Rock Opera
Term Paper
The Development of The Rock Musical In the Late 20th Century
Rock opera in its narrow definition seems to be a purely British phenomenon, possibly because at the time of its arrival England, as opposed to the United States, had not found its musical theater voice yet: while musical theater was booming in the United States from the early twentieth century onwards, England didn't develop a popular musical tradition until the late 1960s, when Andrew Lloyd Webber started to write and produce large-scale musicals for the London theaters.
To provide an overview of the scope of the genre of rock opera, I will briefly discuss some of the most renowned works. It is usually the British rock band
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Pink Floyd's The Wall is one of the most successful albums in rock history, topping the United States album chart for fifteen weeks in 1980 and spanning off the hit single "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)", which remained at No. 1 on the United States singles chart for four weeks. In the 1980s The Wall was made into a movie directed by Alan Parker and starring Bob Geldof in the lead role as Pink. Pink Floyd took The Wall on tour, with the most famous, if not complete performance taking place in Berlin after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. The Wall is a double album about a fictional, emotionally crippled, depressed rock star, Pink, who is unable to cope with the pressures of life and therefore builds a wall around him. The wall is obviously a metaphor for his psychological isolation, for the barrier he creates to distance himself from his pain. As parts of his life spin out of control, the wall grows and Pink ultimately blames everyone, particularly women, for his incapability to deal with his neuroses. The origins of his deplorable state is illustrated by flashbacks in individual songs, such as Pink's childhood memories of his father's death in World War II ("Another Brick in the Wall [Part I]"), his overprotective mother ("Mother"), the repressive school system, and his fascination with and fear of sex ("Young Lust").
Rock n roll came from the mix of country and rhythm and blues. The origins of rock n roll can be traced back to when the great migration brought African Americans to the U.S. with them they brought a different sound for music. After the great migration, new genres of music began to become very popular in the late 1920’s and 1930’s. These genres of music influenced the development of rock n roll such as blues, boogie-woogie, jump blues, jazz, and gospel music “Rock n Roll developed from blues and country so no one invented rock n roll” ( Tim Janis) Rock n roll was definitely influenced by African American roots. The African music tradition of storytelling using music of African origins was a big influence on the creation of blues and other genres. These genres of music soon developed into rhythm and blues. Later
The main innovation in rock was the electric guitar. It brought a loud and free-spirited feeling that came with rocking out. It loosened up the music which brought many different styles and genres within rock. It broadened the horizons to rock and roll letting people express themselves through their music. This rock craze spilled overseas into Britain where many great artists were born. The British Invasion happened in the mid 1960’s when bands moved from the United Kingdom to perform in America. The two main bands coming out of this time period were the Rolling Stones and the Beatles. Both left lasting impressions on American music. Led Zeppelin, The Who, and The Animals were also a part of this important time period in rock and roll history. In this era most of America’s top music charts all topped out with rock and roll songs coming from Britain. Some notable songs are “House of the Rising Sun,” by The Animals, “Want to Hold Your Hand” by The Beatles, and many others. Even though the British Invasion took the United States by storm, it was just the beginning.
Rock ‘N’ Roll’s birth came after the Great Depression and World War II. It was in the 50’s called the baby boomers that started it all. It expanded the teenage population with 3.4 million babies born. The 1950’s scrap the ideology of a conservative family, where the father is the bread winner and the mother was a stay home mother. The young adults found an escape and enjoyment in Rock ‘N’ Roll.
In the 1970’s we saw the birth of Rock Opera, a musical style bringing the sound and beats of rock music to the musical style. Andrew Lloyd Webber was the on the forefront with shows like Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita popularizing this new style. He would later write Phantom of the Opera, the longest-running show on Broadway.
The Berlin Wall, built in August of 1961, was s physical symbol of the political and emotional divisions of Germany.
Rock and roll has developed a long way throughout the years from a dance craze in the 1950’s to a political and cultural landscape that is recognized worldwide. Rock and roll has come to define the roots of teenage rebellion, people who don’t follow the norms, and have disrespect for authority. The style of rock and roll itself is a melting pot of music, a combination of sounds that include jazz, country, blues, ragtime, gospel, swing, classical, and ethnic music. It can be a simple variation of three chords to a complex chromatic scale combination. It can convey emotions such as love, hate, fear, lust, sadness, joy, disillusion, or a strong sense of reality. Many things can be said about rock but the fact is that it is the most widely
The emergence of Rock and Roll was one of the most pivotal moments of our nation’s history. The impact that this genre of music made is still evident in our culture. However, before this genre was able to gain momentum, it faced many cultural conflicts. The book, All Shook Up: How Rock ‘N’ Roll Changed America by Glenn C. Altschuler analyzes the impact that rock and roll music has made on American culture. It explores how the Rock and Roll culture was able to roughly integrate and later conflict with preceding cultural values. This is especially apparent in chapters regarding race and sexuality. Overall, Rock and Roll was extremely controversial amongst parents and educators. This new music genre was condemned by the previous generation as
“Rock music is high velocity folk music, it is our life and times, but with more fury and passion.” said David Lee Roth, a frontman for the band Van Halen. This genre of music is still growing, and you can talk about some stuff around you and make it sound good. Some people said that rock and roll wouldn’t survive for long. Then now days it got to many bands, got diluted with weaker and irrelevant bands, and the technology nowadays has allowed not very good musicians put together music and release it on the internet.
Their music started as a gruffer, faster version of Chicago blues, but eventually the Stones pioneered British rock's tone of ironic detachment and wrote about offhand brutality, sex as power, and other taboos. ”(Daniel Kreps).“By the end of the decade they were in the middle of a hot streak that included many of the best albums ever made. ”(Rolling Stones). With the best albums ever made by the end of the decade, the Rolling Stones were fortunate to make great songs to keep their popularity high up in the sky.
The wall split germany in half with the united states and its allies on the west and communist russia on the east, starting on august 16th 1961 the communist government would build 76 miles of fence and 11 foot high walls attempting to keep influence of free market capitalist nations out and their own communist ideals in, Over 100 people died trying to cross the wall surrounded by guard towers and barbed wire. People who lived inside the wall knew nothing but what the state told them or what the state wanted to tell them. Until the fall of the berlin wall in november of 1989 around 45 years since world war 2 ended, families and communities were finally able to be brought together again without a wall separating them. Many also mark this as the fall of the USSR considering they dissolved two years later in
There were a large variety of rock bands in this time period, all of which have their own distinct sound. One of the most popular bands of the 1970’s and 1980’s was AC/DC. AC/DC
Rock and Roll is so wonderful it comes with a mountain of followers, enormous production and simply speaking the majority of the music we are lending an ear today, is rock & roll, and its own sub-genres. In that respect there are tens of thousands of rock and roll books, magazines, internet sites, and even encyclopaedias. Fundamentally hybrid in genesis, rock-and-roll consists of elements of a variety of black and white American music formats: black guitar-accompanied blues; black rhythm and blues, indicated for saxophone solos; black and white gospel songs; white country music music; and the musics of white prominent troubadours and harmony groups. Right after 1964 it was simply referred to as "rock music." The shift in terms shows both a connection with and a break from the previous period of time; rock music was no more only for dancing.
When comparing Baroque era music to any modern day rock band, one most listen to the music with open ears. It is hard to identify the similarities of Baroque music and that of modern day rock. Although, the advances made in music during the Baroque era (1600-1750) are still noticeable in modern day rock. A perfect example of the noticeability of modern rock influenced by Baroque music can be heard in the Baroque music of Johann Sebastian Bach’s, “Brandenburg Concerto No 4 G major BWV 1049”(Classical Vault 2), and modern day rock band, This will destroy you combined instrumental music, “Three legged work horse and there are some” (TheRealConcertKing). Although both compositions show much difference, they are also very similar in the way the
The British Invasion took place during the mid-1960’s. British musicians began to look toward their American counterparts for inspiration, copying their styles and advertising to fans in the United States. By this point, British youth had been interested in American rock and roll since the 1950’s, captivated by its pronounced beats and suggestive lyrics (Robbins). However, Britain did not have the same musical background as the United States. In the States, rock and roll emerged from a coalescence of Country and Western, Rhythm and Blues, and Pop music (Stuessy). Because of this, rock from the United States had deep roots, while rock from Britain before the mid-1960’s lacked depth and was simply an imitation. Eventually, rock began to take off in Britain from two main locations: Liverpool and London. This music became insanely popular in both Britain and the United States (Robbins). When studying the British Invasion, it is important to analyze the musical differences between Liverpool and London, as well as look at why this music became so popular in the United States.
When people hear the genre “rock and roll,” they often think of performers like Elvis Presley, AC/DC, and Aerosmith. Those bands have provided the foundation for rock and roll, but the newer bands have to carry over from the bands of the 1960’s, 70’s, and 80’s to the bands of the 1990’s and the 2000’s. The new generation of bands has just as much, if not more, popularity than the bands of the older generation. Bands do not gain popularity just by showing up to rehearsal, though. Gaining popularity can take years of making music, and sometimes establishing credibility takes more time than other bands. The more popular bands that have many fans are bands like Three Days Grace, Alter Bridge, and Avenged Sevenfold. These three bands have had