Rock Evolution Throughout The Years

By Jack Wogan


It would be certainly challenging to categorize rock music as one genre, despite the multiple musical forms it obviously covers, distinguished by deliberate directness or, on the contrary, elaborate complexity, by pure romanticism or plain sexuality, by an irresistible melody or, on the contrary, some hysteric heavy beats and distortion effects.

What can be said, though, is it has evolved from the American rock n' roll, a whole formed of blues, jazz, country and many other styles, becoming a real craze in the 1950s, mesmerizing teens and adolescents, particularly when performed by Elvis Presley. No wonder, otherwise, given his hypnotic dancing style with every inch of his body, his exquisite masculine voice, all force and seduction, and his playing style even sounds couldn't resist to.

After the first generation of pioneers, the genre had become rock as such, with unequaled developments, allowed by the perfect psychological timing: this form appeared in the epoch of sexual liberation, of the rejection of a lot of cultural taboos, and, on the other hand, the technological timing was also right, rock being recorded first in the studio and then performed live, a fact allowing the endless improvement of sound, with the aid of effects pedals. And, as importantly, the radio was spreading and so did recording and distribution, no matter the legality of the venues. As such, rock singing had become a craze to sweep not only the States, considering that all it required was a good voice, a guitar and some drum kits. Even effects pedals could be easily got, if we remember Davies from The Kinks, who obtained a distortion effect by slashing the cones of his amp with a razor blade.

The complete freedom of musical expression within this genre is proved precisely by the wide range of its manifestations. In the 1960s, the Beatles impressed with a catchy melody, clear back beat, romantic lyrics and decent appearance. But, in the same decade, progressive rock appeared, and you couldn't imagine anything farther from directness and simplicity. For one, it capitalized on its classical music and jazz components, the result being complex instrumentation and long compositions, on the one hand, and improvisation and poly-rhythm, on the other. Its lyrics were epic or intellectual and had to be construed, and not to be directly felt, and its elaborated melodic line had to be followed and untangled, rather than to be hummed and danced to. You couldn't expect the listeners to bands like King Crimson, Yes or Pink Floyd to dance and cheer wildly and perform some sort of 'karaoke'!

Then, a return to the origins of the rock had come, properly speaking like a boom, in 1970s - 1980s - that is to that music liberating the senses by dance and the mind by speaking out against taboos, in the form of the hard rock performed by bands such as Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. The blues and rock formed again an inseparable whole, whereas the guitar and drums would reign, helped, of course, by pedals effects, whether they were the distortion used by Jimmy Page, the ring modulation used by Black Sabbath or the overwhelming dynamics effects used by all. You should try some effects units from Sounds Great Music to see for yourself how such music may be performed.




About the Author:



0 comments: