SOR Test 3
Led Zeppelin
(1969-1980) Combined rock, blues, folk, and psychedelia. First album named Led Zeppelin in 1969, then came out with Led Zeppelin II, and then an untitled 4th album known as Zoso in 1972. Stairway to Heaven opens with acoustic guitars and flutes and as song builds, electric guitars, heavy drums
Progressive Rock
(Art Rock) Not blues based, rock meets classical. Bands primarily from England. Applied psychedelia in more intellectual ways. Lyrics more philosophical, religion and spirituality, existential angst; no romance. Applied concepts found in classical music; complex chord progressions, extended forms. More concept albums; story line through entire record.
Two types of bands that were the London scene
1) Those that enjoyed commercial success such as Beatles and The Rolling Stones and new bands such as Cream and Jimi Hendrix Experience. 2) Underground bands such as Pink Floyd, Soft Machine, and The Crazy World of Arthur Brown.
"Sgt" Peppers' Lonely Hearts Club Band
1st "concept" album, no singles released. elaborate artwork, 1st album to include lyrics on back cover.
Two General Ideas About Music in Mid to Late 1960s
1st said drug experience is primary, enhanced by listening to certain music (Grateful Dead, Pink Floyd). 2nd said music itself is the "trip". musicians' job to create music that acts as a "drug" (Beatles, The Doors). Songs move beyond 2-3 minutes which was standard for AM radio.
Beatles' songs released in early 1967
After the release of Revolver, Beatles stopped touring. Started to get pressure from EMI to release new music. Penny Lane by Paul McCartney used piccolo trumpet, both songs released on album "Magical Mystery Tour. Strawberry Fields Forever by John Lennon, very adventurous sounds, use of Mellotron, spliced music, additional music after song fades out.
Woodstock Music Festival
August 1969, Betherl, NY. 400,000 attended, "Three Days of Peace and Music" Important national debut for Sly and the Family Stone, Crosby Stills and Nash, and Santana
ZZ Top
Blues-rock, power trio from Texas. Guitar and Bass players had trade marked long beards. "Tres Hombres" in 1973. Had greatest commercial success in the 1970s with MTV.
Beatles and Beach Boys Friendly "Rivalry" Continues
Both bands pursue new approaches to music making. Lyrics more serious, different subject matter. Greater time in studio, creating "synthesized" sounds. Different types of instruments used, both acoustic and electronic.
Van Morrison
British singer/songwriter. Alubums "Moondance" and "Tupelo Honey". Very successful.
Cat Stevens
British singer/songwriter. Born Steven Demetre Georgiu. Wrote person, introspective music.
Elton John
British singer/songwriter. He wrote his music, Bernie Taupin wrote lyrics, many very successful albums through the present
The Eagles
California country rock band. Began as Linda Ronstadt's back up band. Known for harmonies. Sang "Take it Easy" and "Desperado"
Joni Mitchell
Canadian Singer/songwriter, one of the most eclectic songwriters; used Jazz musicians on her later records, Help Me in 1974
Neil Yound
Canadian Singer/songwriter. "unique" singing style. Was a member of Buffalo Springfield, along w/ Stephen Stills. "Southern Man" (1970). Song speaks of old south; Lynyrd Skynyrd writer Sweet Home Alabama s rebuttal
Santana
Carlos Santana, guitar and leader. Born in Mexico, grew up in San Francisco. Combined blues-rock, jazz with latin percussion instruments. Evil Ways and Black Magin Woman are first hits. Break out performance at Woodstock
Deep Purple
Combined blues-based rock with classical. Highway Star had classical type organ and guitar solos
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Country Rock Band from San Francisco. Led by singer guitarist John Fogarty. "Bad Moon Rising" in 1969.
Crosby, Stills, and Nash
Country Rock band, w/ and without Young. One of first performances at Woodstock, very close harmonies, combined electric and acoustic instruments. Album "Deja Vu" in 1970 included Neil Young
Altamont Music Festival
December 1969 in California. Grateful Dead and Rolling Stones, was free for fans. Stones hired the He;;s Angels as security guards; man was beaten to death
Isle of Wight
England in 1970, bigger audience than Woodstock
Pink Floyd
Got their name by combining the names of 2 American Bluesmen; Pink Anderson and Floyd Council. Their music had little to do w/ blues; influenced by avant-garde art music. Live concerts features extended improvisations, producing unconventional sounds, light shows. Had great success in 1970s; Dark Side of the Moon.
Allman Brothers
Gregand Duane Allman, grew up in Daytona Beach. Influenced by British blues rock, southern soul, R&B. known for their great live shows, extended jams. Duane Allman dies in 1971, Band achieves its greatest commercial success with the album "Brothers and Sisters and "Ramblin Man"
London Psychedelic Scene
Had similarities to the Haight/Ashbury scene. Drug use, eastern philosophy, radical politics, experimental music. Marquee Club, Indica Bookstore, Saville Theater, all hosted psychedelic events. "World Psychedelic Center" hosted largest event: "The 14-hour Technicolor Dream" 1967. Held at the Alexandra Palace; 10,00 hippies attended.
San Francisco
Haight-Ashbury neighborhood became center of the American psychedelic scene. Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters organize "acid tests", offered LSD and provided light shows, music, etc. Largest "acid test" gathering occurred at the Fillmore West Auditorium, 2400 people. The Warlocks were the house band (Grateful Dead). "Human Be-in" Jan 1967, Golden Gate Park. FM radio starts to play psychedelic music.
Big Brother and the Holding Company
Janis Joplin and their singer; powerful Texas blues voice. Joplin then went solo and had several big hits. She died in 1970 of a drug overdose.
Country Joe and the Fish
Joe McDonald and Barry "the Fish" Meloton, were active in the Berkeley, CA radical polical scene. Took politics more seriously than the hippies from San Francisco. Made an appearance at Woodstock which brought them to the national stage
Summer of Love
June-Aug 1967. Monterey Pop Festival
Psychedelic Era and Hippie Counter Culture (pt2)
Ken Kesey and Timothy Leary advise followers to "turn on, tune in, drop out" in The Psychedelic Experience. Marijuana and LSD lead to a "higher consciousness". Association of drugs and eastern philosophies. Beatles studied transcendental meditation with Mahrishi Mahesh Yogi. Eastern gurus sought truth through spiritual discipline; hippies sought truth through the use of LSD
Psychedelic Era and Hippie Counter Culture
Lasted from 1966-1969. Established in the music and culture of the San Francisco and London underground scenes. Concerned w/ exploring new ways people could experience the world. Young People became suspicious of government, schools, big business, police, military. "Generation Gap" forms between adults and their children. Drug experimentation plays a central role.
Steppenwolf
Lead singer John Kay born in Germany. psychedelic "biker" music. "Born to be Wild" and "Magic Carpet Ride" in 1968
The Beatles and Phil Spector
Let it Be was produced by Phil Spector and released in 1970. The Beatles didn't approve of many of the additional instruments Spector used (over-produced). Album was re-released in 2003, Let it Be.... Naked" with the stripped down original tracks.
Emerson, Lake, and Palmer
Long songs with virtuosic playing; reworked classical music into rock. "Pictures at the Exhibition" Rock version of a long classical piece.
Outdoor Music Festivals
Monterey Pop Festival in California, 50,000+ in attendance. First major American appearances by The Who and Jimi Hendrix. Indian satirist Ravi Shankar played a 3-hour concert.
Next Beach Boys album "SMiLE"
Never released album. Was supposed to be part of a series of 4 concept albums. Brian Wilson's drug use left him unable to complete it. Was later re-recorded and released in 2004. Heroes and Villains was the single that was released. The album "Smiley Smile" was released instead; was an effort tot return to a simpler, more commercial sound. After 1967, Beach Boys never regained their popularity; the psychedelic hippie culture that was beginning found their music to be "too square"
Beach Boys album "Pet Sounds" mid 1966
Pet Sounds also had one song flow into the next. Had many experimental sounds. Caroline, No
Beach Boys Good Vibrations, late 1966
Took more studio time and money to create than any other single until that time. Brian Wilson called it his "Pocket Symphony". used studio ticker such as splicing of tape. Begins with a traditional form, verse/chorus; then continues w/ 3 sections which were cut and pasted
Jimmy Hendrix
arguably most influential rock guitarist. began career in early '60 playing R&B with little Richard, Isley Brothers, the Blue Flames. Moved to London in 1966. Purple Haze
The Rolling Stones
at this time, still secondary to Beatles. Jagger/Richards primary songwriters, Brian Hones dies. Mick Jagger travels w/ Beatles to meet Maharishi. Release album Their Satanic Majesties Request as response to Beatles "Sgt Peppers" Some critics pan the album, feel Stones are too concerned about copying the Beatles. They return to the R&B roots with Jumpin Jack Flash, Satisfaction, Sympathy for the Devil.
Southern Rock
bands from Georgia, Alabama, Florida, and Texas, included Carhlie Daniels Band, Marshall Tucker Band, and Molly Hatchet
Black Sabbath
began as a blues band in the late 1960s before turning to "Heavy Metal". Got their name from a Boris Karloff horror film. John "Ozzy" Osbourne - vocals. slow, ponderous tempos. first album entitled "Black Sabbath" included a very sinister sounding melody. 2nd album "Paranoid" features song "Iron Man"
The Grateful Dead
began as folk, bluegrass musicians, later they were influenced by Chicago Blues, originally knowns as the Warlocks. Developed highly improvisational style, songs could last 20-30 minutes. Their live shows were the way to hear the band. Live/Dead (1970), recorded live in the studio, 20 minute version of Dark Star
The Who
classical music ideas. "Tommy" - 1969. rock "opera". Pinball Wizard. Story of deaf, dumb, and blind boy who gains spiritual enlightenment from playing pinball. Concept albums include "Who's Next" (1971) and "Quadrophenia" (1973)
King Crimson
combined many different styles of classical music with rock. 1st influential "progressive rock" album. Robert Fripp and Greg Lake. Lake went on to form Emerson, Lake, and Palmer. "Court of the Crimson King" -1969.
Genesis
combined theatre and progressive rock. Peter Gabriel on vocals and theatric and Phil Collins on drums. Gabriel acted out bizarre scenes on stage, wearing strange costumes. Gabriel left and Phil Collins became front man, great commercial success in the 80s and 90s.
Late 1960s bands
continue to push musical boundaries, incorporate other styles of music with rock such as classical, jazz, and folk. "Hippie Aesthetic" more ambitious songwriting and rock musicicians
Beatles after 1967
continued to be successful recording several more albums before breaking up in 1970 "Magical Mystery Tour." the "White Album wrote when they were in India studying "TM." Yellow Submarine was a psychedelic animated feature film. Abbey Road was last studio album released in 1968.
Moody Blues
earliest attempts at bridging rock and classical. Album "Days of Futures Past" (1967) song suite with orchestral interludes. "Night in White Satin" Later, albums used the mellotron, an early synthesizer which could produce violin (string) type sounds.
Glam Rock
early influences of Genesis' Peter Gabrial and Pink Floyd. use of costumes props, and light shows. Included David Bowie, Alice Cooper (nee Vincent Furnier, bizarre stage shows) and Kiss (band dressed at cartoon-like characters, wearing makeup and costumes with elaborate stage shows)
Cream
first "Supergroup", power trio. Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, Ginger Baker. Virtuoso musicians who were veterans of the London blues/jazz scene. Broke up after only 2 years together, ego to big.
Jefferson Airplane
formed in 1965, Mary Balin vocals, Paul Kantner guitar, Grace Slick later on vocals. composed their first big hits before she joined the band.
Aerosmith
from Boston. "Toxic Twin" Steven Tyler singer and Joe Perry guitar. "Dream On" in 1973. have had great commercial success through the decades.
Lynnyrd Skynyrd
from Jacksonville, FL, more southern rock than Allman Bros, "Sweet Home Alabama" 1974, "Free Bird" dedicated to Duane Allman
Pink Floyd in 1970s
in 1970s, fascination w/ madness, after Syd Barrett's departure from band. Elaborate stage shows and light shows. "Dark Side of The Moon" in 1973, one of biggest selling albums of all time. "Wish You Were Here" (1975) themes of despair and alienation.
Yes
music inspired by Eastern scripture, spiritual wisdom and literature; Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace. All outstanding "Poll" winning musicians. Album "Tales from Topographic Ocean" (1973) Double album w/ only 4 songs, 1 song per side.
Beatles album "Rubber Soul" 1965
one song flows into the next, sum greater than parts. Brian Wilson admired this approach. use of sitar in Norwegian Wood use of harpsichord in In My Life.
Country Rock
reaction against psychedelia, simpler direct lyrics. "Down Home" style.
American Singer Songwriters
roots in folk music; emphasis on singer and song without all the theatrics. James Taylor, Carol King, Paul Simon and Carly Simon