The late 1970's Los Angeles cultural climate set the stage for a groundbreaking music scene, fusing punk, country, and rock and roll. The plethora of clubs and dive bars in Hollywood meant that on any night of the week, something was going on, unintentionally creating an incubator for the city’s most influential and iconic bands including X, the Blasters, Los Lobos, The Germs, and The Bags. A $3 cover at the Whiskey A Go Go could get scenesters into shows ranging from the Sex Pistols to Patti Smith, or they could pile into a car to North Hollywood to the legendary Palomino Club to catch a set by Jerry Lee Lewis or Loretta Lynn mixed in with an occasional appearance by Elvis Costello or Neil Young. Eventually, both genres would consistently …show more content…
Gone were the days of the backup singer in coordinated costumes, choreography, and tambourines. LA bands such as the Go-Go's and the Bangles achieved national success as they redefined the meaning of “girl band” and inspired a generation of young women to pick up guitars and write songs. At the same time, forgotten in this mix is the Screaming Sirens, a group of five L.A women who fused a particular type of punk rock and country music described as “Cowpunk” along with a wild stage show that earned them a widespread and notorious reputation. Uniquely for the time, the sirens were not under the control of a male authority figure like the Runaways were with their manager Kim Fowley. This Screaming Sirens masterminded every raucous lyric, guitar riff, and punk stage antic attached to their legend, refusing to compromise their sound or DIY ethos. Despite a major label recording, a Hollywood motion picture, and multiple national tours, documentation of the band’s existence is minimal. This paper will provide an introductory oral history, exploring the band’s rise, musical catalog, and legacy, as well as contextualizing the conditions in the LA music community that enabled the band to become a force in the …show more content…
Before the band’s formation, she had written songs for years, but she did not play guitar, possessing a love learning, but hatred for school, making her a strong contender to become a graduate of LA punk’s first generation. “I grew up in punk rock,” she proudly shares. Arriving in 1977, right before her sixteenth birthday, she immediately found the community she had longed for during her rebellious early teen years. She watched her roommate Belinda Carlisle play drums in The Germs with bassist Lorna Doone and eventually start the Go-Gos. She witnessed the Runaways’ first gig in the living room of the LA scenester Phast Phreddie. The house belonged to his parents at the time. She was friends with Joan Jett, Jane Weidlin, Pat Smear, and every punk around, so no one was going to tell her she couldn’t start a band. “Growing up in punk rock, there were a lot of women playing things,” she says. “It didn’t occur to me to not be in a band. By the time I started the Screaming Sirens, I had experience in every aspect of punk rock, from working the door, booking clubs, PR, and writing reviews of shows. The next step was for me to be in a band. I was a singer pretty much because I didn’t have the equipment. That’s all. I didn’t have the money to get my own microphone, and I didn’t play anything, so I was a
... around famous band. They were an icon to the U.S by trying to send a message in their music that says drugs aren't bad, to the people. Jerry Garcia was a main part in this band and they wouldn't have been this successful without him. The Grateful Dead made rock and roll history from all of these points.
On Monday, April 21, 2014, along with my friend JJJJ and my Mom, we went to see Alter Bridge perform in concert at Rams Head Live down in the Marketplace in Baltimore, Maryland. The doors opened at 7 o’clock and the concert started at 8 p.m. with the band Monster Truck as the opening act. We went and ate dinner before going to the concert, but when we entered the venue, Rams Head was packed. The show was sold out and there were people ranging from ages fifteen to mid-fifties. There were both men and women in attendance, but I noticed there were more men than women. When we arrived, we only made it for Monster Truck’s final song, but the song we heard was better than I had expected. Monster Truck is comprised of four members: a guitar player, an organ player, a drummer, and a bass player who also is the lead singer. Based on the one song I heard of Monster Truck, they reminded me of a modern-day Deep Purple with even hints of Boston in the way they sounded. After Monster Truck finished, everyone was full of excitement for Alter Bridge to come on.
Popular music in the United States throughout the decades have always consisted of different genres of music and during the late 70’s and early 80’s, many of the popular bands consisted of only male artists and members. In an era dominated by male artists, Fleetwood Mac featured their lead female singer Stevie Nicks, who went on to transcend the gender expectations of the time and pursue a solo career in the midst of heavy adversity. Fleetwood Mac’s lead singer, Stevie Nicks, is a prime example of the evolution female artists have endured as they struggled to gain equal footing in this male dominated industry. This essay will examine the different factors contributing to Stevie Nicks’s popularity, along with her breaking these normative masculine roles and the way she combined different genres and personal
The 1990’s were responsible for a plethora of powerful music. While many may correlate this decade with pop stars like Brittany Spears and Christina Aguilera’s brand of bubble gum mainstream music, there were many women who did not resign themselves to the conventional. Artists like Courtney Love and Fiona Apple hit the music scene during this decade. They introduced the world to a new brand of female power unlike anything the world had seen. During this time, these women and many others were not afraid to call themselves feminists, in fact, they insisted upon it. This decade was responsible for some of the most powerful female anthems from many different genres of music but one song stood out above the rest and made singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette a world-wide phenomenon.
Tin Pan Alley was the name given to a group of New York City songwriters and music publishers who dominated the American popular music scene in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Although the origin of the name is unclear, it is believed to reflect the industry’s new approach to music
Goldstein, Patrick. “Parents Warn: Take The Sex and Shock Out Of Rock And Roll.” Los Angeles
In closing, the undoubtable influence of music, more specifically of Rock ‘n’ Roll on American society is responsible for a number of changes to the status quo. These range from sexual liberation and racial desegregation all culminating with other influences to create an intergenerational identity. Despite the desperate attempts of older generations to smother these influences, these changes ultimately shaped the years that followed, molding the country into what it is today. Along the way these changes as well as individual involvement in them has also eased the lives of many through empowerment and a feeling of community and purpose. Despite a lull and renewal Rock ‘n’ Roll continues to serve as an agent of influence and change in today’s youth culture and continues to burn in the heart of past generations of loyal fans.
The Clash’s third studio album, 1979’s “London Calling,” was arguably one of the greatest musical achievements of the late ‘70s and almost certainly the most significant contribution offered by the punk rock movement to rock as a whole, a contribution acknowledged not only by those who take punk seriously as a genre, but also by mainstream music critics—“Rolling Stone” magazine placed the album at number eight on its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time . “London Calling” is full of genre-defining (and genre-defying, for that matter) material and outstanding songwriting, but one track in particular truly stands out as the album’s most prophetic, haunting, and influential. It makes sense, then, that the album was titled “London Calling” after this most compelling song.
When the men were off fighting in World War II, there was really no other choice but for the women to take over the the Big Band scene or let the spread of the music ceases. To many, it may have seemed like women during this time period were not good enough or capable enough to be successful as big bands, but the International Sweethearts of Rhythm proved this assumption wrong. One of the most influential aspects about this group was the fact that they were considered a “black, all-girls big band”. Although it was true that they were an all-girls group, “the term “international” refers to the fact that some of the band’s players came from mixed ethnic backgrounds and eventually also included two white players.” Not only did this all-girls group become successful, but they were integrated as well, testing the boundaries for what was socially acceptable in the music scene at this
While their antics gained them instant fame and popularity among many of Britain’s youth, who were searching for a voice, many adults became irritated by the band. The public backlash from that interview caused promoters to cancel 16 of the band’s 19 tour dates amid newspaper headlines of “The Filth and the Fury” and “Never Mind the Morals or Standard...
Downes, J. (n.d.). The Expansion of Punk Rock: Riot Grrl challenges to gender power relations in British indie Music Subcultures.
When the punk rock explosion occurred in the mid-seventies, a number of new, excitingly innovative bands burst upon the scene. Bands like the Ramones, The Clash, The Velvet Underground, The Virgin Fugs, Patti Smith, The New York Dolls, Iggy Pop and The Stooges, and the punk band with the most success, The Sex Pistols. The thing that made punk rock so unlike anything the music industry had heard before was the notable lack of talent displayed on the musician’s part. Not to say that all punk bands were devoid of any talent, just that anyone with second-rate instruments and the ability to play at least three chords on the guitar could form a punk band. This is part of what punk’s appeal was, it was a new sound that appealed to many of the youths of that era. As Johnny Ramone, the guitarist for the Ramones, stated, “We were new at writing songs and new at playing our instruments, so we couldn’t write anything too complicated, really” (1974). Punk rock bands often had a flair for the flamboyant, not just with their appearance but with their humor, sarcasm, and often carelessness about society and social norms. For example, The Virgin Fugs, their outlook on life is often displayed in the titles of their songs. Songs like “I Saw The Best Minds of My Generation Rot”, “Kill For Peace”, and “New Amphetamine Shriek” captured the F...
Punks and Goths have coexisted for decades and continue to be, distinct social movements built upon different music, films and fashion characteristics. The Goth subculture has survived much longer than others from the same era, for instance Mods, Skinheads, Hippies and Rockers. However the movement first emerged in England in the early 1980s (Subcultureslist.com, 2016) which continues to diversify, to respond to social and cultural changes. Post punk and Goth bands such as Bauhaus, Rosetta Rose, The Cult, Alien Sex Friend, Sisters of Mercy and The Crüxshadows (AllMusic:2016) have had an enormous influence and impact in forming and developing the movement we see today in the 21st century. In this essay we will be analysing the Goth subculture
Jose Palafox, of Wiretap Magazine, portrays Latino punk as a departure from the larger subcultural category of punk, which he dismisses as “fast, in -your-face music played by weird -looking white youth.” M any Latino punks assert that as members of a marginalized group within the United States, politics are a necessary element of their musical expressions. Incensed lyrics demand change on behalf of Latin Americans denied political voice. Los Crudos was one such purveyor of this politicaly inclined ‘in - your-face music’ and as a particularly popular and active group within the hardcore -punk community, Los Crudos is in many ways representative of Latino punk in the 1990s. The band began its musical efforts i n Pilsen, the Chicago barrio where lead singer Martin
Through the course of this quarter, we have explored varies sub-genres of rock and roll. We have had the pleasure of investigating genres such as funk, heavy metal, glam, and punk amongst many others. Despite a strike of interest throughout many of the genres the one that most stuck with me was the exploration and information provided on the punk rock genre. This was because my current taste in music includes band such as Green Day, Blink-182, the Ramones, and Sum 41; these are all bands that can be categorized under this genre.