GENRE RESEARCH:

Rock 'n' Roll and Glam-Rock

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ROCK 'N' ROLL:

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At the end of the 20th Century, Rock Music or Rock ‘n’ Roll became a dominant form of music across the globe. Supposedly, Rock Music originated in the United States of America in the 1950’s with artists such as Elvis Presley. During the 1960’s, it spread to English-speaking countries and eventually across Europe. By the 1990’s, Rock Music had a significant global impact.

There are variations in the definition of Rock Music, with the basic agreement that Rock Music “is a form of music with a strong beat”.

One of the largest issues with differentiating Rock Music from other genres, in particular Rock Music, is the failure to understand and incorporate the sociological differences between the two. For instance, Pop Music is designed as “instant singles-based music aimed at teenagers”, whereas Rock Music is designed as “album-based music for adults”.

The sociology factors linked with Rock Music is crucial to the spread and popularisation of the Rock Genre. During the establishing of Rock Music in the 1950s and 1960s, Rock ‘n’ Roll was performed by young musicians for a young audience that were interested in “quick sex and puppy love”. As a result, many record labels and key figures in the music industry labelled the genre as “bubblegum”. This was until the late-1960s, when the youth became an ideological category that was associated with favouring “hedonism, individualism, and modernism”.

As Rock Music continued to reach a global audience, each country held different implications with the genre. Although Rock Music was still associated with youth, it gained the notion that the music was ‘music against the establishment’ and “ was sustained by an adolescent irresponsibility, a commitment to the immediate thrills of sex ’n’ drugs ’n’ outrage and never mind the consequences”.

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GLAM-ROCK:

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The subgenre Glam-Rock, established itself in the UK during the 1970s. The subgenre’s artist gained inspiration from the multiple existing subgenres and ‘throwaway pop culture’. The visuals of Glam-Rock are arguably the most important feature of the subgenre with flamboyant clothing and makeup, that is often labelled ‘camp’ or androgynous. The style influence varies from ancient and occult mysticism and mythology, Victorian literary, pre-war cabaret, 1930s Hollywood glamour and the 1950s pin-up sex appeal.

Despite Glam-Rock being a British socio-cultural phenomenon, the subgenre spread to the United States with American artists such as Motley Crue, Bon Jovi and Kiss creating the Glam-Metal genre.

However, as the subgenre was created exclusively out of the UK’s youth and music culture, the authenticity of external Glam-Rock/Glam-Metal bands has been questioned. Steven Wells wrote “Americans only got glam second hand via the posh Bowie version”.