MUSIC TO YOUR EARS. 19. Heaven, Hell and Utopia. Part 1 of 2.

artwork b Murray Young

From God to Satan, from the compassion of the Sisters of Mercy to the despair of Friedrich Nietzsche and praise for Tara, the Mother of all Buddhas . This is a series of posts about the politics and culture, the history and structure of music. Over the years I have watched and analysed hundreds of music videos, including some that are very good. The best one I’ve seen is about life and death, about hope and despair, about asking questions. It is intelligently crafted (note the captions), not particularly dramatic, it is realistic and different people will probably take it very different ways. The string arrangement is by former Led Zeppelin bass player John Paul Jones. The group is R.E.M. (two of its members are atheists, two aren’t) and the song is Everybody Hurts – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rOiW_xY-kc&ab_channel=remhq .

This is a post about the music of Heaven, Hell and Utopia, with a reminder that the word ‘utopia’ means a perfect but non-existent place. It turns out that both the theists and the atheists out there have been creating some incredibly good music. There have been so many songs about religion, most pro but some con, that there is enough material for two posts (at least). This is the first one and it begins with a pair of opposites – an anguished plea to a very sinister Western God followed by an incredibly inspiring Tibetan ballad in praise of Tara, the deity of enlightenment and abundance. To begin with, Randy Newman has written highly controversial compositions about racism (Sail Away and Rednecks), sexual perversion (You Can Leave Your Hat On), and the end of the world (Political Science) but his most controversial piece, and I think his best one, is simply entitled God’s Song – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0TvfqmWf4M&ab_channel=christianisgroovy . In contrast, here is Om Tare Tu Tara Ture Soha, a song from a group of accomplished blind musicians, a song of hope and healing, about seeing the spirit within when one’s vision outward has failed. Notice the intense focused reaction of the audience inside the auditorium as well as in the street outside, and the ovation at the end – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayGQoJdRcdQ&ab_channel=KonSeaRing .Which of these two compositions do you find more comforting? More inspiring? More realistic? Is music created by non-religious composers just as good as music created by religious composers? It depends on how much musical skill the respective composers have, for one thing. Can a vision of life inspire great music even if that vision has no basis in reality? Of course it can, as long as the visionary isn’t aware of that disconnect with reality. Are we talking about more than one reality here? Devoutly religious people have done things both inspiring and compassionate, and cruel and horrific. The same is true of those who are not religious.

PLEASE NOTE: I have attempted to include a wide range of music in these posts, including music I don’t like but which is important or demonstrates a musical idea well. Almost any piece of music is interesting in some way. I recommend at least sampling all the music here – you might be pleasantly surprised. At least check out specific sections of compositions which I have identified. If you don’t like a clip just stop and jump to the next clip.

LEONARD COHEN MURAL, MONTREAL, CANADA.
By Thomas1313 – Own work, CC BY-SA 1.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=67513957

There have been many noteworthy grand works of religious music such as Handel’s Messiah and Mozart’s Requiem as well as shorter works such as Baba Yetu (this is the Lord’s Prayer in Swahili and here is an unusual and highly energetic performance of this work – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsINANZ6Riw&ab_channel=AlexBoye ). Here are some other examples of well-executed religious musical compositions:

1. I take this track to be U2’s devastating commentary on American religion – In God’s Country – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sERtcG-TUCU&ab_channel=U2VEVO
2. A more nuanced take. Canadian singer, songwriter, poet Leonard Cohen, who is an observant Jew but who has also been ordained a Buddhist priest, has this to say about the Sisters of Mercy, members of an institute of Catholic women founded in Ireland in 1831 by Catherine McAuley – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZkmPQQK92s&ab_channel=LOMEJORDELAMUSICA
3. A fairly straightforward track – Madonna – Like a Prayer – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79fzeNUqQbQ&ab_channel=Madonna
4. The symphonic rock band Procol Harum has been releasing high quality material for decades, including a few unorthodox religious tracks, and this track is from what I think is their best record, about a dying man whose life has been a spiritual failure. The track is called Crucifiction Lane – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCafiNz8hRs&ab_channel=InsanEssence
5. Here is one of the better tracks by The Band, with help from the Staple Singers. The song is in 4 / 4 time but notice that the chorus consists of four bars of 4 / 4, then a bar of 3 / 4, then two more bars of 4 / 4. Also, 99.9% of all songs end on the tonic note of the scale of the key the song is written in. This song doesn’t – it ends on the sub-dominant rather than the tonic. The song is The Weight – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-w9OclUnns&ab_channel=GreatOldiesDJ
6. Here is a non-Christian religious song from the former lead guitarist with The Beatles, George Harrison. This exuberant up-tempo Hindu track is not very nice to Roman Catholicism, however, as one can see by the lines “The Pope owns 51% of General Motors. The stock exchange is the only thing he’s qualified to quote us”. Both EMI and Capitol Records who distributed the album containing the song in the UK and the US respectively deleted these lines from the lyric sheet accompanying the album. The song was produced by Phil Spector, has his trademark Wall of Sound feel to it, and is called Awaiting On You All – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGI3RWBhuUo&ab_channel=J.Lauschner .
7. A second religious song from George, Living in the Material World, which nicely swings back and forth between Western music and Indian music starting at the 1 minute 45 second mark, features Ringo Starr on drums and has a lovely rock and roll ending – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31nvQDSzxrU&ab_channel=DwightWelch . Harrison’s best religious song by far is called Within You Without You but I won’t deal with it here. It is too complex musically to deal with it fairly here.
8. There are many great religious musical compositions from the Baroque era including one which I (and most musical historians) consider to be the greatest (or certainly one of the greatest) piece of music ever created by anyone – I’m talking, of course, about The St. Matthew Passion, a highly religious work by J.S. Bach. However, Karajan’s recording of the work lasts 3 hours and 23 minutes so instead of linking to that I will give you another great religious work by Bach, Jesus bleibet meine Freude (Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring), less than four minutes long. It was composed in 1723, and sounds simple but isn’t, as is often the case with Bach. There are really two melodies, and the more dominant doesn’t begin until 27 seconds in and, gasp, is played by the left hand not the right. It flips over to the right hand later, and notice too how most of the notes are identical in length, a ridiculous but brilliant move on Bach’s part. Here is a 1947 recording of the thing by Lipatti – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7PNFDrcqmY&ab_channel=ThePianoFiles .

Also, for a variety of atypical religious Christmas songs here are links to two of my previous posts – https://thekiddca.wordpress.com/2020/12/21/not-your-average-christmas-music/ and https://thekiddca.wordpress.com/2021/12/20/music-to-contemplate-christmas-by-christmas-2021/ .

In terms of a political God, in one of Bob Dylan’s early songs, recorded back in the days when his songs were worth a listen, before he became born again, we hear a careful, aggressive analysis of the political appropriation of God with some very evil intentions in the song With God On Our Side – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y2FuDY6Q4M&ab_channel=BobDylanVEVO .

Then there are the songs focusing on the other side of the religious coin. The Rolling Stones’ most controversial song is Sympathy For the Devil and here’s a slightly different take on that classic song this time recorded by Guns ‘N’ Roses – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyuBUkIKzWk&ab_channel=%E3%82%B8%E3%83%A7%E3%83%B3%E9%AB%98%E6%A9%8B The Rolling Stones also talked about Satan in another song in which Mr. D is, of course, the Devil, but at the end who is this person Mistress D? This is a track from the early 1970’s soon after Mick Taylor joined the band (he’s the one in the floral hat) re-placing co-founder guitarist Brian Jones dead at 27. Keith looks so young here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hw1SKn5eFM&ab_channel=TheRollingStones . There are most likely various heavy metal anthems to Satan out there as well but I suspect they’re all pretty generic and their primary goal is simply to provoke an outraged response from their elders.

George Harrison of The Beatles had strong religious feelings, but the other Beatle who he got along with best, and who was most like him, the leader John Lennon, was an atheist. This can be seen in perhaps Lennon’s most famous song after the break-up of The Beatles, a song that was highly praised and frequently covered and which outraged many on the religious right in the United States – Imagine – The lines that got him into trouble were: “Imagine there’s no heaven / It’s easy if you try / No hell below us / Above us only sky.” Previously The Beatles also released a song that was banned in some parts of the United States, a track called The Ballad of John and Yoko. In that case the lines that got the song banned were: “The way things are going / They’re going to crucify me”. Just to keep the record straight, at one point the religious right in the southern United States made the false claim that John Lennon had said that The Beatles were better than God, a claim that led to death threats on their subsequent U.S. tour. Lennon had said, out of sorrow more than anything else, that at the height of Beatlemania The Beatles had more of an influence on the lives of teenagers than the church, a statement that no one objected to in Britain at the time or since.

HARRY NILSSON 1967
By RCA Victor – Billboard, page 9, 19 August 1967, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26948281

Here is a track by the phenomenal vocalist Harry Nilsson but though it purports to be in praise of God I think he’s really mocking God here. Would a Supreme Deity be offended by something like this? Of course not. She (or He) would probably put it down to immature rebelliousness. Background vocals are by Ringo Starr on this track – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_-gKhc3qFw&ab_channel=KenG

Finally, a series of songs that seem to be sceptical about religion:

1. How the Kinks (and composer Ray Davies) perceive organized revolution is stated clearly in their song Uncle Son but their opinion of God herself / himself can be gleaned from their track Big Sky – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiyrFSSG5_g&ab_channel=CoolPomegranate .
2. The Doors’ track The Soft Parade begins on a dramatic religious note. The charismatic lead singer Jim Morrison can be heard saying – “When I was back there in Seminary school there was a person there who put forth the proposition that you can petition the Lord with prayer. Petition the Lord with prayer. Petition the Lord with prayer.” There is a long pause, then he screams one more line: “You cannot petition the Lord with prayer !!! “ then he goes into the song. It’s almost nine minutes long and there’s not much to it so I won’t provide a link, but it’s got an arresting opening.
3. The anarcho-punk band Chumbawamba from Leeds, England recorded a rather strange but catchy song about some people who seem to have started out religious but became disillusioned – We Don’t Go To God’s House No More – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1JawSJJggE&ab_channel=p00k .

JUDE ABBOTT OF CHUMBAWAMBA, 2010
By Bryan Ledgard – https://www.flickr.com/photos/ledgard/4746401902/, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=58249868

We started with Randy Newman. Here is another song of his in which someone is talking to a lonely old man abandoned by all his friends except one, and about to die. The singer, without malice, reminds the old man, however, how in earlier times the old man had taught the speaker that God did not exist. This is not a happy song. It’s called Old Man – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVpUr5luo6k&ab_channel=RandyNewman-Topic .

Before I provide a link with another, more light-hearted religious track by Randy Newman, a brief foray into the life of the enigmatic highly influential iconoclastic German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche is in order. Nietzsche was a progressive thinker and a harsh opponent of antisemitism and nationalism but his name later became connected with Nazism in part because his antisemitic sister edited and distorted his writings after he died. Nietzsche could read Latin, Hebrew, French and Greek as well as German so he could read primary sources, and he studied theology and philology intending to become a minister. His brilliance was rewarded when he became a professor at the University of Basel at the ridiculously young age of 24. He also served as a medical orderly in the Franco-Prussian War, and he even composed music and was a friend of musical giants Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner. He suffered serious physical and later mental problems throughout his life, however, and died at the age of fifty-five. In 1882 he wrote about a man who runs excitedly into the village square and proclaims:

God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?”

Nietzsche was talking here about the triumph of scientific rationality over sacred revelation as a result of The Enlightenment which unfolded during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE 1882
By Gustav-Adolf Schultze (d. 1897) – Nietzsche by Walter Kaufmann, Princeton Paperbacks, Fourth Edition. ISBN 0-691-01983-5, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=95963

Randy Newman decided to run with this idea and he released a song explaining that God isn’t dead, he’s hiding – I Think He’s Hiding – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuL70a9xpD8&ab_channel=RandyNewman-Topic .

Before I end with a final set of three tracks, a few things which need to be said about atheism:

1. Some ask why atheists choose to reject God as if they have a choice. If an objective rational assessment of reality based on evidence and logic is made and the concept of God is found to have no merit then the atheist has no choice but to reject theism even though of course it would be much nicer if there were things like an afterlife and a loving God.
2. That you have to be religious to be moral is nonsense, and insulting. A fundamentalist behaves in order to avoid eternal fiery torture. An atheist behaves because it is the ethical thing to do. Atheists, without the prospect of Hell, could behave horribly but their behaviour is far better than that of religious fanatics. Shall we talk about the Inquisition and the Crusades, not to mention the lives destroyed by religious fundamentalists?
3. Theists praise God and give him credit for rainbows and kittens (as if refraction and evolution had never been discovered), and for more subtle things as well like human compassion. As the old Anglican hymn puts it, “All things bright and beautiful / all things great and small / all things wise and wonderful / the Lord God made them all.” Monty Python had an answer to that of course – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEKDYIYMgBc&ab_channel=BlessedHerman . Apparently God also made terminal cancer in children along with the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami that killed 19747 people in Japan alone, not to mention the Holocaust and the Slave Trade. If you argue, as most theologians do, that the Holocaust and the Slave Trade were necessary to give humankind free will, then you have to assume a non-interventionist God which makes the idea of prayer laughable. A non-interventionist God means we’re talking about Deism, that is a God that might as well not exist now that he / she has started things going. What many Americans don’t realize is that several of the founding fathers of their country were deists. The free will argument also doesn’t excuse childhood terminal diseases and lethal natural disasters.
4. The Ontological Argument, The Cosmological Argument, The Teleological Argument and other arguments for theism have also all been soundly discredited.

I will end this post with three amazing videos with profound religious implications from three very religious people. The first is from the Man in Black, Johnny Cash, whose religious feelings were extremely strong and raw and honest. The track is called God’s Gonna Cut You Down. Kris Kristofferson, Sheryl Crow, The Dixie Chicks, Bono, Brian Wilson, Keith Richards and his skull ring, and others, make appearances here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJlN9jdQFSc&ab_channel=JohnnyCashVEVO . The second video was made by the great David Bowie just days before he died of cancer and I can’t get this one out of my head. This is how this masterful individual chose to leave this world. The song is called Lazarus – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-JqH1M4Ya8&ab_channel=DavidBowieVEVO . The most powerful song of the three, the most important song I have heard in years, is a darker take on religion recorded by the devoutly religious Leonard Cohen shortly before he died. This is actually a video of an event which took place in Montreal, Leonard Cohen’s home town, a few days after his death. The voice, of course, is Cohen’s and everything else is live. This is intensely moving and dark, and I am not sure how to interpret the lyrics. I will leave that up to you. The song is called You Want It Darker? – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XF6JcrSfUwE&ab_channel=CarlBrabant .

There is a lot to think about here.

NEXT POST: HEAVEN, HELL AND UTOPIA Part 2 of 2 From the Prince of Peace to The Prodigal Son, Blind Faith to The Inner Light.

MUSIC TO YOUR EARS

Posts already posted or still being planned as we speak:

1. STAND TO ATTENTION, OR ELSE – Anthems, National and Unofficial. From Black Power to one small flower of eternity, from Oceania ‘Tis of Thee to Lift Every Voice and Sing – https://thekiddca.wordpress.com/2021/09/22/music-to-your-ears-1-stand-to-attention-or-else/
2. WHY? – Twenty-five purposes and functions of music. From Pressed Rat and Warthogto Rainy Day Women Number Twelve and Thirty-five, from propaganda to religion, labour relations to storytelling – https://thekiddca.wordpress.com/2021/09/29/music-to-your-ears-2-why/
3. LISTEN UP – Things to listen for when you listen to a piece of music. From Kashmir to Vine Street, St. James Infirmary to Scarborough Fair – https://thekiddca.wordpress.com/2021/10/06/music-to-your-wars-3-listen-up/
4. THE BRIGHT SIDE OF LIFE – Silly and Satirical Songs. From vegetables to metaphysical dogma, inebriated philosophers to short people – https://thekiddca.wordpress.com/2021/10/14/music-to-your-ears-4-the-bright-side-of-life/
5. THE COMPLEXITIES OF WAR – https://thekiddca.wordpress.com/2021/10/21/music-to-your-ears-5-the-complexities-of-war/
6. HOMELAND AND LIFE: A Case Study – An examination of the recent explosive viral video Patria y Vida – https://thekiddca.wordpress.com/2021/10/27/music-to-your-ears-6-homeland-and-life/
7. REALITY CHECK – From Kristallnacht to the Long March, massive floods and burning rivers, Wounded Knee to the École Polytechnique – Music memorializing real events – https://thekiddca.wordpress.com/2021/11/03/music-to-your-ears-7-reality-check/
8. CINEMATIC MUSIC – From the Squid Game to the Witcher in the heat of the night in the darkest depths of Mordor – how music offers an added dimension to the cinematic experience – https://thekiddca.wordpress.com/2021/11/10/music-to-your-ears-8-cinematic-music/
9. DRAMATIS PERSONAE – From Nelson Mandela to Albert Einstein, Harriet Tubman to Sally Ride – Music celebrating real people – https://thekiddca.wordpress.com/2021/11/17/music-to-your-ears-9-dramatis-personae/
10. THE BEATLES – GOOD, BAD AND WRONG – From The Rolling Stones to Pete Best, from Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds to the Walrus – things about The Beatles rarely said but which need to be said – https://thekiddca.wordpress.com/2021/11/22/music-to-your-ears-10-the-bad-the-good-and-the-wrong/
11. MUSIC LEFT AND RIGHT – From the King to the Kid, Uncle Son to Joe Hill – music from the extremes of the political spectrum – https://thekiddca.wordpress.com/2021/12/02/music-to-your-ears-11-music-right-and-left/
12. MUSIC LEFT AND RIGHT REDUX – Further thoughts about MUSIC LEFT AND RIGHT – https://thekiddca.wordpress.com/2021/12/08/music-left-and-right-redux/
13. DANCE TO THE MUSIC – From Slim and Slam to ring shouts and the macabre. – dances political, religious and silly – https://thekiddca.wordpress.com/?p=5344
14. STREAMING AUDIO – Third Stream Music from Bach as Rock to Yiddish Reggae – deftly combining broad categories of music – https://thekiddca.wordpress.com/2022/01/05/music-to-your-ears-14-streaming-audio/
15. INVISIBLE GENIUSES – Session Musicians and Guest Musicians – an appreciation of great musicians you have probably never heard of – https://thekiddca.wordpress.com/2022/01/12/music-to-your-ears-14-invisible-virtuosi/
16. THE EVOLUTION OF MUSIC 2700 BCE to 1900 CE – From a Satanic violinist to a blues master who sold his soul to the Devil at the Crossroads – https://thekiddca.wordpress.com/2022/01/19/music-to-your-ears-16-the-dramatic-evolution-of-music-part-1-of-3/
17. THE EVOLUTION OF MUSIC 1900 to 1980 CE – From Big Mama and Smokey to Bill Haley’s Comets and the Flamingos – https://thekiddca.wordpress.com/2022/01/26/music-to-your-ears-17-the-dramatic-evolution-of-music-part-2-of-3/
18. THE EVOLUTION OF MUSIC 1966 to 2022 – From troubadours who die before they reach Bombay to wisdom from the Tibetan Book of the Dead – https://thekiddca.wordpress.com/2022/02/02/music-to-your-ears-18-the-dramatic-evolution-of-music-part-3-of-3/
19. HEAVEN, HELL AND UTOPIA – Part 1 of 2. From God to Satan, from the compassion of the Sisters of Mercy to the despair of Friedrich Nietzsche.
20. HEAVEN, HELL AND UTOPIA – Part 2 of 2. From the Prince of Peace to the Prodigal Son, Blind Faith to The Inner Light.
21. Musical Families – musical dynasties

GHOST STORIES. In preparation as a break from the endless music posts, these are stories about people no longer alive who did important and amazing things, sometimes risking their lives, but were largely unknown or are now forgotten. From the ENIAC Girls and the Zamani Soweto Sisters to The Wrecking Crew and master magician and charlatan nemesis Harry Houdini and his secret operatives.

MUSIC TO MY EARS – 18. The Dramatic Evolution of Music. Part 3 of 3.

artwork by Murray Young

From troubadours who die before they reach Bombay to wisdom from the Tibetan Book of the Dead. A series of posts on the politics and culture, the structure and history of music.

Music is universal and eternal. It covers the spectrum from elation to despair. The musical community includes an astrophysicist, Pretty Things and Small Faces. There are also musicians who died horrible early deaths (Mia Zapata, John Lennon, and Buddy Holly and Richard Valenzuela and the Big Bopper all together). This is the third of three posts on the evolution of music. If you want a comprehensive historical overview of the history of music in a relatively short space, with some politics here and there then this is for you. World Music is simply too comprehensive and complex to be included here and I am not knowledgeable enough to do it justice. In these descriptions it is impossible to list every important performer and composition but it is hoped that a comprehensive, balanced representation has been achieved. This material is organized as follows:

POST 1 – Folk, Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Gospel, Galant, Classical, Romantic, Theatrical, The Blues, Modernism and Jazz.

POST 2 – Country Music, Rhythm and Blues, Rock and Roll, Postmodernism, Pop, Funk, Heavy Metal and Hip Hop / Rap.

POST 3 – Rock Music

TIME LINE:

1. 2700 BCE on – FOLK MUSIC
2. 2700 BCE – the ancient Egyptian Orchestra – the earliest Western classical music
3. 500 BCE – Pythagoras worked out mathematically how musical tones are created
4. 500 – 1420 – MEDIEVAL MUSIC
5. 1420 – 1600 – RENAISSANCE MUSIC
6. 1580 – 1750 – BAROQUE
7. Early 1600’s – GOSPEL
8. 1720 – 1780 – GALANT
9. 1750 – 1820 – CLASSICAL
10. 1800 – 1910 – ROMANTIC
11. 1850 – 1918 – THEATRICAL – BRITAIN (Music Hall)
12. 1870’s – THE BLUES
13. 1880 – 1930’s – THEATRICAL – NORTH AMERICA (Vaudeville)
14. 1890 – 1975 – MODERNIST
15. 1900 – JAZZ
16. 1920’s – COUNTRY (Hillbilly)
17. 1940’s – COUNTRY (Country and Western), RHYTHM AND BLUES
18. Late 1940’s – ROCK AND ROLL
19. 1950 – POSTMODERN
20. 1950’s, 1960’s – POP, FOLK REVIVAL
21. Mid 1960’s – FUNK, ROCK
22. Late 1960’s – HEAVY METAL
23. 1970’s – HIP HOP / RAP

Since approximately 1980 music has thrived and expanded into many genres and sub-genres, and into the blurred spaces between genres.

BRIAN MAY OF QUEEN
By Raph_PH – QueenO2121217-28, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=67680599

ROCK

1. Time Period: Rock music emerged in the mid-1960’s.
2. Influences: ROCK AND ROLL, POP, BLUES, FOLK, JAZZ, RHYTHM AND BLUES, CLASSICAL

Rock took Rock and Roll, combined it with Pop, with bits of electric blues, rhythm and blues and soul thrown in, and made everything more comprehensive and complicated. Rock grew up in Canada, the United States and Britain then spread internationally. Rock music continues to be recorded but the late 1960’s and 1970’s was its golden age, and it has expanded into many sub-genres. Rock was also a huge part of the North American counterculture, and part of the Mods and Rockers phenomenon in Britain.

Much of Rock is in 4 / 4 time but it has explored many other time signatures too. It is basically song-based but there is instrumental rock as well. It talks about relationships, as Rock and Roll did, but Rock goes far beyond teen culture and has explored a great number of political and social issues. A typical rock band consisted of a lead singer, lead guitarist, bass guitarist and drummer, sometimes a keyboardist, but as it matured it embraced other instruments as well. Rock bands feature an electric guitar most prominently, as well as other electric instruments. In terms of structure, Dorian and Mixolydian modes are not uncommon in rock and harmonies go from simple triads to perfect fifths and even dissonant harmonies. Rock musicians tend to be better instrumentalists than Rock and Rollers, and is more subversive and rebellious than the tame old mainstream pop it grew out of. It is hard to define a particular track as Rock because it has had many influences and expanded into so many other types of music that the boundaries become blurred. This section is larger than the others because it encompasses more musicians and more music.

The most influential, successful, talented and hard-working of the rock groups was The Beatles. They started out as a harmless pop band producing fairly straightforward music. During the early Beatlemania days their biggest rival was The Rolling Stones who were far more subversive and who in their prime produced high quality music that rivalled The Beatles’ output. Many mocked The Beatles as being approved by teenagers’ parents in contrast to The Rolling Stones who parents hated. One of the two dominant group members of The Beatles, Paul McCartney, had a conservative streak while the de facto leader, John Lennon, was kept somewhat in check. In 1966 The Beatles released the CD ‘Revolver’ and things changed rapidly. The music was far more complex, creative and risk-taking than before and many say that this was the first rock album. Their work began to rival the great composers of the past (Bach, Beethoven, Gershwin, Armstrong). Other bands began experimenting musically as well and for about four years some of the best music that had been heard for decades was being created by all manner of rock bands.

In the 1970’s things began to quiet down somewhat, the most dominant and innovative band being Led Zeppelin. Punk Rock and Hip Hop were on the rise. In the 1980s there were four dominant musical forces playing rock – Madonna, Michael Jackson (both pop and rock), U2 and Duran Duran. After that Rock has always been sort of hovering in the background but is no longer the main act.

The Expansion of Rock Beyond Pop:

MODES – rock music likes to explore different modes (different scale structures around which the notes of the melody are constructed):

1. Booker T. And William Bell – Dorian Mode – Born Under a Bad Signperformed here by Cream ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEGVtbgYx2I ).
2. Daft Punk – Dorian Mode – Get Lucky.
3. Coldplay – Mixolydian Mode – Clocks ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d020hcWA_Wg ).
4. Lady Gaga – Mixolydian Mode – You and I ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcLtmrWC4Xc ).
5. The Beatles – both Dorian and Mixolydian Modes – Norwegian Wood – note George Harrison playing the sitar ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGufQk9QOdM ).
6. The Beatles – both Dorian and Aeolian Modes – Eleanor Rigby.

LYRICS

Rock lyrics are about a lot more than teen culture:

1. Environmentalism – Midnight Oil – Blue Sky Mine – about a toxic mine in Australia that was killing workers and polluting the environment. The band’s lead singer, Peter Garrett, was also an Australian environmental activist and a Member of Parliament, and became the Minister of the Environment, Heritage and the Arts. Notice that when the song opens it goes back and forth between 7 / 4 and 9 / 4. Also look for messages flashing on the screen periodically for less than a second ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ofrqm6-LCqs ).
2. LGBTQI Issues – Rod Stewart – The Killing of Georgie made back in 1976 ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95zxtaKQBBc ).
3. The Time Dilation Effect in Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity – Queen – 39 – Brian May composed this and takes the lead vocal. May has a Ph.D. in astrophysics, has done work for NASA and has an asteroid named after him. This about how time itself passes more slowly as one travels closer and closer to the speed of light – ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNc9DDDr9qE ).
4. The area around the Equator is sometimes referred to as the Horse Latitudes. It is very calm there, a region of high pressure, with little precipitation or wind. The Sahara Desert spans the horse latitudes. In the 16^th century ships carried horses to North America to trade but sometimes the ships got caught in the Horse Latitudes and barely moved as there was no wind. They sometimes ran low on drinking water and so the humans used the water leaving none for the horses so they had to throw the horses overboard. This track by The Doors is about that – Horse Latitudes ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bn4U4MMs2eM ).
5. The Yarmouth Castle was an actual ship that caught fire at sea and went down in 1965. Safety laws were revised as a result. Gordon Lightfoot wrote a song about the sinking of the Yarmouth Castle – The Ballad of the Yarmouth Castle ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwRHTy4WCQs )
6. Transgender people – The Kinks back in 1970 – Lola ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFwP2huyNzg ).
7. The Beatles’ track Tomorrow Never Knows contains lyrics based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHNbHn3i9S4 ).

INSTRUMENTATION

Rock music uses a variety of instruments:

1. Jimmy Page and Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin here are performing the Led Zeppelin track When the Levee Breaks, an old blues standard about the flooding of the Mississippi River. Nigel Eaton is playing an eleventh century French instrument called a hurdy-gurdy. Near the end also watch for the stand-up bass and the banjo ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emzih-d4Cs8 ).
2. George Harrison, lead guitarist of The Beatles, became interested in classical Indian music and learned how to play the sitar from Ravi Shankar, a famous sitar master. The instrument is very difficult to master. The Beatles recorded the song The Inner Light on which George played the sitar. George was 58 when he died and this clip is from the tribute concert held in his honour after his death. George’s friend Jeff Lynne takes the lead vocal, and the sitar is played by Anoushka Shankar, daughter of Ravi Shankar. Ravi Shankar is seen listening at the 31 second mark. This is only a one minute excerpt from the song ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bjDU-t2shM&pp=QAFIAQ%3D%3D ).
3. The Animals use bagpipes and trumpets in their song Sky Pilot ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0JMCaKwOUY&t=40s ).
4. The Beatles use 4 violins, 2 violas and 2 cellos on Eleanor Rigby. Notice the lyrics ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuS5NuXRb5Y ).
5. The Beatles use a piccolo trumpet solo, played by David Mason, on the song Penny Lane.
6. Jon Lord of Deep Purple uses a range of classical and rock instruments plus Emilia Amper from Sweden playing the nyckelharpa in this live clip of The Telemann Experiment composed and arranged by Jon Lord based in part on the musical style of Georg Philipp Telemann (1681 – 1767) who was a contemporary of J.S. Bach ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQ2crN1_ypE ).

CONCEPT ALBUMS

A concept album is one in which all the tracks deal with the same overall theme so the entire album is one collective work. Albums which do not count as concept albums include soundtrack albums, greatest hits compilations, live recordings, cast recordings, or Christmas albums. There were concept albums before rock but rock musicians turned them into a fine art. For example:

1. The Pretty Things – S.F.Sorrow
2. The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’
3. Jethro Tull – Aqualung’
4. The Moody Blues – ‘Days of Future Passed’
5. The Small Faces – ‘Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake’
6. Pink Floyd – ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’ and ‘The Wall’
7. Genesis – ‘The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway’
8. Frank Zappa – ‘Joe’s Garage’
9. Rock operas such as ‘Tommy’ and ‘Quadrophenia’ by The Who

SONG STRUCTURE

Pop and rock and roll records were two to three minute songs sometimes with verses and choruses and one melodic structure. Rock music includes works that are two or three songs in one with the different parts of a single song in different keys and time signatures:

1. Gordon Lightfoot – ‘Canadian Railroad Trilogy’
2. Paul McCartney – ‘Uncle Albert / Admiral Halsey’ and ‘Treat Her Gently / Lonely Old People’
3. Crosby, Stills and Nash – Suite: Judy Blue Eyes ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMJug2iz3NA&ab_channel=MichaelStallings )
4. The ultimate example of this is perhaps the final side of the final album by The Beatles – ‘Abbey Road’

SONG LENGTH

THE ANIMALS 1967 – ERIC BURDON FAR LEFT, ALAN PRICE SECOND FROM THE LEFT, CHAS CHANDLER (LATER MANAGER OF JIMI HENDRIX) THIRD FROM LEFT
By Richard William Laws – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9031244

Pop and rock and roll records were usually short but rock musicians laid down much longer tracks. They were of two types. Some simply featured lengthy sets of lyrics. In a few cases the longer tracks were improvised instrumentals or singers vamping without lyrics. These could only be pulled off by particularly talented musicians or else the solos quickly became boring. Lengthy drum solos became a joke and the only person who could pull it off successfully with a solo that was of high quality all the way through was Ginger Baker of Cream. These are single musical works, not combinations of songs like ‘Uncle Albert / Admiral Halsey’. Some examples:

1. Chad and Jeremy – ‘The Progress Suite’ (26 min 28 sec.) – 1967
2. Procol Harum – ‘The Worm and the Tree’ (18 min. 39 sec.) – March 1977
3. Procol Harum – ‘In Held ‘Twas In I’ (17 min. 31 sec.) – Sept. 1968
4. Iron Butterfly – ‘Ina-Gadda-da-Vida’ (17 min. 5 sec.) – June 1968
5. Cream – ‘Spoonful’ (16 min. 43 sec.) – Aug. 1968
6. Cream – ‘Toad’ (16 min. 15 sec.) – Aug. 1968
7. The Doors – ‘The End’ (11 min. 35 sec.) – Jan. 1967
8. The Rolling Stones – ‘Going Home’ (11 min. 35 sec.) – April 1966
9. Bob Dylan – ‘Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands’ (11 min. 23 sec.) – June 1966
10. Bob Dylan – ‘Desolation Row’ (11 min. 21 sec.) – Aug. 1965
11. The Doors – ‘When The Music’s Over’ (11 min. 0 sec.) – Sept. 1967
12. The Rolling Stones – ‘Sing This All Together’ (8 min. 33 sec.) – Dec. 1967
13. The Animals – ‘Sky Pilot’ (7 min. 27 sec.) – May 1968
14. Richard Harris – ‘MacArthur Park’ (7 min. 21 sec.) – April 1968
15. Gordon Lightfoot – ‘Canadian Railroad Trilogy’ (6 min. 22 sec.) – April 1967
16. Gordon Lightfoot – ‘The Patriot’s Dream’ (6 min. 4 sec.) – Feb. 1972
17. Queen – ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ (5 min. 55 sec.) – Nov. 21, 1975

MUSICAL STYLES

A good rock group might explore more than one style of music.

1. The Rolling Stones released songs that were pure Rock and Roll (‘It’s Only Rock and Roll’), blues (‘No Expectations’), funk / Motown (‘Memory Motel’), Latin (Little Indian Girl – Note the lyrics ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvLGadrbBCo ), psychedelic (‘On With the Show’), jazz / improvisational (‘Going Home’), science fiction rock (‘In Another Land’) and so on.
2. When Neil Young released an album in an entirely different style than previous albums his record company refused to release it because it was so different
3. The Beatles wrote and recorded songs in at least the following styles:

– good old rave up rock and roll – I’m Down ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixHAajcTfVE )

– punk – Why Don’t We Do It In The Road?

– reggae / Caribbean – Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_J9NpHKrKMw )

– music hall / variety – When I’m Sixty-Four ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCTunqv1Xt4 )

– Vaudeville / 1930’s Hollywood – Honey Pie ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Sr0efOe8yk )

– Country / Blues / Ballad – Rocky Raccoon ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDcDCZGcZj8 )

– Blues – Yer Blues

– Lullaby – Goodnight

– Folk – Mother Nature’s Son

– Novelty / Comedy – You Know My Name( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZndVv-jl-U )

– Classical – Yesterdayand Eleanor Rigby

– Psychedelic – I Am the Walrus ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1Jm5epJr10 )

– Indian classical – Within You Without You ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsffxGyY4ck )

– Love Song ; Michelle

– Straight Pop – Drive My Car( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfSQkZuIx84 )

– Circus Music – Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJVWZy4QOy0 )

– Avant-garde – Revolution 9

– Children’s Music – Yellow Submarine and All Together Now

VIRTUOSO PLAYING

Rock musicians tend to be excellent at playing different instruments, more so than pop or rock and roll musicians. It is often overlooked but Prince could competently play a wide range of instruments. Garth Hudson of The Band and Brian Jones, who founded The Rolling Stones, could each play more than a dozen instruments, and different kinds of instruments. Both Paul McCartney and K.T.Tunstall played all the instruments on their first solo CDs. Eric Clapton, Brian May, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix and others were top flight guitarists. John Entwistle, Paul McCartney and Jack Bruce were highly accomplished bass players. John Bonham, Stewart Copeland and B.J. Wilson were as good as any jazz drummer. Jon Lord, Steve Winwood, Matthew Fisher and Keith Emerson were incredibly good keyboardists, all of them with classical training.

THIRD STREAM MUSIC

Rock musicians also explored Third Stream Music, that is music that integrated more than one style, usually classical and rock. After Jon Lord left the heavy metal band Deep Purple he composed and recorded several compositions for symphony orchestra and rock group. George Martin (the producer of The Beatles) wrote short solo classical bits for classical instruments which The Beatles inserted into their recordings. Procol Harum performed with various symphony orchestras. Metallica played with The San Francisco Symphony Orchestra.

VOCALS

Some rock groups had more than one member of the group who could sing lead vocal on tracks. Both Freddie Mercury and Brian May took lead vocals in Queen. Both Mick Jagger and Keith Richards took lead vocals in The Rolling Stones. In Cream there were only three members but Jack Bruce and Eric Clapton basically traded lead vocals, and on one memorable song, Pressed Rat and Warthog Ginger Baker sang lead vocals, Here’s the track – take note of the trumpet solo at the 56 seconds mark played by Felix Pappalardi who produced the recording (formerly bassist and lead singer of the band Mountain) ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fHO5cCfI04 ). All four of The Beatles took lead vocals at one time or another. In The Band, of the five members the best vocalist was Richard Manuel, but bassist Rick Danko and drummer Levon Helm took lead on many songs. Even lead guitarist Robbie Robertson shared lead vocals on a few tracks.

There have been some incredible vocalists in rock bands or individuals singing rock music. Harry Nilsson had a three and a half octave range and he did all his own backing vocals some of which were very intricate. Paul Young, Linda Ronstadt and Robert Plant had superlative voices, though probably the best singer of all was Freddie Mercury.

RHYTHM

Rock music composers also like to explore different time signatures. The vast majority of Western music compositions are in 4 / 4 time, and some are in 3 / 4 (or a multiple of three):

1. Jimmy Page and Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin – Four Sticks is in 5 / 4 time. This is performed with The Egyptian Orchestra, and with Jason Bonham on drums. He is the son of John Bonham who was an original member of Led Zeppelin until he died at the age of 32, choking in his own vomit after a hard night of partying ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMrErYMmu6k )
2. Pink Floyd – Money is in 7 / 4 time ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1jL8A20H_k )
3. Radiohead – 2 + 2 = 5 is in 7 / 4 time ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEtr2xJ1pts ), and 15 Step is in 5 / 4 time ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OkRrZUZlfQ )
4. Paul Simon – Cool, Cool River – this is in 9 / 8 time but pieces in 9 / 8 time have a stress pattern of STRONG WEAK WEAK MEDIUM WEAK WEAK MEDIUM WEAK WEAK but at the beginning and ending of this track Simon uses a completely different pattern so that it sounds like there are alternating bars of 4 / 4 and 5 / 4 time ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rtwn7D-0iZM )
5. Deep Purple – Perfect Strangers. This begins in 4 / 4 but at the 2 minute 25 second mark it goes into a repeated pattern of a bar of 4 / 4 followed by a bar of 3 / 4 then a bar of 2 / 4. At the 4 minute mark it happens again this time with the masterful Jon Lord taking a keyboard solo in that rhythm. This is from 1984. Lord was in his forties ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWN80LuCXFo ).
6. Jon Lord – Köln Again is in 7 / 4 time.

KING CRIMSON – THE COVER OF ‘IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING’
By The cover art can be obtained from Island Records., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=43811477

INNOVATION

The rock and roll / pop albums were pretty stripped down. As rock gained popularity they started including things no one had done before. It is worth your while to call up the images for the following CD / album covers as many are quite extraordinary:

1. Great effort was put into the covers of the albums – e.g.‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ and ‘Revolver’ (The Beatles), ‘Their Satanic Majesties Request’ (The Rolling Stones’)
2. High quality, photography – e.g. ‘Strange Days’ – The Doors, Black Sabbath – ‘Black Sabbath’, The Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation – ‘To Mom From Aynsley and the Boys’
3. High quality artwork on album covers – e.g. Emerson Lake and Palmer – ‘Brain Salad Surgery’, The Grateful Dead – ‘Blues For Allah’, Procol Harum – ‘Shine on Brightly’ (UK cover)
4. Gatefold album packaging – e.g. The Who – ‘Tommy’, King Crimson – ‘In The Court of the Crimson King’, Yes – ‘Close to the Edge’
5. Expensive album cover cut-outs – e.g. Led Zeppelin – ‘Physical Graffiti’, Procol Harum – ‘Broken Barricades’, Faces – ‘Long Player’, George Harrison – ‘Extra Texture’
6. Posters accompanying albums – e.g.The Beatles – ‘The Beatles’, George Harrison – ‘All Things Must Pass’, Simon and Garfunkel – ‘Bookends’, The Rolling Stones – ‘Let It Bleed’
7. Lyric sheets accompanying albums
8. Other merchandise accompanying albums – e.g. The Beatles – ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ – with stand up graphic cut-outs sheet, Paul McCartney – ‘Venus and Mars’, Led Zeppelin – ‘Presence’
9. Novelty covers – e.g. ‘Sticky Fingers’ – The Rolling Stones featuring a close-up of a male crotch with an actual zipper and inside a photo of what one would expect to see, John Lennon – ‘Walls and Bridges, album covers in all sorts of non-square shapes including an album cover that has to be opened with a can opener.
10. Controversial covers – e.g. ‘Two Virgins’ – John Lennon and Yoko Ono, a cover featuring John and Yoko full frontal naked, The Mothers of Invention – ‘Weasels Ripped My Flesh’, The Rolling Stones – the original ‘Beggars Banquet’ cover which was never used, most of the Ohio Players covers, The Jimi Hendrix Experience- ‘Electric Ladyland’, The Beatles – ‘Yesterday and Today’
11. Unusually shaped records – e.g. The Horslips – a shamrock, The Cryers – a teardrop, Alan Price and others – a heart
12. Picture disks – these originated long before rock music emerged, for example used in Germany in the 1930’s and later by Disney in the US, but they faded from fashion then returned to popularity in the rock era.
13. Atypical album design – e.g. the untitled album by Led Zeppelin which has no printing on the outside, no photos of the band on the outside, and no title. On the inside the band members are identified only by Viking runes. The album ‘Live Peace in Toronto’ – John Lennon / The Plastic Ono Band which features a completely blue cover with a small cloud in the corner but no printing at all (i.e. no mention of who had released the album, and no egotistical photos of the musicians), Pink Floyd – ‘Ummagumma’ with its infinite regress, Traffic – ‘The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys’ whose cover is an optical illusion
14. Minimalist design – album covers completely monochrome – e.g. Murray Roman – ‘Blind Man’s Movie’, Kosmonaut – ‘Green’, Solange – ‘True’.
15. Miscellaneous Constructions – Led Zeppelin – the wheel on ‘Led Zeppelin III’, The Faces – the face on ‘Ooh La La’, Jethro Tull – the newspaper with ‘Thick as a Brick’

THE BEATLES – THE SUPPRESSED YESTERDAY AND TODAY ALBUM BUTCHER COVER
By Scan, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4385575

MUSIC VIDEOS

Music videos originated long before Rock Music but Rock musicians took them to a higher level and did some very sophisticated video work:

– Duran Duran – Wild Boys ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M43wsiNBwmo )

– Frankie Goes to Hollywood – Two Tribes with two wrestlers imitating the leader of the United States (Ronald Reagan) and Russia (Konstantin Chernenko) ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2QAMqTgPKI )

SOME SUB-GENRES:

1. LATIN ROCK – David Byrne, Peter Gabriel, Los Lobos and Santana – Oye Como Va ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoIqXz2AIFs ).
2. ACID ROCK – The Grateful Dead, The Beatles, Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix and The Beach Boys – Good Vibrations. Various well-respected but unknown session musicians also play on this track. The drummer, for example, is the legendary Hal Blaine ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYbyOCHvlV8 ).
3. ART ROCK – King Crimson, Pink Floyd, Emerson Lake and Palmer, The Beatles, The Mothers of Invention, The Velvet Underground, Genesis, Queen, Talking Heads, Yes, Genesis, Jethro Tull and David Bowie – I’m Afraid of Americans( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O43emEpUrRs&ab_channel=isolar7 ) and Fame with Bowie imitating the giant Atlas holding up the world ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCIVBqVAZ-E ).
4. ALTERNATIVE ROCK – Hüsker Dü, R.E.M., Velvet Underground, Sonic Youth, The Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Nine Inch Nails, Jane’s Addiction and Red Hot Chili Peppers.
5. CHRISTIAN ROCK – The Crusaders, Bob Dylan, Stryper, Resurrection Band, Bruce Cockburn, Jars of Clay, Thousand Foot Krutch, RED, Fireflight, Critical Mass and Black Coffee.
6. EXPERIMENTAL ROCK – The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Captain Beefheart, Pink Floyd, Frank Zappa, The Soft Machine, Nico, Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream and Sonic Youth.
7. GLAM ROCK and its most extreme form, Glitter Rock – Alvin Stardust, Roxy Music, Marc Bolan, Sweet, Mott the Hoople, Def Leppard, Cheap Trick, Kiss, Quiet Riot, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, The New York Dolls, Slade, Gary Glitter, Wizzard, Suzi Quatro, Sparks, Rod Stewart, Elton John, David Bowie and Queen – Teo Torriatte whose lyrics take on added meaning since the early death of Freddie Mercury ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ge18n2JCwBs ), and Dreamers Ball live in Paris 1979. Note Brian May’s vocalizing at the 2 minute 47 second mark ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M74Ac7S_veA ).
8. HARD ROCK – Argent, The Guess Who, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Boston, Deep Purple, Aerosmith, Kiss, Queen, AC / DC, Guns ‘N’ Roses, Cream, Jimi Hendrix, The Jeff Beck Group, Alice Cooper, Rush, Whitesnake, Rage Against the Machine, Thin Lizzy, Bon Jovi, The Ramones, Van Halen, Audioslave, Velvet Revolver, The Darkness, Creed, Puddle of Mudd, Kings of Leon, Three Days Grace, Them Crooked Vultures, My Chemical Romance and Fanny ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bE3uwtegPEY )
9. GRUNGE – Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Mother Love Bone, Stone Temple Pilots and Soundgarden – Spoonman. I’ll leave you to figure out the time signature ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0_zzCLLRvE ).
10. HEARTLAND ROCK – Bob Seger, Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, Steve Earle, John Fogerty, The Steve Miller Band and Tom Petty – Don’t Come Around Here No More which has the Tom Petty heartland sound behind a strange Alice in Wonderland video with a bizarre ending. Note Dave Stewart of Eurythmics as the Caterpillar playing the sitar at the 12 second mark ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0JvF9vpqx8 ).
11. INDIE ROCK – The Strokes, The White Stripes, The Hives, The Vines.
12. NEW WAVE – Adam and the Ants, Bow Wow Wow, Talking Heads, Mink DeVille, Blondie, Television, The Dead Boys, Ian Dury, Culture Club, Duran Duran, Elvis Costello, Depeche Mode, Eurythmics, Echo and the Bunnymen, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Human League, Modern English, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, The Police, Pet Shop Boys, The Pretenders, Til Tuesday, Spandau Ballet, Ultravox, Wang Chung and INXS – Here is an INXS track – Never Tear Us Apart which was filmed in the city which was once a more important city of culture and commerce than Paris or London. The city is the amazing city of Prague – take a good look at the backgrounds. The city you’re looking at was 3293 years old when the video was shot, and it had seen a lot of history. Notice how the camera is always moving, too. There is a hidden meaning to the song title as well because Prague was the capital city of Czechoslovakia but six years after the video was made Czechoslovakia was no more. It was torn apart to form the two countries of The Czech Republic and Slovakia – so much for ‘never tear us apart’. Also, take a good look at the lead singer, Michael Hutchence. Ten years later, at the age of thirty-seven, he committed suicide ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIBv2GEnXlc ).
13. OCCULT ROCK – Coven, Black Widow, Black Sabbath, Hawkwind and Pentagram.
14. POST-PUNK ROCK – The B-52s, Dead Can Dance, Devo, Eyeless in Gaza, The Gang of Four, Joy Division, The New Model Army, The Proclaimers, The Police, R.E.M. and Talking Heads here doing Life During Wartime ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBr0FJsDk1g ).
15. PROGRESSIVE ROCK – The Alan Parsons Project, Argent, David Bowie, The Decembrists, ELO, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Fairport Convention, Peter Gabriel, Genesis, Jethro Tull, King Crimson, The Nice, Pendragon, Pink Floyd, Queen, Renaissance, Rush, Soft Machine, Steeleye Span, Split Enz, Strawbs, Supertramp, Tai Phong, Talk Talk, Third Ear Band, Traffic, Vangelis, Yes and Procol Harum – Repent Walpurgis. This features the work of one of the best keyboardist in rock, Matthew Fisher. Note the two guitar solos at 1 minute 46 seconds and again, more impressively, at 3 minutes 57 seconds. Note also that at the 2 minute 38 second mark the pianist plays the first twelve bars of Praeludium 1 from Das Wohltemperierte Klavier, Volume 1, by Johann Sebastian Bach, written in 1722 ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1Vy–CQicw ).
16. PSYCHEDELIC ROCK – The Byrds, Jefferson Airplane, The Grateful Dead, The Beach Boys, Buffalo Springfield, Cream, Jimi Hendrix, Traffic, The Moody Blues, Procol Harum, The Nice, The Pretty Things and Pink Floyd – The Great Gig in the Sky ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1jL8A20H_k ),
17. PUNK ROCK – Television, The Ramones, Patti Smith, The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Damned, The Runaways, Green Day, Rancid, Blink-182, Joan Jett, The Jam and The Pogues.
18. BLUES ROCK – John Mayall, Alexis Korner, Cyril Davies, Cream, Fleetwood Mac, The Animals, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Keef Hartley Band, Ten Years After, Free, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band and Johnny Winter.
19. COUNTRY ROCK – The Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Poco, New Riders of the Purple Sage, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and The Eagles.
20. SWAMP ROCK – Creedence Clearwater Revival, Ronnie Hawkins, Delaney and Bonnie, and Leon Russell – Out in the Woods ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyOnK-L19TM ).
21. SOFT ROCK – Neil Diamond, The Bee Gees, The Hollies, Elton John, The Carpenters, Carole King, John Denver, Cat Stevens, Lobo, Gilbert O’Sullivan, Chicago and Bread, Paul McCartney and Wings, Toto, Billie Joel, The Captain and Tennille, The Hollies, Carly Simon and James Taylor – Mockingbird ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WM_R-6AKHE )
22. STONER ROCK – Blue Cheer, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Monster Magnet, Leaf Hound, Kyuss, P.J.Harvey, Fu Manchu and Soundgarden.
23. SURF MUSIC – Dick Dale, Jan and Dean, The Surfaris, The Chantays, and The Beach Boys.

[NOTE – The Lead guitarist with Queen, Brian May, is also an astrophysicist with a Ph.D. in Physics, published academic papers, and an asteroid named after him. The Pretty Things was a British blues rock band whose lead guitarist was Dick Taylor. Originally he played bass in a new unknown band called The Rolling Stones but after four months was replaced by Bill Wyman. The Small Faces was a British band led by wunderkind Steve Marriott later of Humble Pie, with Kenney Jones who later replaced Keith Moon in The Who. One of the lyrics of the Rolling Stones’ infamous track Sympathy for the Devil refers to troubadours in an earlier century who get killed while travelling the trade routes to Bombay, India. The lyrics to The Beatles track Tomorrow Never Knows were based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead.]

Rock is an evanescent concept, rougher and more exploratory than pop, more adult and complex than rock and roll, but still more emotional than cerebral, and very comprehensive. Whatever your musical tastes, rock or otherwise, just lie back and enjoy the music – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihSw14So5UA&ab_channel=Okmusix

NEXT POST: HEAVEN, HELL AND UTOPIA. Part 1 of 2

PLEASE NOTE: I have attempted to include a wide range of music in these posts, including music I don’t like but which is important or demonstrates a musical idea well. Almost any piece of music is interesting in some way. I recommend at least sampling all the music here – you might be pleasantly surprised. At least check out specific sections of compositions which I have identified. If you don’t like a clip just stop and jump to the next clip.

MUSIC TO YOUR EARS

Posts already posted or still being planned as we speak:

1. STAND TO ATTENTION, OR ELSE – Anthems, National and Unofficial. From Black Power to one small flower of eternity, from Oceania ‘Tis of Thee to Lift Every Voice and Sing – https://thekiddca.wordpress.com/2021/09/22/music-to-your-ears-1-stand-to-attention-or-else/
2. WHY? – Twenty-five purposes and functions of music. From Pressed Rat and Warthog to Rainy Day Women Number Twelve and Thirty-five, from propaganda to religion, labour relations to storytelling – https://thekiddca.wordpress.com/2021/09/29/music-to-your-ears-2-why/
3. LISTEN UP – Things to listen for when you listen to a piece of music. From Kashmir to Vine Street, St. James Infirmary to Scarborough Fair – https://thekiddca.wordpress.com/2021/10/06/music-to-your-wars-3-listen-up/
4. THE BRIGHT SIDE OF LIFE – Silly and Satirical Songs. From vegetables to metaphysical dogma, inebriated philosophers to short people – https://thekiddca.wordpress.com/2021/10/14/music-to-your-ears-4-the-bright-side-of-life/
5. THE COMPLEXITIES OF WAR – https://thekiddca.wordpress.com/2021/10/21/music-to-your-ears-5-the-complexities-of-war/
6. HOMELAND AND LIFE: A Case Study – An examination of the recent explosive viral video Patria y Vida – https://thekiddca.wordpress.com/2021/10/27/music-to-your-ears-6-homeland-and-life/
7. REALITY CHECK – From Kristallnacht to the Long March, massive floods and burning rivers, Wounded Knee to the École Polytechnique – Music memorializing real events – https://thekiddca.wordpress.com/2021/11/03/music-to-your-ears-7-reality-check/
8. CINEMATIC MUSIC – From the Squid Game to the Witcher in the heat of the night in the darkest depths of Mordor – how music offers an added dimension to the cinematic experience – https://thekiddca.wordpress.com/2021/11/10/music-to-your-ears-8-cinematic-music/
9. DRAMATIS PERSONAE – From Nelson Mandela to Albert Einstein, Harriet Tubman to Sally Ride – Music celebrating real people – https://thekiddca.wordpress.com/2021/11/17/music-to-your-ears-9-dramatis-personae/
10. THE BEATLES – GOOD, BAD AND WRONG – From The Rolling Stones to Pete Best, from Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds to the Walrus – things about The Beatles rarely said but which need to be said – https://thekiddca.wordpress.com/2021/11/22/music-to-your-ears-10-the-bad-the-good-and-the-wrong/
11. MUSIC LEFT AND RIGHT – From the King to the Kid, Uncle Son to Joe Hill – music from the extremes of the political spectrum – https://thekiddca.wordpress.com/2021/12/02/music-to-your-ears-11-music-right-and-left/
12. MUSIC LEFT AND RIGHT REDUX – Further thoughts about MUSIC LEFT AND RIGHT – https://thekiddca.wordpress.com/2021/12/08/music-left-and-right-redux/
13. DANCE TO THE MUSIC – From Slim and Slam to ring shouts and the macabre. – dances political, religious and silly – https://thekiddca.wordpress.com/?p=5344
14. STREAMING AUDIO – Third Stream Music from Bach as Rock to Yiddish Reggae – deftly combining broad categories of music – https://thekiddca.wordpress.com/2022/01/05/music-to-your-ears-14-streaming-audio/
15. INVISIBLE VIRTUOSI – The secret musicians everyone has heard but no one has heard of – https://thekiddca.wordpress.com/2022/01/12/music-to-your-ears-14-invisible-virtuosi/
16. THE EVOLUTION OF MUSIC 2700 BCE to 1900 CE – From a Satanic violinist to a blues master who sold his soul to the Devil at the Crossroads – https://thekiddca.wordpress.com/2022/01/19/music-to-your-ears-16-the-dramatic-evolution-of-music-part-1-of-3/ .
17. THE EVOLUTION OF MUSIC 1900 to 1980 CE – From Big Mama and Smokey to Bill Haley’s Comets and the Flamingos – https://thekiddca.wordpress.com/2022/01/26/music-to-your-ears-17-the-dramatic-evolution-of-music-part-2-of-3/
18. THE EVOLUTION OF MUSIC 1966 to 2022 – From troubadours who die before they reach Bombay to wisdom from the Tibetan Book of the Dead.
19. HEAVEN, HELL AND UTOPIA – Part 1 of 2. From God to Satan, from the compassion of the Sisters of Mercy to the despair of Friedrich Nietzsche.
20. . HEAVEN, HELL AND UTOPIA – Part 2 of 2. From The Prince of Peace to the Prodigal Son, Blind Faith to the Inner Light.
21. MUSICAL FAMILIES. From Bach and the boys to the Kuti Family and the Newman team, Zak Starkey to Ladysmith Black Mambazo.

GHOST STORIES. In preparation as a break from the endless music posts, these are stories about people no longer alive who did important and amazing things, sometimes risking their lives, but were largely unknown or are now forgotten. From the ENIAC Girls and the Zamani Soweto Sisters to The Wrecking Crew and master magician and charlatan nemesis Harry Houdini and his secret operatives.