What is rock 'n' roll?

Not yet. But, I'm sure some [expletive deleted] will coin it very, very soon.

The Psychadelic Furs first album The Psychadelic Furs is a must. Just for Imitation of Christ. Oh! And Flowers. Oh! And We Love You. Sod it. The whole album is stunning. Television's Marquee Moon I would recommend to anyone. Sheer class.

I saw both Thin Lizzy's (Reading '83... on my first honeymoon) and Led Zep's (Knebworth '79) last concerts. Didn't know it at the time. Seen The Kinks too (Reading '81). If you were to rummage through my vinyl, you'd find Led Zep I, II, III, IV, House of The Holy, Mayall featuring Eric Clapton, Disraeli Gears, Electric Ladyland, Axis: Bold as Love, Midnight Lightning, Rainbow Bridge (Damn! Dolly Dagger is a fav still after all these years), The Doors, Strange Days (Horse Lattitudes still freaks me out), Waiting For The Sun, LA Woman, Too Old to Rock and Roll Too Yound to Die, Rattus Norvegicus IV, No More Heroes, The Raven. I could go on all night... but, you can keep AC/DC (utter, utter drivel) and Wishboring Ash.

I've got all of those , but on CD (no vinyl), except Axis. Axis? I don't think I've heard of them? Maybe I was living on a different planet when they were around. AC/DC are good for a laugh, but the main reason I have a couple of their albums is cos I know a guy who's a big fan of them. I'm listening to some Wishbone Ash right now while a fearful storm rages outside, and finding it pleasantly soothing. Their recent album "Bona Fide" is good. One of the very few bands from the early 70's that are still making good music today.

I was listening to some early Small Faces a little while back and was gobsmacked to realise just how much earlz Led Zep erm borrowed from them. Whole Lotta Love is a f'ing blatant steal!

I was gobsmacked when I heard one AC/DC track (can't remember which one or which album) which was blatantly lifted from the old Fleetwood Mac / Peter Green song "Oh Well". That has such a distinctive intro, there's no way they just came up with it independently.

A few (god, many many) years ago I listened to an interview on Radio 1 with Jimmy Page talking about Led Zep IV and he said that they had lifted the idea for Black Dog from Oh Well!

Rock'N'Roll is a form of music that originated in the USA, in the 1950's derived from the 'blues'(from black-Americans) that came out of Jazz(from blacks who created it). Chuck Berry(who is a black-American created/invented rock'N'roll that he called "Rock/Roll" Music, that Elvis Presly(copied) and many white 'artist' (The Beatles)(Rolling Stones)(Led Zeppellin)etc still copy in 2007. Google it(who created rock'N'roll). This a good lesson for some of the younger TTown people.

I thought it was the other way around - blues came first, and jazz developed out of that?

Well, yes, we all know what the book says. I would even go further and state that in my opinion, Chuck Berry exchanged his black-blues coat for a white-rock 'n' roll one. One may argue that modern popular music was invented by black Americans. At the same time you have to say that it was also invented by 17th century Austrians, etc. etc. etc.

Are you calling me young?

Well yes, but GREAT party music. Now where did I put those LPs.

This and this

inspired me to dig out my turntable and listen to some stuff for the first time in ten years. Took a while to make the turntable actually turn, but now I'm on a highway to hell

Yer from Birmingham, ain'tcha Jeeves?

Great parties in Birmingham. Them were the days.

I cannot let a thread about RocknRoll go without my recommandations

some really good stuff from Detroit:
- the white stripes (okay, pretty much mainstream by now.)
Seven Nation Army
Fell In Love With A Girl
I just dont know what do to with myself ( )

- the detroit cobras
cha cha twist
myspace

- the Dirtbombs Imho the Worlds most asskicking live Rock Band! Seriously, I almost died.
myspace

Not from Detroit but great too:

- the bellrays simply good music
myspace

Alltho probably everybody knows 'em anyway by now, the Queens of the Stone Age (also very good live)
Go with the flow My #1 favourite vid.
no one knows
First It Giveth
the lost art of keeping a secret

And, it doesnt really belong in here, but i just like this vid so much i got to include it ;p

Raves from the grave! Get your raves from the grave here! Time to dig up an old thread.

Crosslinking to the Q Magazine Top 50 British Albums thread I saw KingBilly and JOB debating the merits of the band Keane making the list (actually coming in at No. 8 with their album Under The Iron Sea), and as this was the highest placed album on the list that I'd never heard, nor indeed had I ever heard anything from the band even though I had actually heard of them I thought I'd do a tad of YouTubing and enlighten myself. This was my first mistake.

Having listened to/watched the entirety of their ditty Is It Any Wonder? I thought, "No. It isn't". It started off sounding a bit Suede-y, and being of a charitable mood today I thought I might go back and give it a second listen after a few other songs to see if it could possibly grow on me... having not actually worked out where any originality lay, but fully recognising that a. the band can play their instruments very well, b. the singer can really sing, c. the production work is very slick, and d. so is the video production.

Then I made my second mistake entitled Nothing In My Way. I couldn't finish it, sorry. I got about halfway through before it became computer-warranty-theateningly annoying and moved swiftly on to my third mistake (they always come in threes, you know). This one was called A Bad Dream, and may I say that I am at least highly impressed by the band Keane's ability to accurately title their 'work'. I now have a mental picture of a facially zit-infested 16-year old doodling lists for a pubescent publication. Number Eight? It wouldn't have made Number Eight Hundred in my collection, and I'm only talking British artists. Maybe my problem is that I can play an instrument, but I is it any wonder that I shall not be returning to listen to Is It Any Wonder? a second time?

rock and roll in an academic sense is stylistic category that generally includes blues-based i-iv-v's and chuck berry licks. at least, that's what it meant when it was first put into use. of course the term has been diluted to include many more styles of music...

and today "rock and roll" most often is synonymous with that horrid term classic rock (which interestingly, in the US, includes metallica, maybe because they covered bob seger? anyway you'll hear metallica on the "classic rock" stations, grocery stores, and soon, elevators) alongside jimmy buffet and alanis morisette.

"rock" is not always the same as "rock and roll" If I tell someone I play "rock and roll" music, that means, to me, that i'm playing some kind of electrified, 2-4 beat, blues-derived influence. but i don't expect that the other person will get the drift. So I make up something on the spot: "Deconstructivist psychadelic noise"

to say I play "rock" means absolutely nothing and as a musician or music listener I'd never say this.

the melvins, pelican, explosions in the sky, the eurythmics and elliott smith, and rhcp could all be filed under "rock" but they aren't necessarily rock and roll. But David Bowie was sometimes rock and roll, and ac/dc was mostly rock and roll.

yet, these terms are important, because people will make inferences of your style and perhaps personality depending on how you answer the simple question "what styles of music are you into?"

another problem is that these categorical terms usually don't suffice to include the entire repertoire of a band or musician. So how does one file all this crap so it's easy to find on an ipod?

Rock >> soft rock, hard rock, post rock, prog rock, punk rock, pop rock, indie rock, stoner rock, classic rock, etc. the word means very little other than a blanket term indicating that the music is in some way designed to get your heart bumping, but even this could be debated.

someone should develop a KPCOFGS music taxonomy. use a latin naming system to make it perfectly clear.

'kin 'ell!

I'll plump for nex terra then... I think.

greatest rock song ever: jimi hendrix's voodoo chile. This tune has raised, and still does raise, maximum goosebumps for me.

Rock n roll is something you feel. I dont think you have to understand it at all, or that it should mean something. It makes me feel good and gives me energy.

right, to contradict the academic definition... to classify and identify everything detracts from that feeling, the feeling is what it's all about.

so much of it is about context anyway, when you're talking about rock and roll.

it's like driving real fast in a firebird across the desert. going somewhere and nowhere. or running a distance and feeling like an unstoppable machine. propulsion. possibility of wipe-out. impulsive, balls-out, kickass rock.

I just picked up on this comment, and yes, you're right.

I was working with a guitarist and drummer a while back who, admittedly, had a strong liking of jazz and especially the non-trad variations and we experimented with weird and whacky beats sliding backwards and forwards from 6/8 to 9/8 and it was bloody difficult on the senses.

And then I started thinking... you'd have to be a complete spastic to be able to dance to this shit.

Is for boring old shits. Let's push things forward.