Hard+Rock

Prof. Jones, I've made some changes after 12am, because there was a big lose of data without saving them just before 12am due to internet crash. I've only retrieved the contents what was already there, done by me and peers, before 12am, as you could find them in the history. Many thanks. toc =What is Hard Rock?=



//Led Zeppelin in Denmark 1969//

Hard Rock is a branch of rock & roll music, which dominated the music industry of Great Britain and the whole world throughout 1970s and 1980s. It is widely assumed that Hard Rock is originated from the British Garage Rock and Psychedelic Rock from back in the early 1960s. In and around the cities of the counterculture, hard-rock became a way to affirm a less "confrontational", militant stance. Musically, hard-rock was the terminal point of an evolution of blues that had seen white, middle-class musicians reinvent the music of black, enslaved musicians as entertainment for the western youth. Hard-rock was still based on blues, like rock'n'roll had always been, but it was a faster, louder and stronger kind of music, that buried the suffering of the black people under thousands of decibels.(Scaruffi, Piero. 2002), Hard Rock is often referred to an umbrella genre, which branched out many different types of rock music under it. Hard Rock music produced numerous offspring such as of Punk rock, Grunge rock, Industrial rock, and the most similarly Heavy metal, subsequent to the Hard Rock era. When distinguishing Hard Rock from others, it has its basic formation of heavily distorted electric guitar, bass guitar, and drums. Mania people says that Hard Rock is the way of expressing abnormal image through the medium of music.



//Led Zeppelin in Los Angeles//

=Characteristics=

Hard rock's principal instruments are electric guitar, bass guitar, and the drums. Hard rock can be considered as an extension of electric blues. This genre of music has a faster, almost frenzied, pace; a loud and scorching howl that almost parodies the black "shouters" and has psychotic overtones; and forceful guitar playing of great imagination with mystic overtones. Continuously identifiable by ruptured guitar riffs and delirious vocals. (Scaruffi, Piero. 2002)

=Hard Rock VS Heavy metal?=

The term Hard Rock and Heavy metal are often used interchangeably. Though both genres are extensively followed by enourmous number of fans all over the world and the boundary between them are subtle, Hard Rock is a bit more suited for the general public in terms of fans and taste of music, whereas Heavy metal is more mania-centered toward dedicated fans throughout the world. (Wikipedia. 2006)

=Hard Rock from 1960s to the present=


 * Early Days** **(1960s)**

Hard Rock genre arised from the more general rock of the mid sixties (which in turn came out of the fusion of rock and psychadelia pioneered by artists such as Jimmy Hendrix and Cream with the guitarist Eric Clapton). While the rock music of the early sixties focused mostly on the rhythmic beats, the sheer noise power slowely took precedence with some artists and the scene was created for the hard rock genre. This kind of music was, from the beginning, intended to be commercial and all about the show. The aim was to attract as many people as possible. This big audience made sense too because the enormous energy generated by these musicians would not be equally suited for smaller audiences. Right from the beginning the trademark image of these performers became the macho type in tight-fitting jeans. (Scaruffi, Piero. 2002) Along with Deep Purple, as being considered as the first hard rock band, Black Sabbath, and Led Zeppelin's first album in 1969 revealed the real beginning of Hard rock milieu to the world. //Led Zeppelin First album 1969. Shades of Deep Purple 1968. Black Sabbath at Long beach CA.//


 * 1st Era (1970s)**

The first well known hard rock performers of the early 70s included groups Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple. They defined this genre and gave it its enduring image. Many of their songs were somewhat simplistic (according to some critics), party-atmosphere songs intended for the stadium-sezed sudiences. Next on the hard Rock scene emerged performers such as Aerosmith and AC/DC which are still today considered to be the legends of the hard rock genre and of popular music history in general. Alice Cooper also emerged at this time with his catchy lyrics and the spectacular stage theatrics which he is still today remembered for. Kiss was yet another band playing this kind of music, whose members were also known for their stage theatrics as well as the heavy make up which became their trademark sign. All this contributed to this genre to be known for its glamourous if somewhat superficial general image. (Scaruffi, Piero. 2002) In 1970s, Hard Rock eventually rocked the whole world. Led Zeppeline, Black Sabbath, and Deep purple continued their reputation as the fathers of Hard rock. During 1970s, Hard rock developed several sub-genres, and broadened its range to further extent. In 1970s, numerous profound bands such as, Queen, Aerosmith, Bad company, Kiss, Van Halen, and later ACDC joined the legend of Hard rock. As Queen attains celebrity, implemented Hard rock with other genres even including Opera, and was incredibly successful.




 * 2nd Era (1980s)**

1980s was undoubtedly an eventful era, and at the same time downhill of the classic original Hard rock bands. AC/DC's lead vocal Bon Scott's death, John Bonham the drummer of Led Zeppelin's death, and Ozzy Osbourne's alcoholism and binge of drugs, and change of taste of major Hard rock bands brought a lot of change. Queen, which is the original Hard rock band gradually started to change their style to pop-rock, and bands such as KISS and Van Halen also slightly turned their flavor to Slam metal, which later becomes the Nu Metal of Korn. AC/DC continued their legacy and the new album "Back in Black" recorded one of the most selling album in the history. Throughout this great success of AC/DC and the big hit of Motley Crue moved Hard rock into the mainstream music industry and changed people's gaze on Hard rock to be a radio-friendly genre now. In 1980s, new waves of the Hard rock began to push the old frontier, the classic Hard rock bands, and the subgenre Heavy metal eventually seperated from Hard rock. During the 1980s, hard rock became more bombastic and pompous. Rock music in general had undergone a big transformation at this time and there were two extremes. One was the soft variation of hard rock which can easily be termed the pop-rock dominated by artists such as Motley Crue, Van Helen, and Bon Jovi. The alternative (which at the same went into the opposite direction) was the more brazen and grittier music of Guns 'n' Roses.




 * 3rd Era (1990s)**

1990s was quite checkered and mystifying era for hard rock. In the beginning of 1990s, Guns N’ Roses rocked the world, followed by the continuance of Metallica from 1980, which soon became extremely popular and influential to the pop-culture. The most highly evaluated lead vocal, Freddie Mercury died in 1991 for AIDS and shocked people that he was still recording couple days prior to his death. The representative of 90s Hard rock, Nirvana, lost its lead vocal Kurt Kobain in 1994 for his suspicious death. Many tragedies brought Hard rock to go downhill and allowed numerous sub-genres to come in. New form of Hard rock called Grunge formed in early 1990s by the bands from Seattle such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden. Not only the Grunge but also different subset of Hard rock emerged. Bands such as Primus, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Fishbone are known as the “Funk” bands, which has mixed African American music with the taste of Hard rock. As Metallica continued their popularity in 1990s, Hard rock somewhat reigned the power in the world continuously, yet obviously lost its true flavor of Hard rock that was preserved for several decades.



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**Reference**
Wikipedia. "Hard Rock" 2006. Online. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_rock#Early_days_.281960s.29 (Consulted on Nov 2006)

Wikipedia. "Led Zeppelin in Denmark in 1969" 2006. Online. (Consulted on Nov. 2006)

Scaruffi, Piero. “The History of Rock Music – The Sixties” 2002. Online. http://www.scaruffi.com/history/cpt27.html. (Acquired on Nov 23rd 2006.)

Costello, Elvis. "Led Zeppelin in Los Angeles" 2006. Online.[| http://www.elviscostello.info/disc/bootlegs/other_artists/led_zeppelin/led_zeppelin.770621.la/led_zeppelin.770621.la_front.jpg] (Acquired on Dec. 7th 2006)

Wikipedia. "Early days- Black sabbath" 2006. Online. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Sabbath76.gif (Consulted on Dec. 7th 2006) "Shades of Deep Purple" 2006. Online. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Shades_of_Deep_Purple.jpg "KISS, the first album". 2006. Online. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Kiss_first_album_cover.jpg "Metallica". 2006. Online. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Metallica-MasterOfPuppets.jpg "Soundgarden". 2006. Online. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Soundgarden_-_Badmotorfinger.jpg "All the images on top" 2006. Online. http://www.hardrock.com