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Ch. 8 The Growing Rock Monster (1970-1975)
THE HIPPIE AESTHETIC:
Psychedelic Legacies
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BLUES-BASED BRITISH
ROCK: The Stones, Cream, the
Yardbirds
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Led Zeppelin: Blues, Folk, and
Psychedelia
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♫ “Whole Lotta Love”
Led Zeppelin
Blues-based British Rock
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Deep Purple: Blues, Classical
and Psychedelia
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♫ “Highway Star”
Deep Purple
Blues-based British Rock
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Shift in focus from releasing singles to releasing albums as a whole
(inspired by Sgt. Pepper’s)
Incorporating more classical music, electronic music, and jazz
More dependent on the recording studio—the music was harder to
reproduce live
“hippie aesthetic”:
o Lyrics—important topics and themes
o Sophisticated music
o Quality—the music can stand up to repeated listening
o Focus on instrumental virtuosity
o Music awards—“best of” became popular
Based in Chicago electric blues
1970s bands built on the blues foundation set by the Stones, etc.
Introduced blues to white American teens
Stones—one of the most famous bands to successfully transition
from the ‘60s to the ‘70s
Yardbirds—become Led Zeppelin
Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, and Eric Clapton were the guitarists who
helped bridge blues and rock
Focused on AOR format
Page wrote the music; Robert Plant wrote the lyrics
Music—blending traditional electric blues, acoustic folk, and
experimentation; featured Page’s & Plant’s high wailing vocals;
lyrics dealt with spiritual and sexual topics; heavier sound
Page produced and stacked lots of tracks to create the heavier sound
They disbanded after Bonham died of alcohol poisoning in 1980
Career lasted 10 years
“Whole Lotta Love”—psychedelic elements; vocal moaning;
aggressive guitar solo; electronic “panning” across the stereo
spectrum; compound AABA form; avante-garde techniques
Mixes blues-based rock and classical music (Vivaldi and Bach)
Formed in 1968 with psychedelic roots
One of the first bands to combine a rock band with a symphony
orchestra; blends psychedelia with blues-rock
Later works were popular in the U.S. (i.e. Machine Head containing
“Smoke on the Water” and “Highway Star”)
Falsetto screams become commonplace throughout ‘70s and ‘80s
Gillan was famous for recording the musical, Jesus Christ Superstar
Members move on to form: Rainbow, Whitesnake, and Gillan
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Black Sabbath: British Rock
meets the Gothic beginnings of
Metal
♫ “Iron Man”
Black Sabbath
Blues-based British Rock
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AMERICAN BLUES ROCK
& SOUTHERN ROCK
The Allman Brothers Band
♫ “Ramblin’ Man”
The Allman Brothers
Southern Rock
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Lynyrd Skynyrd
♫ “Free Bird”
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Southern Rock
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Charlie Daniels Band
♫ “Devil Went Down to
Georgia”
Charlie Daniels Band
Southern Rock
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Texas & South of the Border:
Santana
♫ “Black Magic Woman”
Santana
American Blues-Rock
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Started as Earth, then changed to Black Sabbath after seeing a Boris
Karloff movie
Sinister riffs, frequent use of the tri-tone (devil’s interval),
dissonance, distortion, dark texture
Laid the foundation for heavy metal of the 1980s
Ozzy Osborne goes solo in 1980
influenced by British blues rock
Duane Allman and Oakley both died in motorcycle accidents in
1971 and 1972
“Ramblin’ Man” is a good example of their country influences
Tom Dowd—producer and engineer—used to work for Atlantic
records
From Florida
More radio-friendly format than the Allman Brothers
Signed with Sounds of the South in Atlanta
Wrote songs about everyday life in the South
Hits: “What’s Your Name”, “Sweet Home Alabama”, “Saturday
Night Special”
1977 plane crash kills three with lead singer Ronnie Van Zant being
one of them
Band splits soon after, but later reunites
Guitarist, singer, and fiddler, Charlie Daniels, started as a studio
musician in Nashville; performed back-up for Bob Dylan at one
point
Music was closely connected to the hippie movement
Other southern rockers looked up to him
“Southern rock”—one definition is rock bands from the south;
another definition is music that appealed to or portrayed southern
stereotypes of the time (hard-drinking men, pick-up trucks with gun
racks, and confederate flags)
Despite these stereotypes, most Southern rockers were politically
progressive—unlike their music
Led byMexican-influenced/Mexican-born (Latin rock) guitarist
Carlos Santana
Featured the organ playing of Greg Rolie (later joins Journey)
Psychedellic roots; blend of jazz, blues, improvisation, and Latin
rhythms and percussion
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ZZ Top
♫ “Tush”
ZZ Top
American Blues-Rock
American Bands:
Steppenwolf
♫ “Born to be Wild”
Steppenwolf
American Blues-Rock
Three Dog Night
♫ “Mama Told Me Not to
Come”
Three Dog Night
American Blues-Rock
Grand Funk Railroad
♫ “Some Kind of Wonderful”
Grand Funk Railroad
American Blues-Rock
Aerosmith
♫ “Walk This Way”
Aerosmith
American Blues-Rock
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From Texas
First album didn’t chart, but now played as a rock radio staple
Considered “Texas Blues”—more like Lynyrd Skynyrd than the
Allman Brothers
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Steppenwolf was started by John Kay—a German singer and
guitarist
Named after famous novel by Herman Hesse
Known for gruff vocals, driving guitars and drums, and distortion
Started in Los Angeles in 1967 and broke up in 1972
Also blues-influenced
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Los Angeles-based; produced by Brian Wilson (Beach Boys)
Blues-based soul, 3 lead singers, focused on vocals, AM-friendly
approach
Broke up in the mid-1970s
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From MI
Roots in 1960s pop and soul music
Placed 10 albums in the Billboard top 10
One of the most popular bands in rock music of the early 1970s
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Their first album didn’t chart, and “Dream On” only made it to #59
on the U.S. charts
From Boston; similar sound/image to the Rolling Stones
Steven Tyler and Joe Perry were going for the rough/tough guy
demeanor and appearance
“Walk this Way” helps rap break into the rock audience
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PROGRESSIVE ROCK: BIG
IDEAS & HIGH AMBITION
Philosophical Lyrics and
Concept Albums
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The Use of Classical Music
with Rock
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Progressive rock bands became obsessed with the “concept album”
approach
Great attention was put toward album cover artwork
Concept albums featured lyrics about:
o Religion and spirituality
o Politics and power
o Technological advancements
o Existential angst (anxiety, worry, fear)
The music was supposed to provide a trip
Increasingly ambitious; opposite of the singer-songwriter movement
of the same time
Started by Moody Blues when Decca asked them to make a rock
version of Dvorak’s New World Symphony to sell stereo equipment
Procol Harum mixes Percy Sledge’s “When a Man Loves a
Woman” with a J.S. Bach cantata
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The Who: Townshend’s Big
Projects
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♫ “We’re Not Gonna Take It”
The Who
Progressive Rock
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In the Beginning:
King Crimson
♫ “21st Century Schizoid
Man”
King Crimson
Progressive Rock
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Emerson, Lake & Palmer (ELP)
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Hippie Spirituality:
Jethro Tull
♫ “Aqualung”
Jethro Tull
Progressive Rock
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Yes
♫ “Roundabout”
Yes
Progressive Rock
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Tommy—rock opera (1969) about a handicapped boy who reaches
enlightenment through pinball.
The point was to convince people that when one puts down the
drugs and alcohol, they can still reach true enlightenment; spiritual
pursuits require effort and sacrifice
Used recurring material throughout the major work, and it was an
opera (commonly used in opera)
Quadrophenia—album about the Brighton Beach riots and Mod
culture popular at the end of the 1960s
After this, they moved away from big projects
King Crimson blended harder, more dissonant(inharmonious) 20th
century music with the consonant (harmonious) 19th century
classical music, and added in modern jazz
Known for aggressive vocals, rhythmic syncopations, and angular
melodic riffs
“21st Century Schizoid Man” was their greatest example of this
Emerson came from the band, Nice
Emerson was known for destroying keyboards onstage
Tarkus—album that included long tracks, some lyrical songs, and
lots of keyboard instruments
Pictures at an Exhibition—based on Modest Mussorgsky’s classical
work of the same name. ELP reworked it and omitted parts to be
replaced with their own music
They were popular in both the U.S. and the UK
Jethro Tull—blues-based; focused on religious institutions and
traditions
Ian Anderson, frontman for Jethro Tull, was known for playing flute
Aqualung—provided a critique of the Church of England and how
they treated the poor
Thick as a Brick—attach on bourgeois values (middle-class)
A Passion Play—about life after death and reincarnation
Some tracks lasted up to 40 minutes
Songs dealt with issues of spirituality; they were inspired by Eastern
religion
One of the most accomplished and commercially successful
progressive rock bands of the early 1970s
Yes captured the innocence of psychedelia
Album, Close to the Edge, was based on Herman Hesse’s novel,
Siddhartha
Song, “Gates of Delerium” was inspired by Leo Tolstoy’s book War
and Peace
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Symphonic Expansion
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The idea was to create longer, more intricate arrangements
Reusing melodic material in new ways allowed for this
Inventive/new rhythmic ideas and changing meter
Use of AABA form (sometimes compound AABA)
Draws on classical music and current pop techniques
Bizarre Tales & Progressive
Rock Theatre:
Genesis
♫ “The Musical Box”
Genesis
Progressive Rock Theatre
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Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel acted out the stories in their songs by
wearing masks and elaborate costumes
Long, complex songs; criticized British life and values with
fantastic stories
“The Musical Box” was about a reincarnated spirit who returns
sexually frustrated 70 years later
Pink Floyd in the 1970s
♫ “Wish You Were Here”
Pink Floyd
Progressive Rock Theatre
JAZZ-ROCK FUSION AND
JAZZ INFLUENCED
ROCK:
Jazz and the Studio Musician
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Progressive rock was the genre that remained the most faithful to
the hippie aesthetic!!
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Focus is on achieving technical master and improvisation methods
Jazz players were hired as studio musicians by day and played jazz
in clubs by night
“studio musician”—player fluent in all styles of music, can site read
music, and is a professional instrumentalist (not amateur)
Influential jazz musicians of the time include: Steve Gadd, Tony
Levin, Larry Carlton (inspired later rockers)
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Jazz-Rock Fusion:
Miles Davis and Beyond
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♫ “Bitches Brew”
Miles and Beyond
Jazz-Rock Fusion
Ummagumma, Atom Heart Mother, Meddle, The Dark Side of the
Moon, Wish You Were Here, The Wall—Pink Floyd’s albums from
the 1970s
Known for being extremely experimental, lots of electronic sounds,
instrumental virtuosity, crazy light shows and stage effects—pigs
flying & plane crash onstage
Syd Barrett was released from the band because of mental illness
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Miles Davis wanted to play jazz music for larger crowds
He connected his music with that of Jimi Hendrix and Cream
(especially Eric Clapton)
John McLaughlin, Joseph Zawinul, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock,
and Wayne Shorter—all famous jazz-rock musicians
Bitches Brew—double album of jazz experimentation pieces that
introduced rock audiences to jazz fusion
Instrumental genre—hardly ever any vocals
Members of Miles Davis’ band went on to form their own bands,
which had some moderate chart success (compared to regular jazz,
they achieved great fame)
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Frank Zappa: Satire and
Complexity
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♫ “You Are What You Is”
Frank Zappa
Jazz-Rock Fusion
Low Sparks and Pretzel Logic:
Traffic
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Steely Dan
♫ “Peg”
Steely Dan
Jazz-Influenced Rock
Horn Bands:
Blood, Sweat and Tears
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♫ “You’ve Made Me So Very
Happy”
Blood, Sweat and Tears
Jazz-Influenced Rock
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Chicago
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♫ “You’re the Inspiration”
Chicago
Jazz-Influenced Rock
GLAM ROCK & ROCK
THEATRE: SHOCKING
CHARACTER
Dressing Up and Acting Out
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Blended satire (sarcasm), musical virtuosity, and sophistication;
incorporates cartoonish vocals to critique television
He didn’t care if his music was commercial, artistic, or relevant—he
did what he wanted to do
Hot Rats, Apostrophe, Overnite Sensation—famous albums
“You Are What You Is” is one of his best examples of artistic
expression
Made a comeback in the early 1970s after taking a hiatus in the late
1960s
Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, and Chris Wood—important band
members
Blend bluesy-vocals with saxophone soloing
Band members change often throughout the early 1970s
Founded by Donald Fagen and Walter Becker—used studio
musicians for their backup tracks when they stopped touring
Music was written out before recording began, but solos were
typically improvised
“Peg” from Aja album is one of the best examples of their
performance style
Jazz rock horn-band
Formed by Al Kooper (previously with Bob Dylan and Lynyrd
Skynyrd)
Achieved great success in the U.S. after David Clayton-Thomas
joined
Self-titled album won a Grammy in 1970
Made horn section more important in their recordings through solos
and ensemble playing (like big band music of the 1930s and 1940s)
“You’ve Made Me So Very Happy” is a good example of their
performance style
Blended melodic pop vocals and sophisticated, horn-dominated
accompaniment
Popular in the U.S. and the UK
Beatles-influenced pop sound with jazz style horn arrangements
Jazz-Rock fusion was hated by traditionalists because they thought
it was a sell out
Formed out of the Rock Theatre movement started by Genesis and
Pink Floyd
1970s rock shows moved from theatres and ballrooms (smaller
venues) to arenas and stadiums (large venues)
Audiences started expecting bigger shows
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Ziggy Played Guitar:
David Bowie
♫ “Fame”
David Bowie
Glam Rock
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Alice Cooper: Welcome to My
Nightmare
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♫ “School’s Out”
Alice Cooper
Glam Rock
KISS and Makeup
♫ “Rock and Roll All Night”
KISS
Glam Rock
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Developed stage characters/stage personalities: David Bowie and
Alice Cooper being greatest examples
Inspired by the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s album
UK “glam rock” singer—only UK glam rock singer to achieve
significant success in the U.S.
Stage personality was Ziggy Stardust
Androgynous clothing, makeup, sci-fi, topics of alienation (i.e.
2001: A Space Odyssey)
Alice Cooper was the stage persona for Vincent Furnier
Known for dark, gruesome death depicted onstage (goth);
depression and anger
Influenced heavily by Jim Morrison (of the Doors)
He used satire so people didn’t take his music too seriously
Went solo and had greater fame as a soloist
Roots in psychedelia: the music was a trip
Whole band had stage characters (not just the lead singer as with the
other bands) with costumes and elaborate makeup
Shows included lights, flames, and explosions
Blues-based rock band
Rough start, but once they achieved success with “Rock and Roll
All Night” (live version), they re-released older material
Action figures, feature-length film, etc. helped fuel their fame
SINGER-SONGWRITERS:
THE IMPORTANCE OF
BEING EARNEST
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Derived out of the 1960s folk revival (i.e. Bob Dylan, John Lennon,
Paul McCartney)
Appealed to post-college young adults
Unmediated personal perspectives; authentic; sincere and intimate
Singer/song/text most important, not the instruments
James Taylor
♫ “You’ve Got a Friend in Me”
Singer-Songwriter
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Signed to Apple label in 1968 (the Beatles’ label)
1st album flopped, but signing with Warner saved his career
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Started as strictly a songwriter, writing songs for James Taylor and
various other artists, then she emerged as one of the most famous
performing artists of the 1970s
Multiple successful albums
Carole King
♫ “Too Late”
Singer-Songwriter
Paul Simon
♫ “Still Crazy After All These
Years”
Singer-Songwriter
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Formerly of Simon and Garfunkel
Infuses reggae before it became well-known; incorporates jazz
elements; used studio band frequently
Subdued, yet sophisticated music
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American Poets Society:
Carly Simon
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Confessional songs that were focused on vocals, piano, acoustic
guitar and/or strings
Lyrics were about life changes after college
“You’re So Vain” best example
Harry Chapin
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Known for his baritone voice and acoustic guitar
Most famous song “Cat’s in the Cradle”
Don McLean
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Known for piano, acoustic guitar, and nostalgic lyrics
Most famous for “American Pie”
Jim Croce
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Killed in a plane crash in 1973
Ironically, he recorded a song about death right before he died
Most famous for “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown”
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Van Morrison blends jazz and rhythm and blues
Most notable albums of the 1970s were Moondance, Tupelo Honey
Cat Stevens
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Cat Stevens had a string of hit albums in the U.S. and UK
“Peace Train” was the most famous song
Elton John
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One of the most well-known and most successful singer-songwriters
Teamed up with Bernie Taupin (lyricist) much like the Brill
Building songwriting teams
One of most famous singer-songwriter genre songs was “Your
Song”
Moves to rock later on
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Origins in folk, but experiments with jazz
Used studio musicians for backup
Incorporates avante-garde techniques
One of the most eclectic and experimental singer-songwriters
“Help Me” was her biggest hit
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Formerly of Buffalo Springfield and also performed with Crosby,
Stills and Nash
Song “Southern Man”—inspired by “Sweet Home Alabama” by
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Known for thin voice, somewhat out of tune singing, but he helps
make imperfection okay in the rock world
British Singer-Songwriters:
Van Morrison
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Canadian Voices:
Joni Mitchell
♫ “Help Me”
Joni Mitchell
Singer-Songwriter
Neil Young
♫ “Heart of Gold”
Neil Young
Singer-Songwriter
COUNTRY ROCK: The Gift
to Be Simple
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Country music was honest, authentic, simple, down-home music
Centers in Nashville, TN and Bakersfield, CA
The Byrds and Bob Dylan go to Nashville to record
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Crosby, Stills, Nash (and
Young)
♫ “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes”
Country Rock
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Blended folk, jazz, country and blues
Use acoustic and electric guitars, vocal harmony, and catchy pop
lyrics
One of their best known songs was “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes”
The Band
♫ “Up on Cripple Creek”
The Band
Country Rock
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Made up of mostly Canadians
Featured Levon Helm and Robbie Robertson
Loved music of the American South
Mix of country and folk
Poor Boys Make Good:
Creedence Clearwater Revival
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From San Francisco, CA
Mix country, rhythm and blues vocals, and psychedelia
Brothers John and Tom Fogerty, Stu Cook, and Doug Clifford
members
Multiple hit singles
Concept album approach on Willy and the Poor Boys—southern
themes
♫ “Fortunate Son”
Creedence Clearwater
Revival
Country Rock
The Avacado Mafia (The
Eagles)
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♫ “Take it Easy”
The Eagles
Country Rock
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Los Angeles, Woodstock, and San Francisco became U.S. centers
for country rock
Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Randy Meisner, Don Felder, Bernie
Leadon band members
Started as backup for Linda Ronstadt
Eventually move away from country rock genre
Mixes folk rock, country, and Beatles/Beach Boys vocal style with a
southern accent