I think I'm Failing History

[chickbassist007]

Hey guys!

So i was talking with my friends the other day and they said one thing that was crucial to becoming a better musician all around was learning some music history liiiiiiike what was the best time for rock and roll, what advancements have musicians made in the past like 20 years etc etc. any ideas on where i would find said information????

Em

[MrTAteMyBalls]

do some listening! sign up for a rhapsody account. it doesn't have as much in the way of really obsure stuff, but it does have most of the standard stuff from the 50's to today.....even some old blues like robert johnson and whatnot. either that or go to a real record store???

[Serial Junkie]

1. Choose band/musician you enjoy and are interested in that has a published biography/autobiography/memoir from a roadie, groupie etc.
2. Read said publication
3. Rinse and repeat

or explore Wikipedia

[bongomania]

Well, there are classes for that, in community colleges, "real" universities, music schools, and "school of rock"-style independent programs (which are all over the place these days).

Also there are hundreds (thousands?) of books out there documenting popular music of the last 70 years. In any trip to a used-books store I usually see a dozen such popular-history books in their music section. Also, if there's a "mega" book store in your region like Powell's or Borders, they will have a lot to look at. There's also the library.

Plus, I bet if you Googled "history of rock'n'roll" or "history of modern popular music" or "history of heavy metal bands" etc. etc. you will find more reading than one person can do in their lifetime.

[azureblue]

the 4 CD box of "The Cosimo Matassa Story". Rock began in New Orleans, and these tracks capture it's development from the transition from blues into rock. Several tracks by Little Richard, while he was developing his style.... Incredible booklet that comes with it, but in real teeny print....

[bassbombs84]

the best way i have found to do research online is to go to www.allmusic.com and type in an artist you enjoy. then look under the "influenced by:" heading and click on somebody. then see who they were influenced by and just keep on going. keep one window of your browser on allmusic, and open a new window and look up those influential artists on youtube. instant history lesson

[sarcastro83]

there is a Canadian Radio Personality named Alan Cross. He's got this radio series called "The Ongoing History of New Music" that documents the history of alternative rock starting from the Velvet Underground. He'll go into pretty interesting depth about various bands, genres of music, even technological innovations (His episodes about Bob Moog and the Format Wars were cool).

Now, you USED to be able to listen to them online... but due to licensing issues they took the entire archive down (he's done over 600 episodes.)

If you can find his podcasts, or even a torrent with a bunch of episodes, this is a really, really, really awesome thing to listen to.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ong...y_of_New_Music

Also, you should read "Our Band Could Be Your Life" by Michael Azerad.

[EdHunter]

The influences thing is a brilliant route ot go down.

UFO
Rush
Beckett
Deep Purple
Uriah Heep
Focus
Budgie
Blitzkrieg
Diamond Head
Thin Lizzy
Sweet Savage
Mercyful Fate

All bands I discoovered through Iron Maiden and Metallica.

[Jim Campbell]

Originally Posted by chickbassist007

Hey guys!

So i was talking with my friends the other day and they said one thing that was crucial to becoming a better musician all around was learning some music history liiiiiiike what was the best time for rock and roll, what advancements have musicians made in the past like 20 years etc etc. any ideas on where i would find said information????

Em

xm or sirius have programs by tom petty,bob dylan,and little steven van sant....start there and those guys will keep you busy for years

[Exploiter8]

Focus? Hocus Pocus? My son put that on his Ipod thanks to me!

X8

[EdHunter]

Originally Posted by Exploiter8

Focus? Hocus Pocus? My son put that on his Ipod thanks to me!

X8

Yoddle-iddle-yoddle-iddle-yo-hey-hey

There's some stuff I put on ym Ipod thanks to my Dad!

[champbassist]

Originally Posted by bassbombs84

the best way i have found to do research online is to go to www.allmusic.com and type in an artist you enjoy. then look under the "influenced by:" heading and click on somebody. then see who they were influenced by and just keep on going. keep one window of your browser on allmusic, and open a new window and look up those influential artists on youtube. instant history lesson

I really, really like allmusic. But I like them less since the day I found out they haven't even bothered to write a bio for Michael Angelo Batio.

I think Wikipedia is a nice place, just make sure that you're what you're reading is "cited". There's lots of rubbish on Wikipedia, so you've got to be careful about that.

[Unrepresented]

Originally Posted by EdHunter

The influences thing is a brilliant route ot go down.

UFO
Rush
Beckett
Deep Purple
Uriah Heep
Focus
Budgie
Blitzkrieg
Diamond Head
Thin Lizzy
Sweet Savage
Mercyful Fate

All bands I discoovered through Iron Maiden and Metallica.

On a similar note, Guns N' Roses' Spaghetti Incident album introduced me to a lot of what would become my favorite bands.

In a time before the internet, how was an alternative listening kid supposed to find out about glam rock?

[bassbombs84]

In a time before the internet, how was an alternative listening kid supposed to find out about glam rock?

you never heard of David Bowie or T. Rex until you were on line?
come on, not ever ziggy stardust?

[bassbombs84]

I mean, dont get me wrong, Nitro was LEGENDARY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1-aix3CqCc

[sarcastro83]

Originally Posted by Jim Campbell

xm or sirius have programs by tom petty,bob dylan,and little steven van sant....start there and those guys will keep you busy for years

Little Steven's Underground Garage is probably one of the best radio shows I've ever listened to. When I'm listening to the radio, the only time it isn't talk radio is when Underground Garage is on.

[champbassist]

Originally Posted by bassbombs84

I mean, dont get me wrong, Nitro was LEGENDARY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1-aix3CqCc

If Baraki and Plasmalamp can have a bio, IMO, it was kinda ignorant of them not to put MAB's bio. They could have at least put in a couple of lines.

Apart from this little glitch that I felt bad about, Allmusic is a fantastic site for getting info about bands and, especially, about the kind of music you can find on a given album, through their 'Moods' classifications. A given album may sound angst-ridden, theatrical, carefree or even thuggish, hungry or sprawling. As random and subjective as the idea may seem, I totally dig it!

But, in hindsight, it seems to me that if you were looking for info about music history as in the evolution of music, I don't think Allmusic would fit the bill.

[Tampabass]

Originally Posted by Unrepresented

In a time before the internet, how was an alternative listening kid supposed to find out about glam rock?

Record stores numero uno. College radio stations - and, when glam sold big, commercial radio stations. Local bands that played glam covers.

And maybe mags? Spin, Alternative Press, even Rolling Stone, Creem and Circus?

[Space-Man]

Originally Posted by EdHunter

The influences thing is a brilliant route ot go down.

UFO
Rush
Beckett
Deep Purple
Uriah Heep
Focus
Budgie
Blitzkrieg
Diamond Head
Thin Lizzy
Sweet Savage
Mercyful Fate

All bands I discoovered through Iron Maiden and Metallica.

100+

Though, some of those bands I knew prior to listening to their followers and in one case it worked the opposite way(I found out about Maiden/Metallica through the wiki article on Geddy Lee).

[Deathblade Eric]

The "Family Tree" approach can open up a lot of doors... for example... from Deep Purple:

Richie Blackmore - Screamin' Lord Sutch, Rainbow, Blackmore's Night.

OK... Rainbow gets us Ronnie James Dio (Elf, Black Sabbath, Dio) & Cozy Powell (Emerson, Lake & Powell)... Jump to Greg Lake, which gives Emerson Lake & Palmer and King Crimson. KC leads us to Tony Levin & his various solo outings, and also gets us Adrian Belew - Talking Heads & Frank Zappa. Terry Bozzio played with Zappa at the same time as Belew, & then had a spell with Jeff Beck... who replaced Eric Clapton in the Yardbirds... who eventually morphed into Led Zeppelin, who in turn got sued by Willie Dixon who was the bass player/songwriter on a whole load of stuff put out by Chess records - including Johnny B. Goode by Chuck Berry - who was a massive early influence on The Beatles... etc, etc, etc.

This is fun to play with: http://www.bandtoband.com/ & have a look on Youtube for "Rock Family Trees", here's the Purple one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?hl=en&v=r9tXVt5-_1w&gl=US

Another method is to look at the writing credits on an album. Every once in a while an artist will cover a tune & this should be credited... explore further.

Version three... Follow a record label...

Stax/Atlantic/Atco - from Otis Redding to AC/DC
Motown - too numerous to mention
Sun - Probably the birthplace of Rock 'n' Roll - Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins etc.