Hard Rock

Question 1

Instrumentation

Answer 1

• vocals (usually male)
• two guitars (rhythm & lead)
• keyboards
• bass
• drums

Question 2

Performance and Arrangement

Answer 2

• powerful vocals usually delivered in a high register (screaming level)
• guitars play riffs using power chords (root & dominant chords)
• fast soloing with high degree of technical ability
• pentatonic/blues/modal/chromatic scales used regularly for solos and riffs
• driving rhythm called ‘chugging’ used by guitar, drums and bass
• keyboard not used in a lead role
• drums feature a lot of cymbals and toms and can be very technical

Question 3

Technology and Production

Answer 3

• Distortion and Valve amp sound create a huge guitar sound
• Fuzz, Wah-Wah and phaser are the main effects used
• Feedback and finger tapping techniques
• Drums and bass create a thick and heavy sound
• Large reverbs

Question 4

Influences

Answer 4

• Blues
• British blues
• R&B
• Prog Rock
• Psychedelic Rock

Question 5

The Kinks

Answer 5

• ‘You Really Got Me Going’

Question 6

The Yard Birds

Answer 6

• Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page

Question 7

Jimmy Hendrix

Answer 7

• From Seattle
• Everybody looked up to him. Pioneered distortion, wah-wah, feedback
• More blues, didn’t get the repetitive riffs

Question 8

Cream

Answer 8

• Split up in 1968
• Transformed American blues into British psychedelic rock
• Heavy riffs, pounding drums, wailing guitar & screaming vocals

Question 9

Arthur Brown

Answer 9

• Sinister theatricality and extreme vocal range inspired many
• Violent energy, nightmarish
• Although they came from the type on the hippies they weren’t part of the movement

Question 10

The Doors, Vanilla Fudge & Iron Butterfly

Answer 10

• American bands
• Flamboyant and psychedelic
• Vanilla Fudge: great musicianship but didn’t hold the heaviness. Hugely influential to rock - first time thought of Hard Rock as supposed to Rock&Roll

Question 11

Blue Cheer

Answer 11

• The heaviest, loudest and grungiest band

Question 12

The Edgar Broughton Band

Answer 12

• Underground trio
• UK band
• ‘Psychopath’ on 2nd album

Question 13

Led Zeppelin

Answer 13

• They were the catalyst
• Guitar based, very riffy
• Classiness about them

Question 14

Black Sabbath

Answer 14

• Birmingham based
• Working class
• The name came from the Boris Karloff movies ‘Black Sabbath’
• Began writing original material that reflected their fascination and fear of the dark side
• Nobody was talking about the evil so it seemed an ideal thing to talk about in their music
• Their music reflected the tough reality
• Many we’re convinced that they were a Satanic band and deserved to die

Question 15

Uriah Heep

Answer 15

• Heavy Organ and guitar driven sound
• Down South
• Late 60s mix of blues, prog rock and folk
• Very Heavy
• Did acoustic covers as well
• Getting following through live shows

Question 16

Deep Purple

Answer 16

• Formed in 1967
• 3 albums by 1969
• ‘Hush’ hit single
• 4th album in 1970
• Vanilla Fudge influenced the band & Hendrix
• Hammond Organ used
• Gillan (vocalist) could scream to a top A in full voice

Question 17

What did metal bands sing about?

Answer 17

The angst, the pain and difficult things in life

Question 18

Budgie

Answer 18

• Chopping licks: big gaps and there’s drums in that gap
• They got signed at the same time as Black Sabbath and had to wait until they finished their demos say they could do theirs

Question 19

How has symphonic music inflicted Hard Rock?

Answer 19

• The dark heavy sound and it’s powerful dynamic range owed a debt to the shock and awe of symphonic music

Question 20

Judas Priest

Answer 20

• Faster form of metal sounding rock
• Birmingham based
• Their style was less gloomy and pumped up with the volume of two guitars (lead and rhythm)
• Stereo chord sound
• Very positive outlook lyrically
• They took the heavy metal look further: coloured spandex, metal uniform of tight leather and metal studs & bike

Question 21

Robert Plant

Answer 21

• The Americans loved him

- Ambivalent sexuality

Question 22

Janis Joplin

Answer 22

• Blues singer

- Unusual for a girl to put on such a masculine display

Question 23

Who were the typical Hard Rock audiences?

Answer 23

• Boys and men absorbed in displays tribal head banging, air guitar playing to a music which didn’t seem to appeal much to women
• Metal became a male domain because of the life style, the denim and leather, the patches, the collectibility
• Audiences also dressed exactly like their favourite bands

Question 24

Who is Neal Kay?

Answer 24

• DJ Neal Kay established the first real home for Rock “The Soundhouse”
• Street driven
• They built a scene of their own
• The people who came to the club were impressed with the great sound system
• The people wanted to be as close to the music as they could get

Question 25

Rob Loonhouse

Answer 25

Had a guitar with no strings and played perfectly the guitar solos

Question 26

Lemmy

Answer 26

- 1975 Motörhead

Question 27

1976 Punk

Answer 27

- Punk fans didn’t care much about Metal - Gave rock a kick, faster, aggressive - The Damned and Motörhead toured together

Question 28

The Wave of British Heavy Metal

Answer 28

- Diamond Head, Iron Maiden, Saxon had grown up in a different kind of world - a world of strikes, 3 working days and Winter of Discontent - They emerged as The Iron Lady was elected

Question 29

Saxon

Answer 29

- Treated like the ‘bad boys’ it wasn’t real music - Wrote about motorbikes and steam trains, fighter pilots on drugs - Aggressive and fast music - Great guitar riff, vocal

Question 30

Iron Maiden

Answer 30

- Punk aggression - Bruce Dickinson vocalist - The Beast broke the charts with N1