60's blog /// The British Invasion

The mid 60's was a unique time in music history, known as the British Invasion. Many English rock 'n' roll and pop bands appeared to be crossing the border and flooding the U.S charts with their music.

Many british pop bands took influence from genre known as Skiffle, a combination of country and folk music. What many aspiring artists took from Skiffle was its do it yourself attitude towards the industry. This included homemade instruments, so performers didn't have to buy expensive equipment to actually play the music. Infact, many Artists who achieved fame during the British Invasion are said to have previous turns as a skiffle band. The most famous of all, The Quarry Men, who soon went to become known as The Beatles. The DIY genre became a stepping stone to the explosion which was The British Invasion.

Band such as The Kinks, The Hollies, The Who, Gerry and the Pacemakers, including the Mindbenders and Wayne Fontana all had hit singles during the invasion. Other succesful tracks included: 'House of the rising sun' by the Animals and many artists such as the Troggs, with their hit 'Wild Thing.' It marked a time of international success for many British rock n roll and pop bands at the time.

The sound of the British Invasion was very similar to that of the Merseybeat sound.

The Merseybeat scene was born featuring the strong use of vocal harmonies and driving rhythms. Taking influence from American Rock ‘n’ Roll bands such as Buddy Holly and the Crickets. This was another stepping stone to The British Invasion.

Catchy melody lines, full of consistent harmonys and hooks. Clean guitar, Four to the floor drums and walking basslines all combined to gain the popularity in the U.S charts.

In 1964 with over 73million American viewers watched the Ed Sullivan show, with over 50,000 requests' for tickets to a studio that held 703. During their appearance The Beatles played five songs in the following order... All My Loving,Till There Was You, She Loves You, I Saw Her Standing There and I Want To Hold Your Hand. On this night America came to a 'stand still', Criminal Activity amongst the Major Towns and Cities was put on hold and getting a bus or taxi in New York was almost impossible, until their performance was over. The Beatles launch of British music in America become known as The British Invasion, as

The Beatles are the only British band to simultaneously remain in the Top Five in the U.S charts and to sell over 2 million records, in one month. With over 73million American viewers watched the Ed Sullivan show, The Beatles played songs such as She Loves You, I Saw Her Standing There and I Want To Hold Your Hand. On this night America came to a 'stand still'.

Image and Fashion

In the mid 60's, the image britain created for themselves was a formal dress code. This included fitted suits, ties and leather shoes. The color theme was mainly black or/and white. Band members had a smart short/trimmed haircut, including the infamous "moptop" hairstyle.

Essential Listening

The Kinks - You really got me.

The Who - My Generation

The Beatles - I saw her standing there

The Animals - House of the rising sun

　

k.




seen as though of none of the video and image upload sites weren't working i've left the links.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVA8dOgeMfQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmApPRVm5xw&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4B-13Eg9UI&feature=related

70's Punk; part 1.

(For my next blog for Pop in Practice, I decided to do a write up on the genre "punk" formed in the late 70's.)

The Birth of Punk

The birth of punk music came around in the mid 70's. Punk followed the genre "protopunk" of late 60's garage bands such as the Ramones, The Who and MC5. As a genre formed from protopunk, punk opened up doors for bands like The Ramones to be one of the leading artists of the genre throughout the 70's.

The genre, on what appeared to be just noise for the rebellious youth, became a revolution. Strong poilitical themes and Instrumentalists who could only play 3 guitar chords starting bands were all the rage.

Bands and artists like The Clash and Patti Smith exemplified everything punk music stood for, and their stripped-down music and thought-provoking lyrics proved that punk was a distinct genre apart from everything else.

You didn't need to have the voice of angel to front a punk band, as many punk vocalists just shouted lyrics or even made them up.

"Punk culture originated as a movement of shock, rebellion, and discontent."Like most genres nowadays, the music was only part of it. Image was everything, well mostly. Ranging from Vivienne Westwood styles to blue jeans and leather jacket look from the clash. Nearly every dress of other sub-culture groups have been inspired or influenced by the Punk Image of the late 70's. For example the "standard punk" consists of leather jacket, blue jeans, combat boots, spikes and chains. However, there was a big influence on the DIY attitude that soon reflected on the clothing such as, ripped or stitched together jean and shirts. Hair was typically dyed bright unataural colours like red, blue and pink and often liberty spikes or a mohawk. This is sort of just me stereotyping, but you get my point....

Punk Trends and Themes.

"In its original nature the punk culture is primarily concerned with an individual's perceived right to freedom." - taken from a wikipedia source.

Devotion to the idea of freedom, tends to create strong beliefs in concepts such as Individualism political, Free Beliefs and Ethics. Punk ideaoligies often have a critical view of the world, seeing the modern day placing extensive limits on life. Punk ideology usually achieves its expression through music, independently published literature, and spoken word albums.

Punk was an incredible movement in the music industry and has influenced alot of artists long after its peak in the late 70's. There have been many subclutures of the genre, such as pop punk, hardcore and many, many more.

k.

80’s Blog – Hair and Glam Metal.

Hair and Glam Metal was/is essentially party music, music you can have a good time too.

In America, there were 2 Glam metal scenes: The East and West Coast.

· West Coast/Los Angeles - Quiet Riot, W.A.S.P, Motley Crue, Ratt, Stryper and Warrant were just some of the big names from the west.

· East Coast – Bon Jovi, Cinderella, Poison and Twisted Sister were the big names in the east.

Heavily polished distorted guitars, high male vocals and basic rock drum beats. As I said above, it was essentially party music. Music to have a good time with your friends too, music you’d expect to be played in clubs and bars, music to drive too, dance too. Bands such as Quietriot and Bon Jovi alike seemed all they wanted to do is party and play some rock ‘n’ roll. Heavily polished distorted guitars, high male vocals and basic rock drum beats. Bands such as Led Zeppelin, The Sweet, New York Dolls, and Sabbath are all obviously a big influence on many of the glam metal bands at the time. Also, David Bowie 70’s glam rock albums and image were an influence in its self, and trend, for example the big hair and bright coloured outfits. The exaggeration of the hairspray was critical to any glam metal bands image.

The scene soon took off in the U.S.A. and it seemed the movement started on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles, thanks to bands such as Motley Crue and W.A.S.P. However, one of the biggest reasons for the rise of glam rock was the development of MTV, making rock a more visual genre and therefore spawning outlandish looks. Music videos soon became short films, with huge production teams. This was the same as there live shows, well rehearsed huge arena tours seemed crucial to the band. Stage shows must have consisted of over 2000 lights, fireworks and often confetti to be scattered upon the crowd. Glam metal bands always tended to put on a good show.

There were 2 waves of glam metal, the first wave of glam metal was between 81’-84’ bands included Quietriot, W.A.S.P, Twister Sister and Motley Crue. There music consisted of a heavy rock influenced sound but a glam metal image, but this soon changed in the mid 80’s when the second wave of glam metal approached. Bands like Poison, Warrant and Faster Pussycat all were around when glam was at the peak of its success. It ruled the airwaves and they were chart topping artists back in there day.

80’s Blog – Hair and Glam Metal.