Indeed. Many God-fearing mothers wouldn't even let their daughters listen to it.Originally Posted by Vic2012
Indeed. Many God-fearing mothers wouldn't even let their daughters listen to it.
"The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you got to load or unload go to the White Zone!"
this just seems to fit right in here.
Love it , great stuff, but essentially still rockabilly based rock n roll, with that country sounding guitar. Taylor was basically an English version of Gene Vincent, who was his major inspiration, down to his stage antics, leather clothes and leather gloves, which Shane Fenton (later known as Alvin Stardust) also copied.
I posted it because of its energy, not cause it had anything to do with the first hard rock song.
okay.
its a very ambiguous topic: there isnt a "right" or "wrong" here and it certainly is an interesting discussion because, if anything, it tells of the various perspective of the forum's readers....For example, even though my money is on The Kinks and stated my reasons why it wouldnt be "Rumble", I also DID say that I could postulate an argument for Rumble in my first post here (although it would be thin)...heck, I think an argument (another thin one) can be made for The Ventures "Pipeline"
The Vince Taylor video above is another good argument
I could throw in a couple of particular Howling Wolf recordings for good measure as possibilities
Music is a constant evolutionary process: its more apt to believe that Hard Rock didnt just happen overnight but slowly materialized itself into a solid being by '66 or so but, for the sake of the thread and fun discussion, Im going with The Kinks
Last edited by klothos; 10-21-2013 at 05:20 PM.
Why? Did they think their daughters were going to be "seduced" by their music or something? The Stones might have had more attitude than the Beatles but lyrically I think the Beatles were more "seductive" or sexual even. For example take the lyrics to "Norwegian Wood," "day tripper"(ie she only played one night stands now)or even "drive my car." The Rolling Stones song "let's spend the night together" was two years after those. To get back on topic but sticking with the Beatles I would suggest "Paperback writer" and "taxman" as being hard rock for 1966 and especially for the Beatles. I do think that the Kinks and the Yardbirds were harder before them though.
This.
Hell, they ain't even old-timey ! - Homer Stokes
You're asking me to understand their reasoning? I had one particular girl friend who's mother found it offensive because Mick couldn't get satisfied.
"The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you got to load or unload go to the White Zone!"
YES, they did
This:
Because she knew her daughter would satisfy him. On her knees.
It's very hard to pick between the two, both are fantastic, but I favour "All Day", because of its heavier guitars and beat.
You mean The Chantays (actually The Ventures did record a version of the song later, but the composition was a Chantays original, and it's their version that was the big hit). Anthrax certainly thought enough of Pipeline to record a version back in the late 80's (with Scott Ian noting in the liner notes of the album it was released on that all metal guitarists should study surf music to get a better understanding of rhythm guitar).
What about Dick Dale's recording of Misirlou? I believe that predated Pipeline, slightly, and that's pretty heavy.
Oh, and if we were gonna bring Link Wray into it, I would argue that Jack The Ripper would be a better candidate for "first hard rock song" than Rumble. But Jack The Ripper came later than Misirlou and Pipeline, so it may be out of contention.
A little TMI, Fred.
Last edited by JIF; 10-21-2013 at 10:45 PM.
Hey, I'm just saying. That song was scandalous for good reason.
Now I have an image of a innocent young girl giving Mick Jagger a blowjob.
It's all right there in one measure. The snare shot seals the deal.
Hell, they ain't even old-timey ! - Homer Stokes
Rock n roll as a whole was scandalous, going right back to the 50's. There was news footage at the time of pseudo-religious types giving sermons about the "obscene music" that was rock n roll back in the 50's. Elvis, Chuck, Little Richard, Jerry Lee, Gene, and the rest of them were all viewed was "lewd and disgusting" by uptight parental unit types (particularly the Caucasian ones).
There was a lot of talk of rock n roll being "the music of juvenile delinquents", as Frank Sinatra once suggested (wait a minute, wasn't Mr. Sinatra a juvenile delinquent?!). And of course, Rock Around The Clock's use in Blackboard Jungle, a movie about juvenile delinquents, furthered that image in a lot of people's minds.
And of course, the suggestion that rock n roll was corrupting teenagers only made them love the music even more. As Lemmy once pointed, parental digust is the seal of approval, inn'it?
So Mick was just furthering the "parental disgust" aspect, probably being egged on by Andrew "Loog" Oldham, the band's manager, who crafted The Stones whole "bad boy" image in the first place. I can imagine Oldham encouraging Mick to push the envelope with the lyrics, "Right, you can't be explict, but if you can find a way of talking about sex, without actually saying the words, go for it, mate".
Ohio Express "Yummy Yummy Yummy" was a "dirty" song all cleverly disguised in a bubblegum package marketed to adolescents
I'd go earlier and agree with Johnny Kidd and the Pirates' 'Please Don't Touch' and 'Shakin' All Over'. Though the guitar tone is cleaner than what came later, these records nevertheless have a much tougher sound than almost all rock and roll of that time IMHO. Both also have iconic, catchy riffs of the sort found in many a hard rock song.
Yes a lot of their other stuff isn't so good, but they were from a time where the producer had more impact on an artist's sound and material in Britain. I remember an interview with one of the Pirates where they said one engineer said it was not possible to distort the guitar and got out a rulebook or something. That's what bands were dealing with here, that accounts for how polite most UK pop music then was. That's one of the reasons The Beatles got so lucky with George Martin...he made one attempt at giving them a song but quickly took a 'hands off' approach in that regard.
Re; instrumentals. I don't really think these qualify as 'songs' in the same way. But try Lonnie Mack's 'Wham' and 'Memphis', and Eddie Cochran's 'Eddie's Blues' for more. Notably these were US releases, I think producers over there were ahead of the game and allowed for more grit in the sound, as seen in the Chess records which distort all over the place and benefit from that rawness.
Last edited by JJ88; 10-22-2013 at 03:29 AM.
This is like asking what is the first rock'n'roll song. Is it Rocket 88? It's impossible really but it might be better to point to a collection of songs/musical trends (like the distorted guitar and power chords).
And in the end, the love you take, is equal to the love you make.
There was a story that The Who's original US label (Decca, I think), allegedly sent the master for Anyway Anyway Anyhow, I think it was, back to England because they thought the recording was substandard or defective or whatever. I guess Townshend's guitar feedback, particularly the bits where he's flipping the pickup switch back and forth to do the morse code thing threw them off.
Another story I remember hearing was one of the times Hendrix appeared on BBC radio, the engineer kept stopping take after take after take, because "we're getting a lot of distortion on the tape". Eventually, it was determined that the distortion was deliberate. I imagine the guy still didn't understand it, but once they figured out it was on purpose, they allowed the recording session go forward, thus allowing everyone to run down to the pub for a pint that much quicker once the session finished.
It was well into my adulthood when I found out that one line was 'Trying to make some girl'. I'd always thought it was 'trying to meet some girl' so didn't 'get' the controversy.
maybe this is another thread but who has more credibility? Jagger for changing his lyrics to 'spend some time together' or Morrison for singing 'higher' when asked to use some other word?
I don't think it's about credibility. They were asked to change it for TV and one did and the other didn't. It was, essentially, a marketing decision. One band wanted to return to the show and Morrison couldn't care less.
Now, if you want to talk about credibility, let's talk about the disco years when so many bands sold out.
"The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you got to load or unload go to the White Zone!"
Who 'sold out'? and how is that not a marketing decision?
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