Music of the United Kingdom: Encyclopedia II - Music of the United Kingdom - 1970s: Rock splinters Jamaican and Indian music

Music of the United Kingdom - 1970s: Rock splinters Jamaican and Indian music

Main article: Music of the United Kingdom (1970s)

In the 1970s, the United Kingdom saw intense diversification in both popular and folk music. Heavy metal evolved from pioneers like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath into the hard-edged, complex music of bands like Iron Maiden. Progressive rock grew extremely popular, with ever-increasingly "progressive" elements added in the form of obtuse lyrics, classical-tinged music and long-playing suites in multiple parts. Pink Floyd, Genesis and King Crimson are notable examples of this movement. The reaction against progressive rock was swift, as the genre came to be perceived as needlessly obscure and inaccessible; a new generation of British youth hated progressive rock and the bombastic, indulgent sounds of heavy metal, disco and glam. They were called punks, and their music was loud, angry, rebellious punk rock. Punk became well-known after the coming of the Sex Pistols and their anarchist, incendiary lyrics which attacked the pillars of British society, such as the monarchy. In its purest form, however, it was short-lived; the energy could not be sustained, especially after anti-pop bands like The Clash found mainstream success and became unwilling pop stars. The 1970s saw tremendous changes in folk music as well, which saw the development of folk-rock fusions and powerful singer-songwriter traditions and the evolution of popular forms of folk-based music from the United Kingdom's Jamaican and Indian immigrant communities.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "1970s: Rock splinters Jamaican and Indian music", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki