One Way Ticket to Midnight Hard Rock Heavy

One Way Ticket to Midnight: Hard Rock & Heavy Metal

Hard Rock & Heavy Metal • More aggressive strains of blues rock • Drew inspiration from Rolling Stones, The Who, Cream, and (especially) Jimi Hendrix – Reaction to the Beatles – And other British invasion pop bands

Hard Rock & Heavy Metal • Combine characteristics of blues and acid rock – Extended improvisations, including drum solos – Use of distortion, feedback, other noise effects – Powerful, LOUD, active drumming – Riff-based – Blues-influenced guitar – Modal harmonies

Hard Rock & Heavy Metal – Guitar & bass frequently play same line – High, harsh, dramatic blues-edged vocals – Highly engineered sound – reverb, echo – Built from mostly power chords

Difference between Hard Rock and Metal: • Retains strong ties to the blues = hard rock • More affiliation with acid rock, dark imagery = heavy metal

Early hard rock/proto metal bands • Cream • Steppenwolf – Born To Be Wild uses phrase “heavy metal thunder” • Vanilla Fudge • Iron Butterfly – In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida (17 minutes) • Led Zeppelin

Black Sabbath • Aggressive reaction to psychedelic culture of San Francisco and Woodstock • “Doomy music” • Black Sabbath – Paranoid – Hard-driving eight-beat rock rhythm – Power chords in bass & guitar – High, aggressive vocals

Black Sabbath – Paranoid • Contains most of characteristics of heavy metal – Fast – LOUD – Dark subject matter – Riff-driven – Modal guitar solo

The Who • Physicality, stage behavior important characteristic of band – Windmill strumming of Townshend; leaps and splits – Daltry strutting, mic twirling – Townshend calls “pop art” • Openly hostile on stage - early punk aesthetic – “Anti-anti Beatles”

Jim Marshall • Electronic technician in London – Speakers and amp in separate cabinets – Can then add more speakers if desired • Stacks of Marshall amps = louder volume • Becomes known as a Marshall stack

The Who - stylistic influences • • • Early rock and roll, especially Chuck Berry Beatles and Rolling Stones Trad Jazz R&B, Motown and soul The Who - later In late 60 s, albums start to incorporate more experimental techniques, sophisticated musical ideas

Synthesizers • Produce artificially generated sound through manipulation of electrical currents – Create entirely new sounds – Or replicate sound of any instrument • Oscillator creates sound wave • Filters modify tone color by subtle alterations to wave form • Other oscillators or generators manipulate vibrato, attack, sustain, and decay

Synthesizers • Invented in 50 s, but expensive – Could only create/play one sound at a time • Four and eight voice polyphonic synthesizers introduced in early 1980 s • MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) invented 1983 – Makes synthesizers easy for novice to use – Quickly become pop rock standard • • • Drum machines Fill in for strings, horns Creation of new, electronic sounds

Won’t Get Fooled Again • Intro – synthesizer – Provides alternative tone color – Functions as rhythm guitar – lays out 8 beat rock rhythm • Active, melodic bass line • Irregular drumming by Keith Moon •

Led Zeppelin • Often called first heavy metal band • Most important band re: development of hard rock • Influence on almost every metal or hard rock band of the 1970 s and 80 s • Impact on business of rock

Jimmy Page (1944 - ) • One of the most popular studio musicians in UK – Plays on • The Kinks, You Really Got Me (contested) • The Who, I Can’t Explain • Joins Yardbirds 1966 – Retains name, roster of tour dates when band breaks up in 1968

Led Zeppelin • Page • John Paul Jones [John Baldwin] (1946 - ) • Robert Plant (1948 - ) • John Bonham (1948 -1980)

Led Zeppelin - Style • Hard-edged rock sound steeped in the blues and the psychedelic rock of late ‘ 60 s • Multitude of other influences – Indian and Arabic music – Celtic, English folk music – Reggae – Country music and bluegrass

Vocal style - Robert Plant • • • Influenced by blues shouters Extremely high voice for rock singer Changes tone color and texture like guitarist • Adds shrieks, moans, vocalizations

Jimmy Page - guitar style • Along with Jimi Hendrix, founder of metal guitar style • Avoids clean sound • Prefers distortion, thick texture • Frequently employs pedal effects, feedback • Sound more important than notes

Characteristics • Riff-based style – Often in bass – Frequently changes or shifts over duration of song • Engineered with reverb, echo, distortion, and other sound effects • Unbridled emotionalism

Characteristics • Loud, active drumming • Mixed or additive meters, or irregular accent patterns, common • Sonically vast • Wide range of textures

Stairway to Heaven • Sectional form: A A’ B C – Sections defined by changes of instrumentation, texture • Essentially strophic within sections – Each 3 -line phrase to same melody – New melodic idea (or variant) introduced in each section • Folk-music influenced melody, and folk-like delivery • End-weighted – texture and tension gradually build to last section

Stairway - Influence • After Stairway, record companies more willing to allow longer album tracks – Even though 8 minutes long, AOR stations played – Fans bought the album as if it were a single – Finally abolishes 3 -4 minute frame for rock songs

Zeppelin – performance style • Like Stones, front man and guitar god – Focus actually Page, not Plant • Drummer given feature in every concert – Drum solo becomes new rock standard • Focus on improvisation – Long keyboard, guitar solos – Free jams – Frequent exchanges of ideas between Plant, Page

Dazed and Confused • Cover of song by American folk singer Jake Holmes • Intro: descending chromatic scale in bass – Ostinato – repeats over and over – Distorted guitar line sketched above • First verse • Break - riff doubled by guitar an 8 ve higher, and 8 ve above that by second

Dazed and Confused • Break – triplet feel in bass – Followed by riff doubled by guitar • Third verse • Break becomes extended improvisation – – Call and response Triple time section leads to • Final verse • Outro

Dazed and Confused • On album, 6 minutes 20 seconds • In concert, often 20 – More extended improvs. – Violin bow solo, to emulate distortion and effects added in studio

Zeppelin - Influence • • Hard rock vocal and guitar styles Shatter 4 minute barrier for songs Fix importance of AOR radio Establish new expectations for concert performance – – Duration Increase band’s % of profits from tickets • Change in concert circuit, and way business was done in re: tours • Establish importance of the album as primary revenue generator