Outside of its home in the United States, the UK's brand of rock is undoubtedly the most well-known and widespread. Much of what has made rock music unique, in its ability to unite audiences and adapt new influences, came from British bands in the late 50s and early 60s.
British rock and the British Invasion (1958-1969)
Main article: British Invasion
American rock and roll had an impact across the globe in the 1950s, perhaps most intensely in Britain, where record collecting and trend-watching were in full bloom among the youth culture prior to the rock era, and where color barriers were less of an issue. Countless British youths listened to and were influenced by the R&B and rock and roll pioneers and began forming their own bands to play the new music with an intensity and drive seldom found in white American acts. This set the stage for Britain becoming a new center of rock and roll, leading to the British Invasion from 1958 to 1969.
In 1958 three British teenagers formed a rock and roll group, 'Cliff Richard and the Drifters (later renamed Cliff Richard and the Shadows). The group recorded a hit, "Move It ", marking not only what is held to be the very first British full on rock 'n' roll single, but also the beginning of a different sound -- British rock.
Cliff Richard and the Shadows became the most influential band in the UK and set standards for following British (and American) groups. Comprising two guitars, bass guitar and drums, they also changed the way the guitar was featured, introducing the Fender Stratocaster and the concept of a "lead guitarist" (virtuoso Hank Marvin) to the rock scene and featuring an electric bass guitar instead of the usual standup bass. Appealing almost exclusively to and hugely popular with youth in Britain (including the nascent Beatles) as well as across Europe, Cliff Richard and the Shadows also influenced many UK teenagers to begin buying records, a trend which would reach a peak with The Beatles a few years later. The group also paved the way for the Beatles in other ways, touring the US (without much fanfare) and whetting US record companies' appetites for a youth-oriented band to market stateside.
By the early 1960s, bands from England were dominating the rock and roll scene world wide, giving rock and roll a new focus. First re-recording standard American tunes, these bands then infused their original rock and roll compositions with an industrial-class sensibility. Foremost among these was The Beatles, comprised of four youths from Liverpool who became the single most important and influential act in the history of rock and roll. The Beatles brought together a near-perfect mix of image, songwriting, and personality and, after initial success in the UK, were signed in the US and launched a large-scale stateside tour to ecstatic reaction, a phenomenon quickly dubbed Beatlemania.
Although they were not the first British band to come to America, The Beatles spearheaded the Invasion, triumphing in the U.S. on their first visit in 1964 (including historic appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show). In the wake of Beatlemania other British bands headed to the U.S., notably The Rolling Stones, who disdained the Beatles' clean-cut image and presented a darker, more aggressive image, The Animals and The Yardbirds. Throughout the early and mid-'60s Americans seemed to have an insatialble appetite for British rock; one of the groups who made a greater mark in the USA than on the UK was Herman's Hermits. Other British bands, including The Who and The Kinks, would have some success during this period but saved their peak of popularity for the second wave of British invasion in the late 1960s.
To Americans, the British Invasion was when British rock music started. To listeners in the UK and elsewhere, there was no invasion, for they always had these groups, as well as many who never gained worldwide recognition.
Psychedelic rock
Main article: Psychedelic rock
Canterbury
Main article: Canterbury Sound
Progressive rock
Main article: Progressive rock
Heavy metal
Main article: Heavy metal music
Folk-rock
Main article: Folk-rock
Glam rock
Main article: Glam rock
Punk rock
Main article: Punk rock
Punk rock started off as a reaction to the lush, producer-driven sounds of disco, and against the commercialism of most progressive rock. Early punk borrowed heavily from the garage band ethic: played by bands for which expert musicianship was not a requirement, punk was stripped-down, three-chord music that could be played easily. Many of these bands also intended to shock mainstream society, rejecting the "peace and love" image of the prior musical rebellion of the 1960s which had degenerated, punks thought, into mellow disco culture.
Punk rose to public awareness nearly simultaneously in Britain with the Sex Pistols and in America with the Ramones.
The Sex Pistols chose aggressive stage names (including "Johnny Rotten" and "Sid Vicious") and did their best to live up to them, deliberately rejecting anything that symbolized "hippies": long hair, soft music, loose clothing, and liberal politics, and displaying an anarchic, often confrontational, stage presence (well represented on their debut single "Anarchy in the UK". Their second single release, "God Save The Queen" was a scathing polemic against British traditions and mores. Despite an airplay ban on the BBC the record rose to the top chart position in the UK. The Sex Pistols paved the way for The Clash, whose approach was less nihilistic but more overtly political and idealistic.
The Ramones (whose first album was actually released months before "God Save the Queen") exemplified the American side of punk: equally aggressive but mostly apolitical, more alienated, and not above (often illicit and self-destructive) fun for its own sake. The Ramones reigned as the kings of the New York punk scene, which also included Richard Hell and Television, and centered around rough-and tumble clubs, notably CBGB, a former bluegrass venue in Manhattan taken over by punks after the owner began booking punk bands on off nights. Punk was mostly an East-coast phenomenon in the US until the late 1970s when Los Angeles-based bands such as X and Black Flag broke through to wide recognition.
Punk rock attracted devotees from the art and collegiate world and soon bands sporting a more literate, arty approach, such as the Talking Heads and Devo began to infiltrate the punk scene; in some quarters the description New Wave began to be used to differentiate these less overtly punk bands.
If punk rock was a social and musical phenomenon, it garnered little in the way of record sales (small specialty labels such as Stiff Records had released much of the punk music to date) or American radio airplay, as the radio scene continued to be dominated by mainstream formats such as disco and AOR. Record executives, who had been mostly mystified by the punk movement, recognized the potential of the more accessible New Wave acts and began aggressively signing and marketing any band that could claim a remote connection to Punk or New Wave. Many of these bands, such as The Cars and The Go-Gos were essentially pop bands dressed up in New Wave regalia; others, including The Police and The Pretenders managed to parlay the boost of the New Wave movement into long-lived and artistically lauded careers.
Punk and post-punk bands would continue to appear sporadically, but as a musical scene, punk had largely self-destructed and been subsumed into mainstream new-wave pop by the mid-1980s, but the influence of punk has been substantial. The grunge-rock movement of the late 1980s owes much to punk, and many current mainstream bands claim punk rock as their stylistic heritage. Punk also bred other genres, including hardcore, industrial music, and goth.
Alternative rock
Main article: Alternative music
Twee pop
Main article: Twee pop
Space rock
Main article: Space rock
Shoegazing
Main article: Shoegazing
Dream pop
Main article: Dream pop
Gothic rock
Main article: Gothic rock
Modern music
In Britain, there is a new trend in copying 1970s rock bands in the form of wild clothing and long guitar solos, e.g. The Darkness. Though The Darkness have proved to be very popular it remains to be seen if this trend will become mainstream, with other bands emulating them.
Britpop
Main article: Britpop
Last updated: 08-28-2005 22:07:51
Last updated: 09-12-2005 02:39:13
