British rock
Encyclopedia
British rock describes a wide variety of forms of music made in the United Kingdom. Since around 1964, with the "British Invasion" of the United States spearheaded by The Beatles
, British rock music has had a considerable impact on the development of American music and rock music across the world.
Initial attempts to emulate American rock and roll
took place in Britain in the mid-1950s, but the terms "rock music" and "rock" usually refer to the music derived from the blues-rock
and other genres that emerged during the 1960s. The term is often used in combination with other terms to describe a variety of hybrids or sub-genres, and is often contrasted with pop music, with which it shares many structures and instrumentation. Rock music has tended to be more oriented toward the albums market, putting an emphasis on innovation, virtuosity, performance and song writing by the performers.
Although much too diverse to be a genre in itself, British rock has produced many of the most significant groups and performers in rock music internationally, and has initiated or significantly developed many of the most influential sub-genres, including beat music
, progressive rock
, heavy metal music
, punk
, post punk, new romanticism, and indie rock
.
became popular, and many of its musicians were influenced by related American styles, including Boogie Woogie and the Blues. The skiffle
craze, led by Lonnie Donegan
, utilised amateurish versions of American folk songs and encouraged many of the subsequent generation of rock and roll, folk, R&B and beat musicians to start performing. At the same time British audiences were beginning to encounter American rock and roll, initially through films including Blackboard Jungle
(1955) and Rock Around the Clock
(1955). Both films contained the Bill Haley & His Comets
hit "Rock Around the Clock
", which first entered the British charts in early 1955 - four months before it reached the US pop charts
- topped the British charts later that year and again in 1956, and helped identify rock and roll with teenage delinquency. American rock and roll acts such as Elvis Presley
, Little Richard
and Buddy Holly
thereafter became major forces in the British charts.
The initial response of the British music industry was to attempt to produce copies of American records, recorded with session musicians and often fronted by teen idols. More grassroots British rock and rollers soon began to appear, including Wee Willie Harris
and Tommy Steele
. The bland or wholly imitative form of much British rock and roll in this period meant that the American product remained dominant. However, in 1958 Britain produced its first "authentic" rock and roll song and star, when Cliff Richard
reached number 2 in the charts with "Move It
". At the same time, TV shows such as Six-Five Special
and Oh Boy! promoted the careers of British rock and rollers like Marty Wilde
and Adam Faith
. Cliff Richard and his backing band The Shadows
, were the most successful home grown rock and roll based acts of the era. Other leading acts included Billy Fury
, Joe Brown
, and Johnny Kidd & The Pirates, whose 1960 hit song "Shakin' All Over
" became a rock and roll standard.
scene, in major urban centres in the UK like Liverpool
, Manchester
, Birmingham
and London. This was particularly true in Liverpool, where it has been estimated that there were around 350 different bands active, often playing ballrooms, concert halls and clubs. These beat bands were heavily influenced by American groups of the era, such as Buddy Holly and the Crickets
(from which group The Beatles
derived their name), as well as earlier British groups such as The Shadows. After the national success of the Beatles in Britain from 1962, a number of Liverpool performers were able to follow them into the charts, including Gerry & The Pacemakers
, The Searchers
, and Cilla Black
. Among the most successful beat acts from Birmingham were The Spencer Davis Group and The Moody Blues
; The Animals
came from Newcastle
, and Them
, featuring Van Morrison
, from Belfast
. From London, the term Tottenham Sound was largely based around The Dave Clark Five
, but other London bands that benefited from the beat boom of this era included the Rolling Stones, The Kinks
and The Yardbirds
. The first non-Liverpool
, non-Brian Epstein
-managed band to break through in the UK were Freddie and the Dreamers
, who were based in Manchester, as were Herman's Hermits
and The Hollies
. The beat movement provided most of the bands responsible for the British invasion
of the American pop charts in the period after 1964, and furnished the model for many important developments in pop and rock music, particularly through their small group format - typically lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass guitar, drums, and often keyboards, either with a lead singer or with one of the other musicians taking lead vocals and the others providing vocal harmonies.
, Howlin' Wolf
and Muddy Waters
. Initially led by purist blues followers such as Alexis Korner
and Cyril Davies
, it reached its height of mainstream popularity in the 1960s, when it developed a distinctive and influential style dominated by electric guitar and made international stars of several proponents of the genre including The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, Eric Clapton
, Fleetwood Mac
and Led Zeppelin
. A number of these moved through Blues-rock
to different forms of rock music, with increasing emphasis on technical virtuosity and improvisational skills. As a result British blues helped to form many of the sub-genres of rock, including psychedelic rock
and heavy metal music
. Since then direct interest in the blues in Britain has declined, but many of the key performers have returned to it in recent years, new acts have emerged and there have been a renewed interest in the genre.
The Beatles themselves were less influenced by blues music than the music of later American genres such as soul
and Motown. Their popular success in Britain in the early 1960s was matched by their new and highly influential emphases on their own song writing, and on technical production values, some of which were shared by other British beat groups. On 7 February 1964, the CBS Evening News
with Walter Cronkite
ran a story about The Beatles
' United States arrival in which the correspondent said "The British Invasion this time goes by the code name Beatlemania
". A few days later, they appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show. Seventy five percent of Americans watching television that night viewed their appearance thus "launching" the invasion with a massive wave of chart success that would continue until the Beatles broke up in 1970. On 4 April 1964, the Beatles held the top 5 positions on the Billboard Hot 100
singles chart, the only time to date that any act has accomplished this. During the next two years, Peter and Gordon, The Animals
, Manfred Mann
, Petula Clark
, Freddie and the Dreamers
, Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders, Herman's Hermits
, The Rolling Stones
, The Troggs
, and Donovan
would have one or more number one singles in the US. Other acts that were part of the "invasion" included The Who
, The Kinks
, and The Dave Clark Five
; these acts were also successful within the UK, although clearly the term "British Invasion" itself was not applied there except as a description of what was happening in the USA. So-called "British Invasion" acts influenced fashion, haircuts and manners of the 1960s of what was to be known as the "Counterculture
". In particular, the Beatles' movie A Hard Day's Night
and fashions from Carnaby Street
led American media to proclaim England as the centre of the music and fashion world. The success of British acts of the time, particularly that of the Beatles themselves, has been seen as revitalising rock music in the US and influenced many American bands to develop their sound and style. The growth of the British music industry itself, and its increasingly prominent global role in the forefront of changing popular culture, also enabled it to discover and first establish the success of new rock artists from elsewhere in the world, notably Jimi Hendrix
and, in the early 1970s, Bob Marley
.
culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of hallucinogenic drugs
. It particularly grew out of blues-rock and progressive folk music and drew on non-Western sources such as Indian music's raga
s and sitar
s as well as studio effects and long instrumental passages and surreal lyrics. It emerged during the mid 1960s among progressive folk acts in Britain
such as The Incredible String Band and Donovan
, as well as in the United States, and rapidly moved into rock and pop music being taken up by acts including the Beatles, The Yardbirds, The Moody Blues, Small Faces, The Move
, Traffic
, Cream
and Pink Floyd
. Psychedelic rock
bridged the transition from early blues-rock
to progressive rock
, art rock
, experimental rock
, hard rock
and eventually heavy metal
that would become major genres in the 1970s.
By the early 1970s, rock music had become more mainstream, and internationalised, with many British acts becoming massively successful in the United States and globally. Some of the most successful artists, such as Paul McCartney
, John Lennon
, Elton John
, David Bowie
, and Rod Stewart
performed their own songs (and in some cases those written by others) in an eclectic variety of styles, in which the presentation of the performance itself became increasingly important. By way of contrast, Status Quo became one of the most successful British rock acts by presenting an apparently unsophisticated style of boogie
-based rock music; and Van Morrison
gained international critical acclaim through a blend of rock, jazz
and blues
styles. Some well-established British bands that began their careers in the British Invasion, notably The Rolling Stones
, The Who
and The Kinks
, also developed their own particular styles and expanded their international fan base during that period, but would be joined by new acts in new styles and sub-genres.
pioneered in England at the end of the 1960s, particularly by the band Fairport Convention
. Rather than mixing electric music with forms of American influenced progressive folk, it used traditional English music as its basis. An early success was Fairport Convention's 1969 album Liege and Lief, but it became more significant in the 1970s, when it was taken up by groups such as Pentangle
, Steeleye Span
and the Albion Band. It was rapidly adopted and developed in the surrounding Celtic cultures of Brittany
, where it was pioneered by Alan Stivell
and bands like Malicorne
; in Ireland by groups such as Horslips
; and also in Scotland, Wales and the Isle of Man
and Cornwall
, to produce Celtic rock
and its derivatives. It was also influential in those parts of the world with close cultural connections to Britain, such as the USA and Canada and gave rise to the sub-genre of Medieval folk rock
and the fusion genres of folk punk
and folk metal
. By the end of the 1970s the genre was in steep decline in popularity, as other forms of music, including punk and electronic began to be established.
Progressive or prog rock developed out of late 1960s blues-rock
and psychedelic rock
. Dominated by British bands, it was part of an attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility. Progressive rock bands attempted to push the technical and compositional boundaries of rock by going beyond the standard verse-chorus
-based song structure
s. The arrangement
s often incorporated elements drawn from classical
, jazz
, and international sources later called "world music
". Instrumental
s were common, while songs with lyrics were sometimes conceptual, abstract, or based in fantasy. Progressive rock bands sometimes used concept album
s that made unified statements, usually telling an epic story or tackling a grand overarching theme. King Crimson
's 1969 début album, In the Court of the Crimson King
, which mixed powerful guitar riffs and mellotron
, with jazz
and symphonic music, is often taken as the key recording in progressive rock, helping the widespread adoption of the genre in the early 1970s among existing blues-rock and psychedelic bands, as well as newly formed acts. The term was applied to the music of bands such as Yes
, Genesis
, Pink Floyd
, Jethro Tull
, Soft Machine
, Electric Light Orchestra
, Procol Harum
, Hawkwind
, and Emerson, Lake & Palmer
. It reached its peak of popularity in the mid 1970s, but had mixed critical acclaim and the punk movement can be seen as a reaction against its musicality and perceived pomposity. Many bands broke up, but some, including Genesis, ELP, Yes, and Pink Floyd, regularly scored Top Ten albums with successful accompanying worldwide tours.
early 1970s. It was characterised by outrageous clothes, makeup, hairstyles, and platform-soled boots. The flamboyant lyrics, costumes, and visual styles of glam performers were a campy
, playing with categories of sexuality in a theatrical blend of nostalgic
references to science fiction and old movies, all over a guitar-driven hard rock
sound. Pioneers of the genre included David Bowie
, Roxy Music
, Mott the Hoople
, Marc Bolan
and T.Rex. These, and many other acts straddled the divide between pop and rock music, managing to maintain a level of respectability with rock audiences, while enjoying success in the UK singles chart, including Queen
and Elton John
. Other performers aimed much more directly for the popular music market, where they were the dominant groups of their era, including Slade
, Wizzard
, and Sweet
. The glitter image was pushed to its limits by Gary Glitter
and The Glitter Band
. Largely confined to the British, glam rock peaked during the mid 1970s, before it disappeared in the face of punk rock and new wave trends.
, psychedelic rock
and garage rock
the bands that created heavy metal developed a thick, powerful sound, characterised by overt rhythmic basslines, highly amplified distortion
, extended guitar solos, emphatic beats, and overall loudness. Heavy metal lyrics and performance styles often incorporated elements of fantasy and science fiction, and are generally associated with masculinity and machismo
. The three pioneering heavy metal bands, Led Zeppelin
, Black Sabbath
, and Deep Purple
, were all British and, while gaining little critical acclaim, they and the next generation of metal groups, which included American, Australian and continental bands beside British acts Judas Priest
, Motörhead and Rainbow
, attracted large audiences and record sales. Rainbow moved heavy metal into stadium rock while Motörhead introduced a punk rock
sensibility and an increasing emphasis on speed. After a decline in popularity in the late 1970s Judas Priest
discarded most of the genre's blues
influences, particularly on their 1980 album British Steel
, which opened the door for the New Wave of British Heavy Metal
including Iron Maiden
, Vardis
, Saxon and Def Leppard
, and a return to popularity in the 1980s.
Although NWOBHM inspired many new bands, in the late 1980s much of the creative impetus in the genre moved away from Britain to American and continental Europe (particularly German and Scandinavia), which produced most of the major new sub-genres of metal, which were then taken up by British acts. These included thrash metal
and death metal
, both developed in the USA; black metal
and power metal
, both developed in continental Europe, but influenced by the British band Venom
; and doom
, which was developed in the USA but which soon had a number of bands from England, including Pagan Altar
and Witchfinder General
. Grindcore
, or simply grind, was a hybrid of death metal and hardcore punk, characterised by heavily distorted, down-tuned guitars, high speed tempo
, blast beat
s, songs often lasting no more than two minutes (some are seconds long), and vocals which consist of growls
and high-pitched screams. Pioneers, the British band Napalm Death
inspired other British grindcore groups in the 1980s, among them Extreme Noise Terror
, Carcass
and Sore Throat
.
Probably the most successful British metal band since the days of NWOBHM were Cradle of Filth
, formed in 1991, and pursuing a form of extreme metal that is difficult to categorise. The term "retro-metal" has been applied to such bands as The Darkness, whose mix of glam rock
and heavy riffs earned them a string of singles hits and a quintuple platinum album with One Way Ticket to Hell... and Back (2005), which reached number 11 in the UK charts. Bullet for My Valentine
, from Wales, broke into the top 5 in both the U.S. and British charts with their melodic dark rock, with Scream Aim Fire
(2008).
was a short-lived trend that left a lasting influence on the British music scene, especially in punk rock
. It was a back-to-basics movement that reacted against the glittery glam rock
of David Bowie
and Gary Glitter
, and peaked in the mid 1970s. Pub rock developed in large north London pubs. It is said to have begun in May 1971 with Eggs over Easy
, an American band, playing in the Tally Ho! in Kentish Town
. A group of musicians who had been playing in blues and R&B bands during the 1960s and early 70s soon formed influential bands like Brinsley Schwarz
, Ducks Deluxe
and Bees Make Honey
. Brinsley Schwarz was probably the most influential group, achieving some mainstream success both in the UK and in the States. The second wave of pub rock included Kilburn and the High Roads
, Ace
and Chilli Willi and the Red Hot Peppers
; these were followed by the third and final wave of pub rock, including Dr. Feelgood
, The Winkies
and Sniff 'n' the Tears
. Several pub rock musicians joined the new wave acts such as Graham Parker
's backing band, The Rumour
, Elvis Costello & the Attractions and even The Clash
.
Punk rock developed between 1974 and 1976, originally in the United States, where it was rooted in garage rock
, and other forms of what is now known as protopunk
music. The first punk band is usually thought to be the Ramones
from 1976. This was taken up in Britain by bands also influenced by the pub rock
scene, like the Sex Pistols
and The Clash
, particularly in London, who became the vanguard of a new musical and cultural movement, blending simple aggressive sounds and lyrics with clothing styles
and a variety of anti-authoritarian ideologies. Punk rock bands eschewed the perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock, creating fast, hard-edged music, typically with short songs, stripped-down instrumentation, and often political, anti-establishment
lyrics. Punk embraced a DIY
(do it yourself) ethic, with many bands self-producing their recordings and distributing them through informal channels. 1977 saw punk rock spreading around the world, and it became a major international cultural phenomenon. However, by 1978, the initial impulse had subsided and punk had morphed into the wider and more diverse new wave and post punk movements.
, Squeeze and Nick Lowe
, the electronic rock of Gary Numan
as well as songwriters like Elvis Costello
, rock & roll influenced bands like the Pretenders, the reggae influenced music of bands like The Police
, as well as bands of the ska
revival like The Specials
and Madness
. By the end of the decade many of these bands, most obviously the Police, were beginning to make an impact in American and world markets.
(specifically in bass guitar), and American funk
. Examples of post-punk outfits in Britain included The Smiths
, Orange Juice
, The Psychedelic Furs, The Fall, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Lords of the New Church
, Joy Division
, Killing Joke
, Echo & the Bunnymen
, The Cure
, Bauhaus
, Magazine
, Wire
, The Jesus and Mary Chain
, and Tubeway Army
. Post punk would be a major element in the creation of the alternative rock
and gothic rock
genres.
Folk punk or rogue folk is a fusion of folk music
and punk rock
, or occasionally other genres, which was pioneered by the London-based Irish band The Pogues
in the 1980s. It achieved some mainstream success in the 1980s and, particularly as the sub-genre of Celtic punk
, has been widely adopted in areas of the Celtic diaspora
in North America and Australia and by many bands in continental central and eastern Europe. Unlike earlier Celtic rock
and electric folk groups, folk punk groups tend to include relatively little traditional music
in their repertoire, but instead usually performed their own compositions, often following the form of punk rock, using additional folk instrumentation, including, mandolin
, accordion
, banjo
and particularly violin. Other bands adopted some traditional forms of music, including sea shanties
and eastern European gypsy music
. Among the most successful performers were The Men They Couldn't Hang
, New Model Army
, Oysterband
, The Levellers, and singer-songwriter Billy Bragg
, who enjoyed a series of hits in the 1980s.
, Yes
and Genesis
. In 1977 Ultravox
member Warren Cann
purchased a Roland
TR-77 drum machine, which was first featured in their October 1977 single release "Hiroshima Mon Amour". The ballad arrangement, metronome-like percussion and heavy use of the ARP Odyssey
synthesiser was effectively a prototype for nearly all synth pop and rock bands that were to follow. In 1978, the first incarnation of The Human League
released their début single "Being Boiled
". Others were soon to follow, including Tubeway Army
, a little known outfit from West London, who dropped their punk rock
image and jumped on the band wagon, topping the UK charts in the summer of 1979 with the single "Are Friends Electric?". This prompted the singer, Gary Numan
to go solo and in the same year he release the Kraftwerk
inspired album, The Pleasure Principle
and again topped the charts for the second time with the single "Cars
". Particularly through its adoption by New Romantics, synthesizers came to dominate the pop and rock music of the early 80s. Albums such as Visage
's Visage
(1980), John Foxx
's Metamatic
(1980), Gary Numan's
Telekon
(1980), Ultravox
's Vienna
(1980), The Human League
's Dare
(1981) and Depeche Mode
's Speak and Spell (1981), established a sound that influenced most mainstream pop and rock bands, until it began to fall from popularity in the mid-1980s.
movement in London nightclubs including Billy's and The Blitz Club
towards the end of the 1970s. Influenced by David Bowie
and Roxy Music
, it developed glam rock
fashions, gaining its name from the frilly fop
shirts
of early Romanticism
. New Romantic music often made extensive use of synthesisers. Pioneers included Visage
, Japan
and Ultravox
and among the commercially most successful acts associated with the movement were Adam and the Ants
, Culture Club
, The Human League
, Spandau Ballet
and Duran Duran
. By about 1983 the original movement had dissolved, with surviving acts dropping most of the fashion elements to pursue mainstream careers.
From its inception in 1981, the cable music channel MTV featured a disproportionate amount of music videos from image conscious British acts. In the fall of 1982, "I Ran (So Far Away)
" by A Flock of Seagulls
entered the Billboard Top Ten, arguably the first successful song that owed almost everything to video. They would be followed by bands like Duran Duran
whose glossy videos would come to symbolise the power of MTV. Dire Straits
' "Money for Nothing
" gently poked fun at MTV which had helped make them international rock stars. In 1983, 30% of the record sales were from British acts. 18 of the top 40 and 6 of the top 10 singles on 18 July were by British artists. Overall record sales would rise by 10% from 1982. Newsweek featured Annie Lennox
of Eurythmics
and Boy George
of Culture Club
on the cover of one of its issues, while Rolling Stone
would release an "England Swings" issue. In April 1984, 40 of the top 100 singles were from British acts while 8 of the top 10 singles in a May 1985 survey were of British origin. Veteran music journalist Simon Reynolds
theorised that similar to the first British Invasion the use of black American influences by the British acts helped to spur success. Commentators in the mainstream media credited MTV and the British acts with bringing colour and energy to back to pop music while rock journalists were generally hostile to the phenomenon because they felt it represented image over content.
, Orange Juice
and The Smiths
, followed by The Housemartins
and James
. Other forms of alternative rock developed in the UK during the 1980s. The Jesus and Mary Chain
wrapped their pop melodies in walls of guitar noise, while New Order
emerged from the demise of post-punk band Joy Division
and experimented with techno
and house music
, forging the alternative dance
style. The Mary Chain, along with Dinosaur Jr and the dream pop
of Cocteau Twins
, were the influences for the shoegazing
movement of the late 1980s.
(whose "Bela Lugosi's Dead
" is often cited as the first goth record), Siouxsie and the Banshees (who may have coined the term), The Cure
, The Sisters of Mercy
, and Fields of the Nephilim
. Gothic rock gave rise to a broader goth subculture
that included clubs, various fashion trends
and numerous publications that grew in popularity in the 1980s, gaining notoriety by being associated by several moral panic
s over suicide and Satanism.
nightclub and Factory Records
and dubbed Madchester, came to national prominence at the end of the decade, with the Happy Mondays
, the Inspiral Carpets
, and Stone Roses
charting late in 1989. The scene became the centre of media attention for independent rock in the early 1990s, with bands like World of Twist
, New Fast Automatic Daffodils
, The High
, Northside
, Paris Angels
, and Intastella also gaining national attention. The period of dominance was relatively short lived with The Stone Roses beginning to retreat from public performance while engaged in contractual disputes, the Happy Mondays having difficulty in producing a second album and Factory Records
going bankrupt in 1992. Local bands catching the tail-end of Madchester, such as The Mock Turtles
, became part of a wider baggy
scene. The music press in the UK began to place more focus on shoegazing
bands from the south of England
and bands emerging through US grunge
.
, The Chameleons
, The Passions
, Dif Juz
, Lowlife
and A.R. Kane began fusing post-punk
and ethereal
experiments with bittersweet pop melodies into sensual, sonically ambitious soundscapes. The 4AD record label is the one most associated with dream pop, though others such as Creation
, Projekt
, Fontana, Bedazzled
, Vernon Yard, and Slumberland
also released significant records in the genre. A louder, more aggressive strain of dream pop came to be known as shoegazing
; key bands of this style were Lush
, Slowdive
, My Bloody Valentine, Alison's Halo
, Chapterhouse
, Curve
and Levitation
. These bands kept the atmospheric qualities of dream pop, but added the intensity of post-punk-influenced bands such as The Chameleons
and Sonic Youth
.
's album Laughing Stock and US band Slint
's Spiderland
, both in 1991, which produced experimental work influenced by sources as varied as electronica
, jazz
, and minimalist classical music, often abandoning the traditional song format in favour of instrumental and ambient music. The term was first used to describe the band Bark Psychosis
and their album Hex
(1994), but was soon employed for bands such as Stereolab
, Laika
, Disco Inferno
and Pram
and other acts in America and Canada. Scottish group Mogwai
are one of the influential post-rock groups to arise at the turn of the 21st century.
' after the 1986 NME
tape, and also known as "cutie", "shambling bands" and later as "twee pop", indie pop was characterised by jangling guitars, a love of sixties pop and often fey, innocent lyrics. It was also inspired by the DIY scene of punk and there was a thriving fanzine, label and club and gig circuit. Early bands included The Pastels
, The Shop Assistants
and Primal Scream
. Scenes later developed in the United States particularly around labels such as K Records
. Genres such as Riot Grrrl
and bands as diverse as Nirvana
, Manic Street Preachers
, and Belle and Sebastian have all acknowledged its influence.
Britpop emerged from the British independent music scene of the early 1990s and was characterised by bands influenced by British guitar pop music of the 1960s and 1970s. The movement developed as a reaction against various musical and cultural trends in the late 1980s and early 1990s, particularly the grunge
phenomenon from the United States. New British groups such as Suede
and Blur
launched the movement by positioning themselves as opposing musical forces, referencing British guitar music of the past and writing about uniquely British topics and concerns. These bands were soon joined by others including Oasis
, Pulp
, Supergrass
and Elastica
. Britpop groups brought British alternative rock into the mainstream and formed the backbone of a larger British cultural movement called Cool Britannia
. Although its more popular bands were able to spread their commercial success overseas, especially to the United States, the movement largely fell apart by the end of the decade.
From about 1997, as dissatisfaction grew with the concept of Cool Britannia, and Britpop as a movement began to dissolve, emerging bands began to avoid the Britpop label while still producing music derived from it. Many of these bands tended to mix elements of British traditional rock (or British trad rock), particularly the Beatles, Rolling Stones and Small Faces, with American influences, including post-grunge. Post-Britpop bands like The Verve
, Radiohead
, Travis
, Stereophonics
, Feeder
, and particularly Coldplay
, achieved much wider international success than most of the Britpop groups that had preceded them, and were some of the most commercially successful acts of the late 1990s and early 2000s.
, many British indie bands such as Franz Ferdinand
, The Libertines
and Bloc Party
drew influences from post-punk groups such as Joy Division
, Wire
, and Gang of Four
. Other prominent independent rock bands in the 2000s include: Editors
, The Fratellis
, Placebo
, Lostprophets
, Razorlight
, Keane, Kaiser Chiefs
, Muse
, Kasabian, The Kooks
and Arctic Monkeys
(the last being the most prominent act to gain their initial fan base through the use of internet social networking).
and live coding
. In Britain the combination of indie with American pioneered dance-punk
was dubbed new rave
in publicity for The Klaxons
and the term was picked up and applied by the NME
to a number of bands, including Trash Fashion
, New Young Pony Club
, Hadouken!
, Late of the Pier
, Test Icicles
, and Shitdisco
forming a scene with a similar visual aesthetic to earlier rave music
.
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
, British rock music has had a considerable impact on the development of American music and rock music across the world.
Initial attempts to emulate American rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
took place in Britain in the mid-1950s, but the terms "rock music" and "rock" usually refer to the music derived from the blues-rock
Blues-rock
Blues rock is a hybrid musical genre combining bluesy improvisations over the 12-bar blues and extended boogie jams with rock and roll styles. The core of the blues rock sound is created by the electric guitar, piano, bass guitar and drum kit, with the electric guitar usually amplified through a...
and other genres that emerged during the 1960s. The term is often used in combination with other terms to describe a variety of hybrids or sub-genres, and is often contrasted with pop music, with which it shares many structures and instrumentation. Rock music has tended to be more oriented toward the albums market, putting an emphasis on innovation, virtuosity, performance and song writing by the performers.
Although much too diverse to be a genre in itself, British rock has produced many of the most significant groups and performers in rock music internationally, and has initiated or significantly developed many of the most influential sub-genres, including beat music
Beat music
Beat music, British beat, or Merseybeat is a pop and rock music genre that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1960s. Beat music is a fusion of rock and roll, doo wop, skiffle, R&B and soul...
, progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
, heavy metal music
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
, punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
, post punk, new romanticism, and indie rock
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
.
Early British rock and roll
In the 1950s, Britain was well placed to receive American rock and roll music and culture. It shared a common language, had been exposed to American culture through the stationing of troops in the country, and shared many social developments, including the emergence of distinct youth sub-cultures, which in Britain included the Teddy Boys. Trad JazzTrad jazz
Trad jazz - short for "traditional jazz" - refers to the Dixieland and Ragtime jazz styles of the early 20th century in contrast to any more modern style....
became popular, and many of its musicians were influenced by related American styles, including Boogie Woogie and the Blues. The skiffle
Skiffle
Skiffle is a type of popular music with jazz, blues, folk, roots and country influences, usually using homemade or improvised instruments. Originating as a term in the United States in the first half of the twentieth century, it became popular again in the UK in the 1950s, where it was mainly...
craze, led by Lonnie Donegan
Lonnie Donegan
Anthony James "Lonnie" Donegan MBE was a skiffle musician, with more than 20 UK Top 30 hits to his name. He is known as the "King of Skiffle" and is often cited as a large influence on the generation of British musicians who became famous in the 1960s...
, utilised amateurish versions of American folk songs and encouraged many of the subsequent generation of rock and roll, folk, R&B and beat musicians to start performing. At the same time British audiences were beginning to encounter American rock and roll, initially through films including Blackboard Jungle
Blackboard Jungle
Blackboard Jungle is a 1955 social commentary film about teachers in an inner-city school. It is based on the novel of the same name by Evan Hunter.-Plot:...
(1955) and Rock Around the Clock
Rock Around the Clock (film)
Rock Around the Clock is the title of a 1956 Musical film that featured Bill Haley and His Comets along with Alan Freed, The Platters, Tony Martinez and His Band, and Freddie Bell and His Bellboys. It was produced by B-movie king Sam Katzman and directed by Fred F...
(1955). Both films contained the Bill Haley & His Comets
Bill Haley & His Comets
Bill Haley & His Comets was an American rock and roll band that was founded in 1952 and continued until Haley's death in 1981. The band, also known by the names Bill Haley and The Comets and Bill Haley's Comets , was the earliest group of white musicians to bring rock and roll to the attention of...
hit "Rock Around the Clock
Rock Around the Clock
"Rock Around the Clock" is a 12-bar-blues-based song written by Max C. Freedman and James E. Myers in 1952. The best-known and most successful rendition was recorded by Bill Haley and His Comets in 1954...
", which first entered the British charts in early 1955 - four months before it reached the US pop charts
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
- topped the British charts later that year and again in 1956, and helped identify rock and roll with teenage delinquency. American rock and roll acts such as Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
, Little Richard
Little Richard
Richard Wayne Penniman , known by the stage name Little Richard, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist, and actor, considered key in the transition from rhythm and blues to rock and roll in the 1950s. He was also the first artist to put the funk in the rock and roll beat and...
and Buddy Holly
Buddy Holly
Charles Hardin Holley , known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll...
thereafter became major forces in the British charts.
The initial response of the British music industry was to attempt to produce copies of American records, recorded with session musicians and often fronted by teen idols. More grassroots British rock and rollers soon began to appear, including Wee Willie Harris
Wee Willie Harris
Wee Willie Harris is a British rock and roll singer. He is best known for his energetic stage shows and TV performances since the 1950s, when he was known as "Britain's wild man of rock 'n' roll".-Life and career:Working a job as a pudding mixer at Peek Freans' London bakery, Harris turned...
and Tommy Steele
Tommy Steele
Tommy Steele OBE , is an English entertainer. Steele is widely regarded as Britain's first teen idol and rock and roll star.-Singer:...
. The bland or wholly imitative form of much British rock and roll in this period meant that the American product remained dominant. However, in 1958 Britain produced its first "authentic" rock and roll song and star, when Cliff Richard
Cliff Richard
Sir Cliff Richard, OBE is a British pop singer, musician, performer, actor, and philanthropist who has sold over an estimated 250 million records worldwide....
reached number 2 in the charts with "Move It
Move It
"Move It" is a song recorded by Cliff Richard and the Drifters . Originally intended as the B-side to "Schoolboy Crush", it was released as Richard's debut single on 29 August 1958 and became his first hit record. It is credited with being one of the first authentic rock and roll songs produced...
". At the same time, TV shows such as Six-Five Special
Six-Five Special
The Six-Five Special is a British television programme launched in February 1957 when both television and rock and roll were in their infancy in Britain.-Description:...
and Oh Boy! promoted the careers of British rock and rollers like Marty Wilde
Marty Wilde
Marty Wilde is an English singer and songwriter. He was among the first generation of British pop stars to emulate American rock and roll, and is the father of pop singers Ricky Wilde, Kim Wilde and Roxanne Wilde.-Career:Wilde was performing under the name Reg Patterson at London's Condor Club in...
and Adam Faith
Adam Faith
Terence "Terry" Nelhams-Wright, known as Adam Faith was a Teen idol English singer, actor and later financial journalist. He was one of the most charted acts of the 1960s. He became the first UK artist to lodge his initial seven hits in the Top 5...
. Cliff Richard and his backing band The Shadows
The Shadows
The Shadows are a British pop group with a total of 69 UK hit-charted singles: 35 as 'The Shadows' and 34 as 'Cliff Richard and the Shadows', from the 1950s to the 2000s. Cliff Richard in casual conversation with the British rock press frequently refers to the Shadows by their nickname: 'The Shads'...
, were the most successful home grown rock and roll based acts of the era. Other leading acts included Billy Fury
Billy Fury
Billy Fury, born Ronald William Wycherley , was an internationally successful English singer from the late-1950s to the mid-1960s, and remained an active songwriter until the 1980s. Rheumatic fever, which he first contracted as a child, damaged his heart and ultimately contributed to his death...
, Joe Brown
Joe Brown (singer)
Joe Brown, MBE is an English entertainer.He has worked as a rock and roll singer and guitarist for more than five decades. He was a stage and television performer in the late 1950s and a UK recording star in the early 1960s...
, and Johnny Kidd & The Pirates, whose 1960 hit song "Shakin' All Over
Shakin' All Over
"Shakin' All Over" is a rock and roll song originally performed by Johnny Kidd and the Pirates. It was written by frontman Johnny Kidd and reached #1 in the United Kingdom in August 1960...
" became a rock and roll standard.
Beat music
In late 1950s Britain a flourishing culture of groups began to emerge, often out of the declining skiffleSkiffle
Skiffle is a type of popular music with jazz, blues, folk, roots and country influences, usually using homemade or improvised instruments. Originating as a term in the United States in the first half of the twentieth century, it became popular again in the UK in the 1950s, where it was mainly...
scene, in major urban centres in the UK like Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
and London. This was particularly true in Liverpool, where it has been estimated that there were around 350 different bands active, often playing ballrooms, concert halls and clubs. These beat bands were heavily influenced by American groups of the era, such as Buddy Holly and the Crickets
The Crickets
The Crickets are a rock & roll band from Lubbock, Texas, formed by singer/songwriter Buddy Holly in the 1950s. Their first hit record was "That'll Be the Day", released in 1957....
(from which group The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
derived their name), as well as earlier British groups such as The Shadows. After the national success of the Beatles in Britain from 1962, a number of Liverpool performers were able to follow them into the charts, including Gerry & The Pacemakers
Gerry & the Pacemakers
Gerry and the Pacemakers were a British beat music group prominent during the 1960s. In common with The Beatles, they came from Liverpool, were managed by Brian Epstein and recorded by George Martin. They are most remembered for being the first act to reach number one in the UK Singles Chart with...
, The Searchers
The Searchers (band)
The Searchers are an English beat group, who emerged as part of the 1960s Merseybeat scene along with The Beatles, The Fourmost, The Merseybeats, The Swinging Blue Jeans, and Gerry & The Pacemakers....
, and Cilla Black
Cilla Black
Cilla Black OBE is an English singer, actress, entertainer and media personality, who has been consistently popular as a light entertainment figure since 1963. She is most famous for her singles Anyone Who Had A Heart, You're My World, and Alfie...
. Among the most successful beat acts from Birmingham were The Spencer Davis Group and The Moody Blues
The Moody Blues
The Moody Blues are an English rock band. Among their innovations was a fusion with classical music, most notably in their 1967 album Days of Future Passed....
; The Animals
The Animals
The Animals were an English music group of the 1960s formed in Newcastle upon Tyne during the early part of the decade, and later relocated to London...
came from Newcastle
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
, and Them
Them (band)
Them were a Northern Irish band formed in Belfast in April 1964, most prominently known for the garage rock standard "Gloria" and launching singer Van Morrison's musical career...
, featuring Van Morrison
Van Morrison
Van Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely...
, from Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
. From London, the term Tottenham Sound was largely based around The Dave Clark Five
The Dave Clark Five
The Dave Clark Five were an English pop rock group. Their single "Glad All Over" knocked The Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand" off the top of the UK singles charts in January 1964: it eventually peaked at No.6 in the United States in April 1964.They were the second group of the British Invasion,...
, but other London bands that benefited from the beat boom of this era included the Rolling Stones, The Kinks
The Kinks
The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, North London, by brothers Ray and Dave Davies in 1964. Categorised in the United States as a British Invasion band, The Kinks are recognised as one of the most important and influential rock acts of the era. Their music was influenced by a...
and The Yardbirds
The Yardbirds
- Current :* Chris Dreja - rhythm guitar, backing vocals * Jim McCarty - drums, backing vocals * Ben King - lead guitar * David Smale - bass, backing vocals...
. The first non-Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, non-Brian Epstein
Brian Epstein
Brian Samuel Epstein , was an English music entrepreneur, and is best known for being the manager of The Beatles up until his death. He also managed several other musical artists such as Gerry & the Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, Cilla Black, The Remo Four & The Cyrkle...
-managed band to break through in the UK were Freddie and the Dreamers
Freddie and the Dreamers
Freddie and the Dreamers were an English band who had a number of hit records between May 1963 and November 1965. Their stage act was based around the comic antics of the 5-foot-3-inch-tall Freddie Garrity, who would bounce around the stage with arms and legs flying. The group remained active...
, who were based in Manchester, as were Herman's Hermits
Herman's Hermits
Herman's Hermits are an English beat band, formed in Manchester in 1963 as Herman & The Hermits. The group's record producer, Mickie Most , emphasized a simple, non-threatening, clean-cut image, although the band originally played R&B numbers...
and The Hollies
The Hollies
The Hollies are an English pop and rock group, formed in Manchester in the early 1960s, though most of the band members are from throughout East Lancashire. Known for their distinctive vocal harmony style, they became one of the leading British groups of the 1960s and 1970s...
. The beat movement provided most of the bands responsible for the British invasion
British Invasion
The British Invasion is a term used to describe the large number of rock and roll, beat, rock, and pop performers from the United Kingdom who became popular in the United States during the time period from 1964 through 1966.- Background :...
of the American pop charts in the period after 1964, and furnished the model for many important developments in pop and rock music, particularly through their small group format - typically lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass guitar, drums, and often keyboards, either with a lead singer or with one of the other musicians taking lead vocals and the others providing vocal harmonies.
British blues boom
In parallel with beat music, in the late 1950s and early 1960s a British blues scene was developing recreating the sounds of American R&B and later particularly the sounds of bluesmen Robert JohnsonRobert Johnson
Robert Leroy Johnson was an American blues singer and musician. His landmark recordings from 1936–37 display a combination of singing, guitar skills, and songwriting talent that have influenced later generations of musicians. Johnson's shadowy, poorly documented life and death at age 27 have given...
, Howlin' Wolf
Howlin' Wolf
Chester Arthur Burnett , known as Howlin' Wolf, was an influential American blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player....
and Muddy Waters
Muddy Waters
McKinley Morganfield , known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician, generally considered the "father of modern Chicago blues"...
. Initially led by purist blues followers such as Alexis Korner
Alexis Korner
Alexis Korner was a blues musician and radio broadcaster, who has sometimes been referred to as "a Founding Father of British Blues"...
and Cyril Davies
Cyril Davies
Cyril Davies was one of the first British blues harmonica players and blues musician.-Biography:Born at St Mildred's, 15 Hawthorn Drive, Willowbank, Denham, Buckinghamshire, near London, he was the son of William Albert Davies, a labourer, and his wife Margaret Mary...
, it reached its height of mainstream popularity in the 1960s, when it developed a distinctive and influential style dominated by electric guitar and made international stars of several proponents of the genre including The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
, Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac are a British–American rock band formed in 1967 in London.The only original member present in the band is its eponymous drummer, Mick Fleetwood...
and Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
. A number of these moved through Blues-rock
Blues-rock
Blues rock is a hybrid musical genre combining bluesy improvisations over the 12-bar blues and extended boogie jams with rock and roll styles. The core of the blues rock sound is created by the electric guitar, piano, bass guitar and drum kit, with the electric guitar usually amplified through a...
to different forms of rock music, with increasing emphasis on technical virtuosity and improvisational skills. As a result British blues helped to form many of the sub-genres of rock, including psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues rock bands in United States and the United Kingdom...
and heavy metal music
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
. Since then direct interest in the blues in Britain has declined, but many of the key performers have returned to it in recent years, new acts have emerged and there have been a renewed interest in the genre.
The Beatles and the "British Invasion"
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
and Motown. Their popular success in Britain in the early 1960s was matched by their new and highly influential emphases on their own song writing, and on technical production values, some of which were shared by other British beat groups. On 7 February 1964, the CBS Evening News
CBS Evening News
CBS Evening News is the flagship nightly television news program of the American television network CBS. The network has broadcast this program since 1948, and has used the CBS Evening News title since 1963....
with Walter Cronkite
Walter Cronkite
Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. was an American broadcast journalist, best known as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years . During the heyday of CBS News in the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trusted man in America" after being so named in an opinion poll...
ran a story about The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
' United States arrival in which the correspondent said "The British Invasion this time goes by the code name Beatlemania
Beatlemania
Beatlemania is a term that originated during the 1960s to describe the intense fan frenzy directed toward The Beatles during the early years of their success...
". A few days later, they appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show. Seventy five percent of Americans watching television that night viewed their appearance thus "launching" the invasion with a massive wave of chart success that would continue until the Beatles broke up in 1970. On 4 April 1964, the Beatles held the top 5 positions on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
singles chart, the only time to date that any act has accomplished this. During the next two years, Peter and Gordon, The Animals
The Animals
The Animals were an English music group of the 1960s formed in Newcastle upon Tyne during the early part of the decade, and later relocated to London...
, Manfred Mann
Manfred Mann
Manfred Mann was a British beat, rhythm and blues and pop band of the 1960s, named after their South African keyboardist, Manfred Mann, who later led the successful 1970s group Manfred Mann's Earth Band...
, Petula Clark
Petula Clark
Petula Clark, CBE is an English singer, actress, and composer whose career has spanned seven decades.Clark's professional career began as an entertainer on BBC Radio during World War II...
, Freddie and the Dreamers
Freddie and the Dreamers
Freddie and the Dreamers were an English band who had a number of hit records between May 1963 and November 1965. Their stage act was based around the comic antics of the 5-foot-3-inch-tall Freddie Garrity, who would bounce around the stage with arms and legs flying. The group remained active...
, Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders, Herman's Hermits
Herman's Hermits
Herman's Hermits are an English beat band, formed in Manchester in 1963 as Herman & The Hermits. The group's record producer, Mickie Most , emphasized a simple, non-threatening, clean-cut image, although the band originally played R&B numbers...
, The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
, The Troggs
The Troggs
The Troggs are an English rock band from the 1960s that had a number of hits in UK and the US. Their most famous songs include, "Wild Thing", "With a Girl Like You", and "Love Is All Around"...
, and Donovan
Donovan
Donovan Donovan Donovan (born Donovan Philips Leitch (born 10 May 1946) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist. Emerging from the British folk scene, he developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelia, and world music...
would have one or more number one singles in the US. Other acts that were part of the "invasion" included The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
, The Kinks
The Kinks
The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, North London, by brothers Ray and Dave Davies in 1964. Categorised in the United States as a British Invasion band, The Kinks are recognised as one of the most important and influential rock acts of the era. Their music was influenced by a...
, and The Dave Clark Five
The Dave Clark Five
The Dave Clark Five were an English pop rock group. Their single "Glad All Over" knocked The Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand" off the top of the UK singles charts in January 1964: it eventually peaked at No.6 in the United States in April 1964.They were the second group of the British Invasion,...
; these acts were also successful within the UK, although clearly the term "British Invasion" itself was not applied there except as a description of what was happening in the USA. So-called "British Invasion" acts influenced fashion, haircuts and manners of the 1960s of what was to be known as the "Counterculture
Counterculture
Counterculture is a sociological term used to describe the values and norms of behavior of a cultural group, or subculture, that run counter to those of the social mainstream of the day, the cultural equivalent of political opposition. Counterculture can also be described as a group whose behavior...
". In particular, the Beatles' movie A Hard Day's Night
A Hard Day's Night (film)
A Hard Day's Night is a 1964 British black-and-white comedy film directed by Richard Lester and starring The Beatles—John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr—during the height of Beatlemania. It was written by Alun Owen and originally released by United Artists...
and fashions from Carnaby Street
Carnaby Street
Carnaby Street is a pedestrianised shopping street in London, United Kingdom, located in the Soho district, near Oxford Street and Regent Street. It is home to numerous fashion and lifestyle retailers, including a large number of independent fashion boutiques...
led American media to proclaim England as the centre of the music and fashion world. The success of British acts of the time, particularly that of the Beatles themselves, has been seen as revitalising rock music in the US and influenced many American bands to develop their sound and style. The growth of the British music industry itself, and its increasingly prominent global role in the forefront of changing popular culture, also enabled it to discover and first establish the success of new rock artists from elsewhere in the world, notably Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
and, in the early 1970s, Bob Marley
Bob Marley
Robert Nesta "Bob" Marley, OM was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician. He was the rhythm guitarist and lead singer for the ska, rocksteady and reggae band Bob Marley & The Wailers...
.
Psychedelic rock
Psychedelic music is a style of music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelicPsychedelic
The term psychedelic is derived from the Greek words ψυχή and δηλοῦν , translating to "soul-manifesting". A psychedelic experience is characterized by the striking perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly...
culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of hallucinogenic drugs
Psychedelics, dissociatives and deliriants
This general group of pharmacological agents can be divided into three broad categories: psychedelics, dissociatives, and deliriants. These classes of psychoactive drugs have in common that they can cause subjective changes in perception, thought, emotion and consciousness...
. It particularly grew out of blues-rock and progressive folk music and drew on non-Western sources such as Indian music's raga
Raga
A raga is one of the melodic modes used in Indian classical music.It is a series of five or more musical notes upon which a melody is made...
s and sitar
Sitar
The 'Tablaman' is a plucked stringed instrument predominantly used in Hindustani classical music, where it has been ubiquitous since the Middle Ages...
s as well as studio effects and long instrumental passages and surreal lyrics. It emerged during the mid 1960s among progressive folk acts in Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
such as The Incredible String Band and Donovan
Donovan
Donovan Donovan Donovan (born Donovan Philips Leitch (born 10 May 1946) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist. Emerging from the British folk scene, he developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelia, and world music...
, as well as in the United States, and rapidly moved into rock and pop music being taken up by acts including the Beatles, The Yardbirds, The Moody Blues, Small Faces, The Move
The Move
The Move, from Birmingham, England, were one of the leading British rock bands of the 1960s. They scored nine Top 20 UK singles in five years, but were among the most popular British bands not to find any success in the United States....
, Traffic
Traffic (band)
Traffic were an English rock band whose members came from the West Midlands. The group formed in April 1967 by Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, Chris Wood and Dave Mason...
, Cream
Cream (band)
Cream were a 1960s British rock supergroup consisting of bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce, guitarist/vocalist Eric Clapton, and drummer Ginger Baker...
and Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
. Psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues rock bands in United States and the United Kingdom...
bridged the transition from early blues-rock
Blues-rock
Blues rock is a hybrid musical genre combining bluesy improvisations over the 12-bar blues and extended boogie jams with rock and roll styles. The core of the blues rock sound is created by the electric guitar, piano, bass guitar and drum kit, with the electric guitar usually amplified through a...
to progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
, art rock
Art rock
Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the 1960s, with influences from art, avant-garde, and classical music. The first usage of the term, according to Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, was in 1968. Influenced by the work of The Beatles, most notably their Sgt...
, experimental rock
Experimental rock
Experimental rock or avant-garde rock is a type of music based on rock which experiments with the basic elements of the genre, or which pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique....
, hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
and eventually heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
that would become major genres in the 1970s.
Mainstream and global success
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
, John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
, Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
, David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
, and Rod Stewart
Rod Stewart
Roderick David "Rod" Stewart, CBE is a British singer-songwriter and musician, born and raised in North London, England and currently residing in Epping. He is of Scottish and English ancestry....
performed their own songs (and in some cases those written by others) in an eclectic variety of styles, in which the presentation of the performance itself became increasingly important. By way of contrast, Status Quo became one of the most successful British rock acts by presenting an apparently unsophisticated style of boogie
Boogie
Boogie is a repetitive, swung note or shuffle rhythm, "groove" or pattern used in blues which was originally played on the piano in boogie-woogie music. The characteristic rhythm and feel of the boogie was then adapted to guitar, double bass, and other instruments. The earliest recorded...
-based rock music; and Van Morrison
Van Morrison
Van Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely...
gained international critical acclaim through a blend of rock, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
and blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
styles. Some well-established British bands that began their careers in the British Invasion, notably The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
, The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
and The Kinks
The Kinks
The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, North London, by brothers Ray and Dave Davies in 1964. Categorised in the United States as a British Invasion band, The Kinks are recognised as one of the most important and influential rock acts of the era. Their music was influenced by a...
, also developed their own particular styles and expanded their international fan base during that period, but would be joined by new acts in new styles and sub-genres.
Electric folk
Electric folk is the name given to the kind of folk rockFolk rock
Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...
pioneered in England at the end of the 1960s, particularly by the band Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention are an English folk rock and later electric folk band, formed in 1967 who are still recording and touring today. They are widely regarded as the most important single group in the English folk rock movement...
. Rather than mixing electric music with forms of American influenced progressive folk, it used traditional English music as its basis. An early success was Fairport Convention's 1969 album Liege and Lief, but it became more significant in the 1970s, when it was taken up by groups such as Pentangle
Pentangle (band)
Pentangle are a British folk rock band with some folk jazz influences. The original band were active in the late 1960s and early 1970s and a later version has been active since the early 1980s...
, Steeleye Span
Steeleye Span
Steeleye Span are an English folk-rock band, formed in 1969 and remaining active today. Along with Fairport Convention they are amongst the best known acts of the British folk revival, and were among the most commercially successful, thanks to their hit singles "Gaudete" and "All Around My Hat"....
and the Albion Band. It was rapidly adopted and developed in the surrounding Celtic cultures of Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
, where it was pioneered by Alan Stivell
Alan Stivell
Alan Stivell is a Breton musician and singer, recording artist and master of the celtic harp who from the early 1970s revived global interest in the Celtic harp and Celtic music as part of world music.- Background: learning Breton music and culture :Alan was born in the Auvergnat town of Riom...
and bands like Malicorne
Malicorne (band)
- The traditional years :Gabriel Yacoub and Marie Yacoub formed Malicorne in 1974, naming it after the French town, Malicorne, famous for its porcelain and faience. Since several of their albums are called simply Malicorne it had become the custom to refer to them by number, even though no number...
; in Ireland by groups such as Horslips
Horslips
Horslips are an Irish Celtic rock band that compose, arrange and perform songs based on traditional Irish jigs and reels. The group are regarded as 'founding fathers of Celtic rock' for their fusion of traditional Irish music with rock music and went on to inspire many local and international acts....
; and also in Scotland, Wales and the Isle of Man
Isle of Man
The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...
and Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
, to produce Celtic rock
Celtic rock
Celtic rock is a genre of folk rock and a form of Celtic fusion which incorporates Celtic music, instrumentation and themes into a rock music context...
and its derivatives. It was also influential in those parts of the world with close cultural connections to Britain, such as the USA and Canada and gave rise to the sub-genre of Medieval folk rock
Medieval folk rock
Medieval folk rock, medieval rock or medieval folk is a musical sub-genre that emerged in the early 1970s in England and Germany which combined elements of early music with rock music. It grew out of the electric folk and progressive folk movements of the later 1960s...
and the fusion genres of folk punk
Folk punk
Folk punk , is a fusion of folk music and punk rock. It was pioneered in the late 1970s and early 1980s by The Pogues in Britain and Violent Femmes in America. Folk punk achieved some mainstream success in that decade...
and folk metal
Folk metal
Folk metal is a sub-genre of heavy metal music that developed in Europe during the 1990s. As the name suggests, the genre is a fusion of heavy metal with traditional folk music...
. By the end of the 1970s the genre was in steep decline in popularity, as other forms of music, including punk and electronic began to be established.
Progressive rock
Blues-rock
Blues rock is a hybrid musical genre combining bluesy improvisations over the 12-bar blues and extended boogie jams with rock and roll styles. The core of the blues rock sound is created by the electric guitar, piano, bass guitar and drum kit, with the electric guitar usually amplified through a...
and psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues rock bands in United States and the United Kingdom...
. Dominated by British bands, it was part of an attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility. Progressive rock bands attempted to push the technical and compositional boundaries of rock by going beyond the standard verse-chorus
Refrain
A refrain is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse; the "chorus" of a song...
-based song structure
Song structure (popular music)
The structures or musical forms of songs in popular music are typically sectional, repeating forms, such as strophic form. Other common forms include thirty-two-bar form, verse-chorus form, and the twelve bar blues...
s. The arrangement
Arrangement
The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
s often incorporated elements drawn from classical
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, and international sources later called "world music
World music
World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...
". Instrumental
Instrumental
An instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics or singing, although it might include some non-articulate vocal input; the music is primarily or exclusively produced by musical instruments....
s were common, while songs with lyrics were sometimes conceptual, abstract, or based in fantasy. Progressive rock bands sometimes used concept album
Concept album
In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...
s that made unified statements, usually telling an epic story or tackling a grand overarching theme. King Crimson
King Crimson
King Crimson are a rock band founded in London, England in 1969. Often categorised as a foundational progressive rock group, the band have incorporated diverse influences and instrumentation during their history...
's 1969 début album, In the Court of the Crimson King
In the Court of the Crimson King
In the Court of the Crimson King is the 1969 debut album by the British progressive rock group King Crimson. The album reached No. 5 on the British charts, and is certified gold in the United States....
, which mixed powerful guitar riffs and mellotron
Mellotron
The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical, polyphonic tape replay keyboard originally developed and built in Birmingham, England in the early 1960s. It superseded the Chamberlin Music Master, which was the world's first sample-playback keyboard intended for music...
, with jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
and symphonic music, is often taken as the key recording in progressive rock, helping the widespread adoption of the genre in the early 1970s among existing blues-rock and psychedelic bands, as well as newly formed acts. The term was applied to the music of bands such as Yes
Yes (band)
Yes are an English rock band who achieved worldwide success with their progressive, art, and symphonic style of rock music. Regarded as one of the pioneers of the progressive genre, Yes are known for their lengthy songs, mystical lyrics, elaborate album art, and live stage sets...
, Genesis
Genesis (band)
Genesis are an English rock band that formed in 1967. The band currently comprises the longest-tenured members Tony Banks , Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins . Past members Peter Gabriel , Steve Hackett and Anthony Phillips , also played major roles in the band in its early years...
, Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
, Jethro Tull
Jethro Tull (band)
Jethro Tull are a British rock group formed in 1967. Their music is characterised by the vocals, acoustic guitar, and flute playing of Ian Anderson, who has led the band since its founding, and the guitar work of Martin Barre, who has been with the band since 1969.Initially playing blues rock with...
, Soft Machine
Soft Machine
Soft Machine were an English rock band from Canterbury, named after the book The Soft Machine by William S. Burroughs. They were one of the central bands in the Canterbury scene, and helped pioneer the progressive rock genre...
, Electric Light Orchestra
Electric Light Orchestra
Electric Light Orchestra were a British rock group from Birmingham who released eleven studio albums between 1971 and 1986 and another album in 2001. ELO were formed to accommodate Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne's desire to create modern rock and pop songs with classical overtones...
, Procol Harum
Procol Harum
Procol Harum are a British rock band, formed in 1967, which contributed to the development of progressive rock, and by extension, symphonic rock. Their best-known recording is their 1967 single "A Whiter Shade of Pale"...
, Hawkwind
Hawkwind
Hawkwind are an English rock band, one of the earliest space rock groups. Their lyrics favour urban and science fiction themes. They are also a noted precursor to punk rock and now are considered a link between the hippie and punk cultures....
, and Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Emerson, Lake & Palmer, also known as ELP, are an English progressive rock supergroup. They found success in the 1970s and sold over forty million albums and headlined large stadium concerts. The band consists of Keith Emerson , Greg Lake and Carl Palmer...
. It reached its peak of popularity in the mid 1970s, but had mixed critical acclaim and the punk movement can be seen as a reaction against its musicality and perceived pomposity. Many bands broke up, but some, including Genesis, ELP, Yes, and Pink Floyd, regularly scored Top Ten albums with successful accompanying worldwide tours.
Glam rock
Glam or glitter rock developed in the UK in the post-hippieHippie
The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...
early 1970s. It was characterised by outrageous clothes, makeup, hairstyles, and platform-soled boots. The flamboyant lyrics, costumes, and visual styles of glam performers were a campy
Camp (style)
Camp is an aesthetic sensibility that regards something as appealing because of its taste and ironic value. The concept is closely related to kitsch, and things with camp appeal may also be described as being "cheesy"...
, playing with categories of sexuality in a theatrical blend of nostalgic
Nostalgia
The term nostalgia describes a yearning for the past, often in idealized form.The word is a learned formation of a Greek compound, consisting of , meaning "returning home", a Homeric word, and , meaning "pain, ache"...
references to science fiction and old movies, all over a guitar-driven hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
sound. Pioneers of the genre included David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
, Roxy Music
Roxy Music
Roxy Music was a British art rock band formed in 1971 by Bryan Ferry, who became the group's lead vocalist and chief songwriter, and bassist Graham Simpson. The other members are Phil Manzanera , Andy Mackay and Paul Thompson . Former members include Brian Eno , and Eddie Jobson...
, Mott the Hoople
Mott the Hoople
Mott the Hoople were a British rock band with strong R&B roots, popular in the glam rock era of the early to mid 1970s. They are popularly known for the song "All the Young Dudes", written for them by David Bowie and appearing on their 1972 album of the same name.-The early years:Mott The Hoople...
, Marc Bolan
Marc Bolan
Marc Bolan was an English singer-songwriter, guitarist and poet. He is best known as the founder, frontman, lead singer & guitarist for T. Rex, but also a successful solo artist...
and T.Rex. These, and many other acts straddled the divide between pop and rock music, managing to maintain a level of respectability with rock audiences, while enjoying success in the UK singles chart, including Queen
Queen (band)
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
and Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
. Other performers aimed much more directly for the popular music market, where they were the dominant groups of their era, including Slade
Slade
Slade are an English rock band from Wolverhampton, who rose to prominence during the glam rock era of the early 1970s. With 17 consecutive Top 20 hits and six number ones, the British Hit Singles & Albums names them as the most successful British group of the 1970s based on sales of singles...
, Wizzard
Wizzard
Wizzard was a Birmingham-based band formed by Roy Wood, former member of The Move and co-founder of Electric Light Orchestra. The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits states, "Wizzard was Roy Wood just as much as Wings were Paul McCartney."-Biography:...
, and Sweet
Sweet (band)
Sweet was a British rock band that rose to worldwide fame in the 1970s as one of the most prominent glam rock acts, with the classic line-up of lead vocalist Brian Connolly, bass player Steve Priest, guitarist Andy Scott, and drummer Mick Tucker.Sweet was formed in 1968 and achieved their first...
. The glitter image was pushed to its limits by Gary Glitter
Gary Glitter
Gary Glitter is an English former glam rock singer-songwriter and musician.Glitter first came to prominence in the glam rock era of the early 1970s...
and The Glitter Band
The Glitter Band
The Glitter Band are a glam rock band from England, who initially worked as Gary Glitter's backing band under that name from 1973, when they then began releasing records of their own. They were unofficially known as the Glittermen on the first four hit singles by Gary Glitter from 1972 to 1973. The...
. Largely confined to the British, glam rock peaked during the mid 1970s, before it disappeared in the face of punk rock and new wave trends.
Heavy metal
With roots in blues-rockBlues-rock
Blues rock is a hybrid musical genre combining bluesy improvisations over the 12-bar blues and extended boogie jams with rock and roll styles. The core of the blues rock sound is created by the electric guitar, piano, bass guitar and drum kit, with the electric guitar usually amplified through a...
, psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues rock bands in United States and the United Kingdom...
and garage rock
Garage rock
Garage rock is a raw form of rock and roll that was first popular in the United States and Canada from about 1963 to 1967. During the 1960s, it was not recognized as a separate music genre and had no specific name...
the bands that created heavy metal developed a thick, powerful sound, characterised by overt rhythmic basslines, highly amplified distortion
Distortion (guitar)
Distortion effects create "warm", "dirty" and "fuzzy" sounds by compressing the peaks of a musical instrument's sound wave and adding overtones. The three principal types of distortion effects are overdrive, distortion and fuzz. Distortion effects are sometimes called “gain” effects, as distorted...
, extended guitar solos, emphatic beats, and overall loudness. Heavy metal lyrics and performance styles often incorporated elements of fantasy and science fiction, and are generally associated with masculinity and machismo
Machismo
Machismo, or machoism, is a word of Spanish and Portuguese origin that describes prominently exhibited or excessive masculinity. As an attitude, machismo ranges from a personal sense of virility to a more extreme male chauvinism...
. The three pioneering heavy metal bands, Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
, Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath are an English heavy metal band, formed in Aston, Birmingham in 1969 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple line-up changes, with Tony Iommi the only constant presence in the band through the years. A total of 22...
, and Deep Purple
Deep Purple
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford in 1968. Along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, they are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although some band members believe that their music cannot be categorised as belonging to any one genre...
, were all British and, while gaining little critical acclaim, they and the next generation of metal groups, which included American, Australian and continental bands beside British acts Judas Priest
Judas Priest
Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band from Birmingham, England, formed in 1969. The current line-up consists of lead vocalist Rob Halford, guitarists Glenn Tipton and Richie Faulkner, bassist Ian Hill, and drummer Scott Travis. The band has gone through several drummers over the years,...
, Motörhead and Rainbow
Rainbow (band)
Rainbow were an English rock band, controlled by guitarist Ritchie Blackmore from 1975 to 1984 and 1994 to 1997. It was originally established with American rock band Elf's members, though over the years Rainbow went through many line-up changes with no two studio albums featuring the same line-up...
, attracted large audiences and record sales. Rainbow moved heavy metal into stadium rock while Motörhead introduced a punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
sensibility and an increasing emphasis on speed. After a decline in popularity in the late 1970s Judas Priest
Judas Priest
Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band from Birmingham, England, formed in 1969. The current line-up consists of lead vocalist Rob Halford, guitarists Glenn Tipton and Richie Faulkner, bassist Ian Hill, and drummer Scott Travis. The band has gone through several drummers over the years,...
discarded most of the genre's blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
influences, particularly on their 1980 album British Steel
British Steel (album)
British Steel is the sixth album by the British heavy metal band Judas Priest, released on 14 April 1980. It saw the band reprise the commercial sound they had established on Killing Machine however; this time, they abandoned many of the dark lyrical themes which had been prominent on their...
, which opened the door for the New Wave of British Heavy Metal
New Wave of British Heavy Metal
The New Wave of British Heavy Metal was a heavy metal movement that started in the late 1970s, in Britain, and achieved international attention by the early 1980s. The movement developed as a reaction in part to the decline of early heavy metal bands such as Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and Black...
including Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band from Leyton in east London, formed in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. Since their inception, the band's discography has grown to include a total of thirty-six albums: fifteen studio albums; eleven live albums; four EPs; and six...
, Vardis
Vardis
Vardis were an influential three-piece heavy metal band from Wakefield, West Yorkshire, who enjoyed hits between 1978 and 1986.They formed a prominent part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal scene, then prevalent in the United Kingdom. They consisted of frontman Steve Zodiac on guitar and lead...
, Saxon and Def Leppard
Def Leppard
Def Leppard are an English rock band formed in 1977 in Sheffield as part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement. Since 1992, the band have consisted of Joe Elliott , Rick Savage , Rick Allen , Phil Collen , and Vivian Campbell...
, and a return to popularity in the 1980s.
Thrash metal
Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that is characterized usually by its fast tempo and aggression. Songs of the genre typically use fast percussive and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead work...
and death metal
Death metal
Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It typically employs heavily distorted guitars, tremolo picking, deep growling vocals, blast beat drumming, minor keys or atonality, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes....
, both developed in the USA; black metal
Black metal
Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structure....
and power metal
Power metal
Power metal is a style of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. The term refers to two different but related styles: the first pioneered and largely practiced in North America with a harder sound similar to speed metal, and a...
, both developed in continental Europe, but influenced by the British band Venom
Venom (band)
Venom are an English heavy metal band that formed in 1979 in Newcastle upon Tyne. Coming to prominence towards the end of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, Venom's first two albums—Welcome to Hell and Black Metal —are considered a major influence on thrash metal and extreme metal in general...
; and doom
Doom metal
Doom metal is an extreme form of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other metal genres...
, which was developed in the USA but which soon had a number of bands from England, including Pagan Altar
Pagan Altar
Pagan Altar is a doom metal band from England. They are regarded as one of the pioneers of their genre.-Biography:Pagan Altar, formed 1976 by Alan and Terry Jones in Brockley, England...
and Witchfinder General
Witchfinder General (band)
Witchfinder General is a doom metal band from Stourbridge, England. They were part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal scene and have been cited as a major influence on the doom metal genre.-Biography:...
. Grindcore
Grindcore
Grindcore is an extreme genre of music that started in the early- to mid-1980s. It draws inspiration from some of the most abrasive music genres – including death metal, industrial music, noise and the more extreme varieties of hardcore punk....
, or simply grind, was a hybrid of death metal and hardcore punk, characterised by heavily distorted, down-tuned guitars, high speed tempo
Tempo
In musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. Tempo is a crucial element of any musical composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece.-Measuring tempo:...
, blast beat
Blast beat
A blast beat is a drum beat often associated with extreme metal and grindcore, although its usage predates the genres, and is utilised by many different styles of metal...
s, songs often lasting no more than two minutes (some are seconds long), and vocals which consist of growls
Death growl
A death growl, also known as death metal vocals, guttural vocals, death grunts, and harsh vocals among other names, is a vocalisation style usually employed by vocalists of the death metal and black metal music genre, but also used in a variety of heavy metal and hardcore punk subgenres.Death...
and high-pitched screams. Pioneers, the British band Napalm Death
Napalm Death
Napalm Death are a death metal band formed in Birmingham, England in 1981. While none of its original members remain in the group, the lineup of vocalist Mark "Barney" Greenway, bassist Shane Embury, guitarist Mitch Harris and drummer Danny Herrera has remained consistent for most of the band's ...
inspired other British grindcore groups in the 1980s, among them Extreme Noise Terror
Extreme Noise Terror
Extreme Noise Terror are a British crust punk / grindcore band originally formed in Ipswich, England in 1985. The band are widely considered one of the earliest and most influential European grindcore bands, and particularly the forefathers of the crustgrind subgenre.Notable for one of the...
, Carcass
Carcass (band)
Carcass are an extreme metal band from England, who formed in 1985 and disbanded in 1995. A reunion was enacted in 2008 without one of its original members, drummer Ken Owen, due to health reasons....
and Sore Throat
Sore Throat
Sore Throat were a British crust punk / grindcore band, formed in Yorkshire in 1987. They are known for being one of the earliest exponents of the grindcore subgenre known as "noisecore", as well launching the careers of several prominent members of the British metal community.-Biography:Sore...
.
Probably the most successful British metal band since the days of NWOBHM were Cradle of Filth
Cradle of Filth
Cradle of Filth are an English extreme metal band, formed in Suffolk in 1991. The band's musical style evolved from black metal to a cleaner and more "produced" amalgam of gothic metal, symphonic black metal, and other extreme metal styles, while their lyrical themes and imagery are heavily...
, formed in 1991, and pursuing a form of extreme metal that is difficult to categorise. The term "retro-metal" has been applied to such bands as The Darkness, whose mix of glam rock
Glam rock
Glam rock is a style of rock and pop music that developed in the UK in the early 1970s, which was performed by singers and musicians who wore outrageous clothes, makeup and hairstyles, particularly platform-soled boots and glitter...
and heavy riffs earned them a string of singles hits and a quintuple platinum album with One Way Ticket to Hell... and Back (2005), which reached number 11 in the UK charts. Bullet for My Valentine
Bullet for My Valentine
Bullet for My Valentine are a Welsh heavy metal band from Bridgend, formed in 1998. The band is composed of Matt Tuck , Michael Paget , Jason James , and Michael Thomas . They were formed under the name Jeff Killed John and started their music career by covering songs by Metallica and Nirvana...
, from Wales, broke into the top 5 in both the U.S. and British charts with their melodic dark rock, with Scream Aim Fire
Scream Aim Fire
Scream Aim Fire is the second studio album by Welsh heavy metal band Bullet for My Valentine, released on 28 January 2008 in the UK and the preceding day in the US...
(2008).
Pub rock
Pub rockPub rock (UK)
Pub rock was a rock music genre that developed in the mid 1970s in the United Kingdom. A back-to-basics movement, pub rock was a reaction against progressive and glam rock. Although short-lived, pub rock was notable for rejecting stadium venues and for returning live rock to the small pubs and...
was a short-lived trend that left a lasting influence on the British music scene, especially in punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
. It was a back-to-basics movement that reacted against the glittery glam rock
Glam rock
Glam rock is a style of rock and pop music that developed in the UK in the early 1970s, which was performed by singers and musicians who wore outrageous clothes, makeup and hairstyles, particularly platform-soled boots and glitter...
of David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
and Gary Glitter
Gary Glitter
Gary Glitter is an English former glam rock singer-songwriter and musician.Glitter first came to prominence in the glam rock era of the early 1970s...
, and peaked in the mid 1970s. Pub rock developed in large north London pubs. It is said to have begun in May 1971 with Eggs over Easy
Eggs over Easy
Eggs over Easy were an American country-rock band, of the early 1970s, who visited London to record an album, and then became a resident band in a London public house, launching what subsequently became known as pub rock.-Formation:...
, an American band, playing in the Tally Ho! in Kentish Town
Kentish Town
Kentish Town is an area of north west London, England in the London Borough of Camden.-History:The most widely accepted explanation of the name of Kentish Town is that it derived from 'Ken-ditch' meaning the 'bed of a waterway'...
. A group of musicians who had been playing in blues and R&B bands during the 1960s and early 70s soon formed influential bands like Brinsley Schwarz
Brinsley Schwarz
Brinsley Schwarz were a 1970s English pub rock band, named after their guitarist Brinsley Schwarz. With Nick Lowe on bass and vocals, keyboardist Bob Andrews and drummer Billy Rankin, the band evolved from the 1960s pop band Kippington Lodge.-Formation:...
, Ducks Deluxe
Ducks Deluxe
Ducks Deluxe were an English pub rock band of the 1970s, who have recently reformed. Usually called "The Ducks" by their fans, they were known for up-tempo, energetic performances, and the successful careers of their members, after they disbanded.-History:...
and Bees Make Honey
Bees Make Honey
Bees Make Honey were an influential band in the early pub rock movement in the UK.The band were formed in 1971 in north London by Barry Richardson, who had a residency in a jazz band at the "Tally Ho" public house, when Eggs over Easy started playing pub rock there...
. Brinsley Schwarz was probably the most influential group, achieving some mainstream success both in the UK and in the States. The second wave of pub rock included Kilburn and the High Roads
Kilburn and the High Roads
Kilburn and the High Roads were a British rock and roll band formed by Ian Dury in 1970, and was the first band formed by Dury. The band released two studio albums and had one compilation, and separated in 1977 when Dury left to form the more prominent band The Blockheads.- History :Dury formed...
, Ace
Ace (band)
Ace were a British rock music band, who enjoyed moderate success in the 1970s. They are notable for their part in the early career of Paul Carrack, who later became famous as a solo artist, and as a member of several other groups...
and Chilli Willi and the Red Hot Peppers
Chilli Willi and the Red Hot Peppers
Chilli Willi and the Red Hot Peppers were one of the main British pub rock groups of the early 1970s. Later managed by Jake Riviera, who first worked for the band as a roadie, they reached their peak as part of the "Naughty Rhythms Tour" of 1975, along with other stalwarts of the same scene, Dr...
; these were followed by the third and final wave of pub rock, including Dr. Feelgood
Dr. Feelgood (band)
Dr. Feelgood are a British pub rock band formed in 1971. The band's name derives from a slang term for heroin or for a doctor who is willing to overprescribe drugs. It is also a reference to a 1962 record by the American blues pianist and singer Willie Perryman called "Dr Feel-Good", which...
, The Winkies
The Winkies
The Winkies were an English pub rock group. During their career, the group primarily consisted of Philip Rambow, Michael Desmarais, Guy Humphreys, and Brian Turrington.-Biography:...
and Sniff 'n' the Tears
Sniff 'n' the Tears
Sniff 'n' the Tears is a British rock band best known for their 1978 song "Driver's Seat", a hit in many countries . The exception was the UK itself where a problem with EMI's pressing plant meant that the single was not available following the band's appearance on Top of the Pops and it peaked...
. Several pub rock musicians joined the new wave acts such as Graham Parker
Graham Parker
Graham Parker is a British rock singer and songwriter, who is best known as the lead singer of the popular British band Graham Parker & the Rumour.-Early career :...
's backing band, The Rumour
The Rumour
The Rumour were a British rock band in the late 1970s and early 1980s. They are best known as the backup band for Graham Parker, whose early records were credited to Graham Parker & The Rumour...
, Elvis Costello & the Attractions and even The Clash
The Clash
The Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...
.
Punk rock
Garage rock
Garage rock is a raw form of rock and roll that was first popular in the United States and Canada from about 1963 to 1967. During the 1960s, it was not recognized as a separate music genre and had no specific name...
, and other forms of what is now known as protopunk
Protopunk
Protopunk is a term used retrospectively to describe a number of musicians who were important precursors of punk rock in the late 1960s to mid-1970s, or who have been cited by early punk musicians as influential...
music. The first punk band is usually thought to be the Ramones
Ramones
The Ramones were an American rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first punk rock group...
from 1976. This was taken up in Britain by bands also influenced by the pub rock
Pub rock (UK)
Pub rock was a rock music genre that developed in the mid 1970s in the United Kingdom. A back-to-basics movement, pub rock was a reaction against progressive and glam rock. Although short-lived, pub rock was notable for rejecting stadium venues and for returning live rock to the small pubs and...
scene, like the Sex Pistols
Sex Pistols
The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band that formed in London in 1975. They were responsible for initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom and inspiring many later punk and alternative rock musicians...
and The Clash
The Clash
The Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...
, particularly in London, who became the vanguard of a new musical and cultural movement, blending simple aggressive sounds and lyrics with clothing styles
Punk fashion
Punk fashion is the clothing, hairstyles, cosmetics, jewelry, and body modifications of the punk subculture. Punk fashion varies widely, ranging from Vivienne Westwood designs to styles modeled on bands like The Exploited. The distinct social dress of other subcultures and art movements, including...
and a variety of anti-authoritarian ideologies. Punk rock bands eschewed the perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock, creating fast, hard-edged music, typically with short songs, stripped-down instrumentation, and often political, anti-establishment
Anti-establishment
An anti-establishment view or belief is one which stands in opposition to the conventional social, political, and economic principles of a society. The term was first used in the modern sense in 1958, by the British magazine New Statesman to refer to its political and social agenda...
lyrics. Punk embraced a DIY
DIY ethic
The DIY ethic refers to the ethic of self-sufficiency through completing tasks oneself as opposed to having others who are more experienced or able complete them for one's behalf. It promotes the idea that an ordinary person can learn to do more than he or she thought was possible...
(do it yourself) ethic, with many bands self-producing their recordings and distributing them through informal channels. 1977 saw punk rock spreading around the world, and it became a major international cultural phenomenon. However, by 1978, the initial impulse had subsided and punk had morphed into the wider and more diverse new wave and post punk movements.
New wave
As the initial punk impulse began to subside, with the major punk bands either disbanding or taking on new influences, the term new wave began to be used to describe particularly British bands that emerged in the later 1970s with mainstream appeal. These included pop bands like XTCXTC
XTC were a New Wave band from Swindon, England, active between 1976 and 2005. The band enjoyed some chart success, including the UK and Canadian hits "Making Plans for Nigel" and "Senses Working Overtime" , but are perhaps even better known for their long-standing critical success.- Early years:...
, Squeeze and Nick Lowe
Nick Lowe
Nicholas Drain "Nick" Lowe , is an English singer-songwriter, musician and producer.A pivotal figure in UK pub rock, punk rock and new wave, Lowe has recorded a string of well-reviewed solo albums. Along with vocals, Lowe plays guitar, bass guitar, piano and harmonica...
, the electronic rock of Gary Numan
Gary Numan
Gary Numan is an English singer, composer, and musician, most widely known for his chart-topping 1979 hits "Are 'Friends' Electric?" and "Cars". His signature sound consisted of heavy synthesizer hooks fed through guitar effects pedals.Numan is considered a pioneer of commercial electronic music...
as well as songwriters like Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...
, rock & roll influenced bands like the Pretenders, the reggae influenced music of bands like The Police
The Police
The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For the vast majority of their history, the band consisted of Sting , Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland...
, as well as bands of the ska
Ska
Ska |Jamaican]] ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...
revival like The Specials
The Specials
The Specials are an English 2 Tone ska revival band formed in 1977 in Coventry, England. Their music combines a "danceable ska and rocksteady beat with punk's energy and attitude", and had a "more focused and informed political and social stance" than other ska groups...
and Madness
Madness (band)
In 1979, the band recorded the Lee Thompson composition "The Prince". The song, like the band's name, paid homage to their idol, Prince Buster. The song was released through 2 Tone Records, the label of The Specials founder Jerry Dammers. The song was a surprise hit, peaking in the UK music charts...
. By the end of the decade many of these bands, most obviously the Police, were beginning to make an impact in American and world markets.
Post punk
Beside the development of mainstream new wave, there were also less commercial, darker and sub-culture acts, often classified as post punk. Like new wave they incorporated a range of influences, including electronic music, Jamaican dub musicDub music
Dub is a genre of music which grew out of reggae music in the 1960s, and is commonly considered a subgenre, though it has developed to extend beyond the scope of reggae...
(specifically in bass guitar), and American funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
. Examples of post-punk outfits in Britain included The Smiths
The Smiths
The Smiths were an English alternative rock band, formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the song writing partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr , the band also included Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce...
, Orange Juice
Orange Juice
Orange Juice was a Scottish post-punk band founded in the middle class Glasgow suburb of Bearsden as the Nu-Sonics in 1976. Edwyn Collins formed the Nu-Sonics with his school-mate Alan Duncan and was subsequently joined by James Kirk and Steven Daly, who left a band called The Machetes. The band...
, The Psychedelic Furs, The Fall, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Lords of the New Church
The Lords of the New Church
The Lords of the New Church were an English/American post-punk supergroup with a line-up consisting of four musicians from prominent 1970s punk bands...
, Joy Division
Joy Division
Joy Division were an English rock band formed in 1976 in Salford, Greater Manchester. Originally named Warsaw, the band primarily consisted of Ian Curtis , Bernard Sumner , Peter Hook and Stephen Morris .Joy Division rapidly evolved from their initial punk rock influences...
, Killing Joke
Killing Joke
Killing Joke are an English post-punk band formed in October 1978 in Notting Hill, London, England; other sources report the band formed in early 1979.Related news articles: Founding members Jaz Coleman and Geordie Walker have been the only constant members.A key influence on industrial rock,...
, Echo & the Bunnymen
Echo & the Bunnymen
Echo & the Bunnymen are an English post-punk band, formed in Liverpool in 1978. The original line-up consisted of vocalist Ian McCulloch, guitarist Will Sergeant and bass player Les Pattinson, supplemented by a drum machine. By 1980, Pete de Freitas had joined as the band's drummer, and their debut...
, The Cure
The Cure
The Cure are an English rock band formed in Crawley, West Sussex in 1976. The band has experienced several line-up changes, with frontman, vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter Robert Smith being the only constant member...
, Bauhaus
Bauhaus (band)
Bauhaus was an English rock band formed in Northampton in 1978. The group consisted of Peter Murphy , Daniel Ash , Kevin Haskins and David J . The band was originally Bauhaus 1919 before they dropped the numerical portion within a year of formation...
, Magazine
Magazine (band)
Magazine are an English post-punk group active from 1977 to 1981, then reformed in 2009. Their debut single, "Shot by Both Sides", is now acknowledged as a classic and their debut album, Real Life, is still widely admired as one of the greatest albums of all time...
, Wire
Wire (band)
Wire are an English rock band, formed in London in October 1976 by Colin Newman , Graham Lewis , Bruce Gilbert , and Robert Gotobed...
, The Jesus and Mary Chain
The Jesus and Mary Chain
The Jesus and Mary Chain are a Scottish alternative rock band formed in East Kilbride, Glasgow in 1983. The band revolves around the songwriting partnership of brothers Jim and William Reid...
, and Tubeway Army
Tubeway Army
Tubeway Army were a London-based punk rock and new wave band led by lead singer Gary Numan. They were the first band of the post-punk era to have a synthesizer-based hit, with their single Are 'Friends' Electric? and its parent album Replicas both topping the UK Album Chart in mid-1979.-Line-up:The...
. Post punk would be a major element in the creation of the alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
and gothic rock
Gothic rock
Gothic rock is a musical subgenre of post-punk and alternative rock that formed during the late 1970s. Gothic rock bands grew from the strong ties they had to the English punk rock and emerging post-punk scenes...
genres.
Folk punk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
and punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
, or occasionally other genres, which was pioneered by the London-based Irish band The Pogues
The Pogues
The Pogues are a Celtic punk band, formed in 1982 and fronted by Shane MacGowan. The band reached international prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. MacGowan left the band in 1991 due to drinking problems but the band continued first with Joe Strummer and then with Spider Stacy on vocals before...
in the 1980s. It achieved some mainstream success in the 1980s and, particularly as the sub-genre of Celtic punk
Celtic punk
Celtic punk is punk rock mixed with traditional Celtic music. The genre was founded in the 1980s by The Pogues, a band of punk musicians in London who celebrated their Irish heritage. Celtic punk bands often play covers of traditional Irish folk and political songs, as well as original compositions...
, has been widely adopted in areas of the Celtic diaspora
Irish diaspora
thumb|Night Train with Reaper by London Irish artist [[Brian Whelan]] from the book Myth of Return, 2007The Irish diaspora consists of Irish emigrants and their descendants in countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, Argentina, New Zealand, Mexico, South Africa,...
in North America and Australia and by many bands in continental central and eastern Europe. Unlike earlier Celtic rock
Celtic rock
Celtic rock is a genre of folk rock and a form of Celtic fusion which incorporates Celtic music, instrumentation and themes into a rock music context...
and electric folk groups, folk punk groups tend to include relatively little traditional music
Traditional music
Traditional music is the term increasingly used for folk music that is not contemporary folk music. More on this is at the terminology section of the World music article...
in their repertoire, but instead usually performed their own compositions, often following the form of punk rock, using additional folk instrumentation, including, mandolin
Mandolin
A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
, accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
, banjo
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
and particularly violin. Other bands adopted some traditional forms of music, including sea shanties
Sea Shanties
Sea Shanties is the debut album of Progressive Rock band High Tide. The cover artwork was drawn by Paul Whitehead.-Production:Denny Gerrard produced Sea Shanties in return for High Tide acting as the backing band on his solo album Sinister Morning...
and eastern European gypsy music
Gypsy style
The term gypsy style refers to the typical way East European music is played in coffeehouses and restaurants, at parties, and sometimes on-stage, in European cities. Music played in this style is known by the general public as "gypsy music"....
. Among the most successful performers were The Men They Couldn't Hang
The Men They Couldn't Hang
The Men They Couldn't Hang are a British folk punk group. The original group consisted of Stefan Cush , Paul Simmonds , Philip "Swill" Odgers , Jon Odgers and Shanne Bradley .- Controversy and success:Their first single, "The Green Fields...
, New Model Army
New Model Army
The New Model Army of England was formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians in the English Civil War, and was disbanded in 1660 after the Restoration...
, Oysterband
Oysterband
Oysterband is a British electric folk or folk rock band formed in Canterbury in or around 1976.-Early history:...
, The Levellers, and singer-songwriter Billy Bragg
Billy Bragg
Stephen William Bragg , better known as Billy Bragg, is an English alternative rock musician and left-wing activist. His music blends elements of folk music, punk rock and protest songs, and his lyrics mostly deal with political or romantic themes...
, who enjoyed a series of hits in the 1980s.
Synth rock
Many progressive rock bands had incorporated synthesisers into their sound, including Pink FloydPink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
, Yes
Yes (band)
Yes are an English rock band who achieved worldwide success with their progressive, art, and symphonic style of rock music. Regarded as one of the pioneers of the progressive genre, Yes are known for their lengthy songs, mystical lyrics, elaborate album art, and live stage sets...
and Genesis
Genesis (band)
Genesis are an English rock band that formed in 1967. The band currently comprises the longest-tenured members Tony Banks , Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins . Past members Peter Gabriel , Steve Hackett and Anthony Phillips , also played major roles in the band in its early years...
. In 1977 Ultravox
Ultravox
Ultravox is a British New Wave rock band. They were one of the primary exponents of the British electronic pop music movement of the late 1970s/early 1980s. The band was particularly associated with the New Romantic and New Wave movements....
member Warren Cann
Warren Cann
Warren Reginald Cann is a drummer and drum machine programmer, best known as a member of the British New Wave band Ultravox.-Early life:...
purchased a Roland
Roland Corporation
is a Japanese manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, electronic equipment and software. It was founded by Ikutaro Kakehashi in Osaka on April 18, 1972, with ¥33 million in capital. In 2005 Roland's headquarters relocated to Hamamatsu in Shizuoka Prefecture. Today it has factories in Japan,...
TR-77 drum machine, which was first featured in their October 1977 single release "Hiroshima Mon Amour". The ballad arrangement, metronome-like percussion and heavy use of the ARP Odyssey
ARP Odyssey
The ARP Odyssey was an analog synthesizer introduced in 1972. Responding to pressure from Moog Music to create a portable, affordable "performance" synthesizer, ARP scaled down its popular 2600 synthesizer and created the Odyssey, which became the best-selling synthesizer they made.The Odyssey is...
synthesiser was effectively a prototype for nearly all synth pop and rock bands that were to follow. In 1978, the first incarnation of The Human League
The Human League
The Human League are an English electronic New Wave band formed in Sheffield in 1977. They achieved popularity after a key change in line-up in the early 1980s and have continued recording and performing with moderate commercial success throughout the 1980s up to the present day.The only constant...
released their début single "Being Boiled
Being Boiled
"Being Boiled" is a song composed by Sheffield musicians Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh, with lyrics by Philip Oakey, and recorded by them as The Human League...
". Others were soon to follow, including Tubeway Army
Tubeway Army
Tubeway Army were a London-based punk rock and new wave band led by lead singer Gary Numan. They were the first band of the post-punk era to have a synthesizer-based hit, with their single Are 'Friends' Electric? and its parent album Replicas both topping the UK Album Chart in mid-1979.-Line-up:The...
, a little known outfit from West London, who dropped their punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
image and jumped on the band wagon, topping the UK charts in the summer of 1979 with the single "Are Friends Electric?". This prompted the singer, Gary Numan
Gary Numan
Gary Numan is an English singer, composer, and musician, most widely known for his chart-topping 1979 hits "Are 'Friends' Electric?" and "Cars". His signature sound consisted of heavy synthesizer hooks fed through guitar effects pedals.Numan is considered a pioneer of commercial electronic music...
to go solo and in the same year he release the Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk is an influential electronic music band from Düsseldorf, Germany. The group was formed by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in 1970, and was fronted by them until Schneider's departure in 2008...
inspired album, The Pleasure Principle
The Pleasure Principle (Gary Numan album)
The Pleasure Principle is the third studio album, and debut album under his own name, by electronic music pioneer Gary Numan, released in 1979...
and again topped the charts for the second time with the single "Cars
Cars (song)
Fear Factory, an American industrial metal band, recorded a version of "Cars" and released it as the second single from their third studio album, Obsolete. The song was only included as a bonus track on the limited edition digipak re-release of Obsolete and would be instrumental in breaking Fear...
". Particularly through its adoption by New Romantics, synthesizers came to dominate the pop and rock music of the early 80s. Albums such as Visage
Visage
Visage are a British New Wave rock band. Formed in 1978, the band became closely linked to the burgeoning New Romantic fashion movement of the early 1980s, and are best known for their 1980 hit "Fade to Grey".-New Wave years :...
's Visage
Visage (album)
Visage is the eponymous debut album from the British pop group Visage, recorded at Genetic Sound Studios in Reading and released by Polydor Records on 10 November 1980...
(1980), John Foxx
John Foxx
John Foxx is an English singer, artist, photographer and teacher. He was the original lead singer of the band Ultravox before being replaced by Midge Ure, when he left to embark on a solo career in 1979...
's Metamatic
Metamatic
Metamatic is an album by John Foxx, released in 1980. It was his first solo album following his split with Ultravox the previous year. A departure from the textured mix of synthesizers and conventional instruments on Systems of Romance, his last album with the band, Metamatics hard-edged...
(1980), Gary Numan's
Gary Numan
Gary Numan is an English singer, composer, and musician, most widely known for his chart-topping 1979 hits "Are 'Friends' Electric?" and "Cars". His signature sound consisted of heavy synthesizer hooks fed through guitar effects pedals.Numan is considered a pioneer of commercial electronic music...
Telekon
Telekon
Released in 1980, Telekon is the fourth studio album, and second album under his own name, by the British musician Gary Numan. It debuted at the top of the UK charts in September 1980, making it his third and consecutive no.1 album....
(1980), Ultravox
Ultravox
Ultravox is a British New Wave rock band. They were one of the primary exponents of the British electronic pop music movement of the late 1970s/early 1980s. The band was particularly associated with the New Romantic and New Wave movements....
's Vienna
Vienna (album)
Vienna is the fourth studio LP by the synthpop band Ultravox, first released on 11 July 1980. The album peaked at #3 in the UK charts and was the first Ultravox release to enter the UK top ten. It was certified Platinum in the United Kingdom in July 1981 for 300,000 copies sold...
(1980), The Human League
The Human League
The Human League are an English electronic New Wave band formed in Sheffield in 1977. They achieved popularity after a key change in line-up in the early 1980s and have continued recording and performing with moderate commercial success throughout the 1980s up to the present day.The only constant...
's Dare
Dare (album)
Dare is the third studio album from British synthpop band The Human League.The album was recorded between March and September 1981 and first released in the UK on 20 October 1981, then subsequently in the U.S...
(1981) and Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in 1980 in Basildon, Essex. The group's original line-up consisted of Dave Gahan , Martin Gore , Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke...
's Speak and Spell (1981), established a sound that influenced most mainstream pop and rock bands, until it began to fall from popularity in the mid-1980s.
New romantics
New Romanticism emerged as part of the New Wave musicNew Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
movement in London nightclubs including Billy's and The Blitz Club
Blitz Kids
The Blitz Kids were a group of young people who frequented the Blitz nightclub in Covent Garden, London in the very early 1980s, and are credited with launching the New Romantic cultural movement...
towards the end of the 1970s. Influenced by David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
and Roxy Music
Roxy Music
Roxy Music was a British art rock band formed in 1971 by Bryan Ferry, who became the group's lead vocalist and chief songwriter, and bassist Graham Simpson. The other members are Phil Manzanera , Andy Mackay and Paul Thompson . Former members include Brian Eno , and Eddie Jobson...
, it developed glam rock
Glam rock
Glam rock is a style of rock and pop music that developed in the UK in the early 1970s, which was performed by singers and musicians who wore outrageous clothes, makeup and hairstyles, particularly platform-soled boots and glitter...
fashions, gaining its name from the frilly fop
Fop
Fop became a pejorative term for a foolish man over-concerned with his appearance and clothes in 17th century England. Some of the very many similar alternative terms are: "coxcomb", fribble, "popinjay" , fashion-monger, and "ninny"...
shirts
Poet shirt
A poet shirt is a type of shirt made as a loose-fitting blouse with full bishop sleeves, usually decorated with large frills on the front and on the cuffs. Typically, it has a laced-up V-neck opening, designed to pull over the head, but can have a full-length opening fastened by buttons...
of early Romanticism
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
. New Romantic music often made extensive use of synthesisers. Pioneers included Visage
Visage
Visage are a British New Wave rock band. Formed in 1978, the band became closely linked to the burgeoning New Romantic fashion movement of the early 1980s, and are best known for their 1980 hit "Fade to Grey".-New Wave years :...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and Ultravox
Ultravox
Ultravox is a British New Wave rock band. They were one of the primary exponents of the British electronic pop music movement of the late 1970s/early 1980s. The band was particularly associated with the New Romantic and New Wave movements....
and among the commercially most successful acts associated with the movement were Adam and the Ants
Adam and the Ants
Adam and the Ants were a British rock band active during the late 1970s and early 1980s. The original group, which existed from 1977 to 1980, became notable as a cult band marking the transition from the late-1970s punk rock era to the post-punk and New Wave era...
, Culture Club
Culture Club
Culture Club are a British rock band who were part of the 1980s New Romantic movement. The original band consisted of Boy George , Mikey Craig , Roy Hay and Jon Moss...
, The Human League
The Human League
The Human League are an English electronic New Wave band formed in Sheffield in 1977. They achieved popularity after a key change in line-up in the early 1980s and have continued recording and performing with moderate commercial success throughout the 1980s up to the present day.The only constant...
, Spandau Ballet
Spandau Ballet
Spandau Ballet are a British band formed in London in the late 1970s. Initially inspired by, and an integral part of, the New Romantic fashion, their music has featured a mixture of funk, jazz, soul and synthpop. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s, achieving ten Top Ten singles...
and Duran Duran
Duran Duran
Duran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States...
. By about 1983 the original movement had dissolved, with surviving acts dropping most of the fashion elements to pursue mainstream careers.
The second British invasion
I Ran (So Far Away)
"I Ran" is a song by English New Wave band A Flock of Seagulls. It was released on their debut album A Flock of Seagulls in 1982 and was its most successful single, reaching number 9 in the United States and number 1 in Australia.-Single:The single was promoted by a distinctive music video in...
" by A Flock of Seagulls
A Flock of Seagulls
A Flock of Seagulls are an English New Wave band originally formed by brothers Michael "Mike" Score and Alister "Ali" James Score , with Frank Maudsley , Michael Kuby , H.J...
entered the Billboard Top Ten, arguably the first successful song that owed almost everything to video. They would be followed by bands like Duran Duran
Duran Duran
Duran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States...
whose glossy videos would come to symbolise the power of MTV. Dire Straits
Dire Straits
Dire Straits were a British rock band active from 1977 to 1995, composed of Mark Knopfler , his younger brother David Knopfler , John Illsley , and Pick Withers .Dire Straits' sound drew from a variety of musical influences, including jazz, folk, blues, and came closest...
' "Money for Nothing
Money for Nothing (song)
"Money for Nothing" is a single by British rock band Dire Straits, taken from their 1985 album Brothers in Arms. It was one of Dire Straits' most successful singles, peaking at number one for three weeks in the United States, and it also reached number one for three weeks on the U.S. Mainstream...
" gently poked fun at MTV which had helped make them international rock stars. In 1983, 30% of the record sales were from British acts. 18 of the top 40 and 6 of the top 10 singles on 18 July were by British artists. Overall record sales would rise by 10% from 1982. Newsweek featured Annie Lennox
Annie Lennox
Annie Lennox, OBE , born Ann Lennox, is a Scottish singer-songwriter, political activist and philanthropist. After achieving minor success in the late 1970s with The Tourists, with fellow musician David A...
of Eurythmics
Eurythmics
Eurythmics were a British pop rock duo, formed in 1980, currently disbanded, but known to reunite from time to time. Consisting of members Annie Lennox and David A...
and Boy George
Boy George
Boy George is a British singer-songwriter who was part of the English New Romantic movement which emerged in the early 1980s. He helped give androgyny an international stage with the success of Culture Club during the 1980s. His music is often classified as blue-eyed soul, which is influenced by...
of Culture Club
Culture Club
Culture Club are a British rock band who were part of the 1980s New Romantic movement. The original band consisted of Boy George , Mikey Craig , Roy Hay and Jon Moss...
on the cover of one of its issues, while Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
would release an "England Swings" issue. In April 1984, 40 of the top 100 singles were from British acts while 8 of the top 10 singles in a May 1985 survey were of British origin. Veteran music journalist Simon Reynolds
Simon Reynolds
Simon Reynolds is an English music critic who is well-known for his writings on electronic dance music and for coining the term "post-rock". Besides electronic dance music, Reynolds has written about a wide range of artists and musical genres, and has written books on post-punk and rock...
theorised that similar to the first British Invasion the use of black American influences by the British acts helped to spur success. Commentators in the mainstream media credited MTV and the British acts with bringing colour and energy to back to pop music while rock journalists were generally hostile to the phenomenon because they felt it represented image over content.
Indie rock
Indie or independent rock, particularly in America often known as alternative rock, was a scene that emerged out of post punk and new wave in the 1980s, eschewing the major record labels for control of their own music and relying on local scenes or national sub-cultures to provide an audience. Having enjoyed some success a number of indie acts were able to move into the mainstream, including early indie bands Aztec CameraAztec Camera
Aztec Camera were a Scottish New Wave band from the Glasgow suburb of East Kilbride, formed in 1980 and centered around teenage singer-songwriter, Roddy Frame. Their album Love was among the nominations for Best British Album at the 1989 BRIT Awards....
, Orange Juice
Orange Juice
Orange Juice was a Scottish post-punk band founded in the middle class Glasgow suburb of Bearsden as the Nu-Sonics in 1976. Edwyn Collins formed the Nu-Sonics with his school-mate Alan Duncan and was subsequently joined by James Kirk and Steven Daly, who left a band called The Machetes. The band...
and The Smiths
The Smiths
The Smiths were an English alternative rock band, formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the song writing partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr , the band also included Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce...
, followed by The Housemartins
The Housemartins
The Housemartins were an English indie pop band that was active in the 1980s. Many of the Housemartins' lyrics were a mixture of Marxist politics and Christianity, reflecting singer Paul Heaton's beliefs at the time .-Formation:The band was formed in late 1983 by Paul Heaton and...
and James
James (band)
James are a British rock band from Manchester, England. They formed in 1982 and were active throughout the 1980s, but most successful during the 1990s. Their hit singles include "Come Home", "Sit Down", and "She's a Star" as well as their American College Radio hit "Laid"...
. Other forms of alternative rock developed in the UK during the 1980s. The Jesus and Mary Chain
The Jesus and Mary Chain
The Jesus and Mary Chain are a Scottish alternative rock band formed in East Kilbride, Glasgow in 1983. The band revolves around the songwriting partnership of brothers Jim and William Reid...
wrapped their pop melodies in walls of guitar noise, while New Order
New Order
New Order are an English rock band formed in 1980 by Bernard Sumner , Peter Hook and Stephen Morris...
emerged from the demise of post-punk band Joy Division
Joy Division
Joy Division were an English rock band formed in 1976 in Salford, Greater Manchester. Originally named Warsaw, the band primarily consisted of Ian Curtis , Bernard Sumner , Peter Hook and Stephen Morris .Joy Division rapidly evolved from their initial punk rock influences...
and experimented with techno
Techno
Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988...
and house music
House music
House music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino American, and gay communities; first in Chicago circa 1984, then in other...
, forging the alternative dance
Alternative dance
Alternative dance or indie dance is a musical genre that mixes rock subgenres with electronic dance music...
style. The Mary Chain, along with Dinosaur Jr and the dream pop
Dream pop
Dream pop is a subgenre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom in the mid-1980s, when bands like The Passions, Dif Juz, Lowlife and A.R. Kane began fusing post-punk and ethereal experiments with bittersweet pop melodies into dreamy, sensual soundscapes. The term was almost...
of Cocteau Twins
Cocteau Twins
Cocteau Twins were a Scottish alternative rock band active from 1979 to 1997, known for innovative instrumentation and atmospheric, non-lyrical vocals...
, were the influences for the shoegazing
Shoegazing
Shoegazing is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged from the United Kingdom in the late 1980s. It lasted there until the mid 1990s, with a critical zenith reached in 1990 and 1991...
movement of the late 1980s.
Gothic rock
Gothic rock, often shortened to goth, developed out of the post punk scene in the later 1970s. It combines dark, often keyboard-heavy music with introspective and depressing lyrics. Notable early gothic rock bands include BauhausBauhaus (band)
Bauhaus was an English rock band formed in Northampton in 1978. The group consisted of Peter Murphy , Daniel Ash , Kevin Haskins and David J . The band was originally Bauhaus 1919 before they dropped the numerical portion within a year of formation...
(whose "Bela Lugosi's Dead
Bela Lugosi's Dead
"Bela Lugosi's Dead" is a gothic rock song written by the band Bauhaus. The song was the band's first single, released in August 1979, and is often considered to be the first gothic rock record released. It did not enter the UK charts. The b-side features the song "Boys" and some versions also...
" is often cited as the first goth record), Siouxsie and the Banshees (who may have coined the term), The Cure
The Cure
The Cure are an English rock band formed in Crawley, West Sussex in 1976. The band has experienced several line-up changes, with frontman, vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter Robert Smith being the only constant member...
, The Sisters of Mercy
The Sisters of Mercy
The Sisters of Mercy are an English rock band that formed in 1980. After achieving early underground fame in UK, the band had their commercial breakthrough in mid-1980s and sustained it until the early 1990s, when they stopped releasing new recorded output in protest against their record company...
, and Fields of the Nephilim
Fields of the Nephilim
Fields of the Nephilim are an English gothic rock band formed in Stevenage, Hertfordshire in 1984. The original line-up consisted of vocalist Carl McCoy, saxophonist Gary Whisker, Tony Pettitt on bass, guitarist Paul Wright and drummer Alexander "Nod" Wright...
. Gothic rock gave rise to a broader goth subculture
Goth subculture
The goth subculture is a contemporary subculture found in many countries. It began in England during the early 1980s in the gothic rock scene, an offshoot of the post-punk genre. The goth subculture has survived much longer than others of the same era, and has continued to diversify...
that included clubs, various fashion trends
Gothic fashion
Gothic fashion is a clothing style worn by members of the Goth subculture; a dark, sometimes morbid, eroticized fashion and style of dress. Typical Gothic fashion includes dyed black hair, black lips and black clothes. Both male and female goths wear dark eyeliner and dark fingernails. Styles are...
and numerous publications that grew in popularity in the 1980s, gaining notoriety by being associated by several moral panic
Moral panic
A moral panic is the intensity of feeling expressed in a population about an issue that appears to threaten the social order. According to Stanley Cohen, author of Folk Devils and Moral Panics and credited creator of the term, a moral panic occurs when "[a] condition, episode, person or group of...
s over suicide and Satanism.
Madchester
The independent rock scene that had developed in Manchester in the second half of the 1980s, based in The HaçiendaThe Haçienda
Fac 51 Haçienda was a nightclub and music venue in Manchester, England. It became most famous during the "Madchester" years of the late 1980s and early 1990s, during the 1990s it was labelled the most famous club in the world by Newsweek magazine...
nightclub and Factory Records
Factory Records
Factory Records was a Manchester based British independent record label, started in 1978 by Tony Wilson and Alan Erasmus, which featured several prominent musical acts on its roster such as Joy Division, New Order, A Certain Ratio, The Durutti Column, Happy Mondays, Northside and James and...
and dubbed Madchester, came to national prominence at the end of the decade, with the Happy Mondays
Happy Mondays
Happy Mondays are an English alternative rock band from Salford, Greater Manchester. Formed in 1980, the band's original line-up was Shaun Ryder on lead vocals, his brother Paul Ryder on bass, lead guitarist Mark Day, keyboardist Paul Davis, and drummer Gary Whelan...
, the Inspiral Carpets
Inspiral Carpets
Inspiral Carpets are an alternative rock band from Oldham in Greater Manchester, England formed by Graham Lambert and Stephen Holt in 1983. The band is named after a clothing shop on their Oldham estate...
, and Stone Roses
The Stone Roses
The Stone Roses are an English alternative rock band formed in Manchester in 1983. They were one of the pioneering groups of the Madchester movement that was active during the late 1980s and early 1990s...
charting late in 1989. The scene became the centre of media attention for independent rock in the early 1990s, with bands like World of Twist
World of Twist
World Of Twist were an English rock band, formed in Sheffield in 1985.-History:The original line-up of the band consisted of James Fry , Andrew Hobson , Gordon King , Tony Ogden , Rory Conolly , Nick Phillips and Andy Robbins...
, New Fast Automatic Daffodils
New Fast Automatic Daffodils
New Fast Automatic Daffodils were an alternative rock group from Manchester, England, active between 1988 and 1995.-History:The band was formed in 1988 by former members of the punk rock group Pariah...
, The High
The High
The High were an English rock group from Manchester, who were generally regarded as part of the Madchester scene.-History:The band was formed in 1989 by former Turning Blue singer John Matthews, along with former Buzzcocks F.O.C...
, Northside
Northside (band)
Northside are a British band from Blackley and Moston, Manchester, England. Formed in 1989, they released their only album Chicken Rhythms on Factory Records in 1991...
, Paris Angels
Paris Angels
Paris Angels were a seven piece band, hailing from Guide Bridge, Ashton-under-Lyne, England, associated with the Madchester scene of 1989 -1991. Their music fused indie guitars with electronic dance music...
, and Intastella also gaining national attention. The period of dominance was relatively short lived with The Stone Roses beginning to retreat from public performance while engaged in contractual disputes, the Happy Mondays having difficulty in producing a second album and Factory Records
Factory Records
Factory Records was a Manchester based British independent record label, started in 1978 by Tony Wilson and Alan Erasmus, which featured several prominent musical acts on its roster such as Joy Division, New Order, A Certain Ratio, The Durutti Column, Happy Mondays, Northside and James and...
going bankrupt in 1992. Local bands catching the tail-end of Madchester, such as The Mock Turtles
The Mock Turtles
The Mock Turtles are a Manchester based indie rock band, formed in Middleton, Greater Manchester in 1985, who enjoyed some success in the early 1990s...
, became part of a wider baggy
Baggy
Baggy was a British dance-oriented music genre popular in the late 1980s and early 1990s.The scene was heavily influenced by Madchester, although it was not geographically confined to Manchester. Many Madchester bands could also be described as Baggy, and vice versa...
scene. The music press in the UK began to place more focus on shoegazing
Shoegazing
Shoegazing is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged from the United Kingdom in the late 1980s. It lasted there until the mid 1990s, with a critical zenith reached in 1990 and 1991...
bands from the south of England
Southern England
Southern England, the South and the South of England are imprecise terms used to refer to the southern counties of England bordering the English Midlands. It has a number of different interpretations of its geographic extents. The South is considered by many to be a cultural region with a distinct...
and bands emerging through US grunge
Grunge
Grunge is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. Inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal, and indie rock, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electric guitars, contrasting song...
.
Dream pop and shoegazing
Dream pop had developed out of the indie rock scene of the 1980s, when bands like Cocteau TwinsCocteau Twins
Cocteau Twins were a Scottish alternative rock band active from 1979 to 1997, known for innovative instrumentation and atmospheric, non-lyrical vocals...
, The Chameleons
The Chameleons
The Chameleons were an English post-punk band that formed in Middleton, Greater Manchester, England in 1981. They consisted of singer and bassist Mark Burgess, guitarist Reg Smithies, guitarist Dave Fielding, and drummer John Lever...
, The Passions
The Passions
The Passions were a British band which formed in 1978, and disbanded in 1983. They were one-hit wonders with their misty song, "I'm in Love with a German Film Star". which was released in early 1981.-Career:...
, Dif Juz
Dif Juz
Dif Juz was a British instrumental band, strongly influenced by dub, who were active in the early to mid 1980s. Retroactively they can be seen to be most strongly allied with the Post-rock movement.- History :...
, Lowlife
Lowlife (band)
Lowlife was a Scottish alternative rock/dream pop band, active from 1985 to 1997. Although the group never obtained mainstream popularity, they developed a cult following that continues to this day.-Pre Lowlife:...
and A.R. Kane began fusing post-punk
Post-punk
Post-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...
and ethereal
Ethereal Wave
Ethereal Wave, also called ethereal darkwave in Europe and ethereal goth or simply ethereal in the US, is a term that describes a subgenre of Dark Wave music...
experiments with bittersweet pop melodies into sensual, sonically ambitious soundscapes. The 4AD record label is the one most associated with dream pop, though others such as Creation
Creation Records
Creation Records was a British independent record label headed by Alan McGee. Along with Dick Green and Joe Foster, McGee founded Creation in 1983. The label lasted until its demise in 1999. The name came from the 1960s band The Creation , whom McGee greatly admired. McGee, Green and Foster were...
, Projekt
Projekt Records
This is the article for the record label. You might be looking for Pro-jekt, ProjeKct, Project Pitchfork, or Projekt RevolutionProjekt is a Brooklyn, New York-based independent record label specializing in gothic rock, ambient, ethereal, darkwave, shoegaze, dream-pop, and dark cabaret created by...
, Fontana, Bedazzled
Bedazzled Records
Bedazzled Records was an American record label, based in Washington, D.C., which existed from 1989 to 2000. It primarily featured dream pop, goth rock and shoegaze bands...
, Vernon Yard, and Slumberland
Slumberland Records
Slumberland Records is an American independent record label formed in 1989 in Washington, D.C. area and currently based in Oakland, CA. The label has released recordings from artists including Velocity Girl, Honeybunch, Lilys, Stereolab, St...
also released significant records in the genre. A louder, more aggressive strain of dream pop came to be known as shoegazing
Shoegazing
Shoegazing is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged from the United Kingdom in the late 1980s. It lasted there until the mid 1990s, with a critical zenith reached in 1990 and 1991...
; key bands of this style were Lush
Lush (band)
Lush were an English alternative rock band, formed in 1987 and disbanded in 1998. They were one of the first bands to attract the "shoegazing" label...
, Slowdive
Slowdive
Slowdive were an English shoegaze band that formed in 1989. The band formed in Reading, Berkshire and primarily consisted of Nick Chaplin , Rachel Goswell , Neil Halstead , and Christian Savill...
, My Bloody Valentine, Alison's Halo
Alison's Halo
Alison's Halo was a dream pop band from Tempe, Arizona. Their airy vocals and delayed riffs were often also associated with shoegazing or space pop. Their first single, "Dozen", was released in 1995. Their first CD, Eyedazzler, is a compilation of songs the band created between 1992 and 1996, was...
, Chapterhouse
Chapterhouse
For the religious buildings, see Chapter houseChapterhouse are a British shoegazing band originally of the early 1990s, from Reading, Berkshire, England. Formed in 1987 by Andrew Sherriff and Stephen Patman, the band began performing alongside Spacemen 3...
, Curve
Curve (band)
Curve was an English music group formed in 1990 chiefly around the collaboration of singer/songwriter Toni Halliday and bassist/guitarist/programmer Dean Garcia.-History:...
and Levitation
Levitation (band)
Levitation were an English rock band fronted by ex-House of Love guitarist Terry Bickers. Levitation's music and attitude challenged an early 1990s UK alternative music scene dominated by shoegazing and Madchester....
. These bands kept the atmospheric qualities of dream pop, but added the intensity of post-punk-influenced bands such as The Chameleons
The Chameleons
The Chameleons were an English post-punk band that formed in Middleton, Greater Manchester, England in 1981. They consisted of singer and bassist Mark Burgess, guitarist Reg Smithies, guitarist Dave Fielding, and drummer John Lever...
and Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth is an American alternative rock band from New York City, formed in 1981. The current lineup consists of Thurston Moore , Kim Gordon , Lee Ranaldo , Steve Shelley , and Mark Ibold .In their early career, Sonic Youth was associated with the No Wave art and music scene in New York City...
.
Post rock
Post rock originated in the release of Talk TalkTalk Talk
Talk Talk were an English musical group, active from 1981 to 1991. The group had a string of international hit singles including "Today", "Talk Talk", "It's My Life", "Such a Shame", "Dum Dum Girl", "Life's What You Make It" and "Living in Another World"....
's album Laughing Stock and US band Slint
Slint
Slint was an American rock band consisting of Brian McMahan , David Pajo , Britt Walford , Todd Brashear and Ethan Buckler...
's Spiderland
Spiderland
Spiderland is the second studio album by the American post-rock band Slint, released on March 27, 1991 on Touch and Go. Featuring dramatically alternating dynamics and vocals ranging from spoken word to shouting, the album contains narrative lyrics that emphasize alienation...
, both in 1991, which produced experimental work influenced by sources as varied as electronica
Electronica
Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...
, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, and minimalist classical music, often abandoning the traditional song format in favour of instrumental and ambient music. The term was first used to describe the band Bark Psychosis
Bark Psychosis
Bark Psychosis are an English post-rock band/musical project from east London formed in 1986. They were one of the bands that Simon Reynolds cited when coining "post-rock" as a musical style in 1994, and are thus considered one of the key bands defining the genre...
and their album Hex
Hex (album)
Hex is a 1994 album by Bark Psychosis. The term "post-rock" was coined by music journalist Simon Reynolds in his review of this album for Mojo magazine.-Reception:...
(1994), but was soon employed for bands such as Stereolab
Stereolab
Stereolab are an alternative music band formed in 1990 in London, England. The band originally comprised songwriting team Tim Gane and Lætitia Sadier , both of whom remained at the helm across many lineup changes...
, Laika
Laika (band)
Laika is a British alternative rock band founded in 1993 by ex-Moonshake members Margaret Fiedler and John Frenett, and producer/engineer Guy Fixsen. The band was named after the first animal to orbit the earth, the Russian dog Laika.-Sound:...
, Disco Inferno
Disco Inferno (band)
Disco Inferno was an English experimental rock band, formed in Essex in the late 1980s, by Ian Crause , Paul Wilmott , Rob Whatley and Daniel Gish .-History:...
and Pram
Pram (band)
Pram are an experimental band who formed in the Balsall Heath/Moseley area of Birmingham, England in 1990.-History:Originally from Harrogate, North Yorkshire, Rosie Cuckston and Matt Eaton went to school together. They moved to Birmingham in the late 80s, schoolfriend Andy Weir keeping in touch...
and other acts in America and Canada. Scottish group Mogwai
Mogwai
The word mogwai is the transliteration of the Cantonese word 魔怪 meaning "monster", "evil spirit", "devil" or "demon".-Mogwai/Mogui in Chinese culture:...
are one of the influential post-rock groups to arise at the turn of the 21st century.
Indie pop
Initially dubbed as 'C86C86 (music)
C86 is a cassette compilation released by the British music magazine NME in 1986, featuring new bands licensed from independent labels of the time. As a phrase, C86 quickly evolved into shorthand for a guitar-based musical genre characterised by "jangly" guitars and fey melodies, although other...
' after the 1986 NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
tape, and also known as "cutie", "shambling bands" and later as "twee pop", indie pop was characterised by jangling guitars, a love of sixties pop and often fey, innocent lyrics. It was also inspired by the DIY scene of punk and there was a thriving fanzine, label and club and gig circuit. Early bands included The Pastels
The Pastels
The Pastels are a group from Glasgow, Scotland, UK.Their early records for labels like Whaam!, Creation, Rough Trade, and Glass Records, had a raw and immediate sound, melodic and amateur, which seemed at odds with the time...
, The Shop Assistants
The Shop Assistants
Shop Assistants were an indie pop band from Edinburgh, Scotland, formed in 1984, initially as Buba & The Shop Assistants. After achieving success with independent releases they signed to Chrysalis Records sublabel Blue Guitar, releasing their only album in 1986...
and Primal Scream
Primal Scream
Primal Scream are a Scottish alternative rock band originally formed in 1982 in Glasgow by Bobby Gillespie and Jim Beattie and now based in London. The current lineup consists of Gillespie, Andrew Innes , Martin Duffy , and Darrin Mooney...
. Scenes later developed in the United States particularly around labels such as K Records
K Records
K Records is an independent record label in Olympia, Washington, co-founded, owned, and operated by Calvin Johnson, formerly of the bands Cool Rays, Beat Happening, The Go Team, The Halo Benders and presently in the bands Dub Narcotic Sound System and The Hive Dwellers...
. Genres such as Riot Grrrl
Riot grrrl
Riot grrrl was an underground feminist punk movement based in Washington, DC, Olympia, Washington, Portland, Oregon, and the greater Pacific Northwest which existed in the early to mid-1990s, and it is often associated with third-wave feminism...
and bands as diverse as Nirvana
Nirvana (band)
Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987...
, Manic Street Preachers
Manic Street Preachers
Manic Street Preachers are a Welsh alternative rock band, formed in 1986. They are James Dean Bradfield, Nicky Wire, Richey Edwards and Sean Moore. The band are part of the Cardiff music scene, and were at their most prominent during the 1990s...
, and Belle and Sebastian have all acknowledged its influence.
Britpop
Britpop emerged from the British independent music scene of the early 1990s and was characterised by bands influenced by British guitar pop music of the 1960s and 1970s. The movement developed as a reaction against various musical and cultural trends in the late 1980s and early 1990s, particularly the grunge
Grunge
Grunge is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. Inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal, and indie rock, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electric guitars, contrasting song...
phenomenon from the United States. New British groups such as Suede
Suede (band)
Suede are an English alternative rock band from London, formed in 1989. The group's most prominent early line-up featured singer Brett Anderson, guitarist Bernard Butler, bass player Mat Osman and drummer Simon Gilbert. By 1992, Suede were hailed as "The Best New Band in Britain", and attracted...
and Blur
Blur (band)
Blur is an English alternative rock band. Formed in London in 1989 as Seymour, the group consists of singer Damon Albarn, guitarist Graham Coxon, bassist Alex James and drummer Dave Rowntree. Blur's debut album Leisure incorporated the sounds of Madchester and shoegazing...
launched the movement by positioning themselves as opposing musical forces, referencing British guitar music of the past and writing about uniquely British topics and concerns. These bands were soon joined by others including Oasis
Oasis (band)
Oasis were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1991. Originally known as The Rain, the group was formed by Liam Gallagher , Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs , Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan and Tony McCarroll , who were soon joined by Liam's older brother Noel Gallagher...
, Pulp
Pulp (band)
Pulp are an English alternative rock band formed in Sheffield in 1978. Their lineup consists of Jarvis Cocker , Russell Senior , Candida Doyle , Mark Webber , Steve Mackey and Nick Banks ....
, Supergrass
Supergrass
Supergrass was an English alternative rock band from Oxford. The band consisted of brothers Gaz and Rob Coombes , Mick Quinn and Danny Goffey ....
and Elastica
Elastica
Elastica were an English alternative rock band that played punk rock-influenced music. They were best known for their 1995 album Elastica, which produced singles that charted in the US and the UK.-History:...
. Britpop groups brought British alternative rock into the mainstream and formed the backbone of a larger British cultural movement called Cool Britannia
Cool Britannia
Cool Britannia is a media term that was used during the late 20th century to describe the contemporary culture of the United Kingdom. The term was prevalent during the 1990s and later became closely associated with the early years of "New Labour" under Tony Blair...
. Although its more popular bands were able to spread their commercial success overseas, especially to the United States, the movement largely fell apart by the end of the decade.
Post Britpop
The Verve
The Verve were an English rock band formed in 1989 in Wigan by lead vocalist Richard Ashcroft, guitarist Nick McCabe, bassist Simon Jones, and drummer Peter Salisbury. Guitarist and keyboardist Simon Tong later became a member. Beginning with a psychedelic sound indebted to shoegazing and space...
, Radiohead
Radiohead
Radiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke , Jonny Greenwood , Ed O'Brien , Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway .Radiohead released their debut single "Creep" in 1992...
, Travis
Travis (band)
Travis are a post-Britpop band from Glasgow, Scotland, comprising Fran Healy , Dougie Payne , Andy Dunlop and Neil Primrose...
, Stereophonics
Stereophonics
The Stereophonics are a Welsh rock band now living in turners x that formed in 1992 in the village of Cwmaman in Cynon Valley, Wales. The band currently comprises lead vocalist and guitarist Kelly Jones, bassist and backing vocalist Richard Jones, drummer Javier Weyler, guitarist and backing...
, Feeder
Feeder
-Technology:* Feeder , any of several devices used in apiculture to supplement or replace natural food sources* Feeder , another name for a riser, a reservoir built into a metal casting mold to prevent cavities due to shrinkage...
, and particularly Coldplay
Coldplay
Coldplay are a British alternative rock band formed in 1996 by lead vocalist Chris Martin and lead guitarist Jonny Buckland at University College London. After they formed Pectoralz, Guy Berryman joined the group as a bassist and they changed their name to Starfish. Will Champion joined as a...
, achieved much wider international success than most of the Britpop groups that had preceded them, and were some of the most commercially successful acts of the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Garage rock revival/Post-punk revival
In the 2000s British indie rock experienced a resurgence. Like modern American alternative rockAlternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
, many British indie bands such as Franz Ferdinand
Franz Ferdinand (band)
Franz Ferdinand are a Scottish post-punk revival band formed in Glasgow in 2002. The band is composed of Alex Kapranos , Bob Hardy , Nick McCarthy , and Paul Thomson .The band first experienced chart success when their second single, "Take Me Out", reached #3 in...
, The Libertines
The Libertines
The Libertines were an English rock band, formed in London in 1997 by frontmen Carl Barât and Pete Doherty . The band, centred on the song-writing partnership of Barat and Doherty, also included John Hassall and Gary Powell for most of its recording career...
and Bloc Party
Bloc Party
Bloc Party are a British Indie rock band, composed of Kele Okereke , Russell Lissack , Gordon Moakes , and Matt Tong...
drew influences from post-punk groups such as Joy Division
Joy Division
Joy Division were an English rock band formed in 1976 in Salford, Greater Manchester. Originally named Warsaw, the band primarily consisted of Ian Curtis , Bernard Sumner , Peter Hook and Stephen Morris .Joy Division rapidly evolved from their initial punk rock influences...
, Wire
Wire (band)
Wire are an English rock band, formed in London in October 1976 by Colin Newman , Graham Lewis , Bruce Gilbert , and Robert Gotobed...
, and Gang of Four
Gang of Four (band)
Gang of Four are an English post-punk group from Leeds. Original personnel were singer Jon King, guitarist Andy Gill, bass guitarist Dave Allen and drummer Hugo Burnham. They were fully active from 1977 to 1984, and then re-emerged twice in the 1990s with King and Gill...
. Other prominent independent rock bands in the 2000s include: Editors
Editors
Editors are a British indie rock band based in Birmingham, who formed in 2002. Previously known as Pilot, The Pride and Snowfield, the band consists of Tom Smith , Chris Urbanowicz , Russell Leetch and Ed Lay .Editors have so far released two platinum studio...
, The Fratellis
The Fratellis
The Fratellis were an indie rock band from Glasgow, Scotland. The band consisted of lead vocalist and guitarist Jon Fratelli , bass guitarist Barry Fratelli , and drummer and backing vocalist Mince Fratelli .The band released 2 albums during their career, Costello Music in 2006 and Here We Stand in...
, Placebo
Placebo (band)
Placebo are a British rock band from London, England, formed in 1994 by singer and guitarist Brian Molko and bass guitarist Stefan Olsdal. The band was joined by drummer Robert Schultzberg, who was later replaced by Steve Hewitt after conflicts with Molko. Hewitt left the band in October 2007 and...
, Lostprophets
Lostprophets
Lostprophets is a Welsh rock band from Pontypridd, formed in 1997. Founded by vocalist Ian Watkins, bassist Mike Lewis, drummer Mike Chiplin and guitarist Lee Gaze, they were originally a side-project to hardcore punk band Public Disturbance. To date, Lostprophets have released four studio...
, Razorlight
Razorlight
Razorlight are a UK based indie rock band formed in 2002. They are primarily known in the UK, having topped the charts with the 2006 single "America" and its parent self-titled album, their second...
, Keane, Kaiser Chiefs
Kaiser Chiefs
Kaiser Chiefs are an English indie rock band from Leeds who formed in 1996. They were named after the South African football club Kaizer Chiefs....
, Muse
Muse (band)
Muse are an English alternative rock band from Teignmouth, Devon, formed in 1994. The band consists of school friends Matthew Bellamy , Christopher Wolstenholme and Dominic Howard...
, Kasabian, The Kooks
The Kooks
The Kooks are an English indie rock band formed in Brighton, East Sussex, in 2001. Formed by Luke Pritchard , Hugh Harris , Paul Garred , and Max Rafferty , the lineup of the band remained constant until 2008 and the departure of Rafferty...
and Arctic Monkeys
Arctic Monkeys
Arctic Monkeys are an English indie rock band. Formed in 2002 in High Green, a suburb of Sheffield, the band currently consists of Alex Turner , Jamie Cook , Nick O'Malley and Matt Helders...
(the last being the most prominent act to gain their initial fan base through the use of internet social networking).
New rave
With developments in computer technology and music software advanced, it became possible to create high quality music using little more than a single laptop computer. This resulted in a massive increase in the amount of home-produced electronic music available to the general public via the expanding internet, and new forms of performance such as laptronicaLaptronica
Laptronica is a form of live electronic music in which laptops are used as musical instruments. The term is a portmanteau of "laptop computer" and "electronica"...
and live coding
Live coding
Live coding is a performance practice centred upon the use of improvised interactive programming and real-time computing in creating sound and image based digital media. Live coding is particularly prevalent in computer music, combining algorithmic composition with improvisation...
. In Britain the combination of indie with American pioneered dance-punk
Dance-punk
Dance-punk is a music genre that emerged in the late 1970s, and is closely associated with the post-punk and No Wave movements.-Predecessors:...
was dubbed new rave
New Rave
New rave is a term applied to several types of music that fuse elements of electronic music, new wave, rock, indie, techno, bastard pop, breakbeat hardcore and electro house...
in publicity for The Klaxons
The Klaxons
The Klaxons were a Belgian accordion based band who had a minor UK hit in 1983 with "The Clap Clap Sound", which reached number 45 in the UK charts...
and the term was picked up and applied by the NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
to a number of bands, including Trash Fashion
Trash Fashion
Trash Fashion are a four-piece band made up of brothers Tom Marsh and Ben Marsh joined by Matt Emerson and Jim Ready . Their current UK record label is Propaganda Records and in Japan it is Vinyl Junkie...
, New Young Pony Club
New Young Pony Club
New Young Pony Club are an English electronic band from London, consisting of members from London, Hereford, Cambridge and Bromley. Their influences are prominently from post-punk and New Wave....
, Hadouken!
Hadouken!
Hadouken! are an English grime, electronica, dance band who formed in Leeds in October 2006 by singer, writer and producer James Smith, alongside his girlfriend, synth player Alice Spooner, guitarist Daniel "Pilau" Rice, and drummer Nick Rice. The band name is taken from the name of a special...
, Late of the Pier
Late of the Pier
Late of the Pier are a four-piece dance-punk band from Castle Donington, England, currently signed to Phantasy. Their debut album Fantasy Black Channel was released on 11 August 2008 by Parlophone produced by Erol Alkan.- History :...
, Test Icicles
Test Icicles
Test Icicles were a short-lived dance punk band that formed in England, primarily influenced by indie rock but containing musical elements from a variety of genres . The band was formed in 2004 by Rory Attwell and Sam Mehran, who were later joined by Devonte Hynes...
, and Shitdisco
Shitdisco
Shitdisco, was a Dance-punk band from Glasgow, Scotland. They were formed in 2003 while studying at the Glasgow School of Art. Their first single "Disco Blood"/"I Know Kung Fu" was released in December 2005 and sold out quickly. They are signed to record label Fierce Panda...
forming a scene with a similar visual aesthetic to earlier rave music
Rave music
Rave music may either refer the late 1980s genre or any genre of electronic dance music that may be played at an electronic dance party such as a rave. Very rarely, the term is used to refer to less electronic related genres glam, powerpop, psychedelic rock and dub music parties...
.
See also
- Music of the United Kingdom (1950s)Music of the United Kingdom (1950s)Music of the United Kingdom began to develop in the 1950s from largely insular and derivative forms to become one of the leading centres of popular music in the modern world...
- Music of the United Kingdom (1960s)Music of the United Kingdom (1960s)Music of the United Kingdom developed in the 1960s into one of the leading forms of popular music in the modern world. By the early 1960s the British had developed a viable national music industry and began to produce adapted forms of American music in Beat music and British blues which would be...
- Music of the United Kingdom (1970s)Music of the United Kingdom (1970s)Popular music of the United Kingdom in the 1970s built upon the new forms developed of music developed from blues rock towards the end of the 1960s, including folk rock and psychedelic rock...
- Music of the United Kingdom (1980s)Music of the United Kingdom (1980s)Popular music of the United Kingdom in the 1980s built on the post punk and new wave movements, incorporating different sources of inspiration from sub-genres and what is now classed as World music in the shape of Jamaican and Indian music. It also explored the consequences of new technology and...
- Music of the United Kingdom (1990s)Music of the United Kingdom (1990s)Popular music of the United Kingdom in the 1990s continued to develop and diversify. While the singles charts were dominated by boy bands and girl groups, British soul and Indian-based music also enjoyed their greatest level of mainstream success to date, and the rise of World music helped...
- Music of the United Kingdom (2000s)Music of the United Kingdom (2000s)Popular music of the United Kingdom in the 2000s continued to expand and develop new sub-genres and fusions. While talent show contestants were one of the major forces in pop music, British soul maintained and even extended its high profile with figures like Joss Stone and Amy Winehouse, while a...