Well, the road trip fell through. Would have been fun to do something before I moved out, but such is the way of things. Anyway, since I now have more free-time before I move, I've decided to spice things up a bit in order to keep the journal from getting stale. Rather than only look at Garage Rock, I'll be looking at a wider range of genres from now on! Each entry that introduces an album will now fall under one of four categories, which will be marked at the top of the entry:
Garage Rock: The wild retro sound that you should know pretty well by now! Named after the numerous start-up bands that had a habit of practicing and recording in their garages. Many consider the Garage Rock movement to be a key moment in the history of musical culture, as it inspired a wave of amateur musicians with a "Do It Yourself" attitude to take the world by storm, making the music industry more accessible to the average person. It also coincided with a large wave of independent record labels in the 1960's, with some becoming massive (like Motown), and others fading into obscurity.
As if you needed an example of Garage Rock. But here's one anyway:
Rockabilly: A genre that got it's name from the mash-up of the terms "Rock 'n Roll" (a term with a fun history, most agree that it came about primarily as slang for having sex, and to describe sexually aggressive music), and "Hillbilly" (which was a slang term for fast Country music). Rockabilly combined the grit of the Blues, the style of R & B (which, despite having "Blues" in the name, is not the same as the Blues), the southern twang of Hillbilly, and the fast energy of Boogie Woogie, creating a very infectious and wild sound that resonated well with young audiences. Laying the groundwork for what would come to be known simply as "Rock Music", Rockabilly was the dominate musical form among the youth of the 1950's, continuing until the early 1960's.
An example of Rockabilly:
Post-Punk: The Punk movement of the mid to late 1970's was as influential as it was iconic. With spiky haired rogues stalking the streets of London and New York alike, it was one of many movements shared across the pond. Taking their cues from underground music, and inspired by iconic acts like Richard Hell (of New York) and the Sex Pistols (of England), a wave of start-up bands sprang up across the world with a mission to make as much noise as possible. However, after the record industry capitalized on the emerging genre by making it "mainstream", a strange thing happened: The genres of Punk, Avant-Garde (which was becoming big, due to acts like David Bowie) and Pop collided. The result was dubbed "Post-Punk", a more commercial and artistic form of Punk music. It combined the "Do It Yourself" mentality and wild energy of Punk with Pop sensibility, as well as the artistic experimentation of Avant-Garde. The Post-Punk movement was relatively short-lived, lasting only from the late 1970's into the mid 1980's.
An example of Post-Punk:
Other: I love taking requests from people, and when they recommend an album that doesn't fall under one of the above genres, I'll simply mark the entry as "Other". Remember when I looked at that Lee Hazlewood CD? Just like that.
|