Scaruffi - A history of rock and dance music : Volume 1 (1951-1989) from the guitar to the laptop, from Chicago to Shangai

A History of

Rock and Dance Music

From the Guitar to the Laptop

From Chicago to Shanghai

Volume 1 (1951-1989)

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2009

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"If I were not a physicist, I would be a musician"

( Albert Einstein )

"Most rock journalism is people who can't write, interviewing people who can't talk, for people who can't read"

( Frank Zappa )

Scaruffi, Piero

A History of Rock and Dance Music

All Rights Reserved 2009 by Piero Scaruffi

Rock, Heavy metal, Psychedelia, Progressive, Ambient, Electronic, Singer-songwriter, Disco, Rap, Hip-hop, Funk, Techno, House, New Wave, Punk, Industrial, Hardcore, Pop, Noise, New Age, World-music, Grunge, Emo, Grind, Doom, Drumnbass, Trip-hop, Glitch

For information: www.scaruffi.com

Printed and published in the USA

Photo credits: Piero Scaruffi

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system, without the written permission of the author (http://www.scaruffi.com)

Contents

VOLUME 1

Preface

From Subculture to Counterculture (roughly 1951-66)

Background: The 20th Century

Rock'n'Roll 1951-57

Before the Flood 1957-1962

Trouble in Paradise 1961-1964

The Flood 1964-1965

Paradise Reborn 1963-1965

The Counterculture 1965-66

Minimalism and Electronics

The Classics (roughly 1966-1969)

The Late 1960s: The Democratization of Politics 67

Psychedelia 1965-68

The Age of the Revivals 1966-69

Solo Careers 1967-69

Electronics and Rock 1968-70

Progressive-rock 1968-72

Canterbury 1968-73

Kosmische Musik 1969-72

Hard-rock 1969-73

The Seventies (roughly 1970-75)

The Early 1970s: A Crisis of Confidence

Psychedelic Madness 1970-74

Re-alignment 1970-74

Singer-songwriters 1970-74

Decadence 1969-76

Sound 1973-78

The Auteurs 1975-82

Disco-music 1975-80

Punk and New Wave (roughly 1976-88)

The 1980s: The Last Gasps of the Cold War

The New Wave

Punk-rock

The Blank Generation

American Graffiti

British Graffiti

Dance Music for Punks

Gothic Rock

Industrial Music

Hardcore

College-pop

The New Wave of Pop and Synth-pop

Neo-progressive

Noise-rock

Psychedelic Underground and Dream-pop

The Golden Age of Heavy Metal

Singer-songwriters of the 1980s

Cow-punks and Roots-rock of the 1980s

DJs, Rappers, Ravers

The New Age and World-music

Shoegazing and Space-pop

Extreme Hardcore

Industrial-metal

Punk Crossovers

Between Acid-rock and Industrial Music

Between Noise-rock and Post-rock

From Computer Music to Collage

VOLUME 2

The Indie Revolution (roughly 1989-1994)

The Early 1990s: After the Cold War

Female Rock

Post-rock

Noisier than Rock

Progressive Sounds

Psychedelic Songwriting

Garage Music for the Generation X

Lo-fi pop

Between Individualism and Populism

The Second Coming of Industrial Music

Slo-core

Dance-music in the Age of House

Foxcore

Brit and non-Brit pop

Alt-pop

Grunge

The Golden Age of Hip-hop Music

Roots-rock in the Age of Alt-country

The Age of Emocore

From Grindcore to Stoner-rock

Gothic Rock

Post-ambient Music

Concrete Avantgarde

The Cyber Age (roughly 1995-2001)

The Late 1990s: Globalization

Drum'n'Bass

Trip-hop

Post-post-rock

Ambience

Africa

Glitch Music and Digital Minimalism

Exuberance

Transcendence

Violence

Confusion

Depression

Doom

Hip-hop Music

Digital Avantgarde

The Digital Age (roughly 2001-08)

The 2000s: Decade of Fear

DJs and Rappers

Bards and Dreamers

Tunesmiths

Populists

Intellectuals

Clubbers

Rockers

Trippers

Appendix

Chronology of Events

Selected Discography

Alphabetical index

Preface

There is not one single history of rock music. There are several.

There is the history of the hits. Most books on rock music are histories of the hits. The charts decide, i.e. the masses decide. Marx would have loved it, except there is a catch: the masses tend to buy what is publicized by the media, which is what corporations pay money to publicize. Marketing decides the charts. Invest a few million dollars on me and even I, regardless of my musical talent, will break into the charts, i.e. will become part of "that" history of rock music. Most books on the subject are, in fact, books about the music industry. Very often, the profile of a musician is simply a list of her/his successes in the Billboard charts ("that album broke into the charts", "that album hit #5", "that album sold one million copies"). In other words, books on rock music tend to treat musicians like corporations or start-ups, judging them by their revenues, profits and marketing strategy.

Then there are national versions of the history of rock music. Italians have been more exposed to British music than USA music. The Eagles and Creedence Clearwater Revival are hardly known, whereas the Moody Blues and David Bowie are almost household names. The history of rock music viewed from Italy is sharply different from the history of rock music viewed from, say, Boston.

Finally, there are the individual histories of rock music. Each person grew up with a different set of idols, and tends to center the history of rock music around those idols, whether Led Zeppelin or Doobie Brothers.

My history of rock music is not a history of the charts (which i consider an aberration), it is not a national version (i have lived in three continents and have traveled to some 120 countries), and it is not an individual version (i grew up with classical music, literature and science, not with rock music).

I simply listened to a lot of music, researched the origins of the various styles, and drew my conclusions. Very often, i was unaware of how many records an artist sold (I learned it later, when thousands of fans sent me nasty complaints). Very often, i am unaware of what was popular in Italy or Boston.

Also, i feel no particular sympathy for any rock musician. My "idols" are Ernst, Shostakovic, Pessoa, Coltrane... not rock musicians.

This is the most subjective history of rock music that one could possibly write; but also the most impartial, independent, and balanced.

It ends up being mostly a history of "alternative" rock music. While this is a gross approximation, it has become customary to separate "mainstream" music and "alternative" music. If you do what i did (listen to the music without letting marketing & sales influence you), it is very unlikely that you will end up selecting the musicians who topped the charts, and very likely that you will be impressed by countless obscure recordings that were twenty years ahead of their time even though nobody heard them.

Fans of mainstream music will claim that it all boils down to personal taste. I beg to disagree. There is an absolute factor that bestows a form of primacy on alternative music. Tell anyone (alternative or mainstream musician) that s/he is playing mainstream music and s/he will get upset. Tell anyone (alternative or mainstream musician) that s/he is playing alternative music and s/he will be flattered. Fans may buy according to the media and to marketing campaigns, but they, too, implicitly recognize the primacy of alternative music. If you tell a Beatles fan that the Beatles were mainstream, you risk your life. The evidence is just overwhelming: even the most mainstream musicians tacitly agree that alternative music is more important, and even the masses that buy mainstream music tacitly agree that alternative music is more important.