The genre that I have chosen for my magazine is Rock. I have chosen this genre simply because it is the music that I listen to more than any other, and I appreciate it hugely.
Fighters, AC/DC and more. All of these bands and their songs just encouraged me further to stick at learning guitar, as I really wanted to be able to play difficult songs of theirs.
People tend to have a pre-conceived judgement about rock, perhaps without even having properly listened to it. Examples of the types of labels and ideology people have about the genre is that it is 'loud', 'heavy' - and much more recently - 'emo'.
Since the 60s and 70s, rock has dramatically changed in style and the music itself.
How rock has changed
MOOD BOARD 1 - 60s & 70s ROCK
In this moodboard, styles and representations vary between each picture. For example, AC/DC look like a typical rock band with the lightning bolt and black picture, but Jimi Hendrix's picture represents him as relatively 'calm' and his style does not conform with that of rock in the present day (e.g black clothing and makeup). Noticeably, there are no females in this moodboard, as the rock and roll industry was not a place for women at this moment in time. If they were shown at all it was as an object, and not as a rock figure. This is very different to todays music. - In my magazine I will be attempting to show women as equals in the genre of rock, contradicting most previous decades in rock.
MOOD BOARD 2 - 80s, 90s & 00s ROCK
However, in this moodboard I have included more recent idols in rock. Immediately, you can already see a change in representation. First of all, the images are a lot more dark than before, and there seems to be a typical style running through each picture - black clothing. The link with fashion and rock clearly began around the 80s (from research), and still remains today. In addition, there are now female figures in the industry, however still not an equal amount to men.
All in all, rock has dramatically changed over the decades, with each sub genre deriving and evolving from the last. The 50s began with the blues, whilst the 60s evolved into progressive rock and roll. From here, the style of music really began to change. The 70s saw the arrival of hard rock, which still exists today - rock and roll began to die out here and was replaced with this. This kept progressing further and further, and rock began to move into heavier and heavier sub genres. These include metal, heavy metal and death metal. Other sub genres of rock include Pop/rock and alternative rock - these include bands such as You Me At Six and Paramore. Personally, I do not believe that Rock as one sole genre even exists today, as there are far too many different and varied sub genres that branch off from it; making it almost impossible to categorise them all into just one genre.
Lyrics
Lyrics are a very important part to music as a whole, but even more so for rock. Many rock songs have well thought out and meaningful lyrics - usually that reflect their past experiences.
Disturbed - Stricken
That I am stricken and can't let you go
When the heart is cold, there's no hope, and we know
That I am crippled by all that you've done
Into the abyss will I run
When the heart is cold, there's no hope, and we know
That I am crippled by all that you've done
Into the abyss will I run
These lyrics portray love and heartbreak, and connotates the emotions that are recognised with this theme. This suggests that they have previously experienced these emotions, and present their feelings through music. There are a lot of rock songs that involve love, but there are a minority that are about other things in life, such as a band on the verge of breaking up. Take You Me At Six's song, for example:
You Me At Six - Bite My Tongue
You keep me on the edge of my seat
I bite my tongue so you don't hear me
I wanna hate every part of you in me
I can't hate the ones who made me
I bite my tongue so you don't hear me
I wanna hate every part of you in me
I can't hate the ones who made me
I'm married to the music
For better or for worse
You say that I'm privileged but
My gift is my curse
For better or for worse
You say that I'm privileged but
My gift is my curse
These lyrics do not personally affect me, as I have never experienced anything like this. However, I am sure that other bands and artists are affected and touched by these lyrics, which would make the song mean more to them.
I tend to listen to a song simply because of the music, and whether I enjoy listening to it. Lyrics obviously add meaning to the song, however they never tend to affect me much. Although, I do believe that lyrics can influence the way a person acts and the way they perceive things in the world. For example, if someone listened to a rock song about love, they may be able to relate to the lyrics and begin to behave in a way that they believe the song has influenced them to.
VIDEO EXAMPLES
This video is of AC/DC, and is from 1980. It is an example of a performance video, which were much more popular in that era than now. Perhaps that is because there is much more advanced technology and intelligence to make narrative videos much more exciting and professional.
This video is from 2004 and is an Evanescence song. They were one of the first rock bands to become so successful with a female lead singer, which is why I chose one of their videos. I am going to be researching more and more female led rock bands as I will be featuring them in my magazine. Also, this is one of my favourite videos as I believe it says so much about todays society. Many rock videos have messages within the song that they have managed to cleverly link to the video. This video is a mix between narrative and montage, which is very different to the 1980 video of AC/DC. It shows how rock has changed; not only in song style but also in video.
This video is A Day To Remember's song 'All I Want' from 2010. It is a montage of performance, but is entirely different to the 1980 AC/DC's performance video. AC/DC's video was only of them performing in front of an audience, with minimal editing and a few camera angle changes. On the other hand, this video has a lot of editing with the lyrics inserted whilst performing, and also has many shots of other singers and artists performing as well as the original band. This video truly represents the change in video style and editing within the genre of rock over 3 decades.
Crossing over into fashion
This picture shows more of a punk-rock style of clothing, although it gives the general idea of a music genre crossing over into fashion. The dark and ripped clothing was a big fad in the 80s, and partially still exists today. Big black army boots are still a trend, as are tattoos.
Leading on from this, tattoos and piercings are a lot more evident today in people that listen to rock than previously, however it has existed since the 80s. On the other hand, ear stretchers are much more common in the present day than they ever have been, and tend to be accompanied by tattooed skin.
This is a picture of Jeremy Mckinnon, the lead singer of A Day to Remember. You can clearly see the ear stretcher and tattoos, and I believe that a lot of people have been influenced by his style and have therefore joined the trend. When I create my magazine I will be attempting to follow the fashion that is associated with rock, as it helps to determine the genre.
Entertainment
There are a lot of portals through which music is seen as entertainment. Videos are a main one, which are now showed and advertised through TV on music channels such as Kerrang! and MTVRocks. However, there are also other types of entertainment such as festivals. One of the main festivals associated with rock is the Reading & Leeds festival, which is on every year in the summer. It is for 3 days in August, with many huge icons and artists in the genres of rock, indie, alternative, punk and metal playing every day. I decided to research lineups and information about previous Reading festivals to see how they have changed.
It began in 1961, and the Reading festival was originally the National Jazz Festival, and moved site each year. In 1971, the festival found a permanent home in Reading. It was in the 70s that the lineup settled into a pattern of blues, progressive rock and heavy metal. From then on, this is what the festival gradually became known for.
In the 80s there were 'classic rock' acts such as Alice Cooper and Status Quo headlining. However, in the late 80s there was what was called the 'late 80s slump'. In 1988, the festival was under new management, and attempted to go into the pop 'mainstream' direction, which led to Meatloaf being bottled off the stage. 1991 saw all of this start to turn around, although britpop bands such as Suede and Blur were added to the lineup. From then on, the festival started to expand it's genres with britpop, indie and rock dominating. Rap acts also began to appear and found a mixed reaction from the audience.
From 2000 onwards, the tickets started to sell out quicker and quicker every year, highlighting the new and rising popularity of the festival. The genres didn't change much from then, as they attempted to cater for more tastes with the increasing numbers of festival go-ers.
Rock concerts
Gigs and concerts are another main form of entertainment in music, and I believe the best genre for gigs is most definitely rock. The experience I get when seeing a rock band live is never a bad one, although they can vary hugely. For example, in March I saw You Me At Six on the opening date of their tour, and it was at a very small and intimate venue. For me, this made the experience much more personal and thoroughly enjoyable. However, I also went to Reading this year and saw them there as well, and it only confirmed my thought that smaller gigs make you feel much more involved and entertained. Here are some examples of bands playing live:
http://www.google.co.uk/
http://www.wikipedia.org/
http://www.lyricsfreak.com/
http://www.youtube.com/
In the 80s there were 'classic rock' acts such as Alice Cooper and Status Quo headlining. However, in the late 80s there was what was called the 'late 80s slump'. In 1988, the festival was under new management, and attempted to go into the pop 'mainstream' direction, which led to Meatloaf being bottled off the stage. 1991 saw all of this start to turn around, although britpop bands such as Suede and Blur were added to the lineup. From then on, the festival started to expand it's genres with britpop, indie and rock dominating. Rap acts also began to appear and found a mixed reaction from the audience.
From 2000 onwards, the tickets started to sell out quicker and quicker every year, highlighting the new and rising popularity of the festival. The genres didn't change much from then, as they attempted to cater for more tastes with the increasing numbers of festival go-ers.
Rock concerts
Gigs and concerts are another main form of entertainment in music, and I believe the best genre for gigs is most definitely rock. The experience I get when seeing a rock band live is never a bad one, although they can vary hugely. For example, in March I saw You Me At Six on the opening date of their tour, and it was at a very small and intimate venue. For me, this made the experience much more personal and thoroughly enjoyable. However, I also went to Reading this year and saw them there as well, and it only confirmed my thought that smaller gigs make you feel much more involved and entertained. Here are some examples of bands playing live:
YMAS's tour this year mainly played smaller venues, including this one. This song was a personal favourite of mine to see live, as it made the crowd and surroundings unbelievably atmospheric. In addition, this song performed live was far more entertaining in an intimate venue than it was in a large crowd.
This is one of my favourite 30 Seconds To Mars songs, and performed live it is almost exactly like the record. I have wanted to see them live for about 4 years now, however they have now become extremely popular and rarely play small gigs anymore. In addition, they mainly play in America and do not tour in the UK very often at all.
Although Enter Shikari stick to absolutely no genre at all, I decided to put one of their videos in as somewhere they will fall into the rock category. I also used them as an example as they are one of my favourite bands, simply because of their uniqueness and attitude. They sing about what they believe in, which on their latest album is the government, global warming and the demise of the Earth's resources - this song also depicts their feelings towards that theme. I have seen Enter Shikari live, and whilst I did thoroughly enjoy it, I do believe it would have been a much more pleasurable experience in a smaller venue, which is why I chose to research a video of them playing a gig in an intimate arena. Rou Reynolds (lead) gets the audience so involved in the gig; whether it be a tiny venue or Reading. As this video shows, the audience respond brilliantly to Enter Shikari, and they always get the crowd into mosh pits - something the band is widely known for doing.
In general, I believe that rock is the best genre of music to be heard live - not only for the music but for the atmosphere too. I have seen pop and rap artists live, and it is not nearly the same experience. Rock is a genre where bands can sometimes sound better live, although this idea may be warped as people may be mistaking the sound for the overall experience.
All in all, rock is my favourite genre because of all of the above, and I plan to be listening to it for a very long time. I have picked it because I wish to delve further into my favourite genre, to find out how and why things happen in rock and how to apply this to my magazine.
http://www.google.co.uk/
http://www.wikipedia.org/
http://www.lyricsfreak.com/
http://www.youtube.com/
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