| Noise rock | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Stylistic origins | |
| Cultural origins | c. Mid-1960s to 1980s,New York City, United States |
| Derivative forms | |
| Subgenres | |
| Fusion genres | |
| Local scenes | |
| No wave | |
| Other topics | |
Noise rock is asubgenre ofrock music that originally emerged in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Artists fuse rock music tonoise, while utilizing extreme levels ofguitar distortion andfeedback, primarily through the use ofelectric guitars.
The term "noise rock" is a portmanteau of "noise" and "rock" music. The earliest known use of the term was on April 25, 1970, in an issue ofRecord World by writer John Kornblum, who used the phrase "psychedelic-noise-rock".[2] On July 22, 1972, writer Nat Freedland published an article inBillboard magazine which outlined the influence of Germany'skrautrock scene on English rock bands. He concluded by asking, "Is America the next step for teutonic noise rock?"[3]
Noise rock is a term that can refer to two distinct styles,[4] each stemming from different influences and stylistic origins. In the early 1980s, music criticRobert Christgau coined the term "pigfuck" to describeSonic Youth,[5] the label later took a life of its own encompassing artists likeBig Black,the Jesus Lizard,Flipper,Cows,Scratch Acid andNo Trend who were more rooted in thepost-hardcore andpost-punk scenes and often associated with labels likeAmphetamine Reptile andTouch and Go.[6][7] The other strain of the genre originated in the late 1960s with more art-based influences, aligning itself withavant-garde music andpsychedelic rock, pioneered by bands likethe Velvet Underground,Red Krayola,[8]Les Rallizes Dénudés and laterFushitsusha andBoredoms.[9] Bands like Sonic Youth incorporated both the genre’s punk rooted origins as well as its art-damaged sound, by including the use of alternate tunings and unconventionalprepared guitar techniques, such as playing guitar with drumsticks.[10][11][12]
Sonic Youth are the only noise rock band to achieve commercial success with the single "100%" from their album "Dirty" reaching #4 on the US charts[13] with frontmanThurston Moore[14] stating:
Noise has taken the place of punk rock. People who play noise have no real aspirations to being part of the mainstream culture. Punk has been co-opted, and this subterranean noise music and the avant-garde folk scene have replaced it.
Additionally, theno wave scene helped further develop the sound of noise rock, with the compilation album "No New York" serving as a pivotal influence. Subsequently, bands likeSonic Youth andSwans, emerged out of the scene as key noise rock artists, drawing inspiration from no wave composersGlenn Branca andRhys Chatham.[15]
Noise rock fusesrock to noise, merging extreme levels of guitar distortion, electronic effects,atonality, improvisation, andwhite noise with that of traditionalrock music instrumentation.
While noise rock has never had any wide mainstream popularity, the raw, distorted and feedback-intensive sound of some noise rock bands had an influence onshoegaze, which enjoyed some popularity in the 90s, especially in the UK, andgrunge, the most commercially successful withNirvana's final studio albumIn Utero produced bySteve Albini and generally taking influences from bands likeBig Black,Wipers,the Pixies,Dinosaur Jr.[16] andthe Jesus Lizard.The Butthole Surfers' mix ofpunk,heavy metal and noise rock was a major influence, particularly on the early work ofSoundgarden.[17] Other influential acts wereWisconsin'sKilldozer,Chicago'sBig Black, andSan Francisco'sFlipper.
During the mid-to late 1960s, the use ofguitar feedback anddistortion in rock music was becoming further incorporated bygarage andacid rock bands, with its predominance being primarily pioneered by artists such asthe Who,the Yardbirds,the Monks,[18]Frank Zappa,Pink Floyd,the Velvet Underground,Jimi Hendrix and theGrateful Dead whose guitar playing and techniques were beginning to border on "noise".[19] On April 25, 1970, writer John Kornblum in an issue ofRecord World, stated:[2]
In the waning days of theSan Francisco rock scene not everybody who remained after the "flower people" fled were into shootingspeed and watching teeny acid freaks. Friends still into making music began to realize it was about time to move on and get as far away from what had become super-commercialized psychedelic-noise-rock.
In 1968,the Velvet Underground releasedWhite Light/White Heat, which was later widely recognized as the first noise rock album, withSpin magazine deeming it the genre's "ur-text".[20][21] GuitaristLou Reed drew influence fromfree jazz saxophonistOrnette Coleman, incorporating feedback as well as a discordant atonal approach to electric guitar, which was expanded upon from their previous releaseThe Velvet Underground & Nico.[22]
Although, some contemporaneous undergroundexperimental andpsychedelic rock groups were later recognized by music critics as early pioneers of what would become noise rock such asRed Krayola,[8]Michael Yonkers,[23]Cromagnon,[24]Pärson Sound,the Godz,[25]the Ethix,the Sperm andNihilist Spasm Band.[26][27] Most notable of these artists would beLes Rallizes Denudés, formed inKyoto, Japan in 1967, who drew inspiration from the Velvet Underground'sWhite Light/White Heat, and later influenced several artists in the earlyJapanese noise andacid rock scene.[28]
Additionally, U.S. experimental music groups would also prove influential, such asthe Residents who released a noisy version of "Satisfaction" in 1976,[29][30] andHalf Japanese, whose 1977 EPCalling All Girls later influenced Sonic Youth andKurt Cobain.[31]
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During the late 1970s to early 1980s, the term "noise rock" became associated with an offshoot of punk groups that showcased an increasingly abrasive approach which merged extreme levels of atonality, distortion, and guitar feedback with traditional rock music instrumentation.[20] The advent ofpunk rock andpost-punk, inspired bands in adopting a more abrasive approach to rock music, some of these early artists included San Francisco's influential acid-punk bandChrome,[32] as well asart-punk groupMX-80 Sound who influencedSteve Albini[33][34] and Sonic Youth.[35] However, most notable of these artists wereNick Cave'sthe Birthday Party, who, inspired bythe Pop Group,[36] went on to influence "a generation of US noise-rock groups, from Sonic Youth toBig Black and the Jesus Lizard".[37] Other influences includeThis Heat,[38]Swell Maps,Wire,the Fall andPere Ubu.[39] In addition, "Weird Noise E.P." the BritishDIY punk various artists 7" single released in 1979 was the earliest noise rock compilation album.
GuitaristSteve Albini of noise rock bandBig Black stated in 1984 in an article that "good noise is like orgasm". He commented: "Anybody can play notes. There's no trick. What is a trick and a good one is to make a guitar do things that don't sound like a guitar at all. The point here is stretching the boundaries."[40] He said thatRon Asheton ofthe Stooges "made squealy death noise feedback" on "Iggy's monstruous songs".[40] Albini also mentionedJohn McKay ofSiouxsie and the Banshees, saying: "The Scream is notable for a couple of things: only now people are trying to copy it, and even now nobody understands how that guitar player got all that pointless noise to stick together as songs".[40] Albini also said thatKeith Levene ofPublic Image Ltd had this "ability to make an excruciating noise come out of his guitar".[40] Additionally,Andy Gill ofGang of Four would incorporate drawn-out abrasive guitar feedback on their song "Love Like Anthrax".
In an article about noise rock,Spin wrote that the US compilation albumNo New York, produced byBrian Eno and released in 1978 was an important document of the late '70sNew Yorkno wave scene that acted as an influence to bands likeSonic Youth andSwans. It featured several songs ofLydia Lunch's first bandTeenage Jesus and the Jerks along with material of other groupsMars,DNA andJames Chance and the Contortions,[21] other bands who were not featured on the compilation such asTheoretical Girls,Suicide,the Notekillers,Red Transistor,the Static andJack Ruby[41] were also influential to the scene.
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During the 1980s,Big Black, Sonic Youth and Swans were the leading figures of noise rock with Sonic Youth becoming the first noise rock band to get signed by a major label in 1990.[42] Subsequently, Robert Chrisgau would coin the term "pigfuck" which later became associated with many of the prominent noise rock bands during this period.[43] Other influential groups wereScratch Acid,Oxbow,Barkmarket,Pussy Galore,the Dead C andNo Trend. Noise rock bands likeRuins andBitch Magnet began drawing influences frommath rock. Subsequently, Japan would also contribute with influential bands such asHigh Rise,Boredoms,Zeni Geva andMainliner. Later notable bands of the noise rock scene includedCows,Brainbombs,Steve Albini'sRapeman,Season to Risk[44] andUnsane.[45]The Quietus retrospectively described 1986 as one of the most formative years for extreme music genres like noise rock.[46]
Subsequently, as genres likepost-hardcore developed into the early 1990s, noise rock bands such asMclusky,U.S. Maple,Polvo,Unwound,Drive Like Jehu,Today Is the Day andCherubs began further incorporating these influences into the noise rock genre whilst bands likeHelmet infused influences indebted to heavy metal, and most notablyBrainiac who mergedpost-hardcore withsynth-punk.Steve Albini formed the influential noise rock bandShellac in 1992, further proliferating the genre, whilethe Jesus Lizard emerged in the early 1990s as a "leading noise rock band" in the American scene with their "willfully abrasive and atonal" style.[47]
Later on in the 1990s, the term "noise punk" began developing with the bandLightning Bolt serving as key players in the 2000s noise punk scene inProvidence, Rhode Island centered around theFort Thunder art music venue, although Brian Gibson, the band's bassist, is dismissive of the noise punk label, stating "I hate, hate, hate the category "noise-punk" I really don't like being labeled with two words that have so much baggage. It's gross."[14][48] Other noise punk artists includeArab on Radar,Liars,Boris,the Flying Luttenbachers,Zs,Laddio Bolocko,Hella,Royal Trux andHarry Pussy. In Japan, notable noise rock bands began to emerge out of theJapanoise scene, such asFushitsusha,EX-Girl,Destroy 2 andSpace Streakings.
Notable noise rock bands that emerged in the early 2000s wereA Place to Bury Strangers, Daughters,Japandroids,METZ,the Goslings andDeath from Above 1979. As well as poppier acts such asPissed Jeans,Dope Body andKarp.[4]
During the early 2010s, noise rock artists such asGilla Band,Whores andMannequin Pussy emerged onto the scene. London'sWindmill scene pioneersBlack Midi's debut album was referred to as noise rock byRolling Stone.[49] In 2018, Daughters releasedYou Won't Get What You Want, which became a critically acclaimed noise rock album.[50][51][52][53]
Subsequently, bands likeSprain[54] andChat Pile[55] would later follow, gaining prominence as noise rock groups.
Pigfuck is a noise rockmicrogenre coined by music criticRobert Christgau in the early 1980s,[7] the term was originally used to describe the caustic sounds of emerging noise rock band Sonic Youth (similar to another term he coined "skronk" as a descriptor for jagged and noisy guitar music).[56] Later taking on a life of its own, pigfuck became associated with the sounds ofpost-hardcore adjacent bands likeBig Black,Butthole Surfers,Cows,Scratch Acid,No Trend andFlipper as well as artists on labels such asTouch and Go Records andAmphetamine Reptile Records.[43]
Noisecore is asubgenre ofhardcore punk andnoise music which emerged in the mid-1980s. Notable acts includeMelt-Banana,Gore Beyond Necropsy,Fat Day andthe Gerogerigegege.[57]
Shitgaze is an early internetmicrogenre coined[58] in the early 2000s by the Midwestern rock bandPsychedelic Horseshit who pioneered a brand of noise rock they dubbed "shitgaze". Notable acts includethe Hospitals,No Age,[59]Times New Viking,[60] earlyWavves,Grave Babies,Sic Alps,[61]Vivian Girls,[62] Sealings, earlyBest Coast,[63][64][65] Meth Teeth, Pink Reason, the Bitters,Eat Skull and P.H.F.[66][67][68]
"Noisecore is a term normally attributed to fast, aggressive, lo fi and often incomprehensibly noisy hardcore or grindcore with extremely short tracks."
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