Rejuvenating Blues Roots: Hard and Southern Rock MUSC-21600: The Art of Rock Music Prof. Freeze 2 November 2018 Hard Rock
• British blues-based rock in the 1970s • Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath • Hard Rock = blues-based + psychedelic styles • Simplified musical gestures and limited textural clutter • Primacy of riffs, especially guitar, especially distorted, especially loud • Loud, rock-steady drum grooves • Fat, menacing bass • High-pitched, gritty vocals • Heavy amplification • Initially synonymous with “heavy metal”. Later, • Hard rock = stronger ties to the blues • Heavy metal = stronger affiliation with acid rock, dark imagery Led Zeppelin
• Deeply devoted to AOR format, their own artistic vision • Pave way to stadium rock • Make tours primary revenue stream • Set expectation for concert length • “Whole Lotta Love” (Led Zeppelin, 1969) • See listening guide • “Stairway to Heaven” (Led Zeppelin, 1972) • Enormous popularity • Complex overall form • Three sections defined by instrumentation, texture • Strophic within sections • Acoustic folk sensibility combined with hard rock • Gradual intensification, end-weighted • Helped free rock songs from radio’s 3-minute frame Southern Rock
• Diverse styles, all indebted to blues traditions • Often 2 or 3 lead guitars; long improvisations; lyrics focusing on outlaw images • Bay Area Connection: Creedence Cleerwater Revival • The Allman Brothers Band • Capricorn Recording Studios (Macon, GA) • “Statesboro Blues” (The Allman Brothers Band, 1971) • Blues musical (12-bar) and lyrical (aab) structure • Bottleneck guitar, southern soul vocals, two drummers • Southern soul vocals, two drummers • Lynyrd Skynyrd • Sounds of the South (Atlanta, GA) • (Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd) (1973; Album 27) • “Free Bird” (Lynyrd Skynyrd, 1973) • Apotheosis of the guitar • Power ballad • Tribute to Duane Allman, then band itself The “Problem” of Being “Southern”
• “Sweet Home Alabama” (Lynyrd Skynyrd, 1974) Verse 2 • Response to Neil Young’s “Southern Man” (0:55) and Well I heard mister Young sing about her “Alabama” Well, I heard ole Neil put her down • See lyrics to verses 2, 3 and final chorus/outro Well, I hope Neil Young will remember • The “problem” A Southern man don’t need him around anyhow • Associated with white Southern heritage • Rooted in African-American musical traditions Verse 3 • Marketing tool of Northern record companies In Birmingham they love the gov’ nor (boo, boo, boo) • Can music be consumed independent of social context? Now we all did what we could do Now Watergate does not bother me Does your conscience bother you? Tell the truth
Last chorus, outro Sweet home Alabama Oh sweet home baby Where the skies are so blue And the guv’nor’s true Sweet Home Alabama Lordy, Lord, I’m coming home to you Yea, yea Montgomery’s got the answer