| Experimental rock | |
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| Cultural origins | 1960s; United States and United Kingdom |
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Experimental rock (originally known asavant-garde rock oravant-rock) is asubgenre ofrock music that emerged in the 1960s. The genre emphasizes innovation over commercial appeal, incorporating influences and ideas lifted fromavant-garde music through traditionalrock music instrumentation. It is primarily characterized by its use of unconventional song structures, musical techniques,rhythms andlyricism, usually deemed challenging, difficult, inaccessible orunderground.
Experimental rock was originally referred to as "avant-garde rock and roll" by music publications throughout the mid- to late 1960s. The earliest known use of the term was in 1966, in an issue ofSing Out!, which labelled New York City bandthe Fugs an "avant-garde rock and roll group".[10] That same year,Record Research also used the term "avant-garde rock" in an issue describing the musical catalog of radio stationWPMU,[11] while the following year Canadian publicationTake One used the phrase to describe California'sthe Mothers of Invention and the Gas Company, as well as New York'sthe Velvet Underground.[12] By the late 1960s and 1970s,[13][14] several music publications contributed to the wider popularization of the term, which was now also referred to as "experimental rock".[15][16][14][17] Additionally, the terms "art rock" and "progressive rock" would be used to refer to several earlyavant-garde or experimental rock artists before their styles perceptibly narrowed.
Experimental rock incorporates influences and ideas lifted fromavant-garde music throughtraditional rock instrumentation. It is characterized by the use of unconventional song structures, techniques, rhythms, and approaches to lyricism not typically found in traditional rock music,[2][3] often emphasizing innovation over commercial appeal, with artists frequently associated with "underground music".[18][19][20] Artists drew influences fromcontemporary artmovements such asdadaism,conceptual art,pop art andsurrealism.
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Although not associated with theavant-garde, during the early years ofrock and roll, several artists experimented with the medium, creating innovative techniques that would become staples of the genre. In 1930,Les Paul became an early innovator ofoverdubbing, originally creating multi-track recordings by using a modifieddisk lathe to record several generations of sound on a single disk,[21][22] before later using tape technology, having been given one of the firstAmpex 300 series tape recorders as a gift fromBing Crosby.[23] During the early 1940s–1950s, labels such asKing Records,Sun Records, andStax[24] played a crucial role in the development ofjazz,rhythm and blues, and early rock and roll, which were initially sidelined by the major companies alongside pioneering musical and production techniques, withAtlantic being the first label to make recordings in stereo, while Sun'sSam Phillips andChess introducedslapback echo and makeshiftecho chambers.[25] Additionally, independent labels were often the only platforms available for marginalizedAfrican-American musicians in the U.S. at the time.[26]
At the time,guitar amplifiers were oftenlow-fidelity, and would often produce distortion when their volume (gain) was increased beyond their design limit or if they sustained minor damage.[27] Between 1935 and 1945, guitarists such asBob Dunn,[28]Junior Barnard,[28]Elmore James andBuddy Guy experimented with earlydistortion-based guitar sounds.[29] In earlyrock music,Goree Carter's "Rock Awhile" (1949) andJoe Hill Louis' "Boogie in the Park" (1950) featured anover-driven electric guitar style similar to that ofChuck Berry's sound several years later.[30][31][32] By 1950, electric guitarists began "doctoring" amplifiers and speakers to emulate this form of distortion,[33] which was also inspired by the accidental damage to amps, featured in popular recordings such asIke Turner and the Kings of Rhythm song "Rocket 88" released in March 1951, where guitaristWillie Kizart used avacuum tube amplifier that had a speaker cone slightly damaged in transport.[34][35][36] Subsequent developments in rock music distortion were pioneered by guitarists such asWillie Johnson ofHowlin' Wolf's band,[27]Guitar Slim,[37] Chuck Berry,[38]Pat Hare ofJames Cotton's band,Paul Burlison of theJohnny Burnette Trio, andLink Wray throughout the 1950s.[39][40][41][42]
On March 26, 1951, Les Paul released "How High The Moon", performed with his then-wifeMary Ford, and spent 25 weeks (beginning on March 26, 1951) on theBillboard chart,[43] which included 9 weeks at #1. At the time, the song featured a significant amount of overdubbing, along with other studio techniques such asflanging,delay,phasing andvari-speed.[22][44] Les Paul's advancements in recording were seen in the adoption of his techniques by artists likeBuddy Holly. In 1958, Holly released "Words of Love" and "Listen to Me", which were composed with overdubbing for added instrumentation and harmonies.[45]
Subsequently, the single "Space Guitar" byJohnny "Guitar" Watson, released in April 1954, showcased over-the-top guitar playing and the heavy use ofreverb andecho effects, which influenced artists such asBo Diddley,[46]Ike Turner,[46]Frank Zappa,[47] andJimi Hendrix.[48]
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Although experimentation had always existed in rock music, it was not until the early to mid-1960s that the genre widely began to incorporate influences fromcontemporary art, theavant-garde, and the widerart world.[49][50] English artists such as members ofthe Beatles,the Who,the Rolling Stones,the Kinks,10cc,the Move,the Yardbirds, andPink Floyd attended and drew avant-garde ideas from art school, which they incorporated into a traditionalrock and roll framework.[51][52]Pete Townshend's avant-garde ideas which he learnt in art school such as that ofauto-destructive art, inspired hisguitar smashing in the Who,[53] while others such asSyd Barrett drew influence from avant-garde music movements likefree improvisation, particularly theprepared guitar techniques ofAMM'sKeith Rowe, which he incorporated into hispsychedelic free-form guitar playing in Pink Floyd through the use of azippo lighter as aguitar slide.[54] Additionally, rock musicians drew from previouscounterculture movements such as theBeat Generation, as well as contemporaneous developments inexperimental film,literature, and music. Other early influences includedavant-garde andfree jazz,[55]musique concrète,[56] and the works of composersIgor Stravinsky,John Cage,Karlheinz Stockhausen, andLuciano Berio.[57] Subsequently, early attempts to merge the avant-garde with rock music were made by severalunderground music acts such asthe Druds,the Fugs,the Daevid Allen Trio,the Mothers of Invention,the Velvet Underground,Nico,Nihilist Spasm Band,Soft Machine,the Godz,Red Krayola,[58]Hapshash and the Coloured Coat,Silver Apples,[59]the United States of America,Cromagnon,Fifty Foot Hose,the Sperm,Pärson Sound, and Pink Floyd, who incorporated elements of avant-garde music,sound collage, andpoetry into their work.[60][61][nb 1][63] Commercially successful British acts such as the Rolling Stones[64] and the Beatles would also incorporate avant-garde influences into their music, with the latter's songs "Carnival of Light" and "Revolution 9".[65]
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In 1963, New York visual artist andunderground film producerAndy Warhol formed a short-livedavant-garde band known asthe Druds,[66] alongside localconceptual artists,Walter De Maria,Larry Poons,La Monte Young,[67] Patty Mucha,Jasper Johns, Gloria Graves[67] andLucas Samaras. Subsequently, influential underground rock bandthe Fugs were formed byEd Sanders andTuli Kupferberg on theLower East Side,[68][69] who were later described as helping to "bridge the gap between theBeat Generation and experimental rock". Their songs blendedbeat poetry andfolk music with rock and roll,[70] and they collaborated frequently with New York folk-based actthe Holy Modal Rounders, formed in 1963 byPeter Stampfel and Steve Weber, who both later briefly joined the band. The Fugs were an early influence onLou Reed,David Peel,[71]Iggy Pop,[72] and several early underground and experimental rock acts such asthe Godz.[73][74]
By late 1965, Warhol began scouting for bands to represent the music for hismultimedia art performance series theExploding Plastic Inevitable. Warhol briefly considered the Fugs and the Holy Modal Rounders[75] before ultimately choosing the Velvet Underground, who were first introduced to him byBarbara Rubin, throughGerard Malanga, at thebeatnik venue Café Bizarre in December 1965.[76][nb 2] They merged the influence of avant-garde artists such asLa Monte Young, John Cage, andthe Theatre of Eternal Music, as well asminimalism anddrone music, with rock instrumentation. Theseperformance arthappenings aimed to bridge the gap between the avant-garde andpopular music, mixing screenings ofWarhol's films, the Velvet Underground's experimental rock music, and dancing and performance art by regulars of Warhol'sFactory.[77]
Additionally, the independent record labelESP-Disk became a pivotal force in the early New York counterculture and underground music scene, signing early avant-garde rock artists such as the Fugs, the Godz,Pearls Before Swine,[13] and laterCromagnon. Other East Coast psychedelic acts that drew from experimental rock music includedthe Deep, the Tea Company, andBlues Magoos. In 1966, ESP released the Velvet Underground's earliest recording, an instrumental entitled "Noise", which appeared on the various-artists compilation albumThe East Village Other [aka Electric Newspaper].[78] At the same time, Lou Reed taught and gave guitar lessons toFluxus artistHenry Flynt, who later formed the short-lived avant-garde rock bandthe Insurrections.[79][80][18] Additionally, Flynt briefly performed with the Velvet Underground, playing violin as a stand-in forJohn Cale at a concert in September, 1966.[81] In March 1967, the band released the influential debut albumThe Velvet Underground & Nico, produced by Andy Warhol, which was followed byWhite Light/White Heat in 1968.[82] Later that year, New York bandSilver Apples, formed bySimeon Coxe and Danny Taylor, incorporated the sounds ofoscillators into an early form ofelectronic rock on theirdebut album.[83]
During the early 1960s, guitar distortion became integral to contemporary rock music, and was further developed by musicians such asLink Wray,Grady Martin ofMarty Robbins's band,[84]Dave Davies ofthe Kinks,[85] andKeith Richards of the Rolling Stones,[86] while Grady Martin and Keith Richards pioneered and popularized the use offuzz distortion in rock music.[86][84] Other forms of early rock music experimentation included a deliberate use ofguitar feedback, which was pioneered by blues and rock and roll guitarists such asWillie Johnson,Johnny Watson, and Link Wray. According toAllMusic'sRichie Unterberger, the very first use of intentional feedback on a commercial rock record is the introduction of the song "I Feel Fine" by the Beatles, recorded in 1964.[87] Jay Hodgson agrees that this feedback created byJohn Lennon leaning a semi-acoustic guitar against an amplifier was "the first chart-topper" to showcase feedback distortion.[88] The Who's 1965 hits "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere" and "My Generation" featured feedback manipulation by Pete Townshend, with an extended solo in the former and the shaking of his guitar in front of the amplifier to create a throbbing noise in the latter. By 1965, feedback was used extensively bythe Monks,[89]Frank Zappa,Jefferson Airplane, and the Velvet Underground, and later theGrateful Dead,Jimi Hendrix, andunderground music acts likeMichael Yonkers, whose use of feedback was described byDazed as far more extreme than any of his contemporaries.[90][51][52]
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Throughout the decade, the advancing technology ofmultitrack recording andmixing boards inspired prominent artists to create complex and layered compositions. Producers such asJoe Meek,[91]Phil Spector,the Beach Boys'Brian Wilson, Beatles producerGeorge Martin and engineerGeoff Emerick contributed to the pioneering of therecording studio as an instrument.[56][nb 3] In 1966, the release of influential albums such as the Beach Boys'Pet Sounds and Frank Zappa'sFreak Out![93] inspired many rock-based groups to incorporate unconventional approaches and recording studio techniques into their music. In August of the same year, the Beatles released the influential albumRevolver, which further advanced contemporary production techniques, particularly on its closing track, "Tomorrow Never Knows". By 1967, the innovations ofPet Sounds[94] andFreak Out![95] influenced the Beatles'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which contributed heavily to the wider popularization of advanced unconventional studio techniques in popular music.[96][nb 4][99][100][101]
In the opinion of Stuart Rosenberg, the first "noteworthy" experimental rock group wasthe Mothers of Invention, formed in 1964 by composerFrank Zappa.[2] Greene recognises the group's debut album,Freak Out!, as marking the "emergence of the 'avant-rock' studio album." Also, Rosenberg described the Velvet Underground as "even further out of step with popular culture than the early recordings of the Mothers of Invention".[102][103][104][nb 5] According to author Kelly Fisher Lowe, Zappa "set the tone" for experimental rock with the way he incorporated "countertextural aspects [...] calling attention to the very recordedness of the album."[99] His 1968 albumWe're Only in It for the Money, was praised byBarret Hansen in an April 1968 review forRolling Stone,[106] as the most "advanced" rock album released up to that date, though not necessarily the "best".[107] In 1969, the release ofCaptain Beefheart's albumTrout Mask Replica, produced by and released on Frank Zappa's record labelStraight Records, marked a foundational moment for experimental rock music, withthe Guardian stating, "Trout Mask Replica remains the standard by which almost all experimental rock music is judged, its reputation as a fearsomely difficult listen undimmed by the passing of time or its influence."[108]
Other West Coast underground experimental rock acts included Vito & the Hands, the Gas Company,[12] the Inrhodes,the Urban Renewal Project,the United States of America,the Ethix andFifty Foot Hose.[109][110] Among the most influential werethe Residents, formed in San Francisco in 1966.[111] By the mid-to late 1960s, the rise of San Francisco'spsychedelic rock scene led to the wider popularization ofpsychedelia andpsychoactive drugs likeLSD, across the United States, inspiring bands to explore more experimental approaches to rock music. Subsequently, genres such asart rock,progressive rock, and laterart pop would emerge during this period.[2][nb 6][113] In Canada,Nihilist Spasm Band formed as a self-described "noise" band,[114][115] while in Texas,Red Krayola emerged, withPitchfork later retrospectively labelling them "likely the most experimental band of the 1960s".[116][117] Commercially successful groups such asthe Doors would also incorporate avant-garde influences into their music.[118]
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By the late 1960s to early 1970s, experimental rock music further proliferated across the world with the emergence of scenes that drew influence from American and Britishavant-garde rock bands. Germany'skrautrock scene, partly born out of thestudent movements of 1968, and originally centered onKommune 1, took form as German youth sought a uniquecountercultural identity[119][60] distinct from the country's past traditions,[5] which ultimately led to bands developing a form of experimental rock[5][119] that rejected formal rock conventions, and was primarily inspired byminimalism, avant-garde, andcontemporary classical composers such as Stockhausen, as well as American experimental rock artists like the Velvet Underground and Frank Zappa.[60][60] Prominent acts such asCan,Faust,Neu!,Amon Düül II,Ash Ra Tempel,Kraftwerk,Tangerine Dream, andPopol Vuh merged elements of psychedelic rock withelectronic music,funk, andjazz improvisation.[120][119][60]
In Czechoslovakia while under theSoviet Union, thePrague Underground led bythe Plastic People of the Universe and undergroundsamizdat writerEgon Bondy made experimental rock music as inspired by then banned US artists such as the Velvet Underground and Frank Zappa. The Plastic People of the Universe were later arrested, and their trial sparked the creation ofCharter 77, the movement which contributed to the laterVelvet Revolution that ended the regime.[121]
In England, art rock bandRoxy Music[122] emerged. SingerBryan Ferry briefly attended art school,[123] while keyboardistBrian Eno drew influences from Germany's krautrock scene, alongside frequent collaboratorDavid Bowie, with Eno releasing influentialdebut andsophomore albums, which were followed by Bowie'sBerlin Trilogy in the late 1970s.[124] In America,New York City artists such asTelevision,Patti Smith,Richard Hell and the Voidoids, andTalking Heads emerged from the earlyNYC punk rock scene, centered on local venues such asCBGB andMax's Kansas City, with their music blending the raw energy of early punk with influences from the local art and avant-garde scenes, which contributed to the development of "art punk".[125] Other contemporaneous developments included the earlyCleveland punk scene spearheaded byMirrors,Electric Eels,the Styrenes,Rocket from the Tombs and laterPere Ubu,[126] as well asHalf Japanese, formed by brothers Jad and David Fair inUniontown, Maryland in 1974.[127]
By the late 1970s, several developments emerged influenced by the widerpunk rock movement. In England this was represented by the burgeoningpost-punk movement. Similarly to Germany's krautrock scene, artists eschewed rock conventionality, in favor of influences indebted to music genres such asfunk,dub, andavant-garde jazz. Notableavant-punk acts during this period includedThis Heat,[128]Public Image Ltd, andthe Fall.[129][130] In America, the New Yorkno wave scene consisted of experimental rock bands that rejected the commerciality ofnew wave,[7] and who, according toVillage Voice writer Steve Anderson, pursued an abrasive reductionism which "undermined the power and mystique of a rock vanguard by depriving it of a tradition to react against."[131] Anderson claims that the no wave scene represented "New York's last stylistically cohesive avant-rock movement."[131] Theindustrial music scene led to acts such asEinstürzende Neubauten,Cabaret Voltaire,Nurse with Wound andThrobbing Gristle.
In Japan,Osaka,Kobe,Kyoto and other parts of theKansai region developed a regionalized extension of New York City no wave known as "Kansai no wave".[132] Artists includedAunt Sally,INU,Hide,Jojo Hiroshige andSS. This scene led to the emergence of theJapanoise scene led by artists such asKeiji Haino,Boredoms,Fushitsusha,the Gerogerigegege,Ruins andHanatarash, which helped develop styles of contemporary noise music such asharsh noise.[133][134]
By the 1980s, notable broader experimental rock groups included acts such asMaterial,the Work,Last Exit,Sonic Youth,John Zorn[135] andMassacre.[136]Pitchfork later described acts such asthe Birthday Party as "avant-rock icons."[137] According to journalistDavid Stubbs, "no other major rock group [...] has done as much to try to bridge the gap between rock and the avant garde" as Sonic Youth, who drew on improvisation and noise as well as the sound of the Velvet Underground.[138][136]
Subsequently, the innovation of the Britishshoegaze movement was described byGuardian writer Jude Rogers as being better received outside the United Kingdom, stating: "there wasn't a shoegazing backlash in America; the music was seen as part of an ongoing heritage of experimental rock, which fed into later genres likespace-rock andpost-rock."[139] During the 1990s, as a reaction against traditional rock music formula, post-rock artists combined standard rock instrumentation with electronics and influences from various styles such asambient music,IDM, krautrock,minimalism, and jazz.[8] Other developments in experimental rock includedbrutal prog,noise, andmath rock influenced artists such asU.S. Maple,Lightning Bolt,Laddio Bolocko, andArab on Radar.[140][141] Long-lasting American avant-rock bands such asthe Residents andRed Krayola continued to release music into the 21st century.[111][142]
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In 2015,The Quietus' Bryan Brussee contemporarily noted uncertainty with the term "experimental rock", and that "it seem[ed] like every rock band [...] ha[d] some kind of post-, kraut-, psych-, or noise- prefixed to their genre."[143]
By the late 2010s to early 2020s, the experimental rock-basedWindmill scene emerged inBrixton, London, drawing from post-punk and no wave music, and centered on the venuethe Windmill.[144] Notable artists in the scene includeBlack Midi,Black Country, New Road,Squid,Shame,Maruja,the Last Dinner Party,Fat White Family,Heartworms,Goat Girl,PVA and, occasionally,Fontaines D.C.[145][146][147][148][149][150][151]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)His first venture, the Phillips label, issued only one known release, and it was one of the loudest, most overdriven, and distorted guitar stomps ever recorded, "Boogie in the Park" by Memphis one-man-band Joe Hill Louis, who cranked his guitar while sitting and banging at a rudimentary drum kit.
Black country bluesmen made raw, heavily amplified boogie records of their own, especially in Memphis, where guitarists like Joe Hill Louis, Willie Johnson (with the early Howlin' Wolf band) and Pat Hare (with Little Junior Parker) played driving rhythms and scorching, distorted solos that might be counted the distant ancestors of heavy metal.
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