History of
popular music - suggestions for essay material for Grades 6-8 Popular
Music Theory.
Email your contributions to pete@realstrings.com
What are the main differences (musical, cultural, historical etc) between punk and grunge - where did the music come from and who were the main exponents of the styles?
Paul Hanely
responded:
Wow my kind of question!
Punk originated in England, spawned from working class life and people
being tired that the only place to see good bands was at huge stadiums.
To play punk required little technical abillity on your instrument which
made it available to alot of people quickly.
It was a way of rebelling against the way of life and was used as protest
music against the state of the British economy.
Key players were: Iggy Pop, The Ramones, Sex Pistols, Buzzcocks, The Clash,
The Jam, etc.Grunge comes from Seattle in the US, and drawed influence
from Hard Rock, Metal and Punk.
The first wave of Grunge bands (Mudhoney, Soundgarden, etc) were heavier
and faster than the bands that were to follow, who added pop "hooks"
into their songs, making them more melodic and radio-friendly. Key players
were, Pixies, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Mudhoney, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden,
etc. Although Grunge takes a lot of influence from Punk, the styles can
be quite different. Grunge is usually depressing and can be fast or slow,
or both, whereas Punk is generally fast and energetic.
John Blaylock
responded:
Punk exploded in England in at the start of the 1970s. It was born out
of revolt from the 60s hippy culture that young people in the country
no loger felt affinity with. The fore founders were undoubtedly the Sex
Pistols but The Clash, Siouxsie and The Boom Town Rats all played their
part.
The music was ingeniously simplistic and as such spawned some of the least
talented musicians ever to 'make it' (that is until Pete Waterman came
along). The culture was rude, offensive, violent and shocking. The kids
loved it, Parents hated it and Bill Grundy was left rueing the day he
ever challenged the Pistols to shock him.
Like Punk, Grunge was the music of a generation, generation X. originating
in Seattle in the early 90s with bands such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam and
Soundgarden. The music articulated the frustration of the X generation
which perceived its hopes and aspirations curtailed. Grunge gave slackers
justification for doing nothing with their lives.
The difference between the two Genres is beautifully typififed by the
drugs of choice. Punks took speed and got chemically motivated. Grungers
took Heroin and got clinically depressed.
Some artists have 'hung on in there' for many a year and evolved stylistically. Suggest 1 or more (singer, instrumentalist or group), highlight what styles they have gone through and suggest why they have moved between different styles of music.
Simon Mayne
responded:
The band U2 hung on in there, became super famous and changed stylististically
over the years. In the late 70s and early 80s, U2 were a small new wave
punk band from Dublin, Ireland. In their songs they would protest about
war in Ireland e.g Sunday Bloody Sunday.
In 1985 they played live aid and were recognised more by the public at
this point. There big break came in 1987 when they released The Joshua
Tree , then followed by a world tour and live album and video 'Rattle
And Hum'. They had picked up on a lot of American culture and paid tribuit
to the blues and its beginings in the early 20th century. After all the
hype of there change of sound and image, they took a year out to rethink
everything.
In 1991 they went to Berlin to record Achtung Baby. Brion Eno was U2s
collaborator. U2 picked up on the vibe of Berlins Cold War, and changed
there sound to a mixture of industrial guitar and drum sounds with funky,
psychodelic rock twist. Throughout the 90s they slowly ran short of ideas
and by 2000 released All The You Can't Leave Behind, which was a mixture
of new songs with the vibe of all there albums upon till that point.
John Blaylock
responded:
The Beatles debut album (1962) 'Please Please Me' was a collection of
rock n roll tunes that was heavily influenced by the great performers
of the 1950s: Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis etc. The follow
up Rubber Soul was similar.
In 1966 the Beatles stopped gigging, they went away to record and the
following year released something beyond all expectations. Where as their
earlier work had drawn on influence Sgt Peppers was completely unique,
totally original. The amazing melodies, instrumentaion and psychadelia
all summed up on the final track 'A day in the life'
This album was divine inspiration for every aspiring musician. Prog Rock
acts like Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd may never have come to be if all
the walls had not been knocked down by this stunning record.
Following this was Magical Mystery Tour (1968) which took their pyschadelia
to a new depths. Songs like 'Your Mother Should Know' which just epitomises
the abstract genius of the Lennon/McCartney writing partnership. The sounds
were just 6 years apart, completely unrecognisable and yet the transition
was seamless. Modern bands just don't even compare.
Pete Harrop
responded:
The first person that sprung to my mind was David Bowie.
Bowie along with Iggy Pop was one of the founders of New Wave. He was
also the forefather of Glam and revolutionised the idea of using a stage
persona With Ziggy Stardust.
Between 1971 and 1977 Bowie was at the top of his game and couldn't put
a foot wrong But in '77 the release of low was recieved with confused
reactions.
Bowie turned his young fans on to: the velvet underground William Bouroughs,
ambient Krautrock, Postmodernism
But as His fans grew older they became less reliant on him and more confused
by his transition through the different musical genres such as: New Wave,
Punk, Glam Punk, Techno, Techno Rock, Rock, Pop, Soul, Dance, Indie etc.
Mostly eased by The Production skills of Roxy life's Brian eno the reason
Bowie Gives for such diversities is that he is not an original thinker
and therefore finds something he is interested in and involves himself
in it. so as He griows older and his tastes mature so does his music.
There is The cynical reason for this and it could be that bowie is good
business man and gets stuck into whatever is selling at the time. Growing
old is not very Rock n Roll Though. This attitude was defined By Pete
Townshend in the Who's My Generation, "Hope I die Before I get old"
was a mantra for the the fans of rock. But this was when rock was music
for young
Andrew Mackin
responded:
Radiohead are a band that come to mind who have evolved over the years
to
create a unique style of their own.
Their first album Pablo Honey was an 'indie' sounding record which contained
their breakthrough hit anthem 'Creep'.
That record was followed by The Bends, more acoustically based songs,
but
the song writing was a lot more developed.
OK Computer followed. The tracks on this album had more complex
arrangements, almost verging on to prog rock with out being so difficult
to
digest.
Wax cylinders - that that's what I call a recording studio. But technoogy has changed the way we make music, so with reference to an artist or group foyour choice, suggest how technology has influenced the evolution of their musical identity.
John Blaylock
responded:
Ian Brown began his musical career in the Stone Roses. They wrote their
songs on a keyboard using predominantly I IV and V chordal progressions.
They added traditional 'band' instrumentation and came up with the second
best album of all time (Sgt Peppers #1) according to the NME poll.
10 years later Brown set about his Solo career and became a pioneer in
blending melodic indie tunes with the most technologically advanced instrumentation.
He used synths, programmed drums, samples and all kind or 'Reason-esque'
sounds along with heavily FXed guitars and synth bases. He also worked
with Dance DJs such as Uncle to produce some of his best work.
No-one had done before what Ian Brown did and the result was astounding.
His 2nd solo album Dolphins Were Monkeys (1999) was fuelled by lyrical
attitude, melodies and some of the phattest beats and samples going.
Kay Adams
responded:
Take Kylie for instance, in the 80's she sang mainstream pop songs, which
used heavy synth keyboards as they were the newest thing at that time.
Also
due to her lack of actual singing technique, she used auto tuners and
harmonisers.
Now in the new millenium her style and image has completely changed. her
singing ability has improved somewhat. She is now conquering the Dance
scene
using big computer-ised samples and vocoders.