TeachRock

By the early 1970s, Rock music had firmly become a global phenomenon. As Rock and Roll transitioned into Rock and more people across the country began taking up instruments to form their own groups, the genre continue to diversify, eventually becoming myriad of unique genres and sub genres, each with their own histories and shared characteristics.

In England, groups like Genesis, Yes, and King Crimson began to create often long, elaborate songs drawing from English Folk, American Blues, and European Classical genres. As enamored with BB King as they were with Igor Stravinsky, these groups pushed the Rock genre to symphonic, even operatic levels. Other English groups – notably Black Sabbath – embraced darker themes and harsher tones, forming the foundation of the Heavy Metal genre.

Music and Counterculture, too continued into the 1970s. Experimentation with new social norms and ways of living continued under musicians such as David Bowie, whose costumes and demeanor hinted at a transcendence from genre – and perhaps even humanity – altogether. Along with acts such as the New York Dolls, Brian Eno, Alice Cooper, a new Glam Rock genre emerged, whose theatrically pushed social boundaries.

This unit examines the further fragmentation of the Rock Genre in the 1970s, and the ways musicians and artists across the country were able to use Rock as a genre to express themselves, their perspectives, and their histories.

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