Detailed Study Notes on Hard Rock and Its Early Examples

Hard rock is characterized by:
- Weighty bass drums
- Strong backbeat
- Heavy guitar distortion
A defining feature of hard rock is its emphasis on a riff-based structure:
- In earlier rock music, riffs were mostly featured in certain sections like the introduction or bridge.
- In hard rock, riffs form the primary structure around which the entire song revolves.
- Riffs are frequently heard throughout hard rock songs, except during instrumental solos which draw attention away from them.

Iron Butterfly
- An important predecessor of hard rock, formed in San Francisco during the 1960s.
- Known for focusing on the darker side of psychedelia with heavy and dense music.
- Their best-known song, In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida (1968), is notable for:
  - A 17-minute length.
  - A weighty opening riff that maintains the song.
  - Inclusion of lengthy improvised solos featuring organ, guitar, bass, and drums, aligning with psychedelic influences.
Steppenwolf
- An early American hard rock band, initially named Sparrow (renamed after a novel by Herman Hesse).
- Their music is riff-based but does not consistently use the riff throughout like later hard rock bands.
- Known for high volume and heavy distortion, attributes taken from psychedelic rock.
- Their music became closely associated with the 1969 film Easy Rider, which featured:
  - "Born to Be Wild" and "The Pusher" in its soundtrack.
  - "The Pusher": A cover of a song by Hoyt Axton addressing drug dealing.
  - "Born to Be Wild": Introduced in the opening credits of Easy Rider, notable for:
  - Being the first song to use the term heavy metal in its lyrics, referring to motorcycles rather than rock music.
  - A heavy riff that is prominent throughout, playing underneath the lyrics except during the middle section where singer John Kay performs the song's title line.