Hard rock (the first word translates as “heavy”) is a musical style that appeared in the 60s and gained the greatest popularity in the 70s of the past century. What are his distinguishing qualities? Firstly, heavy guitar riffs, and secondly, a fairly calm pace, which can not be said about heavy metal, which appeared a little later.
The origin of style
It is believed that this style was founded by the band "The Kinks", which released in 1964 a simple song "You Really Got Me". She, however, was interested in the fact that the musicians played funky guitars. Just imagine: we probably would not have known anything about this style, if not for the contribution of this group. Hard rock appeared precisely thanks to this collective. Around the same time, the activities of Jimi Hendrix, who performed music in the same style, took place. But there was an admixture of psychedelics in her. Also, teams playing the blues, for example, "Yardbirds", as well as "Cream" began to come to the new style.
Top bands, early 70s
It should be noted that this direction was most actively developed in the UK, and soon the best hard rock bands formed: "Black Sabbath", "Deep Purple" and "Led Zeppelin". Soon, hits of all time appeared, such as "Paranoid" and "In Rock".
The most successful hard rock style album was "Machine Head", which included a song that absolutely everyone knows now, it was called "Smoke On The Water". At the same time, a rather gloomy team from Birmingham, calling himself "Black Sabbath", worked along with his illustrious colleagues. This team also laid the foundation for a style called Doom, which began to develop only ten years later. Hardly began the 70s, when new bands in the style of hard rock appeared - "Uriah Heep", "Free", "Nazareth", "Atomic Rooster", "UFO", "Budgie", "Thin Lizzy", "Black Widow "," Status Quo "," Foghat ". And these are far from all the groups founded at this time. Among them were groups that flirted with other styles (for example, “Atomic Rooster” and “Uriah Heep” didn’t shy of progressive progress, “Foghat” and “Status Quo” played boogie, and “Free” gravitated to blues-rock) .
But be that as it may, they all played exactly hard. In the US, too, many drew attention to this style. There appeared groups "Bloodrock", "Blue Cheer", as well as "Grand Funk Railroad". The teams were not bad at all, but they did not achieve wide fame. But many still loved these groups. The hard rock they played ignited the hearts of their fans.
Mid and late 70s
In the mid-70s, great bands such as Montrose, Kiss and Aerosmith were founded. In addition, Alice Cooper, who performed shock rock, and Ted Nugent began to gain popularity. Followers of the style from other states also began to appear: Australia put on stage kings of hard rock and roll called "AC / DC", Canada gave us "April Wine", in Germany a rather melodic group "Scorpions" was born, in Switzerland they formed Krokus. "
But at "Deep Purple" everything was not going very well - they were going through a difficult period in their lives. Soon the group ceased to exist, but after this two beautiful groups formed - "Rainbow", founded by R. Blackmore (later he gave birth to "Dio"), and "Whitesnake" - the brainchild of D. Coverdale. However, the end of the 70s could not be called a good time for hard rock, since then a new wave and punk began to gain popularity. It is also important that the kings of style began to lose ground - “Deep Purple” no longer existed, “Black Sabbath” lost their leader and unsuccessfully searched for a new one, nothing was heard about “Led Zeppelin” either after
John Bonham died
.
90s
The 90s were marked by a widespread interest in the alternative, including grunge, and hard rock at that time was relegated to the background, although occasionally good teams met. The greatest interest was caused by the band "Guns N 'Roses", which shocked the world with its song "Use Your Illusion", the European bands "Gotthard" (Switzerland) and "Axel Rudi Pell" (Germany) lagged behind them.
A little bit later…
Music in this style was performed later, however, some teams, for example, “Velvet Revolver” and “White Stripes”, sounded a little different, there was an admixture of alternatives, it was not pure hard rock. Most foreign groups did not try to adhere to any standards.
But the most loyal followers of the style, who have not forgotten about the classical traditions, can be called “Answer”, “Darkness”, as well as “Roadstar”, however, the last two of them soon ceased to exist.
"Gorky Park"
This group stands out most clearly from a number of Russian representatives of hard rock. She was popular in the USSR, the guys sang songs in English. In the 80s, the team was also found in America, and soon it became the first Russian team to be shown on MTV. Many people remember such “chips” of this group as Soviet symbols and folk clothes.
Performance with Scorpions, new album, video shooting, popularity in America
The Gorky Park team appeared in 1987. After 12 months, the team sang on the same stage with Scorpions when they were in St. Petersburg.
Soon after, the guys began to call themselves in English - "Gorky Park", and in 1989 the album of the same name was recorded . The cover had an interesting design - the letters G and P were displayed on it, resembling the shape of a sickle and a hammer. The group then flew to New York to make clips called “Bang!” And “My Generation”. In the Western countries at that time, many were interested in the USSR, and the team was liked by a wide range of Americans. And not surprising, because it was the best Russian hard rock. The bands playing in this style in our homeland could be counted on the fingers, and “Gorky Park” undoubtedly outperformed them all. Their success was tremendous.
"World Music Festival"
"Gorky Park" began to travel both in their native country and in the states. In 1989, the group performed their songs at the capital's famous "World Music Festival", then they were heard by one hundred and fifty thousand music lovers.
Bon Jovi, Ozzy Osbourne, Motley Crue, Skid Row, Cinderella and Scorpions performed on the same stage. Of course, for the group this was a grand event, the guys were happy that they managed to sing along with such legendary musicians. Later they recalled this festival as one of the best events in the history of the group, and they were right.
Touring Europe
Two years later, the group received the status of the most successful new international team. At the dawn of the 90s, the team successfully toured Sweden, Germany, Denmark, and Norway. For a long time these countries have not seen such a wonderful group. The hard rock in their performance was simply magnificent. There was a full house at each performance, people in crowds went to listen to good music. And no one was disappointed; everyone was delighted with the performance of this group. But how could you expect anything else from the team, each member of which was really talented? Therefore, it is not surprising that the group was successful.
"Moscow Calling", the departure of Alexander Minkov, the breakup of the group
However, after some time, Russia stopped capturing the minds of people in the West, and they began to forget about Gorky Park in America. Soon the team released the album “Moscow Calling”, and tours began in our country.
1998 was marked by the departure of Alexander Minkov from the team, who came up with the name "Alexander Marshal" and began to sing separately from the group. After that, “Gorky Park” began to go through hard times, and soon the team virtually ceased to exist. However, Yan Yanenkov together with Alexei Belov continued to perform old compositions. They began to call themselves "Belova Park."
But the former members of the once famous group did not forget about each other and sometimes gathered together for performances. Well, a good idea. Their fans were happy to see the newly assembled band and listen to their favorite songs. Each time they sang them together with their idols, wondering if this was the last performance or they would still have the opportunity to hear the legendary group.
Hard Rock Band: List
To summarize, we should list the teams playing in this style. Just for ease of perception.
Foreign artists: Jimi Hendricks, Cream, Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Nazareth, Atomic Rooster, Uriah Heep, Free, Thin Lizzy, UFO, Black Widow, Status Quo, Foghat, Budgie, Bloodrock, Blue Cheer, Grand Funk Railroad, Montrose, Kiss, Aerosmith, AC / DC, Scorpions, April Wine, Krokus, Rainbow, Dio, Whitesnake, Guns N 'Roses, Gotthard, Axel Rudi Pell, Velvet Revolver, White Stripes, Answer, Darkness, Roadstar.
Russian groups: Gorky Park, Demon of Illusions, Moby Dick, Voice of the Prophet.
Here are the most successful groups. Hard rock is performed by completely different and at the same time somewhat similar bands.