And now for something completely different … “The blues had a baby and they named it rock and roll” (Muddy Waters). Sometime around the beginning of the 1950s, rock n’ roll started to emerge (synthesising influences from jazz, blues, country and gospel) and quickly developed into what is known as “rock music.” There followed the creative explosion of the 60s, further development (Glam, hard rock, progressive, reggae) as well as correctives (Punk) in the 70s, more new trends in the 80s (such as New Wave, indie, electronic) and some new creative impulses in the 90s (Grunge, Britpop, world music) and then … [Whether one sees black music/r’n’b as a sub-group within rock (with a somewhat different cultural history and development; blues, gospel, Motown, soul, etc.), or as something basically different to rock music is a matter of debate (personally I tend to the first interpretation).]
Rock music has fractured into hundreds of genres, from Death Metal to different varieties of techno. Hip hop (originally with a pedigree in perceived US black alienation, now diversified world-, language- and culture-wide) strikes me as being musically very limited. Commercial pop remains as strong and parasitically creative as ever (contemporary r’n’b sanitising a lot of rap/hip hop being one example), but, because of its commercial imperatives, pop will never be really artistically creative, feeding instead on new impulses which have, over the past half century, usually been provided in the area known as “rock music.” Over the past ten years or so, I have the feeling that rock is creatively increasing running out of steam. The scene today seems to be dominated, as I said, by different genres and, increasingly, by aging dinosaurs, either repeating themselves (like U2 or REM) or parodying themselves (as the Stones have been doing for decades). Elton John and Phil Collins are now writing musicals. There’s a lot of good new music out there, but nearly all of it seems to be no more than very competent variations on themes intensively explored long ago. Has the original inspiration of three chords and twelve bars; electric guitar, bass, (keyboards) and drums, finally been mined out? Or am I just getting old? Francis “When I hear the word gun, I reach for my culture.” (Malcolm Muggeridge) --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""Minds Eye"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Minds-Eye?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
