DOCSLIB.ORG

Interview: Patrick Stickles of Titus Andronicus

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Interview: Patrick Stickles of Titus Andronicus Interview: Patrick Stickles of Titus Andronicus Patrick Stickles of Titus Andronicus (Photo: Jorge Chantre) Ever since their start in Glen Rock, NJ, in 2005, Titus Andronicus have been lauded for their energetic live performances. Frontman and guitarist Patrick Stickles sings intensely from the heart in unapologetic fashion. It’s musical honesty with a punk rock foundation that’s absolutely incredible. The band has their fifth studio album currently out, A Productive Cough, which was released Mar 2 through Merge Records. Stickles and pianist Alex Molini will be rolling through AS220 on Empire Street in Providence on March 9 to perform stripped down versions of Titus Andronicus’ songs with Rick Maguire from Boston indie rock act Pile kicking things off. I had a talk with Stickles recently about the influence of ‘90s hip hop on his lyrics, heart-on-the-sleeve ballads, hope and optimism for the state of DIY venues and not lamenting about the festival season. Rob Duguay (Motif): Your lyrics have a poetic tone while encompassing a lot of empathetic emotion. Whom do you consider your main influences when it comes to writing lyrics? Do you lean more towards musicians or do you lean more towards poets? Patrick Stickles: Some of the best musicians are also some of the best poets, I gotta say. My lyrical inspirations mostly come from the rap music world. Not even necessarily their subject matter, but their attention to detail and the high standard of excellence that the best ones seem to adhere to. It’s a very lyrically driven form, or it certainly was at one point but less so today. I look back to certain rappers from the ‘90s: Notorious B.I.G., Lauryn Hill, Redman, people like that. I try to hold myself to a similar standard so the lyrics would come across whether or not there was much of a tune. Maybe it would be good to read off a page. It inspires me to employ a lot of devices, internal rhymes, alliteration and stuff like that. I’m just trying to ratchet up the “dopeness” level as high as I can. RD: That interesting that you get inspired by a different style of music than the one you perform. I can also totally see the attention to detail while listening to Titus Andronicus. In 2015, the band released the rock opera The Most Lamentable Tragedy to widespread acclaim. Rock operas are a rarity these days, so what made the band want to put out this type of album? PS: I’ve always liked rock operas and concept albums. I like it when an album has a certain cohesive quality, and that can be when the songs are united by scenes, motifs or if they’re following a narrative. I feel like the long-playing album should be a singular piece of art. It should have a certain unity of action rather than just a collection of songs. That sometimes makes it easier to write the songs because you know what it is that you’re going for. You could do a song about anything in the world and that could sometimes be a case of too much freedom. Sometimes you’ll find that you’ll have more artistic freedom if you put some limitations in place for yourself. Basically, I felt that the rock opera format was going to be most conducive to communicate the things that I wanted to communicate at that time and to tell the story that I wanted to tell. I went through some big experiences in my life and they deserved a lot of space to play themselves out. RD: Do you have a favorite rock opera? PS: Zen Arcade by Husker Dü will be quite close to the top for me. I also really like Berlin by Lou Reed, that’s not strictly a rock opera but it’s definitely united with scenes and characters. Of course Separation Sunday by the Hold Steady is a favorite of mine. There’s a lot of good out there and it’s not as common as it used to be. Some people might find that a little pretentious nowadays, but I don’t think it’s any more pretentious than writing a novel or making a movie. It’s borrowing certain qualities and various standards from other mediums of art and applying them to rock ‘n’ roll music. That’s not against the law. RD: No, not at all. Titus Andronicus just released their fifth studio album A Productive Cough on March 2. The first single, “Number One (In New York),” is a heart-on-the-sleeve ballad. For folks who haven’t listened to the album yet, what can they expect from it? PS: You said it yourself, they can expect my heart to be right on my sleeve where it belongs. That song was chosen as the first single to give the indication that this record was going to be a little bit different than some of the other ones that we’ve made. It’s just a way of laying out the rules of the game for this year and trying to guide people’s expectations a little bit. A lot of the songs are a little bit slower than the songs Titus Andronicus is most famous for. There’s a higher percentage of waltzes and things like that on the record as opposed to the punk rock songs that we’ve been known to do in the past. Titus Andronicus has always done all sorts of different things and the particular thing we might be best known for isn’t the full extent of my musical interest. If you look back at our catalog you’ll see that we’ve always been doing heart-on-the-sleeve ballads, as you called them, and slower songs and quieter songs. I don’t think it’s different than the other ones we’ve done other than it’s got a little more of a finer focus on that sort of material. Over the course of a career, Titus Andronicus has built this big house of musical ideas and, if the rock opera album was trying to spend time in all those rooms jumping around haphazardly, then this album is settling down in a particular room that may be a little dusty, but I think there’s some treasures to be found. RD: That’s a cool way to put it. You also used to be involved with the Brooklyn DIY venue Shea Stadium as a ticket-taker along with Titus Andronicus using the place as a practice space. Sadly, Shea Stadium isn’t around anymore and DIY venues are dying off drastically all over. Do you think there’s a future for the unique places that are left or do you think there’s a shift happening? PS: I certainly hope they don’t die off completely. I think it has a lot to do with that warehouse fire that happened in Oakland a couple years ago, do you remember that? RD: Yep, the Ghost Ship fire. PS: Yeah. I think that really turned up the heat on a lot of these places because very often they don’t completely comply with all the safety regulations, zoning codes and what not. I don’t think that it’ll ever really totally go away. There’s always going to be new generations of young people to step up, carry the torch and create their own thing. A lot of DIY spaces have historically not lasted very long, which is a sad thing but it’s just the way that it is. I think it’s true that somebody is always going to find a way to keep it alive even if they’re always going to be on the run. These places aren’t necessarily built for long lives. It’s more like a virus that’s always spreading and mutating. As hard as the city government might try to snuff it out, I don’t think they’ll ever snuff it out completely. They continue to try and make it more and more difficult for kids to get these places started and sustain them, but it’s like they say: when there’s a will, there’s a way. There’s always going to be a need for young people to have spaces where they feel like they can exercise their angst, and I’m sure they’re going to find a way to continue to do that. Over the past few years, some new spaces like that have popped up in New York City and I’m hoping that they can stay one step ahead of the law for as long as they can. RD: You put it perfectly. Festival season is steadily approaching so after this current tour, what does Titus Andronicus have planned next? Is the band going to be jumping on some festivals this summer? PS: We’re not playing any festivals at all, haven’t gotten any invitations. RD: That’s a bummer. PS: Eh, well it would be nice to have the pay day from those things, but the truth is we’re doing the acoustic show this year with just myself and Alex Molini on piano. In this case, it wouldn’t be appropriate for a big outdoor summertime festival. I will say that we’re playing the Treefort Music Fest in Boise, Idaho, later in the month but that’s not a big outdoor thing with a big stage. It’s more like a SXSW kind of a thing where the festival takes over all the clubs in town and puts on shows every night, which I think is more appropriate for the acoustic show that we’re going to be doing.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • PERFORMED IDENTITIES: HEAVY METAL MUSICIANS BETWEEN 1984 and 1991 Bradley C. Klypchak a Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate
    PERFORMED IDENTITIES: HEAVY METAL MUSICIANS BETWEEN 1984 AND 1991 Bradley C. Klypchak A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY May 2007 Committee: Dr. Jeffrey A. Brown, Advisor Dr. John Makay Graduate Faculty Representative Dr. Ron E. Shields Dr. Don McQuarie © 2007 Bradley C. Klypchak All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Dr. Jeffrey A. Brown, Advisor Between 1984 and 1991, heavy metal became one of the most publicly popular and commercially successful rock music subgenres. The focus of this dissertation is to explore the following research questions: How did the subculture of heavy metal music between 1984 and 1991 evolve and what meanings can be derived from this ongoing process? How did the contextual circumstances surrounding heavy metal music during this period impact the performative choices exhibited by artists, and from a position of retrospection, what lasting significance does this particular era of heavy metal merit today? A textual analysis of metal- related materials fostered the development of themes relating to the selective choices made and performances enacted by metal artists. These themes were then considered in terms of gender, sexuality, race, and age constructions as well as the ongoing negotiations of the metal artist within multiple performative realms. Occurring at the juncture of art and commerce, heavy metal music is a purposeful construction. Metal musicians made performative choices for serving particular aims, be it fame, wealth, or art. These same individuals worked within a greater system of influence. Metal bands were the contracted employees of record labels whose own corporate aims needed to be recognized.
    [Show full text]
  • MUSIC 262: Art/Prog Rock [Brian Ward Demonstrates a Tune on Piano
    MUSIC 262: Art/Prog Rock [Brian Ward demonstrates a tune on piano] [Brian Ward]: So around this time in rock and roll we really start to see a lot of fragmentation going on, and that’s reflected in this course. The way we have this designed is so that we can go in different directions with the music, and that’s what the music did all sort of at the same time. One of the directions is what we now call art rock and also progressive rock. Now art rock and progressive rock are terms that are used loosely. A good way to describe it is art rock is rock and roll that is influenced by classical music while progressive rock is more influenced by jazz, so- but you have different elements in varying degrees of influence and in different ways. A good illustration of that is one of the first bands that I want to talk about is The Who. Now The Who were definitely a straight down the line rock and roll band, and they started like a lot of these other British bands: imitating the blues and rhythm and blues music from the United States, but The Who were very unique. They had probably the most four individualized members of any band of all time. All four members of the band, Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey, John Entwistle, and Keith Moon, were all very, very different people coming from different backgrounds, and that reflected in their music, and they used that to their advantage quite a bit. But with The Who I think rock star first becoming an art form in the sense that they had longer forms and they used many structures that eventually became mini-operas and they eventually made a rock opera called “Tommy.” Now when they started out they were more on the cutting edge of hard rock.
    [Show full text]
  • Heavy Metal and Classical Literature
    Lusty, “Rocking the Canon” LATCH, Vol. 6, 2013, pp. 101-138 ROCKING THE CANON: HEAVY METAL AND CLASSICAL LITERATURE By Heather L. Lusty University of Nevada, Las Vegas While metalheads around the world embrace the engaging storylines of their favorite songs, the influence of canonical literature on heavy metal musicians does not appear to have garnered much interest from the academic world. This essay considers a wide swath of canonical literature from the Bible through the Science Fiction/Fantasy trend of the 1960s and 70s and presents examples of ways in which musicians adapt historical events, myths, religious themes, and epics into their own contemporary art. I have constructed artificial categories under which to place various songs and albums, but many fit into (and may appear in) multiple categories. A few bands who heavily indulge in literary sources, like Rush and Styx, don’t quite make my own “heavy metal” category. Some bands that sit 101 Lusty, “Rocking the Canon” LATCH, Vol. 6, 2013, pp. 101-138 on the edge of rock/metal, like Scorpions and Buckcherry, do. Other examples, like Megadeth’s “Of Mice and Men,” Metallica’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” and Cradle of Filth’s “Nymphetamine” won’t feature at all, as the thematic inspiration is clear, but the textual connections tenuous.1 The categories constructed here are necessarily wide, but they allow for flexibility with the variety of approaches to literature and form. A segment devoted to the Bible as a source text has many pockets of variation not considered here (country music, Christian rock, Christian metal).
    [Show full text]
  • Hair for Rent: How the Idioms of Rock 'N' Roll Are Spoken Through the Melodic Language of Two Rock Musicals
    HAIR FOR RENT: HOW THE IDIOMS OF ROCK 'N' ROLL ARE SPOKEN THROUGH THE MELODIC LANGUAGE OF TWO ROCK MUSICALS A Thesis Presented to The Graduate Faculty of The University of Akron In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Music Eryn Stark August, 2015 HAIR FOR RENT: HOW THE IDIOMS OF ROCK 'N' ROLL ARE SPOKEN THROUGH THE MELODIC LANGUAGE OF TWO ROCK MUSICALS Eryn Stark Thesis Approved: Accepted: _____________________________ _________________________________ Advisor Dean of the College Dr. Nikola Resanovic Dr. Chand Midha _______________________________ _______________________________ Faculty Reader Interim Dean of the Graduate School Dr. Brooks Toliver Dr. Rex Ramsier _______________________________ _______________________________ Department Chair or School Director Date Dr. Ann Usher ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................. iv CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................1 II. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY ...............................................................................3 A History of the Rock Musical: Defining A Generation .........................................3 Hair-brained ...............................................................................................12 IndiffeRent .................................................................................................16 III. EDITORIAL METHOD ..............................................................................................20
    [Show full text]
  • The Sword, March 2011
    UNIVERSITY-SAINT PAUL r C -v ^ Cf ^ March 2011 | csp.edo/sword THE SWORD TABLE OF CONTENTS NEWS Remember GVP p.S Bystander Training Event p.4 The "Surreal and Absurd" p.4 Jamaica Mission Trip p.S Greetings students, faculty, and staff of Concordia University, St. Paul, ARTS Concordia Art Contest Winners p.6 I want to take this opportunity to say that the Sword is always look­ The Hold Steady Music Review p.6 ing for more writers. With a larger staff, the newspaper can continue to Limitless Movie Review p.7 become more and more efficient. I know a lot of people decide they don't want to because they think it is too much of a commitment. The amount of Hall Pass Movie Review p.7 time that someone puts in is determined by the individual. Global Food, Fashion and Award Celebration p.7 I am extending an invitation to anyone interested to come to our Rango Movie Review p.S meetings and check out what we are up to. If you have any questions at all, feel free to email me. Radio Head Music Review p.S Jumping around a bit, I also want to talk about a student fundraising group here on campus. The group is raising money to build a well for a com­ SPORTS munity that lacks access to clean water and is planning several awareness Womens' Basketball Update p.9 events on campus. The group is striving to involve the Concordia conmiu- nity as a whole. For more information Mens' Basketball Review p.9 on the group and upcoming events, go Track Review p.10 online and "Like" their Facebook group Lippincott Wins Awards p.10 page titled Compassion+Action.
    [Show full text]
  • Popular Music, Stars and Stardom
    POPULAR MUSIC, STARS AND STARDOM POPULAR MUSIC, STARS AND STARDOM EDITED BY STEPHEN LOY, JULIE RICKWOOD AND SAMANTHA BENNETT Published by ANU Press The Australian National University Acton ACT 2601, Australia Email: [email protected] Available to download for free at press.anu.edu.au A catalogue record for this book is available from the National Library of Australia ISBN (print): 9781760462123 ISBN (online): 9781760462130 WorldCat (print): 1039732304 WorldCat (online): 1039731982 DOI: 10.22459/PMSS.06.2018 This title is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial- NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). The full licence terms are available at creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode Cover design by Fiona Edge and layout by ANU Press This edition © 2018 ANU Press All chapters in this collection have been subjected to a double-blind peer-review process, as well as further reviewing at manuscript stage. Contents Acknowledgements . vii Contributors . ix 1 . Popular Music, Stars and Stardom: Definitions, Discourses, Interpretations . 1 Stephen Loy, Julie Rickwood and Samantha Bennett 2 . Interstellar Songwriting: What Propels a Song Beyond Escape Velocity? . 21 Clive Harrison 3 . A Good Black Music Story? Black American Stars in Australian Musical Entertainment Before ‘Jazz’ . 37 John Whiteoak 4 . ‘You’re Messin’ Up My Mind’: Why Judy Jacques Avoided the Path of the Pop Diva . 55 Robin Ryan 5 . Wendy Saddington: Beyond an ‘Underground Icon’ . 73 Julie Rickwood 6 . Unsung Heroes: Recreating the Ensemble Dynamic of Motown’s Funk Brothers . 95 Vincent Perry 7 . When Divas and Rock Stars Collide: Interpreting Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballé’s Barcelona .
    [Show full text]
  • "The Who Sings My Generation" (Album)
    “The Who Sings My Generation”—The Who (1966) Added to the National Registry: 2008 Essay by Cary O’Dell Original album Original label The Who Founded in England in 1964, Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend, John Entwistle, and Keith Moon are, collectively, better known as The Who. As a group on the pop-rock landscape, it’s been said that The Who occupy a rebel ground somewhere between the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, while, at the same time, proving to be innovative, iconoclastic and progressive all on their own. We can thank them for various now- standard rock affectations: the heightened level of decadence in rock (smashed guitars and exploding drum kits, among other now almost clichéd antics); making greater use of synthesizers in popular music; taking American R&B into a decidedly punk direction; and even formulating the idea of the once oxymoronic sounding “rock opera.” Almost all these elements are evident on The Who’s debut album, 1966’s “The Who Sings My Generation.” Though the band—back when they were known as The High Numbers—had a minor English hit in 1964 with the singles “I’m the Face”/”Zoot Suit,” it wouldn’t be until ’66 and the release of “My Generation” that the world got a true what’s what from The Who. “Generation,” steam- powered by its title tune and timeless lyric of “I hope I die before I get old,” “Generation” is a song cycle worthy of its inclusive name. Twelve tracks make up the album: “I Don’t Mind,” “The Good’s Gone,” “La-La-La Lies,” “Much Too Much,” “My Generation,” “The Kids Are Alright,” “Please, Please, Please,” “It’s Not True,” “The Ox,” “A Legal Matter” and “Instant Party.” Allmusic.com summarizes the album appropriately: An explosive debut, and the hardest mod pop recorded by anyone.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Magic Castles Sky Sounds 2 Mac Demarco Salad Days 3 GOAT
    1 Magic Castles Sky Sounds 2 Mac DeMarco Salad Days 3 GOAT Commune 4 The War on Drugs Lost In a Dream 5 Jack White Lazaretto 6 Chromeo White Women 7 First Aid Kit Stay Gold 8 Jeremy Messersmith Heart Murmurs 9 Ty Segall Manipulator 10 Wye Oak Shriek 11 Sturgill Simpson Metamodern Sounds in Country Music 12 Parquet Courts Sunbathing Animal 13 Basement Apartment Basement Apartment 14 Sharon Van Etten Are We There 15 Sifu Hotman Embrace the Sun 16 Ryan Adams Ryan Adams 17 St. Vincent St. Vincent 18 Dirty Mercury Sound of Mind 19 Sonny Knight & the Lakers I'm Still Here 20 The Muffs Whoop De Doo 21 Primus Primus & the Chocolate Factory with the Fungi Ensemble 22 Toki Wright & Big Cats! Pangaea 23 American Cream Nathan 24 Run the Jewels Run the Jewels 2 25 Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings Give the People What They Want 26 The Blind Shake Breakfast of Failures 27 Weezer Everything Will Be Alright in the End 28 Sylvan Esso Sylvan Esso 29 Les Claypool's Duo De Twang Four Foot Shack 30 Spoon They Want My Soul 31 Beck Morning Phase 32 The Pistol Whippin Party Penguins Way Back Home 33 Crankshaft & the Gear Grinders Boogie Melt 34 Bernie King and the Guilty Pleasures Pretty Little Gal 35 Atmosphere Southsiders 36 The Hold Steady Teeth Dreams 37 Jake Bugg Shangri‐La 38 Cage the Elephant Melophobia 39 Alvvays Alvvays 40 Tune‐Yards Nicky Nack 41 Woods With Light and With Love 42 clipping. CLPPNG 43 K. Raydio & O‐D One Drop 44 A Sunny Day in Glasgow Sea When Absent 45 San Fermin San Fermin 46 Trampled by Turtles Live at First Avenue 47 Black Diet Black
    [Show full text]
  • Hip-Hop Mix Tape Seeks 'Multicultural' Audience
    Lifestyle FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 2014 ‘Game of Thrones’ hip-hop mix tape seeks ‘multicultural’ audience atch the Throne,” meet “Game of Thrones”: HBO has of HBO overall. Last year, the audience for its third season was It was created by a team of producers at New York’s Launch commissioned rappers including Wale, Common 13.2 percent African-American, 9.2 percent Hispanic and 76.6 Point Records, who sampled music from the show’s score and “Wand Outkast’s Big Boi for a mix tape devoted to its white, according to Nielsen figures. Overall, HBO’s overall audi- snippets of dialogue. Other rappers involved include reggaeton hit fantasy series. On one “Catch the Throne” track, Wale raps ence last year was 16.8 percent black, 12.3 percent Hispanic and star Daddy Yankee and rapper Bodega Bamz. Unfortunately about bringing “that Khaleesi heat” and decapitating other MCs. 72.9 white. Maybe it’s because the cast is so overwhelmingly absent are Kanye West and Jay-Z, the pair behind “Watch the The unlikely seeming enterprise is all part of an effort to reach the white? Throne.” “muticultural” audience of “Game of Thrones,” HBO told The Wall HBO notes that African-Americans and Latinos are overrepre- The “Game of Thrones” foray into hip-hop isn’t the show’s first Street Journal. sented in its subscriber count relative to their numbers in the collaboration with popular musicians: Both “The Hold Steady” and “Our multicultural audiences are a very important part of our population at large, and says Nielsen’s numbers don’t account for Gary Lightbody, lead singer of Snow Patrol, have sung the song subscribers, and we don’t want to take them for granted,” platforms like HBO Go.
    [Show full text]
  • „Nowhere to Go but Up“? Die Gattungsmerkmale Des Musicals
    „Nowhere to Go But Up“? Die Gattungsmerkmale des Musicals Dissertation zur Erlangung des Grades der Doktorin der Philosophie an der Fakultät für Geisteswissenschaften der Universität Hamburg im Promotionsfach Historische Musikwissenschaft vorgelegt von Sarah Baumhof Hamburg, 2021 Tag der Disputation: 21.1.2021 Vorsitzende der Prüfungskommission: Prof. Dr. Ivana Rentsch Erstgutachterin: Prof. Dr. Ivana Rentsch Zweitgutachter: Prof. Dr. Oliver Huck Anmerkungen zu Begrifflichkeiten, Schreibweisen und Quellenangaben ............................................ IV 1 Einleitung .......................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Ziel und Titel der Dissertation .................................................................................... 1 1.2 Aktueller Forschungsstand ......................................................................................... 2 1.2.1 Sekundärliteratur: Umfang und Publikationsart ..................................................... 2 1.2.2 Subjektivität und qualitative Mängel ...................................................................... 6 1.2.3 Geographische Zentrierung .................................................................................. 11 1.2.4 Fehlende Musikanalyse ........................................................................................ 13 1.2.5 Determiniertheit .................................................................................................... 15 1.3 Fragestellung und
    [Show full text]
  • “Quiet Please, It's a Bloody Opera”!
    UNIVERSITETET I OSLO “Quiet Please, it’s a bloody opera”! How is Tommy a part of the Opera History? Martin Nordahl Andersen [27.10.11] A theatre/performance/popular musicology master thesis on the rock opera Tommy by The Who ”Quiet please, it’s a bloody opera!” Martin Nordahl Andersen 2011 “Quiet please, it’s a bloody opera!” How is Tommy part of the Opera History? Print: Reprosentralen, University of Oslo All photos by Ross Halfin © All photos used with written permission. 1 ”Quiet please, it’s a bloody opera!” Aknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisors Ståle Wikshåland and Stan Hawkins for superb support and patience during the three years it took me to get my head around to finally finish this thesis. Thank you both for not giving up on me even when things were moving very slow. I am especially thankful for your support in my work in the combination of popular music/performance studies. A big thank you goes to Siren Leirvåg for guidance in the literature of theatre studies. Everybody at the Institute of Music at UiO for helping me when I came back after my student hiatus in 2007. I cannot over-exaggerate my gratitude towards Rob Lee, webmaster at www.thewho.com for helping me with finding important information on that site and his attempts at getting me an interview with one of the boys. The work being done on that site is fantastic. Also, a big thank you to my fellow Who fans. Discussing Who with you makes liking the band more fun.
    [Show full text]
  • The History of Rock Music: 1976-1989
    The History of Rock Music: 1976-1989 New Wave, Punk-rock, Hardcore History of Rock Music | 1955-66 | 1967-69 | 1970-75 | 1976-89 | The early 1990s | The late 1990s | The 2000s | Alpha index Musicians of 1955-66 | 1967-69 | 1970-76 | 1977-89 | 1990s in the US | 1990s outside the US | 2000s Back to the main Music page (Copyright © 2009 Piero Scaruffi) The Golden Age of Heavy Metal (These are excerpts from my book "A History of Rock and Dance Music") The pioneers 1976-78 TM, ®, Copyright © 2005 Piero Scaruffi All rights reserved. Heavy-metal in the 1970s was Blue Oyster Cult, Aerosmith, Kiss, AC/DC, Journey, Boston, Rush, and it was the most theatrical and brutal of rock genres. It was not easy to reconcile this genre with the anti-heroic ethos of the punk era. It could have seemed almost impossible to revive that genre, that was slowly dying, in an era that valued the exact opposite of machoism, and that was producing a louder and noisier genre, hardcore. Instead, heavy metal began its renaissance in the same years of the new wave, capitalizing on the same phenomenon of independent labels. Credit goes largely to a British contingent of bands, that realized how they could launch a "new wave of British heavy metal" during the new wave of rock music. Motorhead (1), formed by ex-Hawkwind bassist Ian "Lemmy" Kilminster, were the natural bridge between heavy metal, Stooges/MC5 and punk-rock. They played demonic, relentless rock'n'roll at supersonic speed: Iron Horse (1977), Metropolis (1979), Bomber (1979), Jailbait (1980), Iron Fist (1982), etc.
    [Show full text]