The old rock and roll was performed by using two electric guitars only which consist of one lead and one rhythm, a string bass (was added in mid to late 50’s), an electric bass guitar and a drum kit. Though rock and roll is identified with guitars, it was the saxophone or the piano lead the instrument in the late 40’s and early 50’s. Nowadays, the two musical instruments are barely there in rock scene.

It was really in late 1950’s that guitars controlled the rock and roll music.

The beat is basically a boogie woogie blues rhythm with heighten backbeat made by snare drum. I was so surprised that one of rock and rolls origin includes Gospel.

(Photo Source: http://www.lonestarautographs.com/)

The histories of hits are mostly books about rock music. Many people decided to put it charts. Marx have loved it, except the people tend to buy what is already been published by the media, which was used by the corporations to publicize. The marketing decides the entire charts.

The Cure are an English rock band that formed in Crawley, Sussex in 1976. The band has experienced several lineup changes, with frontman, guitarist and main songwriter Robert Smith—known for his iconic wild hair, pale complexion, smudged lipstick and frequently gloomy and introspective lyrics—being the only constant member.

The members of The Cure first started releasing music in the late 1970s. Their first album, Three Imaginary Boys (1979), and early singles placed them as part of the post-punk and New Wave movements that had sprung up in the wake of the punk rock revolution in the United Kingdom. During the early 1980s the band’s increasingly dark and tormented music helped form the gothic rock genre. After the release of 1982’s Pornography, the band’s future was uncertain and frontman Robert Smith was keen to move past the gloomy reputation his band had cultivated. With the 1982 single “Let’s Go to Bed” Smith began to inject more of a pop sensibility into the band’s music. The Cure’s popularity increased as the decade wore on, especially in the United States, where the songs “Just Like Heaven“, “Lovesong” and “Friday I’m in Love” entered the Billboard Top 40 charts. By the start of the 1990s, The Cure were one of the most popular alternative rock bands in the world and have sold an estimated 27 million albums as of 2004. As of 2007, The Cure have released twelve studio albums and over thirty singles, with a thirteenth album in the works.

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Krock

Check out the Cure’s Official site

If any of you have seen what BBC made, those “seven films, charting the history of rock,” you’ll know that it’s one good read. It talks about the birth of rock music until the way it is seen today, from blues-based Rock to Indie and more.

Seven different films were created to feature the seven “ages” of rock. These are:
1.    Blues-based Rock (1963-1970)
2.    Art Rock (1966-1980)
3.    Punk (1973-1980)
4.    Heavy Metal (1970-1991)
5.    Stadium Rock (1965-1993)
6.    Alternative Rock (1980-1994)
7.    Indie (1980-2007)

Source:
BBC.CO.UK

Have you heard on the radio or the TV perhaps a very faint voice on the vocals that you couldn’t tell whether the person singing was a he or a she? Probably you’ve heard many vocalists sing that way, but treat Coheed and Cambria differently. They’re a progressive rock group (they don’t normally have the chorus-based songs), and been a bit of an icon for the “emo” world. A few of their songs hit the mainstream but most didn’t as it can only be appreciated by those who are into progressive rock. Some of their mainstream songs include A Favor House Atlantic, Welcome Home and Blood Red Summer.

By the way, the guy with the frizzy hair’s the one with the small voice. Call it talent.

Photo taken from http://www.100xr.com

Progressive rock

Progressive rock bands went beyond the established rock music formulas by experimenting with different instruments, song types, and musical forms. Progressive rock bands borrowed musical ideas from classical, jazz, electronic, and experimental music. Progressive rock songs ranged from lush, beautiful songs to atonal, dissonant, and complex songs. By the late-1960s, German audiences began listening to progressive rock bands from Britain and the United States. During this period, avant-garde musicians in Germany were playing electronic classical music. By the early 1970s, German progressive rock (later called krautrock) bands were blending jazz (Can) and Asian music (Popol Vuh). In Italy progressive rock was also popular in the 1970s. Some Italian progressive rock bands were Premiata Forneria Marconi, Le Orme, Banco del Mutuo Soccorso and Area International Popular Group.

Although Pakistan has a long history of rock music producing legendary bands such as Junoon and Strings it was only in the 90s that progressive rock made its mark on Pakistani rock scene. Pakistani progressive rock is slowly gaining popularity and more bands are making this kind of music.

There are a few rock bands in India, like Silk Route or Euphoria. In Turkey progressive rock began to grow with Barış Manço in the mid-1970s. His symphonic-progressive rock album 2023, released in 1975, is one of the most important albums in Turkey. He made a contribution to the other genres of rock music with his other albums and became a famous rock star in Turkey.

Soft rock

Rock music had a short-lived “bubble gum pop” era, of soft rock, including groups such as The Partridge Family, The Cowsills, The Osmonds, and The Archies. Other bands or artists added more orchestration and created a popular genre known as soft rock.

Source:
Wikipedia

Folk rockThe folk scene was made up of folk music lovers who liked acoustic instruments, traditional songs, and blues music with a socially progressive message. The folk genre was pioneered by Woody Guthrie. The Byrds, who playing Bob Dylan’s Mr. Tambourine Man, helped to start the trend of folk rock, and helped to stimulate the development of psychedelic rock. Neil Young’s lyrical inventiveness and wailing electric guitar attack created a variation of folk rock. Other folk rock artists include Simon & Garfunkel, Joan Baez, The Mamas & the Papas, Joni Mitchell, Bobby Darin and The Band.

In Britain, Fairport Convention began applying rock techniques to traditional British folk songs, followed by groups such as Steeleye Span, Lindisfarne, Pentangle, and Trees.

Psychedelic rock

The 13th Floor Elevators titled their album The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators. The music increasingly became associated with opposition to the Vietnam War.

In England, Pink Floyd had been developing psychedelic rock since 1965 in the underground culture scene. In 1966 the band Soft Machine was formed. Donovan had a folk music-influenced hit with Sunshine Superman, one of the early psychedelic pop records.

Source:

Wikipedia