk rock generation to form fast and loud bands.
Southern Rock
Like heavy metal, southern rock attempted a return to basics. Boogie bands, as they were also called, promoted themselves as cheerfully crude hell-raisers and good old boys, the inheritors of the Confederacy. Their music had roots in country and western and rhythm and blues styles but added the heavy guitar sound of hard rock. Common lyrical themes included whiskey, guns, and women. The pioneers of southern rock were the Allman Brothers, who broke through with a live album featuring Duane Allman's snaky slide guitar. Allman's death in 1971 altered the band's direction, but there were a host of successors, including the Charlie Daniels Band, the Marshall Tucker Band, the Outlaws, Molly Hatchet, Johnny and Edgar Winter, .38 Special, and Black Oak Arkansas. Lynyrd Skynyrd was probably the most prominent of all, thanks to scorching live performances and a series of radio hits like "Gimme Three Steps" and "Freebird." Then, in 1977 lead singer Ronnie Van Zant and three of the band's guitarists were killed in a plane crash, and the southern rock rebellion began to wane.
Jazz Rock
By the late 1960s groups such as Chicago; Santana; Billy Preston; and Blood, Sweat and Tears were commonly incorporating jazz sounds into their pop recordings. But a new group of innovators expanded jazz into the rock arena. Miles Davis added rock instrumentais and electronic keyboards to his early 1970s records. The Mahavishnu Orchestra mixed well-rehearsed melodies and harmonies with more traditional jazz stylings. Chick Corea adopted a lyric West Coast sound, and Herbie Hancock experimented first with electronic, then with rock, fusion. Weather Report relied on an improvisational sound. Later in the decade, artists such as Spyro Gyra, Chuck Mangione, George Benson, Jeff Lorber Fusion, the Crusaders, and Steely Dan added a distinct pop aura to the music, which set off a wave of popularity but diluted its influences. As popsters BillyJoel and Gerry Rafferty dabbled in the hybrid sound it ceased to be jazz or rock altogether.
Corporate Rock
Many of the creators of progressive, glitter, heavy metal, and southern rock became superstar acts, mounting gargantuan live tours, releasing mammoth concept albums and double albums, and mass marketing promotional items such as T-shirts, tour jackets, and posters. The imagery of 1970s rock—from pyramids and holograms to sci-fi and fantasy landscapes to skulls and Satan—proved easy to sell, especially to teenagers. This gave rise for the first time to the idea of rock as a largely corporate product rather than a movement or an art form. As the decade progressed and bands were distinguished as much by their logos as by their music, an army of groups with interchangeable names seemed to invade the market: Foghat, Styx, Triumph, Foreigner, Toto, Nazareth, Boston, Kansas, Journey. The ultimate in promoted rock came with the release of Peter Frampton's live double album Frampton Comes Alive!, which sold four million copies and introduced America to the blockbuster album. A host of other multimillion sellers soon followed.
California Rock
Fleetwood Mac soon topped Frampton's record sales with their multiplatinum Rumours (1977), the first album ever to produce four Top 10 singles. Fleetwood Mac exemplified the "California sound" of the 1970s, mixing soft, artful ballads with harder-edged rockers. The Eagles' trademark, on records such as Hotel California (1976) and The Long Run, was decidedly mellow, a kind of burnt-out, spaced-out rock tinged with country and blues. Led by Don Henley, Glenn Frey, and Joe Walsh, the Eagles became one of the most successful bands of the decade. Another West Coast artist, pop crooner Linda Ronstadt, also favoredblues and country sounds in songs like "Blue Bayou." The slick, highly commercial production on Ronstadt's albums contributed to her huge success. San Francisco rocker Steve Miller had a long streak of twangy journeyman hits in the 1970s, and Los Angeles singer-songwriter Jackson Browne hit the charts as well with his smooth, uneventful pop rock. Other immensely popular California acts included Loggins and Messina and the Doobie Brothers, whose boogie style on hits like "Black Water" owed something to the southern rock sound. The best of the California rockers was Steely Dan, whose jazz-based sound produced several influential albums and singles in the early 1970s.
Top 40 Pop
All the California rockers scored big on the pop charts throughout the 1970s. The United States, it seemed, wanted to mellow out after the violence of Vietnam and the letdowns of the recession and Watergate. Besides Ronstadt (and Fleetwood Mac superstar Stevie Nicks), the biggest female vocalists of the decade were Barbra Streisand, Diana Ross, Helen Reddy, Anne Murray, Carly Simon, Roberta Flack, and Olivia Newton-John, all of whom specialized in laid-back ballads. It was no different for male vocalists: James Taylor, Neil Sedaka, Barry Manilow, John Denver, Leo Sayer, and Harry Chapin all topped the charts regularly with easy-listening material. The softest, sweetest, and most successful balladeers of all were the Carpenters, who in the early 1970s sold millions of wholesome, smiley, squeaky-clean pop records.
Television Pop
Almost as pure were the Osmonds, five brothers promoted as the "white Jackson Five" but actually closer in spirit to the Cowsills or the Archies. Originally popularized on The Andy Williams Show in thelate 1960s, the Osmonds had amazing success with their bubblegum hits. The Partridge Family, though equally successful, was not even a real group: only television mom Shirley Jones and real-life stepson David Cassidy sang on their records. David's stepbrother Shaun Cassidy had some success on the charts later in the decade with his wholesome cover versions of old pop songs (and on television's Hardy Boys series). Completing the group of "TV pop" were Tony Orlando and Dawn and the Captain and Tennille, joining Sonny and Cher as Top 40 acts given their own weekly variety series. By middecade themes from television series were regularly making the pop charts, including the themes from Welcome Back, Kotier; SWAT; Charlies Angels; and Happy Days. Mean-while, an independent record distributor found that heavy television advertising could pump new life into the previous year's Top 40 hits. K-Tel International's pop collections, which crammed as many as twelve songs on a side, sold in the millions.
No Heroes
Rock 'n' roll purists, numbed by the banality and pomposity of American rock and pop in the 1970s, searched constantly for signs of hope that the music would rebound. After the Beatles broke up many looked to the solo careers of the former members for inspiration but were generally disappointed. John Lennon released several strong albums, then retreated. George Harrison dabbled in mystical pop rock, and Ringo Starr, despite some Top 40 success, was not vital on his own. The most successful was Paul McCartney, but his efforts with Wings were increasingly mainstream. Other fans looked to the Rolling Stones to carry the rock 'n' roll torch, and they responded with excellent new material until they began to drift into self-indulgence in the mid 1970s. Meanwhile, the search went on for new Janis Joplins, new Jim Morrisons, new Jimi Hendrixes, new Bob Dylans. Early in the decade Rod Stewart showed promise as a raucous, Joplin-style vocalist, but by middecade he faded into commercial pop. Eric Clapton was embraced by guitar fans for his technical abilities, but he was hardly a showman. After the breakup of Creedence Clearwater Revival, fans looked forward to John Fogerty's solo career, but it barely materialized. Neil Young's bitter, honest songwriting and unusual singing earned a large cult following but little more. Van Morrison likewise never broke from his own deeply personal cycle of work, despite his sharp talent. Frank Zappa, whose arty, satiric decadence defied categorization, was worshiped by only a small contingent. Dylan himself surprised the rock world with two excellent comeback albums, then meandered off again. For many cult fans, including rock journalists, Springsteen's arrival in 1973 was transcendent. With his marathon live shows of energetic rock and vivid narrative songs (especially on his album Born to Run), Springsteen was hailed in the press as the future of rock 'n' roll in 1975. But despite the hype the public was apathetic. The breakup of the Beatles and the 1977 death of Elvis Presley only heightened a sad idea for rock purists. Apparently a single band or hero could no longer ignite—or unite—the pop music world.
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MAJOR GRAMMY AWARD WINNERS, 1977
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MAJOR GRAMMY AWARD WINNERS, 1977
(presented 23 February 1978)
Pop and Rock Music Styles
Record of the Year Hotel California) The
Eagles
Song of the Year "Love Theme from A
Star Is Born
(Evergreen)," Barbra
Streisand, and "You
Light Up My life,"
Deoby Boone
Album of the Year Rumours, Fleetwood Mac
Pop Vocalist, Female Barbra Streisand
Pop Vocalist, Male James Taylor
New Artist Debby Boone
Comedy Performance Steve Martin, Let's Get
Small
Movie Soundtrack John Williams, Star Wars
Source:
Norm N. Nite, Rock On Almanac: The First Four Decades of Rock n Roll (New York Harper & Row, 1989).
Sources:
Greil Marcus, Stranded: Rock and Roll for a Desert Island (New York: Knopf, 1979);
Jim Miller, ed., The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll (New York: Random House, 1980);
David P. Szatmary, Rockin in Time: A Social History of Rock and Roll (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1987).
Source Citation: "Pop and Rock Music Styles." American Decades. Ed. Vincent Tompkins. Vol. 8: 1970-1979. Detroit: Gale, 2001. 10 vols. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Gale. Las Lomas High School. 12 Nov. 2008
<http://find.galegroup.com/gvrl/infomark.do?&contentSet=EBKS&type=retrieve&tabID=T001&prodId=GVRL&docId=CX3468302575&source=gale&userGroupName=waln177103&version=1.0>.
How to Cite
Gale Document Number: CX3468302575
POP AND ROCK MUSIC STYLES
1960s Influence
By the end of the 1960s rock and pop music reflected the explosive change and growth that was happening in society at large. Bands and musicians as diverse as the Kinks, Jim Morrison, and John Fogerty were pushing the boundaries of the music, creating new forms ("rock operas" and concept or theme albums), and marrying music to fashion and image to an unprecedented degree. Meanwhile, an increasingly pervasive media was covering the younger generation as never before—their tastes, their fads, their political opinions. Talented guitarists such as Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton were hailed as gods, while black-or blues-inspired vocalists such as Janis Joplin and Mick Jagger lent credibility to rock singing. Innovation in the studio (the Beatles) and scorching pyrotechnics onstage (the Who) combined to give rock the new aura of art. And the soaring popularity of soul, rhythm and blues, and jazz styles among white and black audiences made color seem both empowering ("Black is beautiful") and irrelevant, as millions turned on to the sounds of Motown artists, Sly Stone, and Aretha Franklin. Rock music reached a zenith of creativity, influence, and range even as it united youthful audiences with its social, political, and cultural relevance.
The softest, sweetest, and most successful balladeers of all were the Carpenters, who in the early 1970s sold millions of wholesome, smiley, squeaky-clean pop records. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.The softest, sweetest, and most successful balladeers of all were the Carpenters, who in the early 1970s sold millions of wholesome, smiley, squeaky-clean pop records. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.
What Happened?
As the 1960s became the 1970s, the sense of cultural unity built around rock music began to erode. Like artists and writers of the period, musicians felt that the limits had been reached, that the universalhigh was over. The Beatles broke up, then in succession Hendrix, Joplin, and Morrison died. Millions of young Americans, disappointed by the failure of social revolution and their own Utopian ideals, turned inward to more personal goals. This new era of self-importance (and self-indulgence) was labeled the me decade by Tom Wolfe and "The Culture of Narcissism" by Christopher Lasch. The rock audience fragmented into smaller groups, each preferring its own favorite sound and style—soul versus hard rock, radio pop versus reggae, funk versus southern boogie, jazz rock versus singer-songwriters. In some cases such diversity made for exciting new music; more often, though, the new rock music sounded stale, homogenized, and largely interchangeable. Rock music made more money than ever in the 1970s, but it failed to seize the public imagination through blockbuster albums, corporate-sponsored tours, and progressive radio formats. By middecade it had never sounded more tired.
Album Rock
The burgeoning sense of rock as an art form in the late 1960s left its mark on rock in the 1970s: the album, not the single, was the new yardstick of serious rock. Although many artists contributed pompous, long-winded concept albums during the decade, many classics were produced. British bands such as the Who and the Rolling Stones were at the forefront of album rock in the early 1970s, the Who issuing Who's Next (1971) and the double set Quadrophenia (1973) and the Stones releasing Sticky Fingers (1971) and their double album Exile on Main Street (1972). Bob Dylan, meandering through most of his records since 1966, came back in 1974 with Blood on the Tracks. Led Zeppelin's untitled 1971 release (often called "ZoSo") is considered among their best recordings, while Aerosmith's Toys in the Attic (1975) is a prime example of hard rock. Pink Floyd'sDark Side of the Moon (1973) proved so definitive a statement that it remained on the charts for fifteen years. The year 1970 produced several lasting albums, including Rod Stewart's Every Picture Tells a Story, Van Morrison's Moondance, Creedence Clearwater Revival's Cosmos Factory, and Velvet Underground's Loaded. David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust (1972) epitomized glam (glamour) rock. Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run and Patti Smith's Horses (both 1975) turned out to be highly influential, as did the debut albums The Ramones [ramones] (1976) and The Clash (1977). Reggae produced an enduring soundtrack in The Harder They Come (1973), as soul did in Superfly (1972). Other soul classics were Marvin Gaye's What's Goin On and Sly Stone's possible answer There's a Riot Goin On (both 1971).
Singer-Songwriters
The singer-songwriters were an offshoot of the hippie sensibility of the late 1960s. Folksingers such as Joan Baez and Judy Collins, who used music for political and social protest or enlightenment, gradually gave way to singers with more personal agendas. Joni Mitchell made the transition, as did Neil Young and Paul Simon when they left successful groups (Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young; Simon and Garfunkel) to become solo acts. Their writing began to express emotions of frustration, confusion, and loss that were tempered by a sense of irony and humor. The style of most singer-songwriters was highly confessional, which could be both refreshingly candid and irritatingly self-indulgent. Randy Newman contributed straight-faced satires. Leonard Cohen tackled romance with wit and sophistication. Van Morrison howled through the depths of loneliness. Dylan reemerged singing about uneasy commitments. Women had huge success, particularly in the early 1970s, as singers of their own material. Carole King's Tapestry(1970), an album of upbeat but cynical folk pop, sold in the millions. Carly Simon ("That's the Way IVe Always Heard It Should Be," "You're So Vain") and Janis Ian ("At Seventeen") recorded classic feminist songs, and Phoebe Snow and Joan Armatrading added a black woman's point of view. As the music moved further from folk, individual personalities emerged. Cat Stevens tried political pop, while Al Stewart engaged in wistful wishing. Jim Croce, Harry Chapin, and Billy Joel stuck to storytelling. Jackson Browne and Warren Zevon waxed poetic about love. And Springsteen just wanted to rock.
Progressive Rock
Also called art rock, progressive was a style rooted in England, where a sense of history and class distinction made popular the influence of classical sources on rock music. Borrowing motifs from classical composers and imagery from myths, legends, and poetry, British bands such as Emerson, Lake, and Palmer; the Moody Blues; King Crimson; Yes; and Genesis displayed their technical virtuosity in ambitious songs and dense albums. During the decade almost every band dabbled in progressive rock at some point, from Deep Purple to Jethro Tuli. Led Zeppelin made constant use of mystic imagery in their songs (from "Ramble On" to "Kashmir"), and the spacey, otherworldly sound perfected by Pink Floyd on Dark Side of the Moon was progressive rock at its most popular. The style, with its heavy use of synthesizers, was close in spirit to the "head" music popularized by late 1960s San Francisco bands such as the Jefferson Airplane. Later progressive-oriented British bands included Queen, ELO, Supertramp, and the Alan Parsons Project, while the American wave was headed by Kansas, Styx, and Boston.
Heavy Metal
Heavy metal was a style typified by aggressive guitar riffs played at a generally loud volume and high speed. Metal songs featured strong sexual over-tones and sometimes violent imagery. However dark or decadent the subject matter, there was a wild, celebratory energy to the best hard rock that made it ideal for teenagers who loved to play "air guitar" (or "air drums," for that matter). Like progressive rock, heavy metal was an out-growth of the psychedelic rock that flourished in the late 1960s, particularly that produced by British bands such as the Rolling Stones and Cream. Rather than inflate the music with arty frills, however, heavy metal bands tried to strip it down to its raw basics. Deep Purple, Ted Nugent, AC/DC, Uriah Heep, Montrose, Jethro Tuli, and Thin Lizzy were among the leading exemplars of the style. Some metal artists, most notably Alice Cooper, Kiss, and Black Sabbath, used stage theatrics and dark and violent images to paint themselves as modern Lucifers. Aero-smith, though originally accused of being a Rolling Stones ripoff, helped define the florid fashion (leather, headbands, scarves) later associated with heavy metal. Led Zeppelin tempered the grungy sound of metal with strong blues shadings, Jimmy Page's innovative guitar solos, and lead singer Robert Plant's macho swagger and plaintive vocals. By the time of their fourth studio album, with its FM hit "Stairway to Heaven," Zeppelin had established themselves as the biggest and most innovative heavy metal band of the 1970s. Later in the decade, Los Angeles rockers Van Halen adopted a tongue-in-cheek, almost self-parodied style of macho rock they continued to popularize in the 1980s.
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"JESUS" ROCK
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"JESUS" ROCK
Even as heavy metal flirted with Satan in the 1970s, pop music was being touched by God. George Harrison was the first to knock on heaven's door when he released "My Sweet Lord" in 1970. The following year, the Canadian group Ocean ascended the charts with "Put Your Hand in the Hand (of the Man from Galilee)." Two 1971 Broadway musicals were based on Jesus parables—Godspeil and Jesus Christ Superstar—and each produced a hit. "Day by Day" arose from Godspeil, while Yvonne Elliman and Helen Reddy both confessed, "I Don't Know How to Love Him." Other holy hits during the early 1970s included the movie theme "One Tin Soldier" (from Billy Jack) and the Doobie Brothers' eulogy "Jesus Is Just Alright." Apollo 100 turned a traditional hymn into a pop instrumental with "Joy," and Sister Janet Mead made a hit out of "Lord's Prayer." Such songs were close kin to the peace, love, and ecology anthems of the time ("Give Peace a Chance," "Mercy Mercy Me," "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing"). As the me decade progressed, however, the public seemed more attuned to Judas Priest than Jesus Christ, and religious rock faded. But in 1977 Debby Boone single-handedly revived the trend when she claimed that she sang her Grammy-winning megahit "You Light Up My Life," the longest-running number one single of the decade, directly to God.
Source:
Joel Whitburn, The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits (New York; Billboard Publications, 1985).
Anthem Rock
Not as hard as the metal bands were the purveyors of "anthem" rock, which promoted a partying, AM-radio kind of rebellion. Everyone from Aero-smith ("Dream On") to Queen ("Bohemian Rhapsody") to Slade ("Mama Weer All Crazee Now") contributed to the fist clenching and banner waving. Alice Cooper was represented with his teen anthems "Eighteen" and "School's Out." Brownsville Station celebrated "Smokin' in the Boys' Room," Sweet promised and delivered "Action," and Gary Glitter contributed the cheerfully moronic "Rock and Roll Part 2." The bands most representative of this distinctly teenage subgroup were Grand Funk Railroad, Bachman Turner Overdrive (BTO), theGuess Who, and Three Dog Night. All of them generally dabbled in hard rock, but their sensibilities were less aggressive. Grand Funk Railroad's anthem was "We're an American Band." The Guess Who's trademark was the 1970 hit "American Woman." One of its original members, Randy Bachman, left soon after to form BTO, whose anthems included "You Ain't Seen Nothin Yet" and "Takin' Care of Business." Three Dog Night had a stranger repetoire, running from social commentary to Joe Cockerish pop. Their signature songs, however, were the antiparty anthem "Mama Told Me Not to Come" and the sublimely silly "Joy to the World." A few more sophisticated entries into the form included the MC5 ("High School") and Britain's Mott the Hoople.
Glam Rock
Less a style of music than a fashion, glam rock (also known as glitter rock) was a short-lived movement that spotlighted a growing number of artists who specialized in rock as theater. Though shock-rock artists such as Alice Cooper and Kiss shared some of glam's exhibitionist tendencies, most of the inspiration came, again, from England. In the late 1960s Marc Bolan and T-Rex mixed their decadent pop sound with glamorous costuming that flirted with androgyny. Picking up on their theatricality, Mott the Hoople pushed it further by adding drag touches to their image. Their biggest hit was "All the Young Dudes," which became an underground anthem in the gay community. The song was written by David Bowie, who exploded onto the rock scene with a series of arty albums and expensive tours in which he assumed the persona of a pop space alien, Ziggy Stardust, complete with makeup, an orange shag haircut, and glittery costumes. Bowie's gender-bending pushed the limits of camp and of rock theatricality. Artistically, his chameleon posturing allowed him to explore the possibilities of rock as pure image. Elton John adopted some of Bowie's androgynous and bisexual posing but went on to create his own style of costumed camp that was far less decadent. John's romantic sensibility and slick, unfailing musical instinct created a highly infectious and undeniably catchy brand of pop. By the mid 1970s he was rock's biggest superstar, pounding his piano in outrageous getups, selling out stadiums, and ruling the radio. English compatriots Queen, ELO, and Slade also made the charts with glam-rock anthems. In the rock underground, meanwhile, Roxy Music's Brian Eno (who later produced albums for Bowie) played with glamour-boy artifice, while Lou Reed and Iggy Pop (both on albums produced by Bowie) flirted with the darker sides of glitter's bisexuality. The New York Dolls slapped a campy drag look over their sly and street-tough rock 'n' roll, inspiring Kiss and the entire punk rock generation to form fast and loud bands.
Southern Rock
Like heavy metal, southern rock attempted a return to basics. Boogie bands, as they were also called, promoted themselves as cheerfully crude hell-raisers and good old boys, the inheritors of the Confederacy. Their music had roots in country and western and rhythm and blues styles but added the heavy guitar sound of hard rock. Common lyrical themes included whiskey, guns, and women. The pioneers of southern rock were the Allman Brothers, who broke through with a live album featuring Duane Allman's snaky slide guitar. Allman's death in 1971 altered the band's direction, but there were a host of successors, including the Charlie Daniels Band, the Marshall Tucker Band, the Outlaws, Molly Hatchet, Johnny and Edgar Winter, .38 Special, and Black Oak Arkansas. Lynyrd Skynyrd was probably the most prominent of all, thanks to scorching live performances and a series of radio hits like "Gimme Three Steps" and "Freebird." Then, in 1977 lead singer Ronnie Van Zant and three of the band's guitarists were killed in a plane crash, and the southern rock rebellion began to wane.
Jazz Rock
By the late 1960s groups such as Chicago; Santana; Billy Preston; and Blood, Sweat and Tears were commonly incorporating jazz sounds into their pop recordings. But a new group of innovators expanded jazz into the rock arena. Miles Davis added rock instrumentais and electronic keyboards to his early 1970s records. The Mahavishnu Orchestra mixed well-rehearsed melodies and harmonies with more traditional jazz stylings. Chick Corea adopted a lyric West Coast sound, and Herbie Hancock experimented first with electronic, then with rock, fusion. Weather Report relied on an improvisational sound. Later in the decade, artists such as Spyro Gyra, Chuck Mangione, George Benson, Jeff Lorber Fusion, the Crusaders, and Steely Dan added a distinct pop aura to the music, which set off a wave of popularity but diluted its influences. As popsters BillyJoel and Gerry Rafferty dabbled in the hybrid sound it ceased to be jazz or rock altogether.
Corporate Rock
Many of the creators of progressive, glitter, heavy metal, and southern rock became superstar acts, mounting gargantuan live tours, releasing mammoth concept albums and double albums, and mass marketing promotional items such as T-shirts, tour jackets, and posters. The imagery of 1970s rock—from pyramids and holograms to sci-fi and fantasy landscapes to skulls and Satan—proved easy to sell, especially to teenagers. This gave rise for the first time to the idea of rock as a largely corporate product rather than a movement or an art form. As the decade progressed and bands were distinguished as much by their logos as by their music, an army of groups with interchangeable names seemed to invade the market: Foghat, Styx, Triumph, Foreigner, Toto, Nazareth, Boston, Kansas, Journey. The ultimate in promoted rock came with the release of Peter Frampton's live double album Frampton Comes Alive!, which sold four million copies and introduced America to the blockbuster album. A host of other multimillion sellers soon followed.
California Rock
Fleetwood Mac soon topped Frampton's record sales with their multiplatinum Rumours (1977), the first album ever to produce four Top 10 singles. Fleetwood Mac exemplified the "California sound" of the 1970s, mixing soft, artful ballads with harder-edged rockers. The Eagles' trademark, on records such as Hotel California (1976) and The Long Run, was decidedly mellow, a kind of burnt-out, spaced-out rock tinged with country and blues. Led by Don Henley, Glenn Frey, and Joe Walsh, the Eagles became one of the most successful bands of the decade. Another West Coast artist, pop crooner Linda Ronstadt, also favoredblues and country sounds in songs like "Blue Bayou." The slick, highly commercial production on Ronstadt's albums contributed to her huge success. San Francisco rocker Steve Miller had a long streak of twangy journeyman hits in the 1970s, and Los Angeles singer-songwriter Jackson Browne hit the charts as well with his smooth, uneventful pop rock. Other immensely popular California acts included Loggins and Messina and the Doobie Brothers, whose boogie style on hits like "Black Water" owed something to the southern rock sound. The best of the California rockers was Steely Dan, whose jazz-based sound produced several influential albums and singles in the early 1970s.
Top 40 Pop
All the California rockers scored big on the pop charts throughout the 1970s. The United States, it seemed, wanted to mellow out after the violence of Vietnam and the letdowns of the recession and Watergate. Besides Ronstadt (and Fleetwood Mac superstar Stevie Nicks), the biggest female vocalists of the decade were Barbra Streisand, Diana Ross, Helen Reddy, Anne Murray, Carly Simon, Roberta Flack, and Olivia Newton-John, all of whom specialized in laid-back ballads. It was no different for male vocalists: James Taylor, Neil Sedaka, Barry Manilow, John Denver, Leo Sayer, and Harry Chapin all topped the charts regularly with easy-listening material. The softest, sweetest, and most successful balladeers of all were the Carpenters, who in the early 1970s sold millions of wholesome, smiley, squeaky-clean pop records.
Television Pop
Almost as pure were the Osmonds, five brothers promoted as the "white Jackson Five" but actually closer in spirit to the Cowsills or the Archies. Originally popularized on The Andy Williams Show in thelate 1960s, the Osmonds had amazing success with their bubblegum hits. The Partridge Family, though equally successful, was not even a real group: only television mom Shirley Jones and real-life stepson David Cassidy sang on their records. David's stepbrother Shaun Cassidy had some success on the charts later in the decade with his wholesome cover versions of old pop songs (and on television's Hardy Boys series). Completing the group of "TV pop" were Tony Orlando and Dawn and the Captain and Tennille, joining Sonny and Cher as Top 40 acts given their own weekly variety series. By middecade themes from television series were regularly making the pop charts, including the themes from Welcome Back, Kotier; SWAT; Charlies Angels; and Happy Days. Mean-while, an independent record distributor found that heavy television advertising could pump new life into the previous year's Top 40 hits. K-Tel International's pop collections, which crammed as many as twelve songs on a side, sold in the millions.
No Heroes
Rock 'n' roll purists, numbed by the banality and pomposity of American rock and pop in the 1970s, searched constantly for signs of hope that the music would rebound. After the Beatles broke up many looked to the solo careers of the former members for inspiration but were generally disappointed. John Lennon released several strong albums, then retreated. George Harrison dabbled in mystical pop rock, and Ringo Starr, despite some Top 40 success, was not vital on his own. The most successful was Paul McCartney, but his efforts with Wings were increasingly mainstream. Other fans looked to the Rolling Stones to carry the rock 'n' roll torch, and they responded with excellent new material until they began to drift into self-indulgence in the mid 1970s. Meanwhile, the search went on for new Janis Joplins, new Jim Morrisons, new Jimi Hendrixes, new Bob Dylans. Early in the decade Rod Stewart showed promise as a raucous, Joplin-style vocalist, but by middecade he faded into commercial pop. Eric Clapton was embraced by guitar fans for his technical abilities, but he was hardly a showman. After the breakup of Creedence Clearwater Revival, fans looked forward to John Fogerty's solo career, but it barely materialized. Neil Young's bitter, honest songwriting and unusual singing earned a large cult following but little more. Van Morrison likewise never broke from his own deeply personal cycle of work, despite his sharp talent. Frank Zappa, whose arty, satiric decadence defied categorization, was worshiped by only a small contingent. Dylan himself surprised the rock world with two excellent comeback albums, then meandered off again. For many cult fans, including rock journalists, Springsteen's arrival in 1973 was transcendent. With his marathon live shows of energetic rock and vivid narrative songs (especially on his album Born to Run), Springsteen was hailed in the press as the future of rock 'n' roll in 1975. But despite the hype the public was apathetic. The breakup of the Beatles and the 1977 death of Elvis Presley only heightened a sad idea for rock purists. Apparently a single band or hero could no longer ignite—or unite—the pop music world.
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MAJOR GRAMMY AWARD WINNERS, 1977
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MAJOR GRAMMY AWARD WINNERS, 1977
(presented 23 February 1978)
Pop and Rock Music Styles
Record of the Year Hotel California) The
Eagles
Song of the Year "Love Theme from A
Star Is Born
(Evergreen)," Barbra
Streisand, and "You
Light Up My life,"
Deoby Boone
Album of the Year Rumours, Fleetwood Mac
Pop Vocalist, Female Barbra Streisand
Pop Vocalist, Male James Taylor
New Artist Debby Boone
Comedy Performance Steve Martin, Let's Get
Small
Movie Soundtrack John Williams, Star Wars
Source:
Norm N. Nite, Rock On Almanac: The First Four Decades of Rock n Roll (New York Harper & Row, 1989).
Sources:
Greil Marcus, Stranded: Rock and Roll for a Desert Island (New York: Knopf, 1979);
Jim Miller, ed., The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll (New York: Random House, 1980);
David P. Szatmary, Rockin in Time: A Social History of Rock and Roll (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1987).
Source Citation: "Pop and Rock Music Styles." American Decades. Ed. Vincent Tompkins. Vol. 8: 1970-1979. Detroit: Gale, 2001. 10 vols. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Gale. Las Lomas High School. 12 Nov. 2008
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Gale Document Number: CX3468302575