English music 1960s and 1970s : A musical tour of Liverpool with paul Mc Cartney

1960s

Introduction to the music of the 1960s
In the 1950s, the United Kingdom was well placed to receive rock ‘n’ roll and American culture. They share the same language, they were exposed to American culture when troops were resident during the Second World War, and shared many social developments, including the emergence of cultures such as Teddy Boys. (Teddy Boys, from the 1950s British subculture, was made up of young English people the “Teddy Boys” wearing Edwardian-inspired clothes and often considered violent and harsh). At this period Rock was very present in the British culture.
Initially, young idols were inspired themselves by American rock stars (Elvis Presley or Little Richard) and then derivative artists began to appear, like Wee Willie Harris and Tommy Steele. But it was in the year 1958 that the first “real” British piece of rock ‘n’ roll was produced by Cliff Richards, “Move It”. He reached the second place in the charts and became a star, bringing others artists into the spotlight. The TV show “Oh Boy” launched artists like Marty Wilde and Adam Faith while Joe Brown and Johnny Kidd & The Pirates, especially with “Shakin ‘All Over”, become rock’ n ‘roll standards. It was a really big change compared to the beginning of the 20th century. Young people wanted to change the world with their music to express themselves. The Beatles were one of the most famous band of this decade (1960s), they spoke about several subjects and often very different like politics and love (not in the same song). Their music was not centred only on rock but on psychedelic and folk too, for many songs the music genre is difficult to define.
Rock
Rock is a state of mind, a free thought. Rock is a bit rebellious, a bit borderline. It has allowed new generations to sing their ideals and express their need of freedom and revolution. Being rock, it is not be afraid to say what it thinks. The period of the 20th century is the continuation of the rock debut in the United States in the UK.
The Beatles
The Beatles were a British pop and rock band from Liverpool, composed of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.
They are considered the most popular and influential rock band in history. One of their biggest successes was to have five of their songs in the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart of april 1964, the five of them at the top of the singles chart. In addition to these five there are seven other pieces which are also present in the top 100.[2] In ten years of existence and only eight years of record career (from 1962 to 1970), the Beatles recorded twelve original albums and composed more than 200 songs. Initially influenced by several musical genres (skiffle, beat music and rock ‘n’ roll of the 1950s), they quickly changed their musical style, addressing genres as varied as pop, Indian music, psychedelic rock and hard rock.
Their technical and musical experiments, their worldwide popularity and their growing political consciousness over the course of their careers extended the Beatles’ influence beyond music to the social and cultural revolutions of their time. The Beatles were not only fantastic musicians but also good song writers. It has even been said by a music critic of The Observer (Sunday newspaper) that : «If there is still any doubt that Lennon and McCartney are the greatest song writers since Schubert, then next Friday – with the publication of the new Beatles double LP – should surely see the last vestiges of cultural snobbery and bourgeois prejudice swept away in a deluge of joyful music-making, which only the ignorant will not hear and only the deaf will not acknowledge.»[3].
The Beatles’ members fed on various musical influences, starting with Elvis Presley’s American rock’n’roll, Carl Perkins, Chuck Berry and Little Richard.
Inspired to make music with Lonnie Donegan and the skiffle, the Beatles started in a beat music style, typical of 1950s rock’n’roll, helping to forge the Merseybeat (named after the Mersey River in Liverpool). Over the course of their career, the Beatles explored many genres and musical sub-genres, expanding the boundaries of the notion of pop music. The door opened wide when this “boy band” published “Yesterday” accompanied by a string quartet that becames an intergenerational success.
Several songs are at the crossroads of several influences. A remarkable example is the song “You Know My Name” (Look Up the Number) which mixes rock, samba and jazz. The song “Till There Was You”, taken from a musical and placed on their second album, also announces their refusal to lock themselves in a genre. This desire not to belong to a specific genre is visible in the rhymes “All Together Now” and “Yellow Submarine” that do not belong to any defined genre.

1970s

Introduction to the music of the 1970s
It was new forms of music, based on blues rock, folk rock and psychedelic rock from the late 60s that built the popular music of the 70s. Several kinds of music were created at this time. World music began to influence Britain. American styles like punk rock increased the popularity of the British punk scene. Punk music put pop and rock to the background by creating new wave bands and post punk bands during the late 70s and early 80s. Rock and pop did not stop developing but instead these two kinds of music developed in parallel.
Punk movement
«Punk changed everything. Not just our trousers. Our lives. Everyone came into punk with a different agenda, and everyone who left took their own version of events with them. And the rest of us stayed there, still burning with the bright inspiration of the revolution.»[4]
The main thrust of the punk rock movement was the musical output.
It had its origins in various ideologies, fashions and other forms of expression, such as visual arts, dance, literature and film.
«Punk rock as we know is a culmination of everything that had gone on in pop before, from the electric filth of hard rock, the wild abandon of the Stooges, the mass media fuck of Elvis, the pure revolution promised by the hippies, the sharp lines of the mods and the sneering rebel shapes of the rockers, to the stomping pop blitzkrieg of glam rock – even the experimentation of prog rock and Seventies underground art rock.»[5]
Originally, the word “punk”, which originated in the United States, describes the music based on electric guitars of the “garage” groups of the 1960s such as “The Seeds” or “13th Floor Elevators” and groups from Detroit like “MC5”.
This “punk style” is now called 60’s punk or protopunk to avoid confusion. The word punk would have been used the first time by Lester Bangs (rock critic) to qualify the music of the “Motor City Five” (MC5).
In the UK, some critics suggested that bands traditionally attached to the “pub rock”, which is roughly the equivalent of American garage bands in the mid-1970s, could be the beginnings of the British punk explosion from 1976 to 1977. All because of the energy of their music and their speed of execution. Among these first groups were Doctor Feelgood and Eddie and the Hot Rods.
Even though the first British punk band that released a disc was “The Damned”, whose first vinyl single appeared quite invisibly in the summer 1976 (its flagship title being New Rose), the real beginnings of the movement were launched by the first gigs of the Sex Pistols at the Roxy Club, the 100 London Club and the band interview hosted by Bill Grundy on Thames Television in 1976.
The Sex Pistols manager, Malcolm McLaren, was heavily inspired by American groups to create the Sex Pistols. Indeed, a few years ago he had followed (as manager) the group New York Dolls (protopunk band) on tour. It was precisely because of this that he had the idea of starting his movement, a little more “British”, in his hometown, London. Malcolm McLaren is one of the greatest instigators of punk rock in UK.

PatrickB a écrit:Une visite de liverpool en musique à côté de Paul Mc Cartney (c'est sublime, en anglais mais l'émotion n'ayant pas de langage vous comprendrez)

bonne visite à vous et n'hésitez pas à commentez où à poster sur le forum "english" Muriel en rêve