history of rock n roll exam #1

The Yardbirds

British band serious about the blues

Eric Clapton - lead guitar

Jimmy Page - lead guitar

“For Your Love” hit song

Led Zeppelin

initially toured as the New Yardbirds

Jimmy Page - guitar

Robert Plant - vocals, influenced other rock artists to sing in a soprano range

John Bonham - drums, viewed as one of the best rock drummers of all time, often played in 2/4 instead of 4/4

John Paul Jones - bass

Led Zeppelin II: their second record that came out in 1969, had a Heavy Blues sound (fusing heavy metal and blues)

Houses of the Holy: their 5th album, shifted to a folkier sound

John Bonham passed due to alcohol poisoning in 1980 which marked the end of Led Zeppelin

COPIED YOU NEED LOVE BY MUDDY WATERS FOR WHOLE LOTTA LOVE

Mountain

Felix Pappalardi - bass, vocals (produced 3 Cream albums)

Leslie West - guitar, vocals

played 12 bar blues which is a basic blues progression, seen on their song “Mississippi Queen”

Black Sabbath

Ozzy Osbourne - vocals

Geezer Butler - bass

Bill Ward - drums

Tony Iommi - guitar, songwriting

Utilized tritone, a form of music that feels discordant and frightening

Their song, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath is known as the beginning of Heavy Metal

The Who

Pete Townshend - guitar, vocals, songwriting

Keith Moon - drums

Roger Daltrey - lead vocals

John Entwistle - bass, vocals

began as an RnB based band

made Tommy, the first hit rock opera album

Keith Moon died from intentional overdose in 1978 and was replaced by Kenney Jones

James Gang

Joe Walsh - guitar, drums (later joins Eagles)

Tom Kriss

Jim Fox

made “Funk #49” in 1971

Alice Cooper

Vincent Furnier (aka Alice) - vocals

Glen Buxton - lead guitar

Neal Smith - drums

Dennis Dunaway - bass

the beginning of Shock Rock

get signed to Warner Brothers from their song “I’m Eighteen, then put out Love It To Death in 1971, an album co-produced by Bob Ezrin

also put out Schools Out in 1972, produced by Bob Ezrin

concerts had horror elements and were trying to be provocative and unsettling, hence “shock”

KISS

Peter Criss - drummer “The Catman”

Paul Stanley - rhythm guitar “The Starchild”

Ace Frehley - lead guitar “Spaceman/Space Ace)

Gene Simmons - bass player “The Demon”

found success with their 4th album, a double live album titled Alive! in 1975 which sold 5 million records

release Destroyer, produced by Bob Ezrin in 1976 which had “Detroit Rock City” and was a pure rock album, something you can’t just dance to like rock n roll.

made Arena Rock, designed for big crowds with lyrics like “get up”

AC/DC

Bon Scott - vocalist at first, died in 1980 from alcohol poisoning

Angus Young - guitarist, had notable stage presence and played with spaces in-between riffs (seen on back in black)

Australian band that played dirty, sleazy rock n roll. meaning they played anywhere at anytime

released Highway To Hell in 1976, their 6th album, and went #17

released Back In Black in 1980 which went #1 and featured new vocalist Brian Johnson

Aerosmith

Steven Tyler - lead vocalist

heavy blues band

“Dream On” off their self-titled album in 1973 didn’t get a lot of recognition until later re-released

released “Walk This Way” in 1975 off of their second album Toys In The Attic, which RUN DMC sampled

Rush

John Rutsey - drummer, replaced after first album by Neil Peart

moved into a more sophisticated sound with their album 2112 in 1976 which was Progressive Rock

The Runaways

all female punk rock band

Cherie Currie - vocals

Joan Jett - rhythm guitar, vocals, songwriting

Lisa Curry - lead guitar

“Cherry Bomb”

Heart

sister duo

Ann Wilson - vocals

Nancy Wilson - guitar

released “Barracuda” in 1977

Jazz Rock and Jazz Fusion

Jazz Rock: pop and rock musicians playing with jazz elements in their songs (usually playing with horns)

Jazz Fusion: jazz artists playing hard rock, usually strong guitar

Blood, Sweat & Tears

“Spinning Wheel” released in 1969, produced by James Guercio

added jazz elements through the brass solos on a rock song

Chicago

“Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?” produced by James Guercio, released in 1969 on their album Chicago Transit Authority

Miles Davis

a serious jazz musician

Bitches Brew went gold and hit #35 in 1970, and turned a lot of rock n roll fans onto jazz

“Right Off” off of A Tribute To Jack Johnson in 1971 had:

John McLaughlin - electric guitar

Billy Cobham - drums

Herbie Hancock - organ

Miles Davis - trumpet

Micheal Henderson - bass

MaHavishnu Orchestra

released Birds Of Fire in 1970 with:

John McLaughlin - leader, songwriter, guitarist

Billy Cobham - drummer

utilized polyrhythm: when different instruments play in different time signatures but still harmonically all in the same key.

“Celestial Terrestrial Commuters” has extremely unusual time signatures and interplay with electric violin and guitar

Billy Cobham

Spectrum, his first album released in 1973 which used synthesizers to bend pitch and imitate guitar, especially on “Quadrant 4”

Chameleon

Herbie Hancock (played piano for Miles Davis till 1968) - electric piano, clarinet, synthesizers

released Head Hunters in 1973, a funk album

Brand X

Phil Collins - drummer

released Unorthodox Behavior in 1976, and “Running On Three”

Weather Report

Joe Zawinul - keyboardist (worked with Miles Davis)

Wayne Shorter - saxophone (worked with Miles Davis)

Jaco Pastorius - iconic bass player

released Heavy Weather in 1977

Jaco Pastorius

bass player for Weather Report

passed away in 1987 outside of a nightclub in Florida

suffered from drug addiction and mental health issues, which caused him to be unreliable. this made him unappealing to bands, resulting in him being often without work and homeless.

Judas Priest

Rob Halford - vocals (similar to freddie mercury with his vibrato)

Speed Metal genre, seen on their song “Exciter” released in 1978 which had a double kickdrum beat

“Breaking The Law” a hit song released in 1980 about Halford’s sexuality

Motörhead

Lemmy Kilmiser - bass, vocals, songwriting

big in both metal community and punk community

released “Ace Of Spades” in 1980

Iron Maiden

began a New Wave of British Heavy Metal

Bruce Dickinson - vocals

“The Number Of The Beast” released in 1982 and was made to be movieish and cartoony to cater to MTV. doesn’t have horror effect like Black Sabbath

Def Leppard

labeled as a metal band, but extremely pop centered

released Pyromania in 1983 which was similar to hair metal, and had hits like “Photograph”

Metallica

Cliff Burton - bass, very talented

Lars Ulrich - drums

James Hetfield - guitar, vocals

Dave Mustaine - guitar, but was replaced by Kirk Hammett bc of alcoholism

fast paced music, introduces palm mute which was a technique to make guitar fast paced but still have a percussive sound by placing a hand on the bridge of the guitar.

Cliff is killed in a tragic bus crash in 1986 and replaced by John Newstend

released The Black Album in 1991 which changed their sound to a slower, heavy metal poppy sound

Megadeath

formed by Dave Mustaine

Thrash Metal

released Wake Up Dead in 1986

Slayer

Thrash Metal, brutal and fast

produced by Rick Rubin, the founder of Def Jam records which is hip-hoppy

released “Leprosey” in 1986

Napalm Death

Grindcore, drumming style called Blast Beat for it’s extremely fast pace

“You Suffer” holds the guinness world record for the shortest song ever (under 2 seconds)

Death

Death Metal

Chuck Schuldiner - leader, guitarist, singer

recorded music at Morrison Recording in Tampa (the birthplace of death metal), produced by Scot Burns

Carcass

Goregrind: fused grindcore and death metal

Bill Steer - guitarist, also in Napalm Death

Pantera

Groovemetal

Dimebag Darrell - guitarist who was murdered on stage by a deranged fan in 2004

released “Walk” in 1992

Mötley Crue

Glam/Hair Metal

Vince Neil - vocalist, sang in a high register

released “Girls, Girls Girls” in 1987

Guns N’ Roses

Hard Rock, not Metaly

Axl Rose - lead vocalist

Izzy Stradlin - rhythm guitar

released “Welcome To The Jungle” in 1987

Bruce Springsteen

Heartland Rock

“Born To Run” was his 3rd album and his first hit, at #3. It was co-produced by Jon Landau, who was a writer for the Rolling Stones and a big Bruce admirer

“Born In The U.S.A.” went #1 in 1984 and the album had 7 Top 10 singles. The song utilizes gated reverb which is an audio processing technique where drums are strong and loud from being in a good acoustic room, then are cut short with a noise gate for a shorter sound.

Steve Miller

found commercial success with his 8th album, The Joker in 1973

Top 40 Rock: album oriented

Linda Ronstadt

started out as a folky artist with her first album Silk Purse

worked with producer Peter Asher to make “You’re No Good,” a hit cover in 1974

Eagles

Don Henley - drums, vocals

Glenn Frey - guitar, vocals

Randy Meisher - bass, vocals

Bernie Leadon - guitar, vocals

Joe Walsh (joined late, replaced Bernie) - guitar, songwriting

began as Linda Ronstadt’s backing band, country pop rock

“Hotel California” came out in 1976 and hit #1

Peter Frampton

came from a band called Humble Pie in 1971

got big from his live album, Frampton Comes Alive! in 1976, is the best selling album of 1976 and one of the best selling albums ever

“Show Me The Way” came out in 1975 and used the Talk Box vocal effect where the sound comes from the guitar but connects to a mouth tube which envelopes the sound for manipulation.

Boston

Tom Scholz - guitar, songs, production

self-titled album went #3 in 1976, with “More Than A Feeling” on it

Foreigner

Ian McDonald - multi-instrumental

Mick Jones - guitar, vocals

^^ both came from prog rock bands

Feels Like The First Time went #4 in 1977

Journey

featured Santana Alumni as members

when Steve Perry was hired as their vocalist in 1977, they quickly found success

Fleetwood Mac

formed in 1967 as a british blues rock band

featured Peter Green on guitar, vocals, and songwriting until he left in 1970

Mick Fleetwood - drums

John McVie - bass

Christine McVie - keyboards, vocals, songwriting

Lyndsey Buckingham - guitar, vocals, songwriting

Stevie Nicks - vocals, songwriting

^^^ used to be a duo until Peter Green left Fleetwood Mac, so they joined

Rumours went to #1 in 1977

Steely Dan

Walter Becker - guitar, bass, songs

Donald Fagan - vocals, keyboards, songs

stopped playing live on July 4th 1974 because it was difficult to find different skilled instrumentalists to accompany them

returned to touring in 1993