The History of Rock Music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that originated as "rock and roll" in the United States in the 1950s, and developed into a range of different styles in the 1960s and later. Musically, rock was centred on the electric guitar, usually as part of a rock group with electric bass guitar and drums. Typically, rock is song-based music usually with a 4/4 time signature using a verse-chorus form, but the genre has become extremely diverse. Like pop music, lyrics often stress romantic love but also address a wide variety of other themes that are frequently social or political in emphasis.
The dominance of rock by white, male musicians has been seen as one of the key factors shaping the themes explored in rock music. Rock places a higher degree of emphasis on musicianship, live performance, and an ideology of authenticity than pop music.
By the late 1960's, referred to as the "golden age" or "classic rock" period, a number of distinct rock music sub-genres had emerged, including hybrids like blues rock, folk rock, country rock and jack-rock fusion, many of which contributed to the development of psychedelic rock, which was influenced by the countercultural psychedelic scene.
New genres that emerged from this scene included progressive rock, which extended the artistic elements; glam rock, which highlighted showmanship and visual style; and the diverse and enduring subgenre of heavy metal, which emphasized volume, power and speed.
Rock music has also embodied and served as the vehicle for cultural and social movements, leading to major sub-cultures including mods and rockers in the UK and the hippie counterculture that spread out from San Francisco in the US in the 1960s. Similarly, 1970s punk culture spawned the visually distinctive Goth and emo subcultures. Inheriting the folk tradition of the protest song, rock music has been associated with political activism as well as changes in social attitudes to race, sex and drug use, and is often seen as an expression of youth revolt against adult consumerism and conformity.
Until the 1980s few women claimed the rock and roll stage and only a handful recorded memorable albums. Janis Joplin, perhaps still the reining queen of rock, had one of the most exciting - and most tragic - careers in rock. In the 1970s, vocalist and songwriter Stevie Nicks gave the group Fleetwood Mac its signature sound, transforming it from average band to one of the biggest selling rock groups in history.
Quotes
"Rock and roll keeps you in a constant state of juvenile delinquency."
Eddie Spaghetti - 2000
"I'd rather be dead than cool."
Kurt Cobain of Nirvana - 1992
"Until I realized that rock music was my connection to the rest of the human race. I felt like I was dying, for some reason, and I don't know why"
- Bruce Springsteen
"Pop music often tells you everything is OK, while rock music tells you that it's nit OK, but you can change it"
- Bono, On the Move
History
When it comes to documenting the twisted, glorious saga of rock, you’d think that 10 hour-long videotapes would suffice. But judging from the ambitious History of Rock ‘n’ Roll (1995, Time-Life, 800-241-2400, $13.48 for Vol. 1; $23.48 for Vols. 2-10), you’d need enough tape to equal the first Woodstock-at least 72 hours’ worth-to adequately cover all the bases. Take Vol. 1, Rock ‘n’ Roll Explodes.
It opens with what-rock-means-to-me observations from such disparate talents as Graham Nash and B.B. King. Then, during its second half hour, it whips through-hold on-Buddy Holly, Muddy Waters, gospel, Louis Jordan, Ray Charles, the blues, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, the ’50s payola hearings, and Elvis.
The whole mess leaves you dizzy and bewildered, as if you’re trapped in the most mushily nostalgic side of Dick Clark’s brain. (He’s here too, of course.) So it goes with the other nine volumes of this Herculean, but often superficial, effort. Good Rockin’ Tonight, which traces rock’s first heyday, in the late ’50s, is followed by Britain Invades, America Fights Back, which rushes through the rise of the Beatles and their peers and the simultaneous reign of Motown and the Beach Boys. Vol. 4, Plugging In, meanders from L.A. folk rock to Hendrix. The Sounds of Soul starts with James Brown and ends with, er, Daryl Hall. The rise of FM rock and the ’60s counterculture is traced in My Generation; Vol. 7, Guitar Heroes, cranks through all the expected ax-grinders, such as Eric Clapton and Eddie Van Halen. The ’70s: Have a Nice Decade leapfrogs from Ozzy Osbourne to disco to Bob Marley to Springsteen and segues naturally into Vol. 9, Punk. The last two decades- covering the birth of MTV and rap, with absurdly brief stops for vital (but non-”rock”) artists like Madonna and Michael Jackson-are lumped together in Up From the Underground.
My + Generation, for instance, includes a veritable orgy aboard a Stones tour jet.) A running narrative with historical data and critical insight would have helped make sense of this onslaught of images. Instead, the producers rely on interviews to fill in the blanks. There’s no shortage of memorable quips, from the eternally quotable Pete Townshend recalling the deaths of Hendrix, Joplin, et al. (”They may be your f – -ing icons-they’re my f – -ing friends”) to Gregg Allman mumbling, ”Rap is short for crap.” But for every terrific line or anecdote, there are two that are frustratingly generic.
A very rare live clip of the early Steely Dan is interrupted several times by say-nothing reminiscences from former member Jeff ”Skunk” Baxter. The worst offender is Quincy Jones-one of the series’ executive producers-who appears on nearly every tape whether or not he has any insight to offer. (Of the Motown sound, he digs deep and emerges with ”It was very, very different.”) Every so often, the voice of Gary Busey pops up to provide bland comments like ”The electric guitar defined rock & roll.”
By trying to jam-pack each volume with both clips and recollections, the series ends up being a weird paradox: It’s both too much and not enough. The one exception is Punk. From a hilarious clip of Iggy Pop on The Dinah Shore Show in 1977 (”What did you do to those nice people out there?” she attempts to banter after his performance) to live footage of the Patti Smith Group and the Sex Pistols’ chaotic final concert, Punk has a pogoing narrative drive; it feels like a self-contained mini-movie.
”New wave was the corruption of everything,” recalls Johnny Lydon (formerly Rotten) with a sneer, which leads into the Police’s video for ”Every Breath You Take.” It’s a subtle, snide bit of attitude and editorializing-exactly what the nine companion tapes lack.
Photography
[Steve Double - Nirvana]
[Jay Blakesberg - Red Hot Chili Peppers]
[Richard E. Aaron - Steven Tyler]
[Youngerman - Beatles 1963]
These are a few images, which go very well with my assignment, all the images were found on Google images.
From this, I started researching into copyright laws of Google images because I wasn't completely sure whether i'd be able to use the images for my work.
'How many times have you used Google and found the perfect image or photograph? As tempting as it is to copy and paste that image and perhaps even manipulate it for your purposes, you need to consider copyright law before doing so.
Google is a search engine that helps you locate content such as images and photos. It is not a content depository, and it is not a collection of public domain or copyright-free works. Google points you to images and photos according to your search criteria. Once you find that perfect image or photo, you must take certain steps before you may legally use it.
Assume that Online Content is Protected by Copyright
To start, you should assume that all online images are protected by copyright. Then do your research to determine if the image you want to use actually requires permission. For example, images and photographs in the public domain do not require permission. Is there a Creative Commons license attached to the image or photograph that permits limited or unlimited use of that image without communicating with the copyright owner? Are there terms of use attached to the image or photograph? If so, read the terms of use or copyright information to see whether the illustrator or photographer allows you to use the image or photo for certain purposes without obtaining permission from him. If you do not see such permission clearly indicated, then you need to obtain permission before using the image or photo'
Primary Data
For my primary data I decided to ask a couple of friends on their opinions and views on rock music, I decided to use two friends from different genders, this was so I could evaluate their different or same views and take note for my work. Nothing they said was spoken about beforehand so I gained this qualitative data to help me get a deeper insight into how rock music can affect a persons life.
To give my documentary a more professional feel to it I decided to try and get interviews with the editor of Kerrang magazine and with XFM's drive time DJ, Dan O'Connell. Unfortunately I didn't get a response from either of them. Just my luck!
[Email to Dan O'Connell from XFM]
[Email to the editor at Kerrang Magazine]
Interview
- What or who comes to mind when you think of Rock music?
- What rock artist/band do you most admire and why?
- How would you describe rock music?
- How has Rock music changed in your lifetime?
- In the 1980's female artists such as Janice Joplin and Pat Benatar stormed into the rock music scene with some big hits, what's your opinion on female rock stars?
Target Audience
My primary target audience will be males aged between 25-50 because people at this age will reminisce back to their youth when they would be at parties in the 70's whilst listening to The Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd. For myself personally I don't know many people my age who listen to radio documentaries, therefore the older audience will be more attracted to my documentary as they are more likely to be listening to documentaries.
BBC World Service Demographics
Radio Industry
I wrote this for my radio coursework while doing the HNC to prove that I have knowledge of the radio industry where I had to provide three radio advertisements for my client at Barking and Dagenham college.
The link below is for the section on my blog named 'Promotional Video' where the document can be found.
Commissioning
The links below are from the official BBC website, they ensure an audience about how radio shows can get the opportunities to be commissioned and the guidelines you have to follow to gain a slot as a BBC show. These basic rules apply to both radio, TV and photography. Keep within the legal and ethical sides of production. Be considerate of the audience, do not exploit people, always credit people involved as well as not breaking the law while doing this.
Documentaries
Rock 'n' Roll in Four Movements
I started my search into radio documentaries by first off listening to BBC Radio 4's 'Rock 'n' Roll in Four Movements'. I listened to it online on the BBC iPlayer radio site, here is the link to the website:
Mon 3 Jun 201316:00
Pitch
Follow this link for my pitch on Prezi...
Script
Disclaimer
I do not own the songs that I've included in my documentary so I've added a disclaimer as I don't own the rights to them. The interviews are also not mine but I'm in the process of contacting the production teams that created the interview and hopefully get a reply soon. I've pointed out that this is for educational use, which of course isn't a lie, this is just so that I'm not making money off other peoples work.
Disclaimer: All content used is for educational use only. If you have any issues or queries, email me on Alice-anne94@hotmail.co.uk
My Documentary
Evaluation
For this assignment we had to make a radio documentary, I decided to do mine on the history of rock. I started by researching into rock, the artists that fall into the genre and what defines the chosen genre. I found my research to be very helpful so I moved on to making my pitch, once the pitch had been presented to the class and agreed, I started to progress on the assignment. I wanted the feeling of nostalgia when listening so I decided to aim my documentary at men aged between 25-50. The next step was to write my script, after listening to BBC radio 4's 'Rock n Roll in Four Movements' I decided to lay my script out a little similar to theirs, having the music be the first thing you hear before the introduction and then having snippets of songs play throughout the documentary.
For the production of the script I decided to research the most influential artists and songs in rock history, this gave me my outline for my script.
Once the script was finished, the next step was to record my piece, I decided to be the narrator as I couldn't find anyone who would step up to it. I despised this decision as my voice made it sound dull and boring, if I was to do this assignment again I would most definitely get a more upbeat sounding voice, preferably male - to tie in with my target audience.
The editing process, I think was the most successful part of production. I enjoy editing on Adobe Audition so I spent most of the time editing my production to the best I could do.
Overall, I really enjoyed this assignment, my strengths for this production I think would be my editing skills, but my weakness would be getting out of my comfort zone and relying on someone else to deliver the narration, I think the production would have sounded a lot better and would have been easier to edit.
No comments:
Post a Comment