ROCK MUSIC SUBCULTURES
History of Rock Music
Rock music is said to have emerged in the 1940s as a combination of country music and rhythm and blues. The new sound incorporated country and R&B and added drumbeats and the use of an electric guitar. Antoine “Fats” Domino from New Orleans is credited to be the first performer to release a Rock n Roll song The Fat Man in 1949. One of the pioneers of rock music in the 1950s was Chuck Berry, a black musician who invented rock and roll. The common music at the time was country and rhythm and blues. Rock and roll were common among black musicians but later become popular among white musicians (Baugh, p.3). In 1954, Elvis Presley started his rock career and went on to be referred to as the king of rock.
Throughout the sixties, followers of Chuck Berry, the Rolling Stones, transitioned from being a single artist and becoming musicians who could produce songs. In 1960, the most popular rock band to date, the Beatles were formed in 1960 in Liverpool, England. The band comprised of Ringo Starr, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, and John Lennon. The rock genre introduced sexual freedom that was considered rebellious during the period where much of the society was conservative (Baugh, p.5). For example, the Rolling Stones promoted rebellion and sex through their music, creating controversy. However, despite the controversy surrounding rock music, the genre continued to gain popularity. Another band that had a huge impact on rock music during the sixties was the English rock bank, Cream.
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The growth of rock during the seventies saw the rise of several bands, including Led Zeppelin, who added a heavier tone to rock resulting in heavy metal and hard rock (Bennet, p.474). Other popular bands included Pink Floyd, Sex Pistols, and The Clash, who were referred to as hippie bands. These bands introduced rage into music and the use of loud guitars leading to the formation of Punk (Baugh, p.7). The eighties saw rock’s popularity decline, and bands such as R.E.M, Nirvana, and Depeche Mode introduced a new sound known as alternative rock. After the suicide of Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain, the alternative rock began to lose its popularity set the stage for the re-emergence of rock. Popular bands through the nineties included Staind, Puddle of Mudd, Foo Fighters, and Red Hot Chilli Peppers, among others. In the 21st-century, rock bands such as Linkin Park, 3 Doors Down, and Coldplay emerged. The paper will focus on the English rock band, Cream, and their contribution to popular music and culture.
Cream
The English rock trio referred to Cream was the first rock group that comprised of musicians who had independently gained fame and came to form a band together. The band was formed in 1966 and split after two years. The band consisted of three members Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, and Ginger Baker (Thompson, p.48). Baker played the drums, Bruce played the harmonica and the bass guitar, and Clapton was a vocalist and played the piano.
History of Cream
The cream was a rock bank in the United Kingdom, but Ginger Baker and Eric Clapton started their careers as jazz artists. Before Baker and Bruce joined Cream, they were members of the Graham Bond Organization. Clapton, on the other hand, was initially with the Yardbirds and then with John Mayall’s Bluesbreaker. When the three came together to form Cream, they were among the first bands to use drums, bass, and guitars. The group is created to have a huge influence on a generation of rock musicians. For example, Dave Navarro of Jane’s Addiction is one of the artists to be inspired by Cream. The band was the first to fuse jazz, rhythm, and blues and rock (Thompson, p. 50). Before the formation of Cream, pop music in the UK was restricted to a verse and chorus and melody that was repeated continuously. The group introduced jazz concepts to rock, creating a new sound.
In 1966, the band released its first album, Fresh Cream. Several of the tracks on the album still retained the blues sound. The album was heavily criticized for this by rock critics. Despite the criticism, the album appeared on the charts in the UK and the US. Disraeli Gears was the group’s second album released in 1967, and this album did not have a blues sound and transitioned to more rock sound. Atlantic Records produced the album. Several tracks incorporated guitar techniques, wailing effects, and droning distortion, which was synonymous with a rock sound. “Sunshine of Your Love” from the album Disraeli Gears was the only song to sell over five hundred copies in the United States (Welch, p. 90). Critics also highlighted that the track was more of a rock sound more compared to tracks from the previous album.
In 1968, the group produced their third studio album Wheels of Fire. The album was a combination of live and studios recordings was produced by Atco Records and compiled into a double album. Wheels of Fire became the group’s best-selling album and the first album to achieve platinum status, selling over a million copies. During the same year, Cream was disbanded after a long time feud between Bruce and Baker. Group members went their separate ways and formed various groups such as Derek and the Dominos and Blind Faith. The style introduced by Cream influenced groups such as the Allman Brothers Band and Rush. In 1993, the group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (Welch, p.65). In 2006, Cream was awarded a Grammy Award for lifetime achievement.
Popular bands during the same era as Cream
The sixties witnessed some of the formations of some of the popular rock bands. In 1965, one of the most influential rock bands Pink Floyd was formed. The band comprised of Richard Wright, Roger Waters, Nick Mason, and Syd Barret. David Gilmour joined the band later on in 1967. The group released two albums, ‘The Wall’ and ‘The Dark Side of the Moon.’ The group split up after a disagreement between Waters and Gilmour. The Beatles were formed in 1960 in Liverpool by Ringo Star, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, and John Lennon (Bennett, p.480). The band began as Rock and Roll bank but later diversified to pop ballads and psychedelia. The Beatles are best known for the album ‘Abbey Road’. The group split up in 1970, after the feud between McCartney and Lennon. In 1968 the rock band Led Zeppelin by John Bonham, John Paul Jones, Robert Plant, and Jimmy Page. The band is regarded as the originators of heavy metal (Weinstein, p.24). The group split up after the death of Bonham in 1980. The band released several albums, including Led Zeppelin I, II, III, and IV. Rolling Stones, another London based band was formed in 1962 by Ian Stewart, Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman, Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, and Brian Jones. However, the band continued to have new members throughout the years. They were referred to as the world’s greatest rock and roll band and had a magazine named after them. The Beach Boys was an American band formed in 1961 by brothers Carl, Dennis and Brian Wilson together with their cousin Mike Love and their friend Al Jardine (Zak, p.58). The group had a unique sound which comprised of R&B, rock and roll and jazz. The group is known for hits such as ‘Do It Again’ ‘God Only Knows’ and ‘California Girls’. Though the group was close, they still faced challenges that led to the dismissal of Brian from the group in 1981 (Covach, p. 30). Lastly, we have the Australian band referred to as the Bee Gees, which consisted of Maurice, Robin, and Barry Gibb. The group had a signature sound where they sang most of their songs in three-part harmonies. The band is recognized for songs such as ‘Too Much Heaven,’ ‘Night Fever’ and ‘How Deep is Your Love.’
Cream’s influence on pop music
In 1966, Cream released their debut album, Fresh Cream. It is believed that the band got the name Cream since they had come to skim the Cream of the top bands that had dominated the scene. Cream revolutionized the rock industry as they were the first trio band comprising of members who were already successful before forming the band. Having a band of three members enabled the band to develop new sounds (Welch, p.100). The band did not initially stand out as a rock band as their music had a combination of jazz and rhythm and blues melodies. Cream released long tracks, which enabled the listener to bore into the music.
Each of the band members solo’d throughout their songs, allowing Clapton’s guitar to integrate with Bruce’s baseline. The group’s debut album, Fresh Cream, set the trend for other bands that came up after Cream such as the Spencer David Group, The Who, The Animals, and The Rolling Stones. Cream inspired a whole generation of rock artists who fuse rock with rhythm and blues (Welch, p.80). The group also influenced the American audience as introduced a new sound of psychedelic metal, particularly with the track ‘Sunshine of Your Love,’ which was their most popular song in the United States. Cream also became the first band to release a double album which to achieve platinum status in the United States.
Cream along with bands such as The Beatles and the Beach Boys started focusing on album-oriented music. The reason for this was that during the sixties, rock music started being considered as a serious genre, and performers were regarded as artists. The formation of Cream, which was the first supergroup, introduced the aspect of musicianship and created a separation between rock and pop (Shuker, p.25). During the sixties, rock grew to be associated with hippie counter-culture (Covach, p.65). Rock musicians had become spokespersons for hippies who had rejected the American capitalistic way of life. The impact Cream had on rock led to the development of progressive rock. This genre of music was focused on musical exhibitionism and technical skill introduced by Cream and Hendrix. Cream, along with the Beatles and the Rolling Stone huge success, made it possible for artists to be commercially successful and remain artists. The hippie movement, which began in the United States, also affected Britain. British rock artists started viewing their songs as art. In support of the hippie movement, bands such as Cream and Pink Floyd introduced technical imagination and musical skills (Covach, p.70).
On the other hand, the Beatles transitioned to pop to rock in their 1967 album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. By the end of the sixties, there was a lack of concern among artists about chart popularity and focus on the integrity of their art.
Works cited
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Bennett, Andy. “Heritage rock”: Rock music, representation, and heritage discourse.” Poetics 37.5-6 (2009): 474-489.
Covach, John Rudolph, and Andrew Flory. What’s that sound? An introduction to rock and its history. New York: WW Norton & Company, 2006.
Covach, John. “The hippie aesthetic: cultural positioning and musical ambition in early progressive rock.” Rock Music. Routledge, 2017. 65-75.
Shuker, R. (2001). Understanding Popular Music, 2nd edition. London: Routledge.
Thompson, Dave. Cream: the world’s first supergroup. Virgin Pub, 2005.
Weinstein, D. (2000). Heavy Metal: The Music and its Culture, 2nd edn. New York: Da Capo Press.
Welch, Chris. Cream: The Legendary Sixties Supergroup. Hal Leonard Corporation, 2000.
Zak III, A.J. (2001) The Poetics Of Rock, Cutting Tracks, Making Records. Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press.
