Queen: Original Rock n’ Roll

Hello people (: today I will talk about one of the most amazing bands in Rock n’ Roll history: Queen! This band formed in England in 1971, when The Beatles and The Rolling Stones was what the country considered as Rock n’ Roll. Queen made history because of their originality, their music is a unique Rock n’ Roll style, and also because of the leadership and heart of their singer, Freddie Mercury himself, who provided Queen with beautiful creativeness for their songs.

Before Queen it was Smile, formed by Roger Taylor as drummer, Brian May as guitarist and another guy as the singer who later abandoned them. The band needed a new singer, and like destiny it happened that Roger Taylor had a friend called Farouk Bulsara, who became their awesome singer Freddie Mercury(: (Sánchez, 2).

Freddie gave important ideas to make Queen´s style; he had the idea of a rock band where the visual aspect was very important, a musical spectacle with powerful Rock n’ Roll different to what had been shown in England until then. After getting John Deacon as bassist, they continuing sharing ideas about the band and decided they wanted Queen to be a rocker drama band, with a lot of treatment of the voices and guitars. When they made their first record, Queen´s music was the result of all the ideas they had: in the songs there was a broad use of the voices in chorus, guitars sounding with a very special hard sound, and much orchestral richness with piano and acoustics. Queen’s original and different style was formed. However, their style changed a little or added new characteristics with their third record, and it was all because Brian May was not in complete health like to give a lot of heavy guitar contributions, so it was then when Queen got a lot of pop style, but continued with the hard guitars. An example of this is the song “Killer Queen”(Sánchez, 3).

Queen was just one step to gaining their fame definitely, so they produced their two records “A Night at the Opera” and “A Day at the Races”, which contained amazing songs like “Somebody to Love” and “Love of my Life”. But the most emblematic song in Queen’s career is “Bohemian Rhapsody”. It was recorded for one month, and released in 1975. This song was longer than the others, with complex harmony and very original because of the mix it had of heavy and operatic parts. The radio first refused to play it, but then it noticed it was one of the great songs in Rock n’ Roll (Sánchez, 6). It is a beautiful song, expressing a lot of pain and drama through Freddie’s amazing voice, and releasing it with the anger of the guitar part, and finally ending with a fragile and resigned phrase: “nothing really matters…to me”    :’ D

Queen continued with its successful career, playing live around England and the United States and giving memorable nights to the fans. They even came to Mexico and I think to Monterrey in 1982 :D my Dad told me but he could not go ): But in the beginning of the 90’s when AIDS was more frequent, Freddie Mercury got sick with it and died in 1991. His band mates continued giving concerts to remember him, with the help of other singers. Freddie is remembered as a free person, and a leader with a good heart who never gave up and always had a positive attitude, it will never matter if he was gay.

I recommend you to hear the song “Show must go on” with the lyrics, that song was made in their last record, and from what the lyrics say, Freddie knew he was going to die, but he says beautiful things (:    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBOvOatPqnY&feature=related

Works Cited

Sánchez Guarneros, Israel. “Tributo a Queen”. Rock Stars. México: Guarnerius Editores, 2006.

Rock n' Roll in the 90's

Hello there! I have to tell you, I did not wanted to talk about this but later I found it very interesting…as you can see. It was in the 90’s that rock and roll took a distinctive turn. Many people became bored with the soft rock bands and singers in the charts, even with traditional Rock n’ Roll which now included not just the one of the fifties but the other variations that were out there until the 80’s. They needed something different (rocknroll123.com). New Rock n’ Roll variations came up that were very different from the ones that were sounding on the radio by the 1980’s, it was almost a new Rock n’ Roll.

Grunge became extremely popular during the 90’s and was the predominant Rock n’ Roll variation, usually credited to the success of Kurt Cobain and Nirvana. With his death came the decline of grunge music, because by the end of the decade most of these bands changed their style (rocknroll123.com). Nirvana’s song “Smells like Teen Spirit”, released in 1991, became the anthem for the rebellion against structure, conformity and commercialism (rockmem.com). This is the real meaning of this song in context of the Rock n’ Roll movement, it is not just a “headbanger song”, the reason why a lot of people like it without knowing what it really means.

British Rock n’ Roll revived in the 90’s, since in the 80’s there was not much manifestation of this music. Artists and bands were trying to emulate famous British bands like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, for example two bands formed in the decade, Blur and Oasis, resembled the Beatles and the Rolling Stones respectively. It was a new proposal and that made this a new sound (rocknroll123.com). Indie rock, founded in the late 80’s, intensified and became more popular in this decade and later became a mainstream, contributing to this new group of variations of Rock n’ Roll that changed it (rocknroll123.com). This is often described like a sentimental, less rude and more personal music.

Just like L.A. was home for the 80’s Rock n’ Roll (L.A. ROCKS), now Seattle became the hub of 90’s rock. Successful bands were the ones with which young people could identify, such as Nirvana, the Cranberries, Oasis and Pearl Jam. This last one became a flagship rock band in the 90’s just because of that, because their lyrics echoed the confusion, anger, heartbreak, and frustration of the lost youth (rockmem.com).

So the Rock n’ Roll movement responded to a new social attitude of the youth of this time. It gave the young people, the teenagers, anger toward government, a fight against conformity, and search for the meaning in life, a search different from the one inspired by previous Rock n’ Roll. The youth was asking where they came from, why they existed and where were they going. Most of them had no identity and Rock n’ Roll helped to create “Generation X”, a name referring to how unimportant and unknown many teenagers felt. This feeling gave a new sound to Rock n’ Roll, creating these very different styles and variations I have mentioned. Now it was a cold, dark music with deep lyrics and fearless expressionism (rockmem.com).

I’ll show you the representative song of the representative Rock n’ Roll variation of the 90’s, even though maybe you already know it because of the “headbanger” concept, but it is interesting to listen to it knowing what it means ;) haha well, I call it interesting.

Works Cited

“Rock and Roll in the 90’s”. rocknroll123.com . Rock N Roll, October 13. Web. November 3, 2011.

“How 90’s Rock and Roll Changed the World”. rockmem.com. RockMem.com: The History of Rock & Roll, October 2, 2011. Web. November 3, 2011.

Jimi Hendrix

Hello there! Now I will talk about the guitarist known as the best of them all: Jimi Hendrix, the Guitar Hero. Even though I have just heard one of his songs and I don’t like him because he is one place above my man, I have heard as many people might have heard too that he occupies a big place in Rock n’ Roll history because he was the first guitar hero. He was the first guitarist who was seen like the best, like a God, and who really made people think guitar heroes could exist if somebody played guitar like that. He is probably best known as a hippie guy with spongy hair, but he is more than that.

He was born in 1942 and died in 1970 at the age of 27. He is also widely recognized as one of the most creative and influential musicians of the 20th century. Jimi Hendrix pioneered the explosive possibilities of the electric guitar. His innovative style of combining fuzz, feedback and controlled distortion created a new musical form (jimihendrix.com).

When he was a teenager he became interested in music, as he was influenced by many major artists at the time including B.B. King, and Buddy Holly. His father told: “he used to be sitting at the end of the bed there and strumming the broom like he was playing a guitar". He also learned to play by himself because he was unable to read music, something that made him concentrate even harder on the music he heard (jimihendrix.com).

After playing with different bands, Jimi Hendrix met Animal’s bass player, who became his manager and later, manager of the band he would form that accompanied Hendrix. However, his first important task was to name Hendrix as Jimi instead of James. The band, Jimi Hendrix Experience, quickly became the talk of London in the fall of 1966 (jimihendrix.com).

The band's first single, "Hey Joe," spent ten weeks on the UK charts. The debut single was quickly followed by the release of a full-length album Are You Experienced. This album is considered one of the most popular rock albums of all time, featuring tracks like "Purple Haze," "The Wind Cries Mary," "Foxy Lady," "Fire," and "Are You Experienced?” (jimihendrix.com).

From demo recordings to finished masters, Jimi Hendrix generated a big collection of songs throughout his short career. His music embraced the influences of blues, ballads, rock, R&B, and jazz, a collection of styles that make Hendrix one of the most popular figures in the history of Rock n’ Roll (jimihendrix.com).

At his time guitar was used in its basic form, without the harsh sound of Rock n’ Roll, and nobody played his way then. He was almost the first to start playing guitar in a very different way than before, with a louder guitar that involved blues sound and fast playing, so he was innovative for that time. If you listen to this song you will believe me ;) Another good proof of that he is an excellent guitar player is that he made me like him when I did not before X)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoAXW30mMAg&feature=related

Works Cited

“Jimi Hendrix Biography”. jimihendrix.com. Jimi Hendrix. Sony Music Entertainment, 2011. Web. October 27, 2011.

Edward Van Halen- My man

To me, he is the best guitarist ever :D. This guy is considered a guitar hero for many reasons regarding his playing, it is also considered a guitar God, and God himself by some crazy guys that comment on YouTube hehe. Also the one that taught Chuck Norris how to play guitar.. ;).

He was first known in 1978, when he was 23 years old and his band Van Halen made their first record, which included the solo “Eruption”. His guitar playing is known almost absolutely for that, basically it revolutionized Rock n’ Roll and guitar playing and many more things are said about it, but I’ll quote Guitar World Magazine: “When the wildly innovative instrumental was released in 1978, hit the rock guitar community like a hydrogen bomb. Two-handed tapping, gonzo whammy bar dips, artificial harmonics—with Van Halen’s masterly application of these and other techniques, “Eruption” made every other six-stringer look like a third-stringer” (guitarworld.com). In other words, no one had ever played like that before, with the same speed, precision and innovative techniques such as tapping, his most known. Today, he is considered by many music magazines as the second best guitarist ever, usually after Jimi Hendrix. (why!? D:)

But what I love about this guy,-- I mean, what a lot of people admire on him, is how his playing can reflect that he loves what he does and this has enriched his playing and composition of songs. He just smiles a lot… :) He has said XD, when they asked him what he thought about while playing onstage: “Nothing. It’s like having sex, actually, I swear to God. It’s definitely my first love”.

He used to play drums before, but then he switched with his brother Alex, who used to play guitar and is in the band too, when he was 12. He started to play at that age, and he would escape from school to go home and practice all day o.o, so he learned to play by himself, never took a lesson in his life (how the hell). One thing he did that not every guitarist has done, is that he built his own guitars, most of them, and they are so cool : D haha. He wouldn’t find a guitar he liked, so he made one out of the remaining pieces of different guitars that a factory had dropped, and painted it…and he made the most amazing and original guitar I have ever seen :D haha well, to me: The Frankenstrat (because it was made of parts just like Frankenstein ;). Then he made another one by cutting an Ibanez Destroyer with a saw o.o, The Shark.

At that time his playing was very innovative, so that Guitar World Magazine awarded him with the best guitarist of the year like three years in a row :) (1978-1980). His playing was very original because of the effects he created and used, for example animal sounds; he uses all these effects in the songs, something that no one did before, they just played the guitar very well. Finally, what I love about his playing is how well he does it and the feelings he transmits with it; his songs just make me happy—ok, I don’t know very well how to explain it myself so I will add this quote from Les Paul, very respected guitarist that invented o: multi-track recording, because he just says it perfectly!:

“Eddie’s finger tapping and vibrato work were innovative. It’s something he developed that made him different than all other guitar players. Extremely different. He mastered it very well. Eddie proves a fellow can create his own thing, something that´s recognizable. (..) It´s good to see someone out there that plays his way. That is what makes the man stand out from the boy. (…) It seems like he had his own thing going. And that alone, by itself, makes it very interesting. And the fact that he does it very well means he’s expressing a lot of things he had inside him that others don’t have. They just don’t play that way”

—Les Paul (Zlozower, Neil).

Awesome songs (maybe heavy too, hehe) I would recommend to prove all the subjective nonsense I have just said are: Unchained, Romeo Delight, Feel your Love Tonight, Mean Street and Beautiful Girls ;)

Works Cited

“50 Greatest Guitar Solos”. Guitarworld.com. Guitar World. January 29, 2009. Web. October 16, 2011.

Zlozower, Neil. Van Halen: A visual history 1978-1984. California: Chronicle Books, 2008.

Guitar Heroes

Also called guitar legends or guitar Gods. What are they? Well, the term does not refer to the Xbox game, it refers to very good, amazing guitarists in Rock n’ Roll history. As Rock n’ Roll has always been related to electric guitars, it is also related by many people to these guitar players. Guitar Legends are people who were born for that, first of all. The best guitarists, the ones that stand above the others; that can be due to several reasons, because they started a new playing technique, because they played with a new speed, because they sounded completely different to the rest, or just because they played really good.

World known and recognized guitar legends who have contributed to the history of music are:

·         Angus Young

·         Jimi Hendrix

·         Jimmy Page

·         Eric Clapton

·         Les Paul

·         Slash

·         Santana

·         Edward Van Halen

And some more…well, who would you like me to talk about in SECOND place? XD

Girls rock!! – The Runaways

Hello there! (: well I won’t reference this time or maybe just one source because I think I can say a lot about this girl rock band :D As I said in the previous post, in the 80’s there were female rockers, like Joan Jett and Lita Ford. Well, these girls started their band, “The Runaways” in 1975, when everybody thought Rock n’ Roll was for men, and they showed everyone not. A lot of you might know Joan Jett from the song “I love Rock n’ Roll”, but she along with Lita Ford was in The Runaways before going solo. As shown in the picture, they are: Lita (the most amazing girl guitarist I have heard by now), Jackie (who played bass), Joan (who played rhythm guitar, sang, formed the band and is so cool), Sandy (who played drums, and very well), and Cherie (who was the controversial singer). They were so young when they started, Cherie was 16, and the rest where 17 ,I think, just like our age! : D I find that really exciting, when I saw their movie I wanted to leave IB.. XD. In the seventies and eighties where there was more easy to leave school and become a rock star, because as I said everyone loved Rock n’ Roll back then.

Joan Jett was a teenager who wanted to learn guitar but nobody would want to teach her, so she had nothing to do (I never saw her doing her homework in the movie) so she spent her nights going to clubs to dope herself and try to find girls like her. So she found Sandy West, the drummer, and their future producer, Kim Fowley, who helped them find the rest of the members of the band. Cherie Currie wanted to be a singer and she did many times at her school, but the people did not like the music she sang and how she dressed (awesome) so they would throw things at her. Lita Ford was the daughter of Deep Purple’s Ritchie Blackmore (very good guitarist, people say, but an a**hole because he treated my man bad) and already had a guys’ band before, but when she met Joan and Sandy she liked the idea of a girl rock band, I like it too XD. So after they met, the first song they wrote was Cherry Bomb, I think about the singer Cherie Currie. They became really famous and did tours even in Japan.

There is a movie about them :D but I think it never came out here in Mexico, because my rocker friends : P didn’t know about it, but I discovered it online and bought it later ;) That movie is based on a biographical book by the singer Cherie Currie, so the movie is REALLY cool because it shows to a very good extent how things were back then and also the actresses seem too much like them, Kirsten Stewart plays Joan Jett and Dakota Fanning plays Cherie Currie : D they act very well, I recommend you girls the movie, and guys also. These girls were all rebel and bad XD something like that, well for some things you will see in the movie XD. Oh, and the movie has and awesome soundtrack :D My favorite songs from them are (they say some nasty things but XD): Cherry Bomb, I love playing with fire, I want to be where the boys are, California Paradise and Hollywood.

This is “I want to be where the boys are”, in the live version which is better, to me. Joan sings. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3vXozzdqRw

And here is the trailer of the movie ;) Hope you like it if you see it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIpQ9w27NNo&feature=related

Rock n’ Roll in the 80’s

In this decade Rock n’ Roll was the most popular music together with pop; its sound and style did not change very much from the one of the 70’s, its beat continued depending on electric guitar and bass guitar and it was characterized by heavy beats and fast tempos, meaning a relatively fast rhythm. However, there was a change in the music when some bands started playing with a tougher and hard-edged sound, which is now known as Heavy Metal; it started in the seventies but consolidated in this decade. Other variations also came up in this time (library.thinkquest.org).

Hard Rock and Heavy Metal were the main sounds of the 80’s, Rock n’ Roll variations that had a heavier sound and a harder look. This music was loud, unapologetic and wild with heavy electric guitars and driving beats; bands like Poison, AC/DC, Guns N’ Roses, and Bon Jovi represented this rock style. There could be lighter and more mainstream sounds and also angry and dark music, for example like Metallica (theclassic80s.com).

A very important point is that Rock n’ Roll wasn’t all about men in the 80s. There were female rockers like Joan Jett, Lita Ford and Pat Benatar who made a name for themselves and contributed to Rock n’ Roll history with their special styles. There were bands like Vixen, Blondie, and Heart that put female rock on the map and made the 80s the decade where the ladies rocked just as hard as the guys. That opened a door for new female bands after the 80s. I will dedicate another post to talk about this! (theclassic80s.com).

Another new sound that was created was soft rock or light rock. It had a sound that was friendlier to conservative and older listeners and the radio was filled with the lighter sounds of bands like Foreigner, Journey, Hall & Oates and REO Speedwagon (theclassic80s.com).

Rock n’ Roll bands occupied a place the same or even more important than pop bands, in the charts and in the society in general, a lot of people was interested in it…….(Now this becomes sentimental)………..Unlike today, what I see in my school and my city is that now people prefer pop and hip hop music, almost just the people that were teenagers in the 80’s really like Rock n’ Roll. It is ok, I guess, what they like, but sometimes I would like to go back in time when the majority of people appreciated Rock n’ Roll music, when everybody thought it was the best thing :D

I like Rock n’ Roll so much as you can see, besides from its amazing music, skill and creativeness, because it is like freedom to me, as I said in the first post, and because it is fun. Scorpions along with my favorite band Van Halen is an amazing band that played the Rock n’ Roll I like. With the fun and positivism of their music they make me love it (: For example, with this song and video    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmE_l_dN9UM&ob=av2e   (tell me what you think about it : P), I can dream that I leave IB and become a rock star XD…..no but I won’t leave IB, because I like it ;) I like being both a nerd and a rocker.

Anyways o.o all what I have said is mainly the reason why I started the blog, because I love Rock n’ Roll and because I would like to make other people like it..! :}





Works cited

“Rock and Roll in the 80s” theclassic80s.com. TheClassic80s.com. n.p., n.d. Web. September 22, 2011.

“Rock and Roll in the 80’s” library.thinkquest.org. Oracle Think Quest. Oracle, May 2, 2009. Web. September 22, 2011.