Gothic

Gothic rock (also referred to as goth rock or simply goth) is a musical subgenre of 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. The genre itself was defined as a separate movement from punk rock during the early 1980s largely due to the significant stylistic divergences of the movement; gothic rock, as opposed to punk, combines dark, often keyboard-heavy music with introspective and depressing lyrics. Notable gothic rock bands include Bauhaus, The Cure, Siouxsie & the Banshees, and The Sisters of Mercy, among many others. Gothic rock gave rise to a broader goth subculture that includes clubs, various fashion trends and numerous publications that grew in popularity in the 1980s.

Gothic rock takes the guitar and synthesizer sounds of post-punk and uses them to construct "foreboding, sorrowful, often epic soundscapes". According to music journalist Simon Reynolds, standard musical fixtures of the genre include "scything guitar patterns, high-pitched post-Joy Division basslines that usurped the melodic role, beats that were either hypnotically dirgelike or 'tribal', and vocals that were either near operatic and Teutonic or deep, droning alloys of Jim Morrison and Ian Curtis". Many goth bands use drum machines that do not stress the back beat in the rhythm.

Gothic rock typically deals with dark themes addressed through lyrics and the music atmosphere. The poetic sensibilities of the genre led gothic rock lyrics to exhibit literary romanticism, morbidity, religious symbolism, and/or supernatural mysticism.[1] In addition to the imagery and atmosphere of the Middle Ages, gothic rock creates a dark atmosphere by drawing influence from the drones utilised by protopunk group The Velvet Underground, and many goth singers are influenced by the "deep and dramatic" vocal timbre of David Bowie, albeit singing at even lower pitches.

In the late 1970s, the word "gothic" was used to describe a "doomy atmosphere" in the music of post-punk bands like Joy Division; the group's producer Martin Hannett had described the band's music as "dancing music with Gothic overtones". Not long after, the term was used in a derogatory fashion in reference to bands like Bauhaus that followed in the wake of Joy Division and Siouxsie & the Banshees. Despite their legacy as progenitors of gothic rock, these groups disliked the label. In 1982, Ian Astbury of the band Southern Death Cult used the term "gothic goblins" to describe Sex Gang Children's fans.

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Screamo

Screamo is a genre of music which evolved from hardcore punk and emo in the early 1990s. The term "screamo" was initially applied to a more aggressive offshoot of emo that developed in San Diego in 1991, which used short, chaotically executed songs which grafted "spastic intensity to willfully experimental dissonance and dynamics, often with a political message. In the early 2000s, the genre name began to describe a different, slower and less dissonant style that borrowed from alternative rock, most notably in a 2003 New York Times article. The term's application to the "second wave" is controversial among fans and practitioners of the earlier style. One musician observed that the term "has been kind of tainted in a way, especially in the States".

Many first-wave screamo groups saw themselves as implicitly political, and as a reaction against the turn to the right embodied by California politicians, such as Roger Hedgecock. Some groups were also unusually theoretical in inspiration: Angel Hair cited surrealist writers Antonin Artaud and Georges Bataille, and Orchid lyrically name-checked French new wave icon Anna Karina, philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, and critical theory originators the Frankfurt School.

First-wave screamo uses typical rock instrumentation, but is notable for its brief compositions and chaotic execution. It has been described, by music journalist Jason Heller, as "graft[ing] spastic intensity to willfully experimental dissonance and dynamics, indicating a kinship with noise rock. Later groups sometimes included synthesizers and other electronic sounds.
Second-wave screamo typically makes use of dual guitars and eschews guitar solos, and is most identifiable by its "frequent shifts in tempo and dynamics and by tension-and-release catharses. Unlike the first wave of screamo, these bands often compose ballads. Second-wave screamo has been described as "mixing the literate, poetic lyrics of hardcore punk with a harsher and more metallic brand of sonic thrash as well as using screaming vocals "as a kind of crescendo element, a sonic weapon to be trotted out when the music and lyrics...reach a particular emotional pitch.

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Grunge

Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle Sound) 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 dynamics, and apathetic or angst-filled lyrics. The grunge aesthetic is stripped-down compared to other forms of rock music, and many grunge musicians were noted for their unkempt appearances and rejection of theatrics.

The early grunge movement coalesced around Seattle independent record label Sub Pop in the late 1980s. Grunge became commercially successful in the first half of the 1990s, due mainly to the release of Nirvana's Nevermind and Pearl Jam's Ten. The success of these bands boosted the popularity of alternative rock and made grunge the most popular form of hard rock music at the time. However, many grunge bands were uncomfortable with this popularity. Although most grunge bands had disbanded or faded from view by the late 1990s, their influence continues to impact modern rock music.

The word grunge is believed to be a back-formation from the US slang adjective grungy, which originated in about 1965 as a slang term for "dirty" or "filthy." Mark Arm, the vocalist for the Seattle band Green River - and later Mudhoney - is generally credited as being the first to use the term grunge to describe this sort of music. Arm first used the term in 1981, when he wrote a letter under his given name Mark McLaughlin to the Seattle zine, Desperate Times, criticizing his band Mr. Epp and the Calculations as "Pure grunge! Pure noise! Pure shit!" Clark Humphrey, editor of Desperate Times, cites this as the earliest use of the term to refer to a Seattle band, and mentions that Bruce Pavitt of Sub Pop popularized the term as a musical label in 1987–88, using it on several occasions to describe Green River. Arm used grunge as a descriptive term rather than a genre term, but it eventually came to describe the punk/metal hybrid sound of the Seattle music scene.

Grunge is generally characterized by a sludgy guitar sound that uses a high level of distortion, fuzz and feedback effects. Grunge fuses elements of hardcore punk and heavy metal, although some bands performed with more emphasis on one or the other. The music shares with punk a raw sound and similar lyrical concerns. However, it also involves much slower tempos, dissonant harmonies, and more complex instrumentation – which is reminiscent of heavy metal. Some individuals associated with the development of grunge, including Sub Pop producer Jack Endino and the Melvins, explained grunge's incorporation of heavy rock influences such as Kiss as "musical provocation." Grunge artists considered these bands "cheesy" but nonetheless enjoyed them; Buzz Osborne of the Melvins described it as an attempt to see what ridiculous things bands could do and get away with. In the early 1990s, Nirvana's signature "stop-start" song format became a genre convention.

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Shoegaze

Shoegazing (also known as shoegaze or shoegazer) is a genre of alternative rock that emerged from the United Kingdom in the late 1980s. It lasted until the mid 1990s with a critical zenith reached in 1990-'91. The British music press (notably NME and Melody Maker) called this genre "shoegazing" because the musicians in these bands often maintained a motionless performing style in concert, standing on stage and staring at their effects pedals or the floor while playing their instruments; hence, the idea that they were gazing at their shoes. The initiators of the style were the groups Ride, Chapterhouse, and Slowdive. The shoegazing sound featured extensive use of guitar effects, and indistinguishable vocal melodies that blended into the creative noise of the guitars. Few shoegazers were dynamic performers or interesting interviewees, which prevented them from breaking through into markets in the United States. A lump description given to shoegaze and other affiliated bands in London in the early 1990s was "The Scene That Celebrates Itself. In the 1990s, shoegaze groups were pushed aside by the American Grunge movement, forcing the relatively unknown bands to break up or reinvent their style altogether. Recent times have seen a renewed interest in the genre, among so-called "nu-gaze" bands

The bands first labelled as "shoegaze" were largely influenced by My Bloody Valentine, and emerged in the wake of their breakthrough in 1988 with the "You Made Me Realise" single and the album Isn't Anything, and the "shoegaze" label has more recently been applied to My Bloody Valentine themselves. Other artists that have been identified as influences on shoegazing include The Velvet Underground, Sonic Youth, Hüsker Dü, Spacemen 3, Dinosaur Jr, The Jesus and Mary Chain, the Cocteau Twins, The Cure, Bauhaus, Galaxie 500, and The Smiths.

Michael Azerrad's book Our Band Could Be Your Life cites an early 1990s Dinosaur Jr tour of the United Kingdom as a key influence. While not classified as a shoegazing band, Dinosaur Jr did share a tendency to blend poppy melody with loud guitars and laconic vocals. A lengthy summer 1992 U.S. tour featuring My Bloody Valentine, Dinosaur Jr. and Yo La Tengo raised the genre's profile in the States considerably.

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Rockabilly

Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, and emerged in the early 1950s.
The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock (from rock 'n' roll) and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music (often called hillbilly music in the 1940s and 1950s) that contributed strongly to the style's development. Other important influences on rockabilly include western swing, boogie woogie, and rhythm and blues. Although there are notable exceptions, its origins lie primarily in the southern United States.

The influence and popularity of the style waned in the 1960s, but during the late 1970s and early 1980s, rockabilly enjoyed a major revival of popularity that has endured to the present, often within a rockabilly subculture

There was a close relationship between the blues and country music from the very earliest country recordings in the 1920s. The first nationwide "country" hit was "Wreck of the Old '97",[1][2] backed with "Lonesome Road Blues", which also became very popular.[3] Jimmie Rodgers, the "first true country star", was known as the “Blue Yodeler,” and most of his songs used blues-based chord progressions, although with very different instrumentation and sound than the recordings of his black contemporaries like Blind Lemon Jefferson and Bessie Smith.[4]

During the 1930s and 1940s, two new sounds emerged. Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys were the leading proponents of Western Swing, which combined country singing and steel guitar with big band jazz influences and horn sections; Wills' music found massive popularity. Recordings of Wills' from the mid 40s to the early 50s include "two beat jazz" rhythms, "jazz choruses", and guitar work that preceded early rockabilly recordings. Wills is quoted as saying "Rock and Roll? Why, man, that's the same kind of music we've been playin' since 1928!...But it's just basic rhythm and has gone by a lot of different names in my time. It's the same, whether you just follow a drum beat like in Africa or surround it with a lot of instruments. The rhythm's what's important.

After blues artists like Meade Lux Lewis and Pete Johnson launched a nationwide boogie craze starting in 1938, country artists like Moon Mullican, the Delmore Brothers, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Speedy West, Jimmy Bryant, and the Maddox Brothers and Rose began recording what was known as “Hillbilly Boogie,” which consisted of "hillbilly" vocals and instrumentation with a boogie bass line.

The Maddox Brothers and Rose were at "the leading edge of rockabilly with the slapped bass that Fred Maddox had developed". Maddox said, "You've got to have somethin' they can tap their foot, or dance to, or to make 'em feel it." After WWII the band shifted into higher gear leaning more toward a whimsical honky-tonk feel, with a heavy, manic bottom end - the slap bass of Fred Maddox". "They played hillbilly music but it sounded real hot. They played real loud for that time, too..." The Maddoxes were also known for their lively "antics and stuff." "We always put on a show... I mean it just wasn't us up there pickin' and singing. There was something going on all the time. the demonstrative Maddoxes, helped release white bodies from traditional motions of decorum... more and more younger white artists began to behave on stage like the lively Maddoxes. Others believe that they were not only at the leading edge, but were one of the first, if not the first, “Rockabilly” group.

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Psychedelic Rock

Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that attempts to replicate the mind-altering experiences of hallucinogenic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among garage and folk rock bands in Britain and the United States. Psychedelic rock is a bridge from early blues-based rock to progressive rock and heavy metal, but it also drew on non-Western sources such as Indian music's rāgas and sitars.

The musical style typically features electric guitars, 12 strings being preferred for their 'jangle'; elaborate studio effects - backwards taping, panning (sound placement in the stereo field), phasing, long delay loops and extreme reverb; exotic instrumentation, with a particular fondness for the sitar and tabla; A strong keyboard presence, especially Hammond, Farfisa and Vox Organs, the Rhodes electric piano, Harpsichords and the Mellotron (an early tape-driven 'sampler'); a strong emphasis on extended instrumental solos; modal melodies and surreal, esoterically inspired or whimsical lyrics.

While the first contemporary musicians to be influenced by psychedelic drugs were in the jazz and folk scenes, the first use of the term "psychedelic" in popular music was by the "acid-folk" group The Holy Modal Rounders in 1964, with the song "Hesitation Blues."The first use of the term "psychedelic rock" was on the 13th Floor Elevators' business card , designed by John Cleveland, and circulated in December 1965. The term was first used in print in the Austin Statesman in an article about the band titled "Unique Elevators shine with Psychedelic Rock" , dated 10th February 1966.

In 1962, British rock embarked on a frenetic race of ideas that spread back to the U.S. with the British Invasion. The folk music scene also experimented with outside influences. In the tradition of Jazz and blues many musicians began to take drugs and included drug references in their songs. Beat Generation writers like William Burroughs, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and especially the new exponents of consciousness expansion such as Timothy Leary, Alan Watts and Aldous Huxley profoundly influenced the thinking of the new generation. In late 1965, The Beatles unveiled their brand of psychedelia on the Rubber Soul album, which featured John Lennon's first paean to universal love ("The Word") and a sitar-laden tale of attempted hippy hedonism ("Norwegian Wood", written by John Lennon). The British rock act The Yardbirds recorded the single "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago" in 1966, another track frequently cited as the first psychedelic song, this one due to its frantic evocation of drug-induced paranoia.

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Death Metal

Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It typically employs fast tempos, heavily distorted guitars, deep growling vocals, morbid lyrics, blast beat drumming, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes.

Building off the speed and complexity of thrash metal, death metal emerged during the mid 1980s. It was mainly inspired by thrash and early black metal acts like Slayer, Kreator and Celtic Frost. Along with the band Death and its frontman Chuck Schuldiner (who is often hailed as "the father of death metal"), bands like Possessed, and Morbid Angel are often considered pioneers of the genre. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, death metal gained more media attention as popular record labels like Earache Records and Roadrunner Records began to sign death metal bands at a rapid rate. Since then, death metal has diversified, spawning a rich variety of subgenres.

Death metal is considered an "underground" form of music, and has been met with considerable hostility from mainstream culture, mainly because of the socially unattractive themes, imagery and stage personae surrounding many bands.

There are several theories how the term "death metal" originated. One theory is that the name originates from an early pioneer of the genre, Death. A Florida journalist explained to his readers that Death play their own kind of metal: "Death's Metal". Others contest that Death is not the origin, but that the harsh vocals and morbid lyrical content generally inspired the genre. Another possible origin is a fanzine called "Death Metal", started by Thomas Fischer and Martin Ain of the band Hellhammer (later Celtic Frost). The name was later given to the 1984 compilation Death Metal released by Hellhammer's label Noise Records. The term might also have originated from other recordings. Possessed's 1984 demo is called Death Metal, and a song with the same name is featured on their 1985 debut album Seven Churches. A demo released by Death in 1983 is called Death by Metal.

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Alternative Rock

Alternative rock (also called alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative; known primarily in the UK as indie) is a genre of rock music that emerged in the 1980s and became widely popular in the 1990s. Alternative rock consists of various subgenres that have emerged from the independent music scene since the 1980s, such as grunge, Britpop, gothic rock, and indie pop. These genres are unified by their collective debt to the style and/or ethos of punk rock, which laid the groundwork for alternative music in the 1970s. At times alternative rock has been used as a catch-all phrase for rock music from underground artists in the 1980s, and all music descended from punk rock (including punk itself, New Wave, and post-punk).

While a few artists like R.E.M. and The Cure achieved commercial success and mainstream critical recognition, many alternative rock artists during the 1980s were cult acts that recorded on independent labels and received their exposure through college radio airplay and word-of-mouth. With the breakthrough of Nirvana and the popularity of the grunge and Britpop movements in the 1990s, alternative rock entered the musical mainstream and many alternative bands became commercially successful.

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Acid Rock

Acid rock is a form of psychedelic rock, which is characterized with long instrumental solos, few (if any) lyrics and musical improvisation. Tom Wolfe describes the LSD-influenced music of The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Jefferson Airplane, New Riders of the Purple Sage and the Grateful Dead as "acid rock" in his book about Ken Kesey and the Acid Tests, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.

"Acid rock" also refers to the subset of psychedelic rock bands that were part of, or were influenced by, the San Francisco Sound, and which played loud, "heavy" music featuring long improvised solos.

Historically and more accurately, the term refers to the relationship between music and LSD, commonly called "acid". "Acid rock" can connote music recorded under the influence of LSD, or intended to be experienced in conjunction with LSD. These associations can be a matter of the musician's intention, the listener's intention, or even just a general perception on the part of the person using the term. Often the lyrics deal with drug-induced psychological themes as well as references to mind-altering techniques.

Characterized by an off-beat style, vivid imagery, and sometimes strange sound/musical effects (e.g. backward recorded music), acid rock often settles into a hypnotic groove wherein a listener (and possibly even the band) can "get lost" within a song.
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Morrissey

Steven Patrick Morrissey was born 1958 in Manchester, Northern England. In the early 1970's, Morrissey was in a band called Wild Ram. They later changed the name to Not Sensibles and then again, to Ed Banger and the Nosebleeds. At that time they had Eddie Garrity doing vocals and Vini Reilley on guitar (he later joined Durutti Column). In 1977, Garrity and Reilley left the band and Morrissey took over the microphone. The band shortened the name to The Nosebleeds and Pete Crooks (bass), Toby (drums) and Billy Duffy (guitar) joined (Duffy later became a member of the Cult). The band dissolved in 1978.

In 1982 Morrissey was introduced to a guitarist named John Mahr. At that time Mahr worked in a clothes shop and he was looking for someone who could write lyrics to his music. The two sat down and soon they had put together some songs. At first the idea was to sell the songs to other artists and make money but they changed their minds. They picked up two more guys and formed a band. The band was called The Smiths and John Mahr became Johnny Marr and Steven Morrissey became just plain Morrissey. The other two were Mike Joyce on drums and Andy Rourke on bass.

Their first single was Hand In Glove, which was released in May 1983. Nothing really happened until October the same year, when they released their third single, entitled This Charming Man. It was a success and became the biggest selling single ever for the small label, Rough Trade.

In 1984 it was time to release to release their first album, The Smiths. Unfortunately, the expectations were too high from the media hype and people got dissapointed. If it hadn't been for the single Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now, The Smiths might have been a closed chapter. The b-side of the single was a song called Suffer Little Children and was based on a couple of child slayings, called "the Moors Murders". The media quickly portrayed the band as being sympathetic with the murderers and all of a sudden The Smiths was interesting again.

The Smiths was now a known name and they had established themselves as one of the most promising young bands in Britain.

Two more albums followed, Meat is Murder and The Queen is Dead, and in 1987 they released their fourth LP, Strangeways Here We Come. With that record their contract with Rough Trade was fulfilled and the plan was to move to the bigger label EMI. Everything looked fine, when Marr suddenly decided to leave the band. The Smiths couldn't continue without Marr and the band ceased to exist.

Nobody really thought that Morrissey could move on as a solo artist but he kept writing songs and he turned to long-time Smiths engineer/producer Steven Street. Street put together some music and found Morrissey a new guitar player, Vini Reilly. The skeptics quickly changed their minds when the first single, Suedehead, was released and the reviews were very good.

Morrissey's first solo album, Viva Hate, came in 1988 and it sold very well. After a year, the partnership with Street ended and Morrissey quickly put together a new bunch of people and released the single Ouija Board, Ouija Board. But now the press turned on him and he was picked on almost daily in the papers. Morrissey severed all contact with the media and started to work on a new album. It proved to be difficult and the LP was scrapped. Instead he released a couple of singles, one of them being November Spawned A Monster. It proved to be a success and the fans loved the new sound. To Morrissey it proved that he really could continue on his own.

After 1990's Bona Drag came Kill Uncle for which Morrissey had recruited a new guitarist, Mark Nevin. After this he hooked up with guitarist Boz Boorer and members from a local rock-a-billy band, Memphis Sinners, and went on a successful world tour. In 1992 Morrissey released Your Arsenal and the press was yet again positive. The album was nominated for a Grammy in the United States and became Morrissey's biggest sales hit ever. Unfortunately, things turned yet again when the song National front Disco was interpreted as pro-nationalist and the media portrayed him as a racist and a bigot. As if this wasn't enough, two of Morrissey's close friends passed away and a biography entitled Morrissey and Marr - the Severed Alliance hit the stores. The book drew the conclusion that it was Morrissey's vanity and ego that had put an end to The Smiths.

Despite the rough times, Morrissey recorded a new album, Vauxhall and I, which was released in 1994. It became his most critically acclaimed album, and it's lead single The More You Ignore Me, the Closer I Get proved to be his best selling single ever.

New British bands like Blur and Oasis emerged and Morrissey was forced to step aside. He left EMI and began to work with Island Records. Of course more truble was on it's way. In 1997, former Smiths drummer Mike Joyce sued Morrissey and Johnny Marr for royalties. The court ruled in Joyce's favour and Morrissey and Marr had to pay millions. Once again Morrissey turned his problems into music and released the LP Maladjusted. The song Sorrow Will Come in the End directly deals with the court proceedings.