History of Rock/Metal Music

The instrument people most likely think of when they think rock music is the electric guitar, but other instruments such as bass guitar, acoustic guitar, drums, pianos, synthesizers and keyboards are also used. There is so much more to rock music than just electric guitars, rock music has “pioneered” so many sub genres that are still presently popular today.

Rock is a genre of popular music, in the 1950’s it started as rock and roll in the United States. Later on into the 1960’s it started to take different forms or subgenres such as blues rock, country rock, folk rock, and jazz fusion rock. These subgenres developed in both the United States and the United Kingdom. This contributed to other subgenres forming like psychedelic rock, later on came progressive rock as well as glam rock which was all about the visuals. Towards the second half of the 1970’s, punk rock became quite popular, this lead to even more subgenres developing such as new wave, post-punk, and alternative rock. Since the 1990’s alternative rock has dominated over other genres of rock music and is still one of the more popular sub genres of rock music today.

One of the sub genres that has become extremely popular is heavy metal music. Metal music has quite a few sub genres in itself, but heavy metal branched off of rock music. Heavy metal music started developing in the late 1960’s and 1970’s mostly in the United States and United Kingdom. It is said that the roots of heavy metal are blues rock and psychedelic rock. Heavy metal is characterized as music with a distorted, highly amplified sound. The lyrics as well as styles of performance are labelled as aggressive and associated with masculinity or violence. Though this is not always the case, lots of “metal bands” have released softer sounding sounds, they’re not just all about sex, drugs, and partying. The first heavy metal bands such as Led Zeppelin, and Black Sabbath, attracted large audiences even though they were often ridiculed by critics. This was the harsh truth behind metal music for a long time and is still the case today.

Some of these very popular rock/metal bands are still popular today.

During the 1980’s glam metal became a popular subgenre with bands like Poison and Mötley Crüe, these bands were very much about their presentation and style. The “underground scenes” were producing a more aggressive sound, this is where thrash metal came into the music scene with bands like Metallica and Megadeath. Since the 1990’s these styles have further expanded the genre, and still do today. Especially with some of the metal bands becoming more interested in “modern music” with pop elements instead of all thick, aggressive sounds. 

Today, some rock/metal bands have expanded their musical styling into more modern sounds. As a result they are receiving a lot of mixed feedback (often backlash) from their fans about the bands decisions. Some fans don’t seem to like the new “pop sounding” music, “they’re not the same band, and they’re not metal anymore”. In lots of cases the vocalists of these metal bands injure their vocal chords from all the years of “screaming” which causes them to not be able to make those sounds as much anymore hence the softer sounding music coming from some "metal bands" recently. Also some bands such as Bring Me The Horizon, just like other music so they want to explore that. As musicians they want to express themselves and they've decided to do that by changing their sound. They are still the same band, they may just have new or other musical interests.  

Pros and Cons of Technology in Music

It is a fact that music has evolved in so many ways over the past few decades. From the variations of genres that have developed, as well as the technology that has helped build and shape some of these genres. Music had taken a huge leap once technology came into use, things such as synthesizers, auto tuning devices etc. These have given new aspects to music but there’s been some debate about whether they’ve been a good or bad addition to the way music is made. I myself have a mixed opinion on this topic because of course there’s good and bad to everything. I think that these technological advances have had good and bad influences on the music industry.

I think that devices like the synthesizer have made a good impact on music because not only can they imitate the sounds of common instruments but also produce unique sounds that can’t be created in another way. Because of the ability to create new unique sounds, synthesizers are extremely popular with many artists. There are even genres specified towards artists that use synthesizers and other sound manipulating electronics as the main aspect of their music. Some of those genres are known as Electronic rock (synth-rock), and Electronic (dub step, house, etc). Without these synthesizer devices some for these genres may not currently exist.

Synthesizers have evolved an immense amount since 1920 when the first type was used. This version was called a Theremin, it was played and controlled by moving your hands by two aerials. These aerials controlled volume and pitch. From then on, synthesizer started to look more like organs, then piano, and now some models look very similar to an electric keyboard.

2015 Model of a Synthesizer

1920's Theremin

 Another device that plays a huge role in the music industry is the Auto-tune system. Auto-tuning is the process of being able to measure and alter pitch in vocal and instrumental recordings. Auto tuning has become extremely popular in the last few decades. The auto tune device was created by Andy Hildebrand (employee of Exxon at the time) and Antares Audio Technologies. Originally it was intended to correct off-key or inaccurate pitches in vocal recordings allowing vocal to be tuned perfectly. It was released spring 1997.  

There has been quite a debate on whether or not auto tune should be used in music or not. Some say it helps pick up imperfections so the artist can fix them. While others, including myself say that auto tune may not be the best thing because it takes away from natural talent. You can alter the song too much and when the artist goes and performs those songs in concert, they don’t sound the same. Some artists want their voices to sound auto tuned at times such as T-Pain or Lil Wayne and that’s what they’re known for is that auto tuned sound. But I personally don’t think all artists should use auto tune so much because it definitely takes away from natural talent. Some artists will use auto tune to have high notes in a song because their voices may not be able to do that, well when they go perform these songs in concert fans are expecting these awesome high notes (or other voice qualities) and the artist isn’t able to do it. Therefore making the song sound different.

 

This video shows the difference between singing with and without auto tune. 

Pop: Past to Present

Pop: Past To Present

Pop music is a flexible genre, any music that’s on the “pop charts” usually gets categorized as pop music even if it’s a part of another genre. The term pop is an abbreviation of the word popular. It is described as pop or popular music because the music and the artists in the genre are always changing. Pop is also different around the world because every country has its own definition of what’s popular, the music styles will vary. Pop music influences other genres as well, with there being cross over stars like Taylor Swift who went from country to pop.

Although the first popular music chart (Top Twenty) wasn’t recorded until 1952, popular music started in the 1930’s with new music called swing. Artists like Bing Cosby and Frank Sinatra sang with big swing bands before starting solo careers. When the 1950’s came around it was the time for rock & roll- a louder type of popular music, these were the songs of young rebellion and teenage love. In the late 1950’s -1960’s this was the time of Elvis Presley, a huge impact on the music scene. 

Following him were the Beatles who are one of the most popular bands still to this day, from 1962-1970 when they broke up, the Beatles were known for writing their own songs that dominated the U.K and United States charts.  The 70’s was a big time for rock music as well, with bands like Led Zeppelin and Queen leading the first half of the 70’s. The second half of the decade was about bands such as ACDC, Kiss, Van Halen, and Aerosmith. Other artists popular in the 1970’s were The Eagles, Blondie, Eric Clapton, Fleetwood Mac, Stevie wonder, and Jackson 5. 

Jackson 5 became one of the biggest pop-phenomena’s of the 1970’s. The only Jackson brother to sustain a long term solo career after the group was Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson was the most successful popular music artist in history, hence him being labelled as “The King of Pop”. His music was the one of the most popular of the 1980’s. Alongside Michael Jackson, the top successful artists of this time were Diana Ross, Prince, Whitney Houston, and Janet Jackson. But Madonna was the most successful female artist of the 80’s. Madonna and Michael Jackson were the most successful artists of this decade not just because of their musical talents, but their visual appeals. Those iconic visuals are still remembered and even used today. Another popular genre in the 80’s was hip hop, especially with the controversial group NWA. 

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MTV is where Michael Jackson, Madonna and a lot of other famous artists got most of their publicity from in the 80's.  

As for the 90’s popular music took a turn towards alternative rock. The popular alternative bands were Nirvana, Blink 182, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Green Day and No Doubt. Another side to the 90’s was the time of boy bands or teen pop, which is what comes to most people’s minds when they think of pop music. The top boy bands and teen stars of the 90’s were The Spice Girls, Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, Destiny’s Child, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, and Jennifer Lopez. Hip Hop also became the bestselling music genre by the mid 90’s with artists like Tupac, Notorious B.I.G, Jay Z, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and Eminem. 

I put these two songs against each other to show how two separate genres of music were still considered popular music even thought they are vastly different. 

This is a perfect example of how the definition of pop/popular music is always changing.

Now a days all these genres that were mentioned and many more are still popular but it just goes to show how much “pop music” has changed because of the flexibility of the word popular. A lot of these artists of  the past are huge influences on our music we hear today. If it weren't for some of these groups and artists we may not have made the progression we have in the music industry. 

http://www.shinemusic.com.au/musicresources/history-of-pop-music.aspx http://www.factmonster.com/dk/encyclopedia/popular-music.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1970s_in_music               https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980s_in_music              https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1990s_in_music

Evolution of Music

Evolution of Music

Music has been around for a lot longer than most of us may know, it has come an extremely long way from where it started. If we really think about it, music has been around since pre-historic times. It has been said that they used rocks and sticks to act as what we know now as drums, they were said to represent animal sounds in religious ceremonies. Unfortunately there was no notation or writings of this form of music, but it’s been said that the sounds can be heard in the music of South American Indians and African Natives that still believe in and participate in those ancient religious practices.

As for other instruments, it took some time for those to evolve. It’s been known that by 4000 BCE harps and flutes were created by the Egyptians, and by 3500 BCE clarinets with double reeds had been developed. Around 2500 BCE in Denmark an early form of a trumpet or now known as a “natural trumpet” was developed. It’s valve less and depends completely on lip manipulation to change the pitch. In 1500 BCE one of the most popular instruments was created by the Hittites. The guitar that was complete with frets that change the sound of the vibrating strings, same concept as today. 

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The evolution of guitars, same concept of design but still advancing more.

In 800 BCE the first piece of recorded music was recovered. It was a religious hymn and was written in cuneiform.  Cuneiform are wedge-shaped characters used in an ancient writing system developed by the Sumerians in Mesopotamia, also in Persia, Ugarit. Mostly found impressed on clay tablets. It’s been said that cuneiform is not a form of musical notation. By 700 BCE there were records of songs that included vocal with instruments. In ancient Rome and Greece around 600 BCE a mathematician Pythagorus looked at and dissected music as a science developing a huge importance still used in modern music: the octave scale.  In 1000 CE Guido D’Arezzo made some very important improvements in music theory. He reworked standard notation by adding time signatures. He then invented solfege best known as: “do, re, mi, fa, so, la ti, do.” In 1100 CE a new movement began, the separation of church aspect from music. This was not an easy battle and the new “folk style” music was definitely looked down on and considered almost blasphemous by the church.

If you wish to learn more details about any of the information above, you can visit:         http://method-behind-the-music.com/history/history/

It has been believed that Thomas Edison was the first person to record sound or music but it has been found that the first “song” ever was recorded by Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville nearly 20 years before Thomas Edison. He was a French printer, bookseller and also inventor of the phonautograph, which recorded sound waves of a voice and displayed them on a phonautogram which is a sheet of lines that recreated the pattern of the sounds. This piece was recorded on April 9^th 1860 but the phonautograph could only record sounds not play them so it wasn’t heard until its rediscovery in 2008. 

Here's a video of the first ever song that was found.

Music, Not a Passion but a Lifestyle

Music is without a doubt, my absolute favorite thing in the entire world. Every aspect of it intrigues me, from the different beats & instruments, to waiting for new singles from your favorite artists or bands, and mostly my favorite; the lyrics that can make everybody feel. There are so many different emotions music can make you feel. Like the way a slower song tends to make you feel sad or relaxed, where as a faster tempo song can make you feel excited or happy. Those lyrics can sometimes also be life changing or lifesaving. For some people, music is all they have to get through a hard time so they take not just the lyrics seriously, but often times the artist or band where those lyrics came from. For some people their favorite bands or artist's have literally saved them from some extremely dark places. I know for me, music makes me forget about my problems, and has definitely helped me get through some dark situations. It’s just a wonderful thing to be able to listen to everyday.

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I grew up on rock, country and some pop, but over the years my musical interest has broadened so far beyond those genres it’s crazy. Almost all types of music appeal to me because I believe that every genre has its own story, and I also like to think that through different genres and the stories within them, people can be united.  

Music has been a huge part of my life for as long as I can remember. I was even singing all the words to Carolyn Dawn Johnson’s Complicated at two years old. I love to sing even though I’m often very shy about it. I just love the feeling I get when I’m singing, it’s a way for me to get lost in what I'm doing and forget about my problems. That’s why I try to listen to music that I can relate to, or that makes me think of a certain memory or emotion. I love music that makes me feel something inside and now it's become one of my favorite feelings to find a song that explains what I’m feeling or going through when I can’t even explain it myself.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGILo79ObiU  

Another thing I love about music is the way it connects people. Through the internet and social media, fans can connect with and express their appreciation for their favorite bands or artist. On social media groups of fans are often referred to a fandom. You’ve probably heard of Beliebers (Justin Bieber fans), Directioners (One Direction fans), and Swifties (Taylor Swift fans), those are actually some of the most popular music fandoms known right now. The word fandom is supposedly the combination of the word fan and “dom” from the word kingdom. For some people, fandoms can almost give a sense of family feeling because they can connect with other people who share the same interest as them. For myself, I know that feeling apart of fandoms is great because I have different music interests than my friends so knowing there’s entire fandoms who share my love for the bands and artists I listen to is an awesome feeling for me.

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Music will always be one my favorite things and I’m sure some of you feel the same way. What’s your opinion on music? Do you have any favorite bands or artists?