Basics - Genres - Rock 2

Blogger's Notes

Been listening to Led Zep's box CD set for the past 2 days. Haha awesome stuff. Will be talking about them later on. They're one of those bands which are so all-encompassing and so individualistic that no one can say that they are not on a league of their own.

This part will be talking about bands who made a big difference, which is why Cream was planned to be put here. Previous was about "Guitar Heroes" of rock.

I won't be touching on a lot of the people with crossover sounds like Beatles (pop rock and psychedelic rock later on) or Frank Zappa, but concentrate on the mainstream rock people.

And I forgot to talk about something which is very related to the energy behind rock. It's a subversive way of expressing one's freedom - freedom being the centre trait of all American music. It's an "I'm speaking out! I want my freedom!" It's when people still had tons of ideals and people dreamed of a free America.

Cream



Bad mullets + lots of drugs + bad facial hair + weed hanging from a bass and what do you get? One of the best bands ever in the history of rock. Constantly getting stoned before playing or singing, the band is infamous for playing like spastic people (in terms of looks) but still creating this amazing sound that transcends time.

Constantly out of tune vocals, grit in the voice, clean but more staccato drum sounds (and amazingly well-phrased), hard bass plucking with slight bit of compression and distortion, and of course an insanely sweet distorted SG with great bluesy licks always succinct and beautiful.

There's a lot in this kind in this music which is similar to jazz than one realises. The constant improvisation in the background by both Jack and Ginger are essential in keeping the energy and spirit of the music up.

Led Zeppelin



Epic band. Epic song. One of the most overplayed guitar lines in the history of guitar-dom. Haha.

I think that they were the few guys who made rock really epic. Probably the most experimental of their time, ranging from shuffle to reggae and all kinds of sounds. This song is a great testament to their great musicality, arrangement and song writing. From the starting of the song with this haunting guitar line and flute ensemble patch (on keyboard), leading to a point where after the vocals come in, they slowly build up with introduction of another guitar and keyboard synths, and doubling of melody. They start layering the sound and slowly build up the energy of the music and push before they release it with another sudden holding back, then slowly build it back up. The music is like a roller coaster. Then comes the drums and they slowly build up the energy of the music to that energetic rock sound at the end.

Throughout the whole song you don't sense any sudden changes, everything sounded very organic and powerful. That was how beautiful rock music had been.

Yes I'm a big fan of their ingenious sound and arrangements. It's simple, but beautiful.

Queen



Anyone musician who hasn't heard of Queen should be shot. Then revived again just to be shot again. Brilliant arrangements, catchy hooks, classical ideas mixed with rock sound. Haunting melodies with haunting arrangements and amazingly heartfelt sounds.

Need I talk more about this song? Led Zeppelin and Queen are some of the best bands ever.

AC/DC



This band is probably the epitome of clean in rock for their era. At such insanely high quality recordings, you can hear every single note on the guitar played with precision and clarity. The drummer is also by far one of the cleanest in my opinion.

Clean sounds from rock? Yeah; clean ideas of very gritty ideas and very strong opinions. It's like a razor tongue which is always precise and to the point.

Any rock band should always aspire to at least have such a level of cleanliness in their playing in my opinion. And the groove and the energy of the music. The vocals fits their sound (though the sound of nodules is always kind of painful to me) perfectly too.

Want to be a rocker? Learn from the best and the guys who made it what it is today. =)

That ends Rock 2