Story of rock

Rock and Roll, in all its forms, gives us a microphone to communicate with the world. It has the power to bring nationalities and generations together, to elect world leaders, and to move people. No other art form has the social significance of Rock and Roll. You simply cannot understand Western Culture without taking a serious look at this music.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum exists to collect, preserve and interpret the impact the Rock has made on our world.

THE METAL

Metal music is a worldwide form of music that has held the attention of younger generations for over 50 years. Metal music has branched off into different sub genres, but one thing is the main motivator for the survival of metal music through all the generations. That is a need for younger generations to rebel against the status quo, to express themselves and their frustration of an outdated way of life.
Black Sabbath were the first real metal band, and become the inspiration for the sub genre Doom Metal. Metal went on through Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, while other bands such as Motorhead, Iron Maiden Metallica belonged to the sub genre, infused punk.

Metal bands began to look further from the blues scale that Black Sabbath used and went on to use diatonic modes. This sparked a new phenomenon that spread through nearly all of the sub genres of metal.

In the 80s, the sub genre of thrash metal evolved into death metal. Some of the prominent death metal bands of that time were Possessed and Death. Traditional metal also began in the 80s and bands like Fates Warning and Queensrysce were accepted into the mainstream of music.

More sub genres of metal surfaced quickly in the 90s, including Stoner Metal and Sludge Metal.

Sub Genres Of Metal Music:
Metal, much like rock, is made up of many sub-genres. Metal genres can at times be difficult to differentiate as they seem similar but have small changes in overall structural, temperamental, instrumental and vocal changes. This is made even more difficult to differentiate, as often sub genres are similar to each other in other genres.

Black Metal: Black metal evolved from thrash metal. Black metal is not as cold and brutal as thrash, although it is still considered to be an extreme genre. The sound is a combination of tremolo bass and vocals are usually screamed or yelled by performers. Themes of Black metal are usually supernatural or occult in nature.

Death Metal: Death metal is closely related to thrash metal. It tends to be more brutal in nature, with odd chord progressions and mixed up time changes. Like many genres of metal, the words of the songs include themes that relate to the occult and the darker side of human nature.

Doom Metal: Doom metal emphasizes emotion, melancholy and depression. Tempos are usually slower with somber harmonies. Doom metal has the same type of vocals as death and black metal. Classical instruments are also used a lot in Doom metal to enhance the mood of the music.

Folk Metal: Folk metal started out as a fusion of folk rock, power metal and black metal. Now it is a term given to folk-themed bands that use folk based lyrics and themes, including instruments.

Glam Metal: Glam metal was popular in the 80s and was also known as hair metal. Many of the band members used makeup, similar to the 70s glam rock bands and Idols such as Alice Cooper.

Gothic Metal: Goth Metal had the same style as doom, black and death metal, but used heavy keyboard sounds with romantic story like words. Goth metal often used two vocalists.

Grindcore: Grindcore is like thrash metal with tones of hardcore and punk. Vocals are a lot like death metal and the songs tended to be very short. Grindcore today is mostly influenced by death metal.

Heavy Metal: Heavy metal is the origin of the genres and where metal music got its name. Loud rasping vocals and long solos with the guitar characterize heavy metal. The words of the songs are often unfocused on any particular theme.

Industrial Metal: Industrial metal uses Distortion of guitar sounds, synthesizers and drum machines. Industrial is heavily influenced by techno and industrial music.

Metalcore: Metal core bands use the vocals and beat of American Hardcore metal with the instruments, such as guitars that are used in European thrash metal.

Neoclassical Metal: Neo-Classical uses parts of classical music in normal metal music.

Nu Metal: Nu Metal has very little to do with heavy metal and is largely influenced by Hip Hop.

Power Metal: Power metal is more upbeat and uses clear vocals. Power metal uses science fiction or fantasy themes and is inspiring to the listener.

Progressive Metal: Progressive metal is sophisticated and complex. Vocals are clean and often lean towards philosophy or politics. Progressive metal is very much like progressive rock.

Thrash Metal: Thrash Metal is heavy metal combined with hardcore punk. Thrash is usually complex with many tempo add time changes. The words are usually yelled, although they remain in tune and melodic. Thrash was also the first metal genre to use double bass drums in their music.

The Age of Alternative Rock

In the United States the new wave was replaced by the "no wave" of Lydia Lunch, the Sonic Youth, the Swans, while punk-rock evolved into "hardcore" and myriads of bands terrorized New York (Misfits), Boston (Mission Of Burma, Lemonheads), and above all Washington (Bad Brains, Pussy Galore, Fugazi). The West Coast had its share of hardcore violence, but somehow Los Angeles (Black Flag, X) and San Francisco (Dead Kennedys, Flipper, Camper Van Beethoven) managed to remain more experimental. So much so that Los Angeles saw the emergence of a generation of bands with roots in the "beach-punk" scene but whose sound was far more complex (Minutemen, Saccharine Trust, Universal Congress, fIREHOSE ), a school that culminated in the solo career of Henry Rollins . Australia boasted one of the most intense scenes, from the early days of the Saints and Radio Birdman to the later days of the Lubricated Goat.
The whole national scene benefited from the emergence of independent music recording. Los Angeles nurtured the Paisley Underground and the cow-punk scene: the Dream Syndicate and the Gun Club emerged from that creative revival. All sorts of neo-rock bands roamed New York, notably the Band Of Susans. Boston gave two of the most influential acts, Dinosaur Jr and the Pixies, that de facto invented "grunge" rock. The southeast became one of the cradles of a melodic genre that mixed folk-rock and pop (B52's, REM). Seattle saw the revival of hard-rock and the boom of grunge (Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam). Chicago witnessed the birth of Steve Albini's evil genius with the Big Black. Minneapolis was the real catalyst: the Husker Du and the Replacements, and later the Soul Asylum, changed the whole notion of punk-rock and created the premises for a return to the rock song format with a new impetus. Kentucky was another surprising center of action: the Squirrel Bait started a dynasty of convoluted mainly instrumental punk-rock that would continue with the Slint and the Tortoise.

Psychedelia in the age of punks begat the Butthole Surfers in Texas, the Flaming Lips in Oklahoma, the Phish in New England and a whole legion of gurus in New York: Mark Kramer, Dogbowl, Jarboe, Lida Husik, Azalia Snail. And Mercury Rev, the whole band demented enough to compete with the Flaming Lips.

Roots-rock lived on the side, propelled by the occasional success of the Black Crowes, by the distinguished career of the Del-Lords and by the phenomenal energy of lesser known bands such as the Fetchin Bones.

Australia's rock school expanded dramatically and entered the charts, while preserving artistic merit with bands such as the Church.

Most of the impulse for what was happening actually came from tiny and far New Zealand, that had nurtured an independent scene since the days of the Tall Dwarfs, the Clean and the Chills, a school that would peak with Roy Montgomery's ambitious works.

In the meantime another street phenomenon of the ghettos, hip hop, revolutionized the music scene and bands such as Beastie Boys, Run DMC, Public Enemy crossed over to the rock audience. Producers such as Tackhead were instrumental in redefining the concept of "composition".

Britain followed a different course, almost in the opposite direction, towards simpler and more commercial music. It all started with the modernist sounds of Ultravox, Wire and XTC, and their vaguely robotic melodies. Then Japan and Simple Minds turned that sound into pompous pop songs. And finally Orchestral Manouvres in the Dark and others created synth-pop, that typically was pop played on electronic instruments and sung by a female or gay singer (with a few notable exceptions). The Depeche Mode and the Pet Shop Boys were probably the most artistically successful of the many that climbed the charts. The Irish U2 and the Smiths turned sharply towards melody.

The time sixties on rock

The times were ripe for change, but a catalyst was still needed.
"Mersey-beat" changed the story of rock music forever. Mersey-beat came out of nowhere, but it came with the power of history. Britain had had a lousy music scene throughout the early Sixties. Mainly, British rockers were mimicking Presley. Mainstream Britain did not identify with rock and roll, was not amused by their "rebel" attitudes, did not enjoy their frenzy rhythm. To a large extent, though, the seeds had already been planted. Britain had an underground before America did: the blues clubs. Throughout the Fifties, blues clubs flourished all over England. London was the epicenter, but every major English city had its own doses of weekly blues. Unlike their rock counterparts, who were mere imitators, the British blues musicians were true innovators: in their hands, blues became something else. They subjected blues to a metamorphosis that turned it into a "white" music: they emphasized the epic refrains of the call and response, they sped up Chicago's rhythm guitars, they smoothed down the vocal delivery to make it sound more operatic, they flexed the choruses, enhanced the organ arrangements, added vocal harmony. In a few years, British blues musicians were playing something that was as deeply felt as the American blues, but had a driving power that no other music on Earth had.

In the early Sixties veterans of that scene, or disciples of that scene, led to the formation of bands such as the Rolling Stones, the Yardbirds and the Animals. The Rolling Stones became "the" sensation in London and went on to record the most successful singles of the era. The Yardbirds were the most experimental of them all, and became the training ground for three of the greatest guitarists ever: Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimi Page. From their ashes two blues bands were born, the Cream and the Led Zeppelin, that in a few years will revolutionize rock music again.

Liverpool did not have a great underground scene but had a more commercial brand of rock bands. The producer George Martin was instrumental in creating the whole phenomenon, first with Gerry And The Pacemakers and then with the Beatles, the band that went on to achieve world-wide success. The smiling faces of the Liverpool kids were in stark contrast with the underground club's angry blues animals. But the two complemented each other. "Beatlemania" stole the momentum from the blues scene and understood how to turn that music into a mass-media attraction. Rock music as a major business was born.

The most influential bands of the second generation were the Kinks and the Who. Both went on to record concept albums and "rock operas" that paraphrased the British operetta at the sound of rock music. While Kinks were still proponents of melodic rock, the Who's manically amplified guitars were already pointing towards a noisier and less gentle future.

Cream and Led Zeppelin upped the ante when they started playing very loud blues. Cream's lengthy solos and Led Zeppelin's fast riffs created the epitome of "hard rock".

The impact of British electricity on the American scene was equivalent to an earthquake. Kids embraced electric guitars in every garage of the United States and started playing blues music with a vengeance.

On the East Coast it was Dylan again who led the charge. His first electric performances were met with disappointment by his fans, but soon "folk-rock" boomed with the hits of the Byrds and Simon And Garfunkel.

The psychedelic movement that had been growing across the country somehow merged with the wave of electric rockers and the protest movement. They became one both in New York and in San Francisco. The Velvet Underground and the Fugs turned rock and roll into an intellectual operation.

On the West Coast both San Francisco and Los Angeles reacted to the boom of rock and roll in typically eccentric manners. San Francisco, that was becoming the mecca of the hippies, begat "acid-rock", and Los Angeles, whose milieu had produced countless literary and cinematic misfits, begat Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart, two of the most influential musicians of the century. Zappa and Beefheart recorded some of the most experimental records ever and turned rock and roll into a major, serious art. San Francisco's bands, led by the Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead, endorsed complex harmony and improvised jams, thereby moving rock music towards the intellectual excesses of jazz music.

Psychedelic rock was spreading across the country, and spilling over into Britain. Soon America produced the Doors and England produced the Pink Floyd, two bands whose influence will be gigantic. Texas psychedelia went unnoticed, but bands like Red Crayola were far ahead of their time. Detroit was also left out of the main loop, but nonetheless the MC5 and the Stooges helped move rock music one notch up the ladder of noise.

The boom of rock music in the United States helped resurrect the blues. Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin became stars, while countless white blues musicians flooded the clubs of Chicago and San Francisco. The Band and Creedence Clearwater Revival reached new peaks in the revisitation of traditional white and black music. In the south this revival movement will lead to the boom of "southern rock" and the likes of the Allman Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Country music was still a Nashville monopoly, but several artists were merging it with eastern meditation, jazz improvisation and rock's freedom. Sandy Bull, Robbie Basho and John Fahey were playing long instrumental tracks that easily rank with the most ambitious pieces of the avantgarde.

In the meantime, black music was going through a metamorphosis of its own. Soul music turned into a form of party music with Tamla Motown's acts such as the Supremes, and rhythm and blues mutated in a feverish genre called "funk" for obscene performers such as James Brown.

In Britain, rock music took more of a European feel with the underground movement that was born out of psychedelic clubs. Canterbury became the center of the most experimental school of rock music. The Soft Machine were the most important band of the period, lending rock music a jazz flavor that would inspire "progressive-rock". Among the eccentric and creative musicians that grew up in the Soft Machine were Robert Wyatt, David Aellen, and Kevin Ayers. Their legacy can be seen in later Canterbury bands such as Henry Cow, no less creative and improvisational.

Progressive-rock took away rock's energy and replaced it with a brain. Traffic, Jethro Tull, Family and later Roxy Music developed a brand of soul-rock that had little in common with soul or rock and roll: long, convoluted jams, jazz accents, and baroque arrangements derailed the song format. King Crimson, Colosseum, Van Der Graaf Generator, early Genesis, Yes and started playing even more complex, theatrical and hermetic pieces. Arrangements became more and more complex, insturmentalists become more and more skilled. Electronic instruments were employed frequently. Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, Third Ear Band and Hawkwind created genres that at the time had no name (decadent cabaret, world-music and psychedelic hard rock).

The paradigm soon spilled into continental Europe, that gave its first major rock acts: Magma, Art Zoyd, Univers Zero.

Even Britain's folksingers sounded more like French intellectuals than oldfashioned storytellers. The folk revival of the Sixties was mainly the creation of a fistful of three collectives: the Pentangle, the Fairport Convention and the Incredible String Band. But around them singer songwriters like Donovan, Cat Stevens, Nick Drake , John Martyn, Syd Barrett and Van Morrison established new standards for musical expression of intimate themes.

Rock n Roll

"Rock 'N Roll" is a type of music. It "shook things up" in the 1950s and 1960s. Many musical styles from around the world contributed to this new sound. Along with the African American influence, rock 'n roll also drew on the lyrical melodies of recent European immigrants and the country and western music of Texans.

First, the music became popular in small clubs and on the radio. Later, with the introduction of programs such as American Bandstand, teenagers could watch their favorite bands on television. Not everyone was excited about this music. Many parents didn't like the suggestive dancing, naughty lyrics, and loud, fast beat.

Harder - "Rock 'N Roll" is a musical genre whose 'golden age' is usually recognized as the decades of the 1950's and 1960's. This musical form had its beginnings in the blues tunes, gospel music, and jazz-influenced vocal music that became popular among African-American audiences after World War II. A new kind of blues, it featured electrically amplified guitars, harmonicas, and drummers that emphasized afterbeats. At the same time, black gospel music grew in popularity. These forms of black popular music were given the label rhythm and blues (R and B) and were played on big-city radio stations. Radio spread this music's appeal from black communities to towns throughout all of the United States. By the mid-1950's such performers as Little Richard, Joe Turner, and Chuck Berry were becoming popular with white audiences. Radio disc jockeys began calling their music rock 'n roll

death metal

Black metal - is one of the extreme forms of music, the evil twin brother of Death metal. The term coined by ‘Venom’, innovated by ‘Bathory’ and identified by ‘Mayhem’. When we talk about how did black metal start or who started it? We often fail to mention some of the important acts that helped giving black metal its true identity and unique sound. Let us not go way back to the days of Sabbath instead lets just stick to the 80’s. When Venom released their first debut album ‘Black Metal’ in early 1980’s, it was just a satanic NWOBHM played faster and heavier or Thrash with lyrics that would scare the daylight out of your grandmom. It was the term ‘Black Metal’ which came upon existence with that record. But what was it? Nobody knew. Few years later, the underground world would see release of many thrash records which later helped forge a new sound. Those records include Slayer’s ‘Hell Awaits’, Sodom’s ‘Obsessed by Cruelty’, Kreator’s ‘Pleasure to kill’, Sepultura’s ‘Morbid Visions’ and some records by Bulldozer, Hellhammer/Celtic Frost etc. Among these bands, Bathory is often cited as the most influential blackened thrash metal band of the 80’s. During late 1980’s, Bathory changed their sound in a very dramatic way which played a vital role in giving black metal a new sound and also gave birth to what is called ‘Viking Metal’. ‘Blood Fire Death’ soon became a legendary black metal album. Just the needed kick up the rear end of the snail-paced genre.

History of rock

Chuck Berry invented rock and roll in 1955. He was a black man playing black music. But times had changed: white kids were listening to rhythm and blues throughout the Northeast, and white musicians were playing rhythm and blues side to side with country music. The music industry soon understood that there was a white market for black music and social prejudice, racial barriers, could nothing against the forces of capitalism. Rock and roll was an overnight success. The music industry promoted white idols such as Elvis Presley, but the real heroes were the likes of Chuck Berry, who better symbolize the synergy between the performer and the audience. The black rockers, and a few white rockers, epitomized the youth's rebellious mood, their need for a soundtrack to their dreams of anticonformism. Their impact was long lasting, but their careers were short lived. For one reason or another, they all stopped recording after a brief time. Rock and roll was inherited by white singers, such as Presley, who often performed songs composed by obscure black musicians. White rockers became gentler and gentler, thereby drowning rock and roll's very reason to exist. Buddy Holly was the foremost white rocker of the late Fifties, while cross-pollination with country music led to the vocal harmonies of the Everly Brothers and the instrumental rock of Duan Eddy.
The kids' malaise returned, with a much taller wave, when folksingers started singing about the problems of the system. Kids who had not identified with Woody Guthrie's stories of poor people, identified immediately with folksingers singing about the Vietnam war and civil rights. Bob Dylan was arguably the most influential musician of the era. He led the charge against the Establishment with simple songs and poetic lyrics. A generation believed in him and followed his dreams. Music became the expression of youth's ambitions.

At the same time, the story of commercial rock music took a bizarre turn when it hit the coast of California: the Beach Boys invented surf music. Surf music was just rock and roll music, but with a spin: very sophisticated vocal harmonies. California had its own ideas about what rock and roll should be: a music for having fun at the beaches and at the parties. The Beach Boys' vocal harmonies, a natural bridge between rockers and doo-wop, turned out to be a fantastic delivery vehicle for the melodic aspect of rock and roll, that black musicians usually buried in their emphatic shouting.