'70s Rock

As the '70s were born, hard rock moved in to dominate my rock n' roll world. Good times and swingin' la-la-la-I-love-you sounds were slowly replaced by drums, keyboards and massive amplification. While some bands offered up a menu of simple 3-chord structures, others offered the theatrical with mood, surrealism, stark passages, iconoclastic lyrics, and downright expert musicianship. A new breed of super musician had emerged.

In 1971, I was transformed by a band named Pink Floyd. The album "UmmaGumma" bent my ears into new listening proportions. Curiosity for the slowly emerging "progressive rock" drove me further and further toward the sublime of new British invaders. Emerson, Lake, & Palmer were phenomenal. So were Yes, King Crimson, Genesis, Jethro Tull, and The Moody Blues. This was "mind" music, floating at times, then soaring, ripping through walls of iron with steel talons and fire-breathing fury. Accomplished musicians bled themselves out on vinyl and each disc was a new adventure into a more advanced universe. Yet, as passionate the guitar playing, as thunderous the keyboard and mellotron work, there were other edges to the music. Electronic echoes, spacy harmonies and complex solos were the new faces of heavy rock. The world was changing, and I wanted to be there when it did. Thankfully, I was.

Turn off your mind relax, and float downstream...

John Lennon's liquid mantra urged a great many of us to turn off our minds and float. Easily, the '70s were the most prolific era in terms of music and creativity. Fashion may have taken a serious turn for the worst, but to make up for the horror of bell bottoms, the music had vastly improved. Perhaps the '70s were a staging ground, a field for some type of controlled experiment. Whatever the era meant for music, it paved the way for yet another British invasion, and new champions of American rock.

Hard Rock was at the very heart of all of this. It was the style that emerged from the late '60s into the '70s. '60s bands like Blue Cheer, Steppenwolf, and Grand Funk Railroad taught many of us '70s kids about the power of power chords. Walls of amps, and pedal effects were the new thing. The music was hard-driven, powerful, and emotive.Black Sabbath churned British soil as did other UK bands. The likes of Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, and UFO forged new musical empires wrought with raw performance value and, in some cases, outstanding songwriting ability.

"We're an American Band"

As magnificent as the new British invasion was, America was turning out the same talent, pound for pound. Grand Funk Railroad tore up U.S. turf whilst filling stadiums around the world. (They managed to sell out Shea stadium faster than The Beatles!) Other bands like The James Gang, Bloodrock, Aerosmith, and Blue Oyster Cult became national rock legends that opened new doors and mystified audiences with gigantic hard-driving sound. Not only had new doors opened, these bands created the template for numerous rock acts for decades to come.

Other bands like Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Jefferson Starship, Boston, Ted Nugent, Van Halen and J. Geils Band set the world's teeth on edge. (I have never seen a more rousing and exciting stage performance than J. Geils Band). The list is so much longer, but these were just a few of the groups that stamped their souls into the hearts of young America. Johnny Winter played guitar like it was on fire. He ripped through his licks at light speed, thrusting us into near asthma attacks. The scary looking albino with three feet of hair was the only artist I knew of that released a two-record set ("Second Winter") with only three sides!

One particular band that truly moved me was Chicago. In their prime, they were raw and blasted energy. To a young hard rocker like myself, horns were absolutely unthinkable. Yet, Chicago turned their rhythm section into a maelstrom of sweetness. Accompanied by strong guitar and outstanding song writing ability, they held their own in a highly competitive musical arena. Before the demise of guitarist Terry Kath, Chicago was a driving force.

Jimi Hendrix flipped his Fender Strat upside down, and did likewise to the world. In order to play left-handed, he didn't use a lefty guitar, he merely flipped a strat upside down. Once asked how he defined psychedelic music, Jimi responded: "playing all the wrong notes on purpose." Quite a modest response coming from a musical giant, for his notes were not wrong. Instead they transported us to his planet, a fantasy world of electric ladies and midnight lamps; a world full of wah-wah pedal and guitar scales that—beginning in the '60s—redefined the face of rock as we knew it.

Hard Rock

Hard rock was what basic rock n' roll morphed into once the sounds became heavier and with more drive than the norm. Many albums were loud and ferocious. They branded heavy chords like leviathan footsteps on hollow ground coupled with strangely magnetic songs or just plain old-fashioned Rock/R&B appeal. Riding the wave of this newer form of music created multiplicity in both members and bands, and new groups seemed to be crawling out of the woodwork en massé. My first experience with this was in 1969's "Led Zeppelin II" and the premiere LP from Black Sabbath. in 1970. The "Woodstock". soundtrack was like a sampler tray of newer artists I hadn't heard before. Every kid had it, and in our class, we were fortunate enough to have a younger, more progressive teacher who allowed us to play records while we worked.

The term "Hard Rock" not only carved its way into modern music with a power chord bent, but swiftly became its own classification. Soon, "heavy" was replaced by "hard" and the musical styles followed suit. The songs got longer, harder, faster, meaner, and at times, far more technically precise. Hard rock was a fire spreading out of control, devouring anything in its path. Guitarists carried over from the '60s who then sounded good, now sounded great. Guitar distortion was meaner and cleaner. Pedal effects were more sophisticated, and musicians had more or less become journeymen of the trade.

Psychedelic music

Psychedelic music is a '60s baby; Experimentation in rock and roll was never more fabulous than it was in those mid-to-late 60's. Psychedelic music now is nothing more than a carry over from the '60s. In fact, it was refined and re-worked just as much as it is being refined re-worked today. Psychedelic music was "mind" music to the extreme, usually with inconsistent patterns and long drawn out compositions. It was undeniably cerebral and altogether pleasing. It was "trippy", and generally led the listener toward fantasy voyages and freaky musical journeys.

One classic psychedelic example would have to be The Scorpions' "Lonesome Crow" Released in 1972, it's one of the finest examples of psychedelic rock around. Reminiscent of earlier Jane works, the moody, transient structures are pure psychedelic, and without the use of keyboards, the result is magnificent. Most notably for the times, a 16 year-old Michael Schenker was on lead guitar.

Psychedelic music is certainly a stand-alone category. In the mid to latter '60s bands like Pink Floyd, Iron Butterfly, The Soft Machine, Curved Air, and Quicksilver Messenger Service were leaders of a fantastic revolutionary sound. When I think of psychedelia I think of Syd Barret or the more artistic works from The Doors or even the synth-driven bands like Tangerine Dream. Though classified as Electronica, TD most definitely held their own in the land of psychedelia.

So, enough preamble. Just what is Psychedelic anyway? I can only explain it as a formless creation, perhaps tied down to an initial series of chords and structural notes and harmonies. A brilliant psychedelic composition could be rootbound in traditional rock, yet drifting off in several "chapters" perhaps never setting back down to earth, or returning exactly as it left. Such would be the case with an exemplary piece by Pink Floyd called "Careful, with that Axe, Eugene." The song begins with just the slightest ambient pulse: bass guitar droning the same notes over and over again. Then soft keyboards and a few celestial harmonies create a textured quilt of mood and masterpiece. Suddenly a scream breaks the nirvana, and away we go blazing into a bright and ethereal netherworld of guitar, keyboards, and drums ablaze. Like hypnosis, we return to the exact plane of mental existence as where we started without hardly ever realizing we left earth. This is a perfect song, and in my opinion, a dictionary definition of Psychedelic music.

Glam Rock

The photo montage above shows us a mix between the male and the female in this lineup of '70s rockers. The "feminine" look began to catch on with many '70s bands who launched the era of "Glam Rock" which hung on strong late into the decade. Sometimes it was just plain hard to tell the girls from the boys as male rockers donned makeup and flowing clothing styles complete with high-platform shoes and boots. The new trend fell in with leather, fringe, lace, makeup and a pumped up power-dos. Acts like David Bowie, The New York Dolls, Angel, & Lou Reed, Blondie, fell into a sort of underground of rock and roll that carved a true and lasting position into the genre.

Masters of the 3-chord rock found newer ways to exploit the same old chugging and quite tiresome rock and roll. The most original that I'd ever seen would have to be Kiss. I never liked them, but their sound was pure rock and roll. Musically, no new territory was covered, but along with the eerie makeup, the music was loud and powerful. Kiss stage shows involved smoke, explosions, fire, with personal accompaniment from bassist Gene Simmons who offered up his fire-spitting demon complete with blood squibs which allowed him to ooze blood from his mouth.