Near the end of the 1980s, magazines, radio broadcasting and word of mouth had increased the diversity of Alternative Rock, and by the 1990’s Alternative Rock music was very well known. This was a big achievement as most sub-genres achieved minor mainstream notice and hardly any of the bands that represented this music had even signed to major record labels. Despite this most Alternative bands' mainstream successes were limited in comparison to the other genres of Rock and pop music at the time, and most bands remained signed to independent labels and received relatively little attention from mainstream radio, television and magazines.
Alternative bands during the 1980s generally played in small clubs, recorded for indie labels, and spread their popularity through word of mouth, the Alternative Rock lyrics had a tendency to address topics of social concerns at the time, for example drug use, depression, and environmentalism. This approach to lyrics developed as a reflection of the social and economic strains in the United States and United Kingdom of the 1980s and early 1990s. Although current Alternative Rock bands also base their lyrics on pressing issues in todays’ society, for example the song Kings and Queens (written in 2008), by 30 Seconds to Mars, is about how our generation perceives the monarchy.
Alternative Rock bands and artists include:
30 Seconds to Mars (1998-Present)
Arcade Fire (2001-Present)
Blink-182 (1992-2005, 2009-Present)
The Killers (2001-Present)
Blues Rock
Blues Rock is a musical genre that combined the 12-bar blues and the traditional Rock and Roll styles of music. The original sound that defines Blues Rock is created by the piano, bass guitar, drum kit and the electric guitar; the electric guitar is amplified through a tube guitar amplifier, this sound gives Blues Rock the character it is known for today. Blues Rock typically focuses on the electric guitar player, and often has a heavier sound compared to songs that follow the 12- bar blues. Rock Blues is also played at a fast tempo, which again distinguishes it from the 12-bar blues.
In the United Kingdom and the United States, the sub-genre only began to develop in the mid-1960s and by the 1970s; Blues Rock had got much heavier regarding tone and far more riff-based. People considered early '70s Blues Rock very similar to Traditional Rock and that the differences were barely noticeable.
A classic example of Blues Rock is Eric Clapton's ‘Crossroads’, it has the lyrical and musical styles of Blues with Rock-styled tempo and guitar solos. The introduction to the song is very upbeat, it begins with a guitar solo like most Blues Rock music, as the song progresses you can hear the mixture of the 12-bar blues type music combined with hard Rock and Roll type music.
Another typical example of Blues Rock is ‘Call It Stormy Monday’ by T-Bone Walker, however this song does border on standard 12-bar blues music, many people classify T-Bone Walker’s song as ‘blues’ and not ‘Blues Rock’, yet all of these perceptions can be ignored because the guitar solos that appear throughout the song make definitely make it Blues Rock. Eric Clapton also did a cover of ‘Call It Stormy Monday’; his version had more aspects of Rock and Roll to it.
The first two bars of the guitar parts to ‘Call It Stormy Monday’ are (all the guitar parts are amplified):
G9 | C9 | G9 | G9 | C9 | C9 | G9 / Am7 | Bm7 / Bbm7 | Am7 | Cm7 | G9 / C9 | G9 / D
The guitar arrangement for ‘Call It Stormy Monday’ is very different compared to the traditional 12-bar blues sequence of:
G | C | G | G | C | C | G | G | D | C | G | G
The guitar progression in Blues Rock is usually repeated, it appears when the song had an A B A B rhythm and will repeat in one of the sections; for example the guitar parts will only appear in part A and not in any part Bs. Conversely, there are exceptions, for example some pieces may have an A B A B C rhythm, because the piece has an extra section (C), the guitar parts may appear again.
Blues Rock bands and artists include:
Bob Dylan (1961-Present)
AC/DC (1973-Present)
Eric Clapton (1962-Present)
Black Keys (2001-Present)
Folk Rock
Folk Rock is a sub-genre of Rock and Roll that is a combination of Folk Music and Rock Music. The Rock aspect of Folk Rock is the beat of the music and the Folk aspect is the lyrics. The beat, the tone and the rhythms make Folk Rock sound like typical Rock songs but the characteristic that makes Folk Rock different from traditional Rock and Roll is the fact that the lyrics are very deep and meaningful. Whenever you listen to Folk Rock you can always relate to their lyrics. For example, The Beatles' song as ‘I'm a Loser’, is a good example of this, everyone has felt like an underdog or loser at least once in their lives and the whole song personifies that feeling of humiliation you felt in that moment.
The lyrics to ‘I’m a Loser’:
I'm a loser
I'm a loser
And I'm not what I appear to be
Of all the love I have won or have lost
there is one love I should never have crossed
She was a girl in a million, my friend
I should have known she would win in the end
I'm a loser
And I lost someone who's near to me
I'm a loser
And I'm not what I appear to be
Although I laugh and I act like a clown
Beneath this mask I am wearing a frown
My tears are falling like rain from the sky
Is it for her or myself that I cry
I'm a loser
And I lost someone who's near to me
I'm a loser
And I'm not what I appear to be
What have I done to deserve such a fate
I realize I have left it too late
And so it's true, pride comes before a fall
I'm telling you so that you won't lose all
I'm a loser
And I lost someone who's near to me
I'm a loser
And I'm not what I appear to be
As in all sub-genres of Rock and Roll music the guitar plays a critical part, the guitar in Folk Rock tends to be a jangly12-string guitar sound, this sound was derived from the music of The Searchers and from George Harrison's use of a Rickenbacker 12-string on The Beatles' recordings during 1964 and 1965.
Folk Rock bands and artists include:
The Beach Boys (1961-Present)
Simon and Garfunkel (1957-2009)
We Five (1968-1977)
Mumford and Sons (2007-Present)
Indie Rock
Indie Rock is extremely diverse; it has many sub-genres, which include original indie pop, grunge, jangle pop, C86, and lo-fi. Indie Rock has become very popular in the last few years. In the 2000s, as a result of changes in the music industry and the growing importance of the Internet, a number of Indie Rock acts began to discover commercial success, the more success it receives the more mainstream it’s becoming. Indie Rock, derived from the word ‘independent’, Indie Rock is supposed to represent the small and relatively low-budget labels. As many people are starting to listen to Indie Rock, major corporate companies have been approaching Indie Rock bands and Artists; these labels and the bands have attempted to retain their independence, but by being part of such a commercial industry it is hard for them to explore sounds and emotions as they are being forced to stay the same for their mainstream audiences. This questions the concept of Indie Rock being independent and unique.
Indie Rock bands and artists include:
Alex Day (2006-Present)
Arctic Monkeys (2002-Present)
Coldplay (1996-Present)
The Hoosiers (2003-Present)
Wizard Rock and Time lord Rock
Wizard Rock is Rock Music that was created after the famous Harry Potter movies began in 2002. The sub-genre is known for bands performing humorous songs about the Potter movie series. Wizard Rock is also known as ‘Wrock’. The people who initially created Wrock were a group named ‘HARRY AND THE POTTERS’, the odd band caught on and now Wrock is emulated all around the world. Wizard Rock embraces a self-directed ethic; most Wrock bands self-produce their music and use social networks channels for distribution. Their lyrics are usually based on a Harry Potter character or one of the movies. The beat, tone and chord structure for Wrock is the same as traditional Rock and Roll music. A contemporary British band called ‘The Midnight Beast’ recently wrote a song called ‘Wands’ this song is a typical Wrock song, the lyrics are based on the Harry Potter series but at the same time are mocking knife crime. Time lord Rock is most commonly known as ‘Trock’ and is based on the television show Doctor Who. It was originally created by the UK Youtuber, Alex Day aka. Nerimon and is very similar to Wrock.
Wizard Rock/ Time lord Rock bands and artists include:
Harry and the Potters (2002-Present)
The Midnight Beast (2009-Present)
Alex Day (2006-Present)
Chameleon Circuit (2008-Present)
There were many famous Rock bands and artists throughout the 20th century. They produced lots of great music that is still listened to today. We have chosen three Rock bands that we believe illustrate what Rock band can produce. Each band that we have chosen is different from each other and shows the large variety of different kind of Rock.
Sex Pistols (1975-1978)
Queen (1971-Present)
Dire Straits (1977-1995)
Although there were many awesome Rock bands during the 20th century, there are still some great Rock bands today. These bands, unfortunately, are not listened to as much as the bands from 1960’s onwards were listened to. Rock music is not as popular as is it was and this is a shame as the music current Rock bands produce has a good beat and we can relate to the lyrics. Despite this, these bands have a lot to live up to as previous Rock bands, e.g. Queen, are so respected and admired that the public find it difficult to listen to their music with a non-bias approach. We have chosen to write about two of the most popular Rock bands at the moment.
Mumford and Sons (2007-Present)
Mumford and Sons are a British Folk Rock band. The band consists of Marcus Mumford (vocals, guitar, drums and mandolin), Ben Lovett (vocals, keyboards, accordion amd drums), Country Winston Marshall (vocals, banjo, dobro and guitar), and Ted Dwane (vocals, string bass, drums and guitar). The group uses a wide range of instruments, this makes their music slightly more Folk than Rock. Mumford and Sons uses bluegrass and folk instrumentation; the banjo, the stand-up bass, the mandolin and the piano, is played with a rhythmic style which makes their music genre Alternative Rock and Folk Rock.
The lyrics to their songs have a strong literary influence. The name of their debut album, Sigh No More’ originates from Shakespeare's play Much Ado About Nothing and the track "Sigh No More" includes lines from the play; such as, “Serve God love me and mend and One foot in sea and one on shore.” (Act 5, Scene 2).
Another example of their use of Shakespeare’s plays is the song "Roll Away Your Stone", the lyrics for this song were influenced by the play Macbeth; the song includes the lines “Stars hide your fires / And these here are my desires” although this line is not exactly the same it is very similar to Macbeth's line in Act 1 Scene 4: “Stars, hide your fires, / Let not light see my black and deep desires.”
When one thinks of Rock and Roll it is unlikely that they will link the music to Shakespeare’s plays. Mumford and Sons have made something that was seemed to be so illogical into a reality that works. Their songs are very popular and the way they have entwined Shakespeare’s work into the music, creates a much deeper meaning to Rock and Roll.
Muse (1994-Present)
Muse are an English Rock band from Devon. The band is made up of Matthew Bellamy (lead vocals, lead guitar and piano/keyboards), Christopher Wolstenholme (bass, vocals, keyboards, rhythm guitar and harmonica) and Dominic Howard (drums and percussion). Although Muse are most commonly known as a ‘Rock’ band they are also famous for their fusion of different musical genres, including Progressive Rock, Electronica, Classical Music, Alternative Rock, Heavy Metal, and Space Rock.
The songs that Muse produce are recognisable by lead vocalist Matthew Bellamy's use of falsetto and vibrato. His voice is very unique and if you haven’t heard a Muse song before you will definitely recognise it by the sound of his voice.
On several of the piano-based songs Bellamy often uses the arpeggio. The piano sections to the song are based on composers such as Sergei Rachmaninov, Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Liszt, Frédéric Chopin and Philip Glass. Philip Glass is a contempary composer, he is known for his beautiful operas, his symphonies and his compositions. His most famous piece is called Einstein on the Beach.
In many Muse songs the bass line is used as the central subject and the guitar simply provides an extra layer to the song, which exaggerates the parts of the bass. To achieve a greater weight and depth, the bass usually has distortion and other effects applied to it; this allows the guitar to serve as counterfoil to the main chord progression. The guitar often plays the higher notes or electronic sounds in Muse’s songs. Both the bass and the guitar play in unison parts, for example the chorus on their song ‘Hysteria’ and the main riff of their song ‘Dead Star’. When the guitar and the bass play in harmony it adds emphasis to specific melodies and riffs.
Muse have said in many interviews that they base themselves on the Rock band, Queen, this may be why people who listen to Queen’s music also enjoy Muse’s music. Muse are also influenced by Jimi Hendrix and Tom Morello, the guitar sections in their pieces have a very ‘electric’ sound and Muse have copied this in a way that still makes their music distinctive and unique.
Other current Rock bands and artists include:
Panic At The Disco (2004-Present)
Coldplay (1996-Present)
Noah And The Whale (2006–Present)
The Kooks (2002-Present)
A large proportion of our generation is actually very disdainful of Rock ‘n’ Roll music as they believe it to be “dead”. When we researched this idea, we came across many debates across the internet, which discussed the topic and to our surprise many blogs and articles are very scornful towards such an important aspect to the music in todays’ society. The idea that Rock and Roll music is going to slowly fade out is simply preposterous. There are many different genres or Rock music that people listen to all the time today, sometimes without even knowing that it’s Rock. During an interview, John Lennon was quoted saying “I don’t know which will go first- Rock and Roll or Christianity.” We believe that is he absolutely correct; Rock and Roll will live in for a long time. John Lennon as encapsulated what the world should be thinking in five words.
Bibliography
“I don't know which will go first Rock and Roll or Christianity.”-
WizardRock.org