Chapter 20 – Other Rock Styles of the Eighties

“A lot of people our age and younger have been brought up with these notions of Reagan-era fueled affluence, then when you

suddenly see a lot of those dreams subside because of this particularly brutal recession, and class warfare, race warfare, it makes you very angry, fearful, very alienated. And those are

qualities that lead to an unusually rebellious, passionate rock.” Jonathan Poneman, co-owner of SubPop Record Company

McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Alternative Rock StylesYoung adults interested in new sounds and feeling stuck in an economic

recession, could relate to negativity of some underground and alternative music

Pop music that appealed to a mass market was heavily marketed on MTV and other places– “alternative” music was the alternative to pop

Bands and fans wanted to avoid commercialization of large record companies Desire to avoid over pricing of concert tickets and CD sales

Fugazi’s mail-order address for CDsGeneral desire for bands to avoid stardom and continue to reflect the

thinking and concerns of their fansThe pounding beat of punk often used in alternative musicSongs often take stands on political issues:

R.E.M.’s Document (1987) and Green albums (1988)

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U2Based in Dublin, Ireland

Bono Vox (Paul Hewson), vocalistThe Edge (David Evans), guitars and keyboardsAdam Clayton, bassLarry Mullen, drums

Created a thick instrumental sound, sometimes filled out by electronic sounds

Influenced by New York punk bands, rhythm and blues soul of Van Morrison (also Irish), and personal commitments and concern for the “common man” of Bruce Springsteen

Supporters of Amnesty InternationalBono, along with Bill and Melinda Gates, declared “Person of the Year”

in Time magazine (2005) for work and donations to aid impoverished people the world over

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Listening Guide“With or Without You” by U2 (1987)Tempo: 108 beats per minute, 4 beats per barForm: 12- bar instrumental introduction with soft arpeggios on synthesizer

backed by drums, then bass at 5th bar playing eighth note (half beat) pulseMostly 8-bar periods

Features: Even beat subdivisionsRepeated pulse in bass similar to that used in much punk music, but slower than in punkBackbeat in drumsEthereal background played on synthesizerCrescendos and decrescendos used for dramatic effect

Lyrics: A statement of pained love. The singer expresses the wish to be with a lover, and the realization that the feeling is not reciprocated

Charts: Pop, #1 for three weeks, British hits, #4

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Alternative Rock from BritainMany bands with pop-chart success in Britain were alternative in the U.S. (played on college

radio stations and no top-40 pop hits)In some cases, bands considered alternative gained pop-chart popularity

The Smiths/Morrissey (singer/songwriter)Introspective songs often about lonelinessJames Dean-like image and music influenced by Buddy Holly, the early

Beatles, the Hollies, and Elvis CostelloMorrissey’s solo career without a regular band, some use of synthesized

orchestral background

Oasis First album Definitely Maybe (1994) considered alternative Pop music success with second album, (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?

(1995)

The CureSongs often about loneliness and existentialismImage of band members and videos almost Gothic

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Listening Guide“Everyday is Like Sunday” by Morrissey (1988)Tempo: 116 beats per minute, 4 beats per barForm: 8 or 16 bar sectionsFeatures: Even beat subdivisions in instruments, some uneven in

Morrissey’s vocalsStrong backbeat in drumsEighth-note pulse in electric bass guitarA guitar sometimes featured, but most instrumental backing by a full-sounding synthesized orchestral

Lyrics: Banality of all events, even apocalyptic ones. The singer imagines a post-nuclear war world that is just another gray Sunday in an English coastal town.

Charts: British hits, #9

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Gothic Rock“Gothic” evoked images of gloomy medieval castles sitting atop isolated hills, still

echoing screams from torture chambersDrones (long held notes, common in medieval music) usedElectronic effects create almost hypnotic repetition of short melodic phrases

(minimalist style)Drum machines often usedOrgans used with electronic reverberation to sound like they were in stone medieval

cathedralsSometimes, very long (as much as 5-minutes long) instrumental introductions to set

the somber mood: Bauhaus’ “Bela Lugosi’s Dead”Male singers with very low voices and singing at low pitch levels: Peter Murphy in

Bauhaus All-black clothing and dark glassesSongs about depressing view of corruption among politicians and the media: Sisters of

Mercy’s album Vision Thing (1990)The world depicted as a wasteland:

Mission (UK)

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Listening Guide“Wasteland” by Mission (UK) (1986)Tempo: 132 beats per minute, 4 beats per barForm: 8-bar periods

Spoken sentence introductionFeatures: Even beat subdivisions

Soft backbeat in introduction, the strong backbeat in drums for the rest of the recordingA four-bar chord progression repeated throughout the recordingBass riff repeatedThick production sound includes layers of riff patterns in guitars and bassRepeating patterns much like minimalism styleDeep, drone-like vocals by Wayne Hussey

Lyrics: The world is a wasteland, rejected by God, where good and evil have been combined and pain is pleasure. Influences from T.S. Eliot’s poem, “The Waste Land” (1922)

Charts: British hits, #7

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Postpunk in the United StatesBands playing loud, fast, Sex Pistols’ influenced music in many parts of the

U.S.Hüsker Dü (from Minneapolis) created a thick, high-volume buzzsaw guitar

sound that blurred the distinction between melody and rhythmDriving bass lines, pounding beat, Bob Mould’s shouted monotone vocals

Minor Threat and Fugazi formed by Ian MacKaye (Washington D.C.) Straight edge movementAnti commercialism

Riot Grrrl movement (Olympia, Washington), renamed Revolution Girl Style Nowfeminists against sexual abuse of children, rape, domestic violence, and female empowerment

Bikini KillSleater-Kinney

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Listening Guide“Could You Be the One?” by Hüsker Dü (1987)Tempo: 160 beats per minute, 4 beats per barForm: 2-bar introduction, then mostly 8-bar sections with some

extensions of 2 or 6 barsFeatures: Mostly even beat subdivisions

Strong backbeat in drumsHigh intensity created by “buzzsaw” guitar and active bass line, punk influencesInstruments used are guitar, bass, and drumsVocals are generally monotone, also a punk influence

Lyrics: The singer is searching for meaning in a relationship and asking the person to whom the song is addressed might be the one for him. He seems to have been hurt before.

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Industrial RockMovement began in England in late seventiesGovernment and monarchy seen as intrusive and controllingEven in art, too much concern for form and balanced structure caused

a lack of freedom of expressionViews of control and sadomasochism influenced by Beat writer

William Burroughs in novel Naked Lunch (1959)Music very loud, using many noise makers including electric guitars

played with an electric drill, synthesized sounds, tape loops with electronic sounds, much distortion, and screaming voices

Early British bands: Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire American bands: Ministry (from Chicago) and Trent Reznor’s Nine Inch

Nails (from Cleveland)Grindcore combined Industrial music with Death metal: Napalm Death

(from Birmingham, England)

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Listening Guide“Stigmata” by Ministry (1988)Tempo: 152 beats per minute, 4 beats per barForm: Mostly 8-bar sections with many extensions in no apparent patternFeatures: Even beat subdivisions

Strong backbeat most of the timeInstruments include electronic sounds, distorted guitars, distorted bass

playing riff patterns, distorted vocals, drums, and other noisesVocals have been electronically altered by removing all high overtones to

create a robotic effectThe repetitious riff and drum patterns, along with background noises, create the feeling of being caught in a factory and doing and hearing the same things hour after hour

Lyrics: “Stigmata” means that a person’s flesh has been pierced and the vocalist screams about trying to get something out of his eyes, chewing on and being cut with glass, and walking on splinters. The pain and anger are directed at someone who has lied to him.

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Discussion Questions

The theme and sound of much postpunk alternative music is much more depressed than rock music of the sixties, when many musicians and fans were really experiencing war and death in Vietnam. What might have been attractive about death and depressed themes for young people during the relatively peaceful eighties?

What rock styles express similar themes today?

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