bardiphouka (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bardiphouka) wrote2005-06-12 12:57 am
bardiphouka) wrote2005-06-12 12:57 am
Side Notes on Rock and Roll
First of all let me point out that I am not a rock and roll musician. I have played it, I have written for others who do, I listen to it to a degree, but in the end I am the eccentric cousin with the acoustic guitar over in the corner.
Rock and Roll (and we are speaking now of the heyday of the late 60s,early 70s) for musicians was often as hard as any athletic event. Sure there is an ego boost about walking out in front of thousands of people. For that matter there is an ego boost just walking out onto a club stage. But the fact is, and I think this is even more true if you are well known which I never was, that you are also a gladiator. People,especially then, did not come to hear the music. They came to devour you heart and soul. Except for the festivals, which were much like a busman's holiday. A chance for the groups to actually be part of the audience too.
From the audience side there was, in many cases, an almost religious aspect. Frank Zappa once mentioned that he would often walk on stage and with the first chord he could hear the Kyrie. Rock and Roll became a mass..a communion. Which in turn led to groups growing larger and larger in scale with anthem rock. Which naturally led to punk rock and its children trying to bring Rock and Roll back to a time that never really, really existed.
Another aspect, which I have tried to stay away from in the history, is the social side of what was going on. Rock and Roll grew up during the Civil Rights era, the depression in the UK, and the suburbanisation of the US and Canada. It matured during the Vietnam War. As we go longer and longer in another war,and fuel prices escalate along with unemployment figures, I am curious to see what happens to the music.
Rock and Roll (and we are speaking now of the heyday of the late 60s,early 70s) for musicians was often as hard as any athletic event. Sure there is an ego boost about walking out in front of thousands of people. For that matter there is an ego boost just walking out onto a club stage. But the fact is, and I think this is even more true if you are well known which I never was, that you are also a gladiator. People,especially then, did not come to hear the music. They came to devour you heart and soul. Except for the festivals, which were much like a busman's holiday. A chance for the groups to actually be part of the audience too.
From the audience side there was, in many cases, an almost religious aspect. Frank Zappa once mentioned that he would often walk on stage and with the first chord he could hear the Kyrie. Rock and Roll became a mass..a communion. Which in turn led to groups growing larger and larger in scale with anthem rock. Which naturally led to punk rock and its children trying to bring Rock and Roll back to a time that never really, really existed.
Another aspect, which I have tried to stay away from in the history, is the social side of what was going on. Rock and Roll grew up during the Civil Rights era, the depression in the UK, and the suburbanisation of the US and Canada. It matured during the Vietnam War. As we go longer and longer in another war,and fuel prices escalate along with unemployment figures, I am curious to see what happens to the music.