179-502: Badfinger , formerly known as The Iveys , were a Welsh rock band formed in 1961 in Swansea , Wales. Their best-known lineup consisted of Pete Ham (guitar), Mike Gibbins (drums), Tom Evans (bass), and Joey Molland (guitar). They are recognised for their influence on the 1970s power pop genre. It is estimated that the band sold 14 million records. Initially known as the Iveys ,
358-460: A Fender Rhodes piano as down payment. Later in 1977, United States–based drummer Kenny Harck and guitarist Joe Tansin recruited Molland to start a new band. When they needed a bass player, Molland suggested Evans, who joined after a visit to California in 1978. Encouragement from the Elektra record company led to the decision to rename the new band Badfinger. Their "comeback" album, Airwaves ,
537-693: A cover of the Rolling Stones song " Lady Jane ", which had some airplay in the UK, reached number 28 on the UK Singles Chart , but peaked at number 5 in the Netherlands . Later that year he covered "Dear Mrs. Applebee", a relatively unknown American song first recorded by Flip Cartridge, and written by Billy Meshell and Phil Barr. Garrick's version was a hit in Germany (number 1), in
716-850: A "20th Anniversary of the British Rock 'N' Roll Tour", which included Gerry and the Pacemakers , the Troggs , Billy J. Kramer and Herman's Hermits . In 1986, Molland and Gibbins resumed sporadic touring as Badfinger, with Randy Anderson on guitar and either Mark Healey or A. J. Nicholas on bass. Gibbins left for good in February 1990 following appearances at three auto shows in Columbus, Ohio , West Allis, Wisconsin , and Flint, Michigan . All four Badfinger albums on Apple, which were deleted from release in 1975, have been reissued twice; first in
895-519: A Little Help from My Friends ", as John Lennon had hurt his forefinger on a piano and was using only one finger. In December 1969, the band agreed on Badfinger. Harrison would later state that the band was named after Helga Fabdinger, a stripper the Beatles had known in Hamburg. At the end of October 1969, Griffiths, who was the sole married occupant of the communal group's home and also was raising
1074-431: A US and UK number-one hit for Harry Nilsson in 1972 and a UK number-one for Mariah Carey in 1994. After Apple Records folded in 1973, Badfinger struggled with a host of legal, managerial, and financial problems mostly due to their fraudulent manager Stan Polley , leading to Ham's suicide in 1975. The surviving members struggled to rebuild their personal and professional lives against a backdrop of lawsuits which tied up
1253-555: A US tour in 1972, but after problems with Evans, Gibbins left and was replaced for the tour by drummer Rob Stawinsky, who was described as Badfinger's "solid, new drummer". Stawinsky was not used after the tour, though, and Gibbins rejoined the band in September. At the start of 1972, Badfinger were contracted for one last album with Apple Records. Despite Badfinger's success, Apple was facing troubled times and its operations were being cut back by Klein. According to Molland, Polley told
1432-649: A US tour to go back into Apple Recording Studios to record its third album under the Warner Brothers contract. Because Thomas, the producer of Badfinger's last three albums, thought that the band was rushing into the studio too quickly, Polley hired Kiss producers Kenny Kerner and Richie Wise to produce the album. Over only 11 days at the Apple studios, tracks were recorded for the Head First album (eventually released in 2000), and rough mixes were distributed to
1611-480: A basic cassette recorder, which was initially (and inaccurately) titled Live 83 – DBA-BFR . The band at that time had consisted of Evans, Gibbins, Jackson, Kailing and Dacus. Rock music Rock is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll " in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles from the mid-1960s, particularly in
1790-441: A bit different, wanna get our own thing in'. I said ' No , this has gotta be exactly like this [McCartney's demo], 'cos this is the hit. ' " McCartney had been commissioned to contribute two other songs to the film's soundtrack. After "Come and Get It" was successfully recorded, he offered to produce two of the Iveys' original compositions to fulfill those commissions, for which he selected "Carry On Till Tomorrow" (commissioned as
1969-514: A certain degree doesn't care if it's popular. — Bill Wyman in Vulture (2016) The sound of rock is traditionally centered on the amplified electric guitar, which emerged in its modern form in the 1950s with the popularity of rock and roll. It was also greatly influenced by the sounds of electric blues guitarists. The sound of an electric guitar in rock music is typically supported by an electric bass guitar, which pioneered jazz music in
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#17327805172882148-440: A child (b. December 1968), left the group. His responsibilities created friction, mainly between Griffiths's wife, Evans, and manager Collins. Griffiths later said: "Tommy [Evans] created the bad blood. He'd convinced the others that [I was] not one of the boys anymore." Drummer Gibbins remembered that he wasn't even consulted about the decision: "I was considered a nothing head at that point. I wasn't even worth conversing with." As
2327-572: A disastrous tour and a $ 5 million lawsuit, which was finally settled on 21 October 1985, in Cass's favour, although both musicians argued that their responsibilities of the contract could not be enforced because certain management obligations had not been performed. Early in 1983, Evans and Jackson, with assistance from new member Al Wodtke, completed four demos in Minneapolis , under the name "Badfinger". The demos included Jackson's "I Won't Forget You",
2506-426: A father-figure. At the same time, Polley was also managing Al Kooper , of Blood, Sweat & Tears , and Lou Christie . Although Polley's professional reputation was admired, his dubious financial practices eventually contributed to the band's downfall. A financial statement prepared by Polley's accountants, Sigmund Balaban & Co., for the period from 8 December 1970 to 31 October 1971, showed Polley's income from
2685-595: A follow-up single release in those markets in July 1969: Griffiths's " Dear Angie ", also produced by Visconti. An LP containing both singles and titled Maybe Tomorrow was released only in Italy, Germany, and Japan. This limited release strategy was thought to be the work of Apple Corps president Allen Klein : an Apple Corps press officer, Tony Bramwell, remembered: "[Klein] was saying, 'We're not going to issue any more records until I sort out this [Apple Corps] mess. ' " After
2864-519: A fondness for a good beat, a meaningful lyric with some wit, and the theme of youth, which holds an "eternal attraction" so objective "that all youth music partakes of sociology and the field report ." Writing in Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s (1990), he said this sensibility is evident in the music of folk singer-songwriter Michelle Shocked , rapper LL Cool J , and synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys —"all kids working out their identities"—as much as it
3043-481: A foundation of simple syncopated rhythms in a 4 meter , with a repetitive snare drum back beat on beats two and four. Melodies often originate from older musical modes such as the Dorian and Mixolydian , as well as major and minor modes. Harmonies range from the common triad to parallel perfect fourths and fifths and dissonant harmonic progressions. Since the late 1950s, and particularly from
3222-674: A four-track demo studio in London's Old Kent Road on 15 January 1967: "Taxi" and "Sausage And Eggs", songs by Ham; and Griffiths's "I Believe in You Girl". On 8 December 1966, Collins and the group signed a five-year contract giving Collins a 20% share of net receipts, the same as the individual group members, but only after managerial expenses had been deducted. Collins said at the time, "Look, I can't promise you lads anything, except blood, sweat and tears." The group performed occasional concerts backing David Garrick while performing as
3401-628: A frequent addition to the established rock format of guitars, bass, and drums in subsequent progressive rock. Instrumentals were common, while songs with lyrics were sometimes conceptual, abstract, or based in fantasy and science fiction. The Pretty Things ' SF Sorrow (1968), the Kinks' Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) (1969), and the Who 's Tommy (1969) introduced
3580-490: A great group. We had a great record. We were missing just one thing ... the ability to go out and pick up people, and convince them to put their money on the counter." A second Tom Evans composition, "Storm in a Teacup", was included on an Apple EP promoting Wall's Ice Cream , along with songs by Apple artists such as James Taylor , Mary Hopkin , and Jackie Lomax . The chart success of "Maybe Tomorrow" in Europe and Japan led to
3759-511: A key feature of psychedelia. Psychedelic rock reached its apogee in the last years of the decade. 1967 saw the Beatles release their definitive psychedelic statement in Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band , including the controversial track " Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds ", the Rolling Stones responded later that year with Their Satanic Majesties Request , and Pink Floyd debuted with The Piper at
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#17327805172883938-573: A loud amplified sound, often centered on the electric guitar, based on the Chicago blues , particularly after the tour of Britain by Muddy Waters in 1958, which prompted Cyril Davies and guitarist Alexis Korner to form the band Blues Incorporated . The band involved and inspired many of the figures of the subsequent British blues boom, including members of the Rolling Stones and Cream , combining blues standards and forms with rock instrumentation and emphasis. The other key focus for British blues
4117-587: A mainstream audience with hits including " Blowin' in the Wind " (1963) and " Masters of War " (1963), which brought " protest songs " to a wider public, but, although beginning to influence each other, rock and folk music had remained largely separate genres, often with mutually exclusive audiences. Early attempts to combine elements of folk and rock included the Animals' " House of the Rising Sun " (1964), which
4296-495: A major element of progressive rock. From about 1967 bands like Cream and the Jimi Hendrix Experience had moved away from purely blues-based music into psychedelia . By the 1970s, blues rock had become heavier and more riff-based, exemplified by the work of Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple , and the lines between blues rock and hard rock "were barely visible", as bands began recording rock-style albums. The genre
4475-429: A major influence on subsequent electronic rock . With the advent of punk rock and technological changes in the late 1970s, progressive rock was increasingly dismissed as pretentious and overblown. Many bands broke up, but some, including Genesis, ELP, Yes, and Pink Floyd, regularly scored top ten albums with successful accompanying worldwide tours. Some bands which emerged in the aftermath of punk, such as Siouxsie and
4654-620: A merger of two separate songs, with the verses penned by Ham and the chorus penned by Evans. The song won Ham and Evans the 1972 Ivor Novello award for "Song of the Year". In April 1970, while in the US scouting prospects for a tour, Collins was introduced to New York businessman Stan Polley , who signed Badfinger to a business management contract in November 1970. Polley established Badfinger Enterprises, Inc., with Stan Poses as vice-president. It bound
4833-410: A more basic form of rock and roll that incorporated its original influences, particularly blues, country and folk music, leading to the creation of country rock and Southern rock. In 1966 Bob Dylan went to Nashville to record the album Blonde on Blonde . This, and subsequent more clearly country-influenced albums, such as Nashville Skyline , have been seen as creating the genre of country folk ,
5012-486: A multibillion-dollar industry and doubling its market while, as Christgau noted, suffering a significant "loss of cultural prestige". "Maybe the Bee Gees became more popular than the Beatles, but they were never more popular than Jesus ", he said. "Insofar as the music retained any mythic power, the myth was self-referential – there were lots of songs about the rock and roll life but very few about how rock could change
5191-530: A national phenomenon. It is often argued that the surf music craze and the careers of almost all surf acts was effectively ended by the arrival of the British Invasion from 1964, because most surf music hits were recorded and released between 1960 and 1965. By the end of 1962, what would become the British rock scene had started with beat groups like the Beatles , Gerry & the Pacemakers and
5370-415: A new compilation titled Timeless was issued by EMI/Universal both to capitalise on the use of "Baby Blue" in the finale of Breaking Bad and to include the 2010 remastered versions of Badfinger's songs on a greatest-hits album. In 1990, Rykodisc released Day After Day: Live , billed as a Badfinger live recording from 1974. The album underwent substantial re-recording, and a rearranged track order by
5549-411: A preacher, prosecutions of Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry and the breaking of the payola scandal (which implicated major figures, including Alan Freed, in bribery and corruption in promoting individual acts or songs), gave a sense that the rock and roll era established at that point had come to an end. Rock quickly spread out from its origins in the US, associated with the rapid Americanization that
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5728-444: A prog rock influence and while ranking among the most commercially successful acts of the 1970s, heralding the era of pomp or arena rock , which would last until the costs of complex shows (often with theatrical staging and special effects), would be replaced by more economical rock festivals as major live venues in the 1990s. The instrumental strand of the genre resulted in albums like Mike Oldfield 's Tubular Bells (1973),
5907-638: A result of their touring schedule. A March 1974 concert at the Cleveland Agora was recorded on 16-track tape for a possible live album release, even though the performance was deemed unsatisfactory at the time. Following the American tours, Badfinger recorded Wish You Were Here at the Caribou Ranch recording studio in Colorado, and at George Martin 's AIR Studios in London. The album
6086-446: A rigidly delineated musical definition." In the opinion of music journalist Robert Christgau , "the best rock jolts folk-art virtues—directness, utility, natural audience—into the present with shots of modern technology and modernist dissociation ". Rock and roll was conceived as an outlet for adolescent yearnings ... To make rock and roll is also an ideal way to explore intersections of sex, love, violence, and fun, to broadcast
6265-561: A rough mix version of Head First (taken from an open-reel tape prepared by Apple engineer Phil McDonald in December 1974) was released on CD. (According to Dan Matovina, Warner Brothers could not locate the original master tapes for remixing at that time, but they were eventually found about 10 years later.) In 2002, Gibbins released a two-disc set of a Badfinger performance recorded in Indiana, on 19 October 1982, which had been captured on
6444-721: A route pursued by a number of largely acoustic folk musicians. Other acts that followed the back-to-basics trend were the Canadian group the Band and the California-based Creedence Clearwater Revival , both of which mixed basic rock and roll with folk, country and blues, to be among the most successful and influential bands of the late 1960s. The same movement saw the beginning of the recording careers of Californian solo artists like Ry Cooder , Bonnie Raitt and Lowell George , and influenced
6623-442: A self-titled album and three singles, but none managed to chart. By 1977, both Molland and Evans were out of the music business. Molland later described his dire economic circumstances: "Thank God I had guitars and I was able to sell some of that stuff. We were flat broke, and that's happened to me three times, where my wife and I have had to sell off everything and go and stay with her parents or do whatever. I installed carpeting for
6802-481: A slogan one only began to hear in 1972 or so, mobilized all those eager to believe that idealism had become passe, and once they were mobilized, it had. In popular music, embracing the '70s meant both an elitist withdrawal from the messy concert and counterculture scene and a profiteering pursuit of the lowest common denominator in FM radio and album rock . Rock saw greater commodification during this decade, turning into
6981-753: A street in Swansea called Ivey Place. In March 1965, drummer Mike Gibbins joined the Iveys. The group secured concerts around the Swansea area, opening for prominent British bands such as the Spencer Davis Group , the Who , the Moody Blues , and the Yardbirds . By June 1966, Bill Collins (the father of actor Lewis Collins ) had started to manage the group. In December 1966, the group moved into Collins's home at 7 Park Avenue, Golders Green , London, sharing space with an act called
7160-465: A three-year period. By this time Evans had become suspicious of Polley's oversight, but the band nevertheless signed the deal. Released in 1973, the Ass front cover featured Evans's idea: a jackass staring at a huge dangling carrot. The Ass release was further stalled because of legal wrangling, with Polley using Molland's unsigned song publishing as a negotiating ploy. Attempting to sweep discrepancies under
7339-429: A tribute to Ham. The songs were briefly promoted but failed to generate strong interest, despite the involvement of Don Powell, who was a manager for musicians such as David Bowie and Stevie Wonder . On the night of 18 November 1983, Evans and Molland had an extensive and heated argument on the telephone regarding past Badfinger income still in escrow from the Apple era, and the "Without You" songwriting royalties Evans
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7518-464: A variety of directions, including Dylan and the Byrds, who began to develop country rock . However, the hybridization of folk and rock has been seen as having a major influence on the development of rock music, bringing in elements of psychedelia, and helping to develop the ideas of the singer-songwriter, the protest song, and concepts of "authenticity". Psychedelic music's LSD -inspired vibe began in
7697-529: A variety of sources such as the Tin Pan Alley pop tradition, folk music , and rhythm and blues . Christgau characterizes rock lyrics as a "cool medium" with simple diction and repeated refrains, and asserts that rock's primary "function" "pertains to music, or, more generally, noise ." The predominance of white, male, and often middle class musicians in rock music has often been noted, and rock has been seen as an appropriation of Black musical forms for
7876-563: A while in Los Angeles and stuff like that. You do what you've got to do to survive." In London, Evans briefly had jobs insulating pipes, and driving a taxi. Collins was having trouble paying the lease on the group's two-room rehearsal studio at No. 6 Denmark Street , London. After advertising for new occupants, he was contacted by Malcolm McLaren , manager of the Sex Pistols , who gave Collins £650 (equivalent to £6,900 in 2023) and
8055-501: A young, white and largely male audience. As a result, it has also been seen to articulate the concerns of this group in both style and lyrics. Christgau, writing in 1972, said in spite of some exceptions, "rock and roll usually implies an identification of male sexuality and aggression". Since the term "rock" started being used in preference to "rock and roll" from the late-1960s, it has usually been contrasted with pop music, with which it has shared many characteristics, but from which it
8234-676: Is better. Pete. P.S. Stan Polley is a soulless bastard. I will take him with me". Ham died at the age of 27 . He had shown growing signs of mental illness over the past months, with Gibbins remembering Ham burning cigarettes on his hands and arms. He was cremated at the Morriston Crematorium, Swansea; his ashes were spread in the memorial gardens. Ham's daughter, Petera, was born one month after his death. In May, Warner Bros terminated its contract with Badfinger, and Badfinger dissolved. Around that time, Apple also deleted all of Badfinger's albums from its catalogue. Gibbins joined
8413-540: Is credited with first using the phrase "rock and roll" to describe the music. Four years later, Bill Haley 's " Rock Around the Clock " (1954) became the first rock and roll song to top Billboard magazine's main sales and airplay charts, and opened the door worldwide for this new wave of popular culture. Other artists with early rock and roll hits included Chuck Berry , Bo Diddley , Fats Domino , Little Richard , Jerry Lee Lewis , and Gene Vincent . Soon rock and roll
8592-472: Is generally agreed that garage rock peaked both commercially and artistically around 1966. By 1968 the style largely disappeared from the national charts and at the local level as amateur musicians faced college, work or the draft . New styles had evolved to replace garage rock. Although the first impact of the British Invasion on American popular music was through beat and R&B based acts,
8771-555: Is in the music of Chuck Berry , the Ramones , and the Replacements . The foundations of rock music are in rock and roll, which originated in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, and quickly spread to much of the rest of the world. Its immediate origins lay in a melding of various black musical genres of the time, including rhythm and blues and gospel music , with country and western . Debate surrounds
8950-411: Is often distanced by an emphasis on musicianship, live performance, and a focus on serious and progressive themes as part of an ideology of authenticity that is frequently combined with an awareness of the genre's history and development. According to Simon Frith , rock was "something more than pop, something more than rock and roll" and "[r]ock musicians combined an emphasis on skill and technique with
9129-458: Is song-based music with a 4 time signature using a verse–chorus form , but the genre has become extremely diverse. Like pop music , lyrics often stress romantic love but also address a wide variety of other themes that are frequently social or political. Rock was the most popular genre of music in the U.S. and much of the Western world from the 1950s to the 2010s. Rock musicians in
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#17327805172889308-399: Is termed as a rock band or a rock group. Furthermore, it typically consists of between three (the power trio ) and five members. Classically, a rock band takes the form of a quartet whose members cover one or more roles, including vocalist, lead guitarist, rhythm guitarist, bass guitarist, drummer, and often keyboard player or another instrumentalist. Rock music is traditionally built on
9487-523: Is the Band." David Garrick (singer) Philip Darrell Core (12 September 1945 – 23 August 2013), known professionally as David Garrick , was an English singer who was best known for his 1966 pop hit single , "Dear Mrs. Applebee". As a teenager Garrick sang in a Liverpool church choir, but became interested in opera and succeeded in obtaining a scholarship to train as an opera singer in Milan, Italy . He returned to Liverpool after two years, where he
9666-535: The Billboard Hot 100 . The British Invasion greatly influenced garage bands, providing them with a national audience, leading many (often surf or hot rod groups) to adopt a British influence, and encouraging many more groups to form. Thousands of garage bands were extant in the United States and Canada during the era and hundreds produced regional hits. Despite scores of bands being signed to major or large regional labels, most were commercial failures. It
9845-548: The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) in 1995, incurring the anger of the Ham and Evans families. While in a 1988 readers poll for Goldmine magazine, Straight Up (1971) ranked as the most-requested CD release among out-of-print albums, the album made it to CD only in 1993. In 1995, Molland was paid to re-record the 10 most popular Badfinger songs. These recordings were variously packaged in
10024-524: The American folk music revival had grown to a major movement, using traditional music and new compositions in a traditional style, usually on acoustic instruments. In America the genre was pioneered by figures such as Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger and often identified with progressive or labor politics . In the early sixties figures such as Joan Baez and Bob Dylan had come to the fore in this movement as singer-songwriters. Dylan had begun to reach
10203-422: The garage rock / post-punk revival in the 2000s. Since the 2010s, rock has lost its position as the pre-eminent popular music genre in world culture, but remains commercially successful. The increased influence of hip-hop and electronic dance music can be seen in rock music, notably in the techno-pop scene of the early 2010s and the pop-punk-hip-hop revival of the 2020s. Rock has also embodied and served as
10382-417: The protest song , rock music has been associated with political activism , as well as changes in social attitudes to race, sex, and drug use, and is often seen as an expression of youth revolt against adult consumerism and conformity . At the same time, it has been commercially highly successful, leading to accusations of selling out . A good definition of rock, in fact, is that it's popular music that to
10561-454: The 1950s saw the growth in popularity of the electric guitar, and the development of a specifically rock and roll style of playing through such exponents as Chuck Berry, Link Wray , and Scotty Moore . The use of distortion , pioneered by Western swing guitarists such as Junior Barnard and Eldon Shamblin was popularized by Chuck Berry in the mid-1950s. The use of power chords , pioneered by Francisco Tárrega and Heitor Villa-Lobos in
10740-467: The 19th century and later on by Willie Johnson and Pat Hare in the early 1950s, was popularized by Link Wray in the late 1950s. Commentators have traditionally perceived a decline of rock and roll in the late 1950s and early 1960s. By 1959, the death of Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens in a plane crash, the departure of Elvis for the army, the retirement of Little Richard to become
10919-618: The April cheques never arrived. Panic set in, especially for Ham, who had recently bought a £30,000 house in Woking , Surrey , and whose girlfriend was expecting a child. According to Jackson, the band tried to continue without Polley's involvement by contacting booking agents and prospective managers throughout London, but they were routinely declined because of their restrictive contracts with Polley and impending legal actions. Ham reportedly tried on many occasions to contact Polley by telephone during
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#173278051728811098-477: The Banshees , Ultravox , and Simple Minds , showed the influence of progressive rock, as well as their more usually recognized punk influences. In the late 1960s, jazz-rock emerged as a distinct subgenre out of the blues-rock, psychedelic, and progressive rock scenes, mixing the power of rock with the musical complexity and improvisational elements of jazz. AllMusic states that the term jazz-rock "may refer to
11277-879: The Beatles would continue throughout Badfinger's career. Various members of Badfinger also participated in sessions for fellow Apple Records labelmates, most notably playing acoustic guitar and percussion on much of Harrison's All Things Must Pass triple album (1970), including the hit singles " Isn't It a Pity ", " My Sweet Lord ". and " What Is Life ". Ham and Evans also provided backing vocals on Ringo Starr 's Harrison-produced single, " It Don't Come Easy ". Evans and Molland then performed on Lennon's album Imagine (1971), although Molland has said that their tracks were not used. Most famously, on 26 July 1971, all four members of Badfinger arrived at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport , to rehearse for Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh , which took place on 1 August 1971. Ham duetted on acoustic guitar with Harrison on " Here Comes
11456-628: The Beatles, demonstrating "to the rock generation in general that an album could be a major standalone statement without hit singles", such as on The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963). Folk rock particularly took off in California, where it led acts like the Mamas & the Papas and Crosby, Stills, and Nash to move to electric instrumentation, and in New York, where it spawned performers including
11635-617: The Byrds ' shift from folk to folk rock from 1965. The psychedelic lifestyle, which revolved around hallucinogenic drugs, had already developed in San Francisco and particularly prominent products of the scene were Big Brother and the Holding Company , the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane . The Jimi Hendrix Experience 's lead guitarist, Jimi Hendrix did extended distorted, feedback-filled jams which became
11814-431: The Byrds adopted rock instrumentation, including drums and 12-string Rickenbacker guitars, which became a major element in the sound of the genre. Later that year Dylan adopted electric instruments, much to the outrage of many folk purists, with his " Like a Rolling Stone " becoming a US hit single. According to Ritchie Unterberger , Dylan (even before his adoption of electric instruments) influenced rock musicians like
11993-537: The Dominos , followed by an extensive solo career that helped bring blues rock into the mainstream. Green, along with the Bluesbreaker's rhythm section Mick Fleetwood and John McVie , formed Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac , who enjoyed some of the greatest commercial success in the genre. In the late 1960s Jeff Beck , also an alumnus of the Yardbirds, moved blues rock in the direction of heavy rock with his band,
12172-575: The Flying Aces, and performed session drumming for various Welsh acts, including Bonnie Tyler 's international hit " It's a Heartache ". Evans and Jackson became part of a group called the Dodgers. They released three British singles on Island Records in 1976. "Don't Let Me Be Wrong" was the act's only US release, but failed to chart. Subsequently, the management of the Dodgers fired Evans in 1977 for insubordination and deleted all his performances from
12351-507: The Gates of Dawn . Key recordings included Jefferson Airplane's Surrealistic Pillow and the Doors ' self-titled debut album . These trends peaked in the 1969 Woodstock festival , which saw performances by most of the major psychedelic acts. Sgt. Pepper was later regarded as the greatest album of all time and a starting point for the album era , during which rock music transitioned from
12530-494: The Iveys across the United Kingdom throughout the rest of the decade. In August 1967, Dai Jenkins was asked to leave the group, and was replaced by Liverpudlian guitarist Tom Evans, formerly of Them Calderstones (b. Thomas Evans Jr., 5 June 1947, Liverpool , d. 19 November 1983). Jenkins's departure was remembered by Griffiths as being "politely asked if he would step down," as Jenkins seemed more interested in girls than
12709-707: The Iveys' singles and five other songs from Maybe Tomorrow ) and then released as Badfinger's first album Magic Christian Music (1970). The album peaked at #55 on the Billboard album chart in the US. In addition, Derek Taylor commissioned Les Smithers to photograph the band in March 1970. His photograph has been acquired by the National Portrait Gallery. New recording sessions for Badfinger also commenced in March 1970, with Mal Evans producing. Two songs were completed, including "No Matter What", which
12888-471: The Jeff Beck Group . The last Yardbirds guitarist was Jimmy Page , who went on to form The New Yardbirds which rapidly became Led Zeppelin . Many of the songs on their first three albums, and occasionally later in their careers, were expansions on traditional blues songs. In America, blues rock had been pioneered in the early 1960s by guitarist Lonnie Mack , but the genre began to take off in
13067-506: The Joint " (1949), also covered by Bill Haley & His Comets in 1952; and " Rocket 88 " by Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats (in fact, Ike Turner and his band the Kings of Rhythm ), recorded by Sam Phillips for Chess Records in 1951. In 1951, Cleveland, Ohio disc jockey Alan Freed began playing rhythm and blues music (then termed " race music ") for a multi-racial audience, and
13246-503: The Lovin' Spoonful and Simon and Garfunkel , with the latter's acoustic " The Sounds of Silence " (1965) being remixed with rock instruments to be the first of many hits. These acts directly influenced British performers like Donovan and Fairport Convention . In 1969 Fairport Convention abandoned their mixture of American covers and Dylan-influenced songs to play traditional English folk music on electric instruments. This British folk-rock
13425-484: The Mojos . The house was terminally overcrowded, so the only place to find any privacy was in a room equipped with a two-track recording machine. The group performed a wide range of cover tunes on the London circuit, from Motown , blues , and soul to Top 40 , psychedelia, and Beatles hits, which garnered interest from record labels. Ray Davies of the Kinks auditioned to produce them, recording three of their songs at
13604-689: The Netherlands (number 3), and Flanders (number 3), but got no higher than number 22 on the UK chart . In following years, Garrick released numerous singles and albums but never again achieved any notable success. In Germany he had two minor hits in 1967. In 1970 he went to live in South Africa and Egypt for some years. In the 1990s, he returned to Europe to attempt a comeback mainly focused in Germany. In 1999, he recorded "Apassionata", produced by Mal Jefferson at Mastersound Studios, Southport, which
13783-577: The Panthers, whose line-up consisted of Pete Ham (lead guitar), Ronald "Ron" Griffiths (bass guitar) (b. Ronald Llewellyn Griffiths, 2 October 1946, Swansea), David "Dai" Jenkins (rhythm guitar) (b. David Owen Jenkins, 30 October 1945, Swansea), and Roy Anderson (drums). After playing under various names, including the Black Velvets and the Wild Ones, by 1964 they had settled on the Iveys, after
13962-476: The Rolling Stones and the Yardbirds , were much more directly influenced by rhythm and blues and later blues music. Soon these groups were composing their own material, combining US forms of music and infusing it with a high energy beat. Beat bands tended towards "bouncy, irresistible melodies", while early British blues acts tended towards less sexually innocent, more aggressive songs, often adopting an anti-establishment stance. There was, however, particularly in
14141-588: The Searchers from Liverpool and Freddie and the Dreamers , Herman's Hermits and the Hollies from Manchester. They drew on a wide range of American influences including 1950s rock and roll, soul, rhythm and blues, and surf music, initially reinterpreting standard American tunes and playing for dancers. Bands like the Animals from Newcastle and Them from Belfast , and particularly those from London like
14320-672: The Seeds ) to near-studio musician quality (including the Knickerbockers , the Remains , and the Fifth Estate ). There were also regional variations in many parts of the country with flourishing scenes particularly in California and Texas. The Pacific Northwest states of Washington and Oregon had perhaps the most defined regional sound. The style had been evolving from regional scenes as early as 1958. "Tall Cool One" (1959) by
14499-595: The Sun " during the concert. In 1971, the group rented Clearwell Castle , in Gloucestershire, living and recording there. They finished recording their third album, again with Emerick as a producer, but the tapes were once again rejected by Apple, because Apple felt that Badfinger needed a producer who could bring a more polished sound to the recordings. Thus, George Harrison himself took over as producer in spring of 1971, including Leon Russell and Klaus Voormann in
14678-538: The Top Ten in several European countries and Japan, but only #67 on the US Billboard Hot 100 , and failed to chart in the UK. The US manager of Apple Records, Ken Mansfield , ordered 400,000 copies of the single—considered to be a bold move at the time in the music business—and pushed for automatic airplay and reviews from newspapers, which he secured. Nevertheless, Mansfield remembered the problems: "We had
14857-465: The UK, and January 1970 in the US. Selling more than a million copies worldwide, it reached Top Ten throughout the world: #7 on the US Billboard chart on 18 April 1970, and #4 in the UK. Because the Iveys' Maybe Tomorrow album had been released in only a few markets, the band's three songs from The Magic Christian soundtrack album were combined with other, older Iveys tracks (including both of
15036-479: The US in December 1971, and spawned two successful singles: "Day After Day" ( Billboard number four), which sold over a million worldwide, and " Baby Blue " (US number 14). The album reached number 31 on the US charts. However, the disintegration of Apple Records in Britain led to "Baby Blue" never being released as a UK single, although a release number and date had already been assigned to it. The band embarked on
15215-676: The US was becoming dominated by lightweight pop and ballads, British rock groups at clubs and local dances were developing a style more strongly influenced by blues-rock pioneers, and were starting to play with an intensity and drive seldom found in white American acts; this influence would go on to shape the future of rock music through the British Invasion . The first four years of the 1960s has traditionally been seen as an era of hiatus for rock and roll. More recently some authors have emphasised important innovations and trends in this period without which future developments would not have been possible. While early rock and roll, particularly through
15394-619: The USSR and South Africa from 1955 to 1957, influencing the globalisation of rock. Johnny O'Keefe 's 1958 record " Wild One " was one of the earliest Australian rock and roll hits. By the late 1950s, as well as in the American-influenced Western world, rock was popular in communist states such as Yugoslavia, and the USSR, as well as in regions such as South America. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, American blues music and blues rock artists, who had been surpassed by
15573-548: The United States and the United Kingdom. It has its roots in rock and roll, a style that drew directly from the genres of blues , rhythm and blues , and country music . Rock also drew strongly from genres such as electric blues and folk , and incorporated influences from jazz and other musical styles. For instrumentation, rock is centered on the electric guitar , usually as part of a rock group with electric bass guitar , drums , and one or more singers. Usually, rock
15752-751: The Wailers and " Louie Louie " by the Kingsmen (1963) are mainstream examples of the genre in its formative stages. By 1963, garage band singles were creeping into the national charts in greater numbers, including Paul Revere and the Raiders (Boise), the Trashmen (Minneapolis) and the Rivieras (South Bend, Indiana). Other influential garage bands, such as the Sonics (Tacoma, Washington), never reached
15931-527: The advent of rockabilly, saw the greatest commercial success for male and white performers, in this era, the genre was dominated by black and female artists. Rock and roll had not disappeared entirely from music at the end of the 1950s and some of its energy can be seen in the various dance crazes of the early 1960s, started by Chubby Checker 's record " The Twist " (1960). Some music historians have also pointed to important and innovative technical developments that built on rock and roll in this period, including
16110-582: The album's producer, Molland, and had a mixed critical reaction. The album's release then sparked a lawsuit filed by Molland. The band's accounting firm, collecting for a 1985 court order settlement, had re-adjusted against Molland's Apple royalty income by deducting away the percentage amounts of that court order, then reimbursing those amounts to the other Badfinger parties. The Rykodisc contract did not include artist royalty payments, because Molland had advised Rykodisc he would take care of that distribution himself under another company name. Molland subsequently sued
16289-459: The band Aviary) replacing Clarke on drums, Badfinger released their second post-Ham album, Say No More , in 1981, with the album being distributed by Radio Records. The second single, " Hold On ", reached number 56 on the Billboard charts. The Warner Brothers lawsuit against Polley lasted four years, with Polley finally being forced to pay a "substantial sum" back to the company in late 1978. However, Polley managed to retain approximately half of
16468-405: The band could potentially access. But Polley did not reveal the account's whereabouts to Warner Publishing, and he reportedly ignored Warner's demands to do so. As a result, in a letter dated 30 April 1974, WB's publishing arm terminated its relationship with Badfinger, but, other than having the group sign some new contracts, Polley took no action to resolve Warner's publishing issue. Consistent with
16647-408: The band had hit records, they "still didn't have a fridge, and didn't have a TV". However, one of the band's assistants said, "Kathie was a wishful Linda McCartney . If she had her way, she would have ended up part of the band." Just before the start of rehearsals for an October 1974 UK tour, Ham suddenly quit Badfinger during a management meeting, standing up and shouting "I don't want Kathie managing
16826-457: The band members to various contracts dictating that income from touring, recording, publishing, and even songwriter performance royalties would be directed into holding companies controlled by Polley. It led to a salary arrangement for the band, which various members later complained was inadequate compared to their gross earnings. Gibbins said: "My first impression was, Stan [Polley] is a powerful guy," while Molland thought that Polley seemed more of
17005-468: The band not to sign the contract. Polley organised a $ 3 million recording contract with Warner Bros., telling the band, "You're all millionaires!" The deal gave the band 12% of retail in the US—the price Warner Brothers received from record outlets—and 8.5% for the rest of the world, with a $ 225,000 advance for every album delivered. Only six weeks after the Ass sessions had been completed, Badfinger re-entered
17184-689: The band renamed themselves Badfinger, after the working title for the Beatles ' 1967 song " With a Little Help from My Friends " ("Bad Finger Boogie"). From 1968 to 1973, Badfinger recorded five albums for Apple Records and toured extensively, before they became embroiled in the chaos of Apple's dissolution. Badfinger had four consecutive worldwide hits from 1970 to 1972: " Come and Get It " (written and produced by Paul McCartney , 1970), " No Matter What " (produced by Mal Evans , 1970), " Day After Day " (produced by George Harrison , 1971), and " Baby Blue " (produced by Todd Rundgren , 1972). Their song " Without You " (1970) has been recorded many times, and became
17363-546: The band that Klein wanted to cut Badfinger's royalty rate and make them pay for their own studio time. By this time, manager Polley was openly suspected of financial mismanagement by his other clients, Christie and music arranger Charlie Calello . A series of allegations also represented Polley as a one-time " bagman " for the Mafia . Sessions for Badfinger's fourth and final album for Apple, Ass , had begun as far back as early 1972 and would continue at five recording studios over
17542-566: The band was already weary of persistent comparisons to the Beatles. "The thing that impressed me so much was how similar their voices were to The Beatles," Tony Visconti (producer, "Maybe Tomorrow") said; "I sometimes had to look over the control board down into the studio to make sure John and Paul weren't singing lead vocals ..." Rolling Stone critic Mike Saunders opined in a rave review of No Dice in 1970: "It's as if John, Paul, George, and Ringo had been reincarnated as Joey, Pete, Tom, and Mike of Badfinger." Media comparisons between them and
17721-509: The band! I'm leaving". He found a cottage in Wales, where he hoped to build a studio. He was quickly replaced by guitarist/keyboardist Bob Jackson , who was then idle after previous involvement with the Fortunes . During Ham's three-week hiatus from the band, Polley tried to interest record companies in Ham as a solo act, but under pressure from Warner Brothers, Ham rejoined the band in time for
17900-434: The band: "Salaries and advances to client, $ 8,339 (Joey Molland), $ 6,861 (Mike Gibbins), $ 6,211 (Tom Evans), $ 5,959 (Pete Ham). Net corporation profit, $ 24,569. Management commission, $ 75,744 (Stan Polley)". Although it is not known if the band members saw the statement, Collins certainly had, as his handwriting was on the document. Badfinger toured the US for three months in late 1970 and were generally well-received, although
18079-532: The biggest selling rock band of all time and they were followed into the US charts by numerous British bands. During the next two years British acts dominated their own and the US charts with Peter and Gordon , the Animals, Manfred Mann , Petula Clark , Freddie and the Dreamers, Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders , Herman's Hermits, the Rolling Stones, the Troggs , and Donovan all having one or more number one singles. Other major acts that were part of
18258-535: The carpet to secure the LP's release Apple attributed the songwriting credits to "Badfinger". But both Ass (US number 122), and its accompanying lead single, " Apple of My Eye ", fell short of reaching the Billboard Hot 100. After the Apple contract had been fulfilled, Polley signed the band to a management contract demanding two albums a year. Poses, as vice-president of Badfinger Enterprises Inc., repeatedly told
18437-405: The chart. Their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show on 9 February 1964, drawing an estimated 73 million viewers (at the time a record for an American television program) is considered a milestone in American pop culture. During the week of 4 April 1964, the Beatles held 12 positions on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, including the entire top five. The Beatles went on to become
18616-399: The company stopping the promotion of Wish You Were Here after seven weeks, and ending its distribution worldwide, thus completely halting Badfinger's career. With their current album suddenly withdrawn and their follow-up rejected, Badfinger spent the early months of 1975 trying to figure out how to proceed under the unclear legal situation. Their March 1975 salary cheques did not clear, and
18795-573: The concert, Harrison was tied up with producing the tapes from that concert, and so was unable to resume with Badfinger. Instead, the Badfinger album was completed by Todd Rundgren , who mixed the tapes from the Harrison sessions, re-recorded the songs from the Emerick sessions, and also produced some newer, previously unrecorded songs. The album, ultimately titled Straight Up , was released in
18974-424: The delights and limitations of the regional , and to deal with the depredations and benefits of mass culture itself. — Robert Christgau in Christgau's Record Guide (1981) Unlike many earlier styles of popular music, rock lyrics have dealt with a wide range of themes, including romantic love, sex, rebellion against " The Establishment ", social concerns, and life styles. These themes were inherited from
19153-443: The development of psychedelic rock , influenced by the countercultural psychedelic and hippie scene . New genres that emerged included progressive rock , which extended artistic elements, heavy metal , which emphasized an aggressive thick sound, and glam rock , which highlighted showmanship and visual style. In the second half of the 1970s, punk rock reacted by producing stripped-down, energetic social and political critiques. Punk
19332-455: The early 1970s among existing blues-rock and psychedelic bands, as well as newly formed acts. The vibrant Canterbury scene saw acts following Soft Machine from psychedelia, through jazz influences, toward more expansive hard rock, including Caravan , Hatfield and the North , Gong , and National Health . The French group Magma around drummer Christian Vander almost single-handedly created
19511-460: The early 1970s, Robert Christgau wrote in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981): The decade is, of course, an arbitrary schema itself—time doesn't just execute a neat turn toward the future every ten years. But like a lot of artificial concepts—money, say—the category does take on a reality of its own once people figure out how to put it to work. "The '60s are over,"
19690-554: The early 1990s as part of a revival of the Apple catalogue and again in 2010, when the albums were available individually or as part of the 17-disc Apple Box Set. The sole Iveys' album Maybe Tomorrow was also reissued in the early 1990s but was not part of the 2010 campaign. Badfinger's first collection titled Shine On , spanning their two Warner Brothers albums, was released in the UK in 1989. In 1990, Rhino Records released another Warner Brothers-era compilation, The Best of Badfinger, Vol. 2 , including material from both Airwaves and
19869-840: The early months of 1975, but was never able to reach him. On the night of 23 April 1975, Ham received a phone call from the United States, telling him that all his money had disappeared. Later that night he met Tom Evans and they went to The White Hart Pub in Surrey together, where Ham drank ten whiskies . Evans drove him home at three o'clock on the morning of 24 April 1975. Ham hanged himself in his garage studio in Woking later that morning. His suicide note—addressed to his girlfriend, Anne Herriot, and her son, Blair—blamed Polley for much of his despair and inability to cope with his disappointments in life. The note read: "Anne, I love you. Blair, I love you. I will not be allowed to love and trust everybody. This
20048-407: The early stages, considerable musical crossover between the two tendencies. By 1963, led by the Beatles, beat groups had begun to achieve national success in Britain, soon to be followed into the charts by the more rhythm and blues focused acts. " I Want to Hold Your Hand " was the Beatles' first number one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 , spending seven weeks at the top and a total of 15 weeks on
20227-519: The electronic treatment of sound by such innovators as Joe Meek , and the elaborate production methods of the Wall of Sound pursued by Phil Spector . The instrumental rock and roll of performers such as Duane Eddy , Link Wray and the Ventures was further developed by Dick Dale , who added distinctive "wet" reverb , rapid alternate picking, and Middle Eastern and Mexican influences. He produced
20406-581: The example set by the Beatles ' 1965 LP Rubber Soul in particular, other British rock acts released rock albums intended as artistic statements in 1966, including the Rolling Stones ' Aftermath , the Beatles' own Revolver , and the Who 's A Quick One , as well as American acts in the Beach Boys ( Pet Sounds ) and Bob Dylan ( Blonde on Blonde ). Garage rock was a raw form of rock music, particularly prevalent in North America in
20585-469: The fall of 1982, adding guitarists Reed Kailing of the Grass Roots and ( Chicago's ) Donnie Dacus . In 1983 Evans and Jackson were joined by post-1975 Badfinger members Kaye and Sherba, with drummer Lenny Campanaro. Meanwhile, for his Badfinger concerts, Molland had teamed with post-1975 member Tansin. Evans and Jackson signed a management contract with Milwaukee businessman John Cass, which led to
20764-498: The first record, and worldwide hit, for the Virgin Records label, which became a mainstay of the genre. Instrumental rock was particularly significant in continental Europe, allowing bands like Kraftwerk , Tangerine Dream , Can , Focus (band) and Faust to circumvent the language barrier. Their synthesiser-heavy " krautrock ", along with the work of Brian Eno (for a time the keyboard player with Roxy Music ), would be
20943-455: The folk scene. The first group to advertise themselves as psychedelic rock were the 13th Floor Elevators from Texas. The Beatles introduced many of the major elements of the psychedelic sound to audiences in this period, such as guitar feedback , the Indian sitar and backmasking sound effects . Psychedelic rock particularly took off in California's emerging music scene as groups followed
21122-513: The format of rock operas and opened the door to concept albums , often telling an epic story or tackling a grand overarching theme. King Crimson 's 1969 début album, In the Court of the Crimson King , which mixed powerful guitar riffs and mellotron , with jazz and symphonic music , is often taken as the key recording in progressive rock, helping the widespread adoption of the genre in
21301-536: The group's subsequent album recordings (later released as Love on the Rebound ). The group finally broke up in 1978, after which Jackson joined the Searchers and the David Byron Band. Molland started a band in 1975 with Colosseum 's Mark Clarke and Humble Pie 's Jerry Shirley using the moniker Natural Gas. They performed a few concerts as the opening act for Peter Frampton in 1976. Natural Gas released
21480-458: The impetus was soon taken up by a second wave of bands that drew their inspiration more directly from American blues , including the Rolling Stones and the Yardbirds . British blues musicians of the late 1950s and early 1960s had been inspired by the acoustic playing of figures such as Lead Belly , who was a major influence on the Skiffle craze, and Robert Johnson . Increasingly they adopted
21659-467: The invasion included the Kinks and the Dave Clark Five . The British Invasion helped internationalize the production of rock and roll, opening the door for subsequent British (and Irish) performers to achieve international success. In America it arguably spelled the end of instrumental surf music, vocal girl groups and (for a time) the teen idols , that had dominated the American charts in
21838-517: The label were R&B oriented white rock bands that made use of jazzy horn sections, like Electric Flag , Blood, Sweat & Tears and Chicago , to become some of the most commercially successful acts of the later 1960s and the early 1970s. British acts to emerge in the same period from the blues scene, to make use of the tonal and improvisational aspects of jazz, included Nucleus and the Graham Bond and John Mayall spin-off Colosseum . From
22017-413: The last. When Evans signed the Iveys to Apple on 23 July 1968, they became the first non-Beatle recording artists on the label. Each of the Iveys were also signed to Apple Corps publishing contracts. The early Iveys sessions for Apple were produced by either Tony Visconti or Evans. The group's first single, " Maybe Tomorrow ", produced by Visconti, was released worldwide on 15 November 1968. It reached
22196-446: The late 1950s and 1960s. It dented the careers of established R&B acts like Fats Domino and Chubby Checker and even temporarily derailed the chart success of surviving rock and roll acts, including Elvis. The British Invasion also played a major part in the rise of a distinct genre of rock music, and cemented the primacy of the rock group, based on guitars and drums and producing their own material as singer-songwriters. Following
22375-410: The loudest, wildest, most electrified fusion bands from the jazz camp, but most often it describes performers coming from the rock side of the equation." Jazz-rock "...generally grew out of the most artistically ambitious rock subgenres of the late '60s and early '70s", including the singer-songwriter movement. Many early US rock and roll musicians had begun in jazz and carried some of these elements into
22554-434: The main title theme for the film) and "Rock of All Ages" (commissioned as background music for a party scene). All three tracks appeared both in the movie and on its soundtrack album. McCartney then recruited George Martin to provide the string arrangement for " Carry On Till Tomorrow ". As Griffiths fell ill midway through these sessions, Evans played bass on " Rock of All Ages ", "Midnight Sun", and "Crimson Ship". Pending
22733-476: The many recordings which have been suggested as "the first rock and roll record ". Contenders include " Strange Things Happening Every Day " by Sister Rosetta Tharpe (1944); " That's All Right " by Arthur Crudup (1946), which was later covered by Elvis Presley in 1954; " The House of Blue Lights " by Ella Mae Morse and Freddie Slack (1946); Wynonie Harris ' " Good Rocking Tonight " (1948); Goree Carter 's "Rock Awhile" (1949); Jimmy Preston 's " Rock
22912-406: The market, often showing the original 1970s line-up of the band with little or no disclaiming information, despite Molland being the only original member of Badfinger who performed. A detailed biography of Badfinger by Dan Matovina was published in 1998, titled Without You: The Tragic Story of Badfinger . The 2000 update of the book was accompanied by a CD of rare material and interviews. In 2000,
23091-674: The mid-1950s by white singers such as Carl Perkins , Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly and with the greatest commercial success, Elvis Presley . Hispanic and Latino American movements in rock and roll, which would eventually lead to the success of Latin rock and Chicano rock within the US, began to rise in the Southwest ; with rock and roll standard musician Ritchie Valens and even those within other heritage genres, such as Al Hurricane along with his brothers Tiny Morrie and Baby Gaby as they began combining rock and roll with country- western within traditional New Mexico music . In addition,
23270-609: The mid-1960s the Left Banke , the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Beach Boys, had pioneered the inclusion of harpsichords , wind , and string sections on their recordings to produce a form of Baroque rock and can be heard in singles like Procol Harum 's " A Whiter Shade of Pale " (1967), with its Bach -inspired introduction. The Moody Blues used a full orchestra on their album Days of Future Passed (1967) and subsequently created orchestral sounds with synthesizers. Classical orchestration, keyboards, and synthesizers were
23449-479: The mid-1960s and so called because of the perception that it was rehearsed in the suburban family garage. Garage rock songs often revolved around the traumas of high school life, with songs about "lying girls" and unfair social circumstances being particularly common. The lyrics and delivery tended to be more aggressive than was common at the time, often with growled or shouted vocals that dissolved into incoherent screaming. They ranged from crude one-chord music (like
23628-435: The mid-1960s as acts developed a sound similar to British blues musicians. Key acts included Paul Butterfield (whose band acted like Mayall's Bluesbreakers in Britain as a starting point for many successful musicians), Canned Heat , the early Jefferson Airplane , Janis Joplin , Johnny Winter , the J. Geils Band and Jimi Hendrix with his power trios , the Jimi Hendrix Experience (which included two British members, and
23807-580: The mid-1960s began to advance the album ahead of the single as the dominant form of recorded music expression and consumption, with the Beatles at the forefront of this development. Their contributions lent the genre a cultural legitimacy in the mainstream and initiated a rock-informed album era in the music industry for the next several decades. By the late 1960s " classic rock " period, a few distinct rock music subgenres had emerged, including hybrids like blues rock , folk rock , country rock , Southern rock , raga rock , and jazz rock , which contributed to
23986-401: The mid-1960s onwards, rock music often used the verse–chorus structure derived from blues and folk music, but there has been considerable variation from this model. Critics have stressed the eclecticism and stylistic diversity of rock. Because of its complex history and its tendency to borrow from other musical and cultural forms, it has been argued that "it is impossible to bind rock music to
24165-515: The music. After receiving an invitation from Collins, Beatles roadie/assistant Mal Evans and Apple Records A&R head Peter Asher saw the Iveys perform at the Marquee Club , London, on 25 January 1968. Evans subsequently pushed their demo tapes to every Beatle until he gained approval from all four to sign the group. The demos were accomplished using a mono "sound-on-sound" tape recorder: two individual tracks bouncing each overdub on top of
24344-500: The musicians and Warner Brothers Records in America. However, because Warner's publishing arm had already filed a lawsuit against Polley and Badfinger in the L.A. Superior Court on 10 December 1974, the album tapes could not be formally accepted by Warner Bros. – and Warner executives also thought the rough tapes sounded "thrown together in a hurry" in "an obvious attempt [to] extract further advances from us". The legal action also led to
24523-465: The new music genre zeuhl with their first albums in the early 1970s. Greater commercial success was enjoyed by Pink Floyd, who also moved away from psychedelia after the departure of Syd Barrett in 1968, with The Dark Side of the Moon (1973), seen as a masterpiece of the genre, becoming one of the best-selling albums of all time. There was an emphasis on instrumental virtuosity, with Yes showcasing
24702-608: The new music. In Britain the subgenre of blues rock, and many of its leading figures, like Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce of the Eric Clapton -fronted band Cream , had emerged from the British jazz scene. Often highlighted as the first true jazz-rock recording is the only album by the relatively obscure New York–based the Free Spirits with Out of Sight and Sound (1966). The first group of bands to self-consciously use
24881-403: The next year. Rundgren was originally hired to produce but quit in a financial dispute during the first week. The band then produced itself, but Apple rejected their version of the album. Finally, Badfinger hired Chris Thomas to co-produce and complete the project. In the meanwhile, Polley negotiated a deal with Warner Bros. Records , that required a new album from the band every six months over
25060-648: The original $ 100,000 escrow payment, representing about three albums' worth of payments. In 1987, detective John Hansen, working for the Riverside District Attorney's office, started an investigation into fraudulent bank dealings by Polley. After the failure of Say No More , Molland and Evans operated rival touring bands, each using the name "Badfinger", during 1982 and 1983, which created even more personal and professional conflict. In 1982, Evans teamed with pre-1975 Badfinger members Jackson and Gibbins, first adding guitarist Adam Allen, and then, in
25239-500: The other members and their estates to recoup his expenses plus a producer's royalty. He was awarded a partial settlement, as the judge stated the evidence against Molland was insufficient to justify a severe penalty, also noting that since both parties had conceded the original tapes were of poor quality, Molland's salvaging of them to a commercial level merited consideration. After the success of Mariah Carey 's recording of "Without You" in 1994, Molland and Gibbins collected an award from
25418-509: The previously unreleased Head First . A greatest hits collection taken from Badfinger's four albums on Apple, Come and Get It: The Best of Badfinger , appeared in 1995 on the EMI/Apple/Capitol label, which was the band's first release since 1973's Ass to be assigned a standard Apple catalogue number: SAPCOR 28. A more comprehensive collection, with tracks from both record labels, was the 2000s The Very Best of Badfinger . In 2013,
25597-471: The psychedelic rock and the Canterbury scenes came Soft Machine, who, it has been suggested, produced one of the artistically successfully fusions of the two genres. Perhaps the most critically acclaimed fusion came from the jazz side of the equation, with Miles Davis , particularly influenced by the work of Hendrix, incorporating rock instrumentation into his sound for the album Bitches Brew (1970). It
25776-653: The regional hit " Let's Go Trippin ' " in 1961 and launched the surf music craze, following up with songs like " Misirlou " (1962). Like Dale and his Del-Tones , most early surf bands were formed in Southern California, including the Bel-Airs , the Challengers , and Eddie & the Showmen . The Chantays scored a top ten national hit with " Pipeline " in 1963 and probably the best-known surf tune
25955-603: The release date of "Come and Get It" was approaching, the Iveys looked for a replacement for Griffiths. After unsuccessfully auditioning a number of bassists, they hired guitarist Joey Molland , who was previously with Gary Walker & the Rain, the Masterminds, and the Fruit-Eating Bears. His addition required Evans to shift from rhythm guitar to bass. "Come and Get It" was released as a single in December 1969 in
26134-675: The release of "Come and Get It", the band and Apple agreed that the band's name was too trite for the prevailing music scene, plus the Iveys were sometimes confused with the Ivy League , so a name change was needed. Suggestions were put forward, including the Glass Onion, the Prix, the Cagneys, and Home. Apple Corps' Neil Aspinall proposed "Badfinger", in reference to "Bad Finger Boogie", an early working title of Lennon–McCartney 's " With
26313-400: The rise of rock and roll in the US, found new popularity in the UK, visiting with successful tours. Lonnie Donegan 's 1955 hit " Rock Island Line " was a major influence and helped to develop the trend of skiffle music groups throughout the country, many of which, including John Lennon 's Quarrymen (later the Beatles ), moved on to play rock and roll. While former rock and roll market in
26492-475: The romantic concept of art as artistic expression, original and sincere". In the new millennium, the term rock has occasionally been used as a blanket term including forms like pop music, reggae music , soul music , and even hip hop , which it has been influenced with but often contrasted through much of its history. Christgau has used the term broadly to refer to popular and semipopular music that caters to his sensibility as "a rock-and-roller", including
26671-522: The same era, and by percussion produced from a drum kit that combines drums and cymbals. This trio of instruments has often been complemented by the inclusion of other instruments, particularly keyboards such as the piano, the Hammond organ , and the synthesizer. The basic rock instrumentation was derived from the basic blues band instrumentation (prominent lead guitar, second chordal instrument, bass, and drums). A group of musicians performing rock music
26850-483: The sessions as well. Commenting on the recording of the dual slide guitars on "Day After Day", Molland remembered: "Pete and I had done the backing track, and George came in the studio and asked if we'd mind if he played ... It took hours, and hours, and hours, to get those two guitars in sync". However, Harrison stopped the sessions after recording just four songs because of his commitments to The Concert for Bangladesh , which Harrison included Badfinger in as well. After
27029-498: The singles format to albums and achieved cultural legitimacy in the mainstream. Led by the Beatles in the mid-1960s, rock musicians advanced the LP as the dominant form of recorded music expression and consumption, initiating a rock-informed album era in the music industry for the next several decades. Progressive rock, a term sometimes used interchangeably with art rock , moved beyond established musical formulas by experimenting with different instruments, song types, and forms. From
27208-413: The skills of both guitarist Steve Howe and keyboard player Rick Wakeman , while Emerson, Lake & Palmer were a supergroup who produced some of the genre's most technically demanding work. Jethro Tull and Genesis both pursued very different, but distinctly English, brands of music. Renaissance , formed in 1969 by ex-Yardbirds Jim McCarty and Keith Relf, evolved into a high-concept band featuring
27387-405: The song "Come and Get It" to the group, although he had written the song for the soundtrack of The Magic Christian . Before the recording on Saturday, 2 August 1969, Griffiths remembered the whole group being so excited they couldn't sleep. Producing the track in under one hour, McCartney made sure that they copied his own demo note-for-note: "They were a young band ... they said, 'We want to do it
27566-410: The songwriters' royalty payments for years. Their subsequent albums floundered, as Molland and Evans alternated between co-operation and conflict in their attempts to revive and capitalise on the Badfinger legacy. Evans died by suicide in 1983 and Gibbins died from a brain aneurysm in 2005, leaving Molland as the classic line-up's only surviving member. The Iveys formed in 1961 in Swansea , Wales from
27745-502: The studio to begin recording material for its first Warner Bros. release, Badfinger (the intended title, For Love or Money, was omitted from the album pressings). The album was produced by Thomas, even though the songs were being written in the studio as they recorded. Ass and Badfinger were released almost simultaneously, and the accompanying singles from Badfinger , " Love Is Easy " (UK) and " I Miss You " (US), were unsuccessful. Badfinger did manage to retain some US fan support as
27924-464: The termination notice, on 14 August 1974, Warner's publishing arm refused to accept the tapes of Wish You Were Here , but the album was later released anyway. Crises in band management, money, and band leadership were creating growing frictions within Badfinger. Molland's wife, Kathie, had been taking a more assertive role in the band's politics, which did not endear her to the rest of the band, particularly Ham. She remembered complaining that even though
28103-615: The three-octave voice of Annie Haslam . Most British bands depended on a relatively small cult following, but a handful, including Pink Floyd, Genesis, and Jethro Tull, managed to produce top ten singles at home and break the American market. The American brand of progressive rock varied from the eclectic and innovative Frank Zappa , Captain Beefheart and Blood, Sweat & Tears , to more pop rock orientated bands like Boston , Foreigner , Kansas , Journey , and Styx . These, beside British bands Supertramp and ELO , all demonstrated
28282-458: The tour, as the company made it clear that it would have little to no interest in promoting Badfinger if Ham was not a part of it. Jackson remained as full-time keyboardist, making the band a quintet. After the UK tour, Molland quit of his own accord to pursue a solo career in December 1974. With the Warner situation becoming increasingly unstable, Polley's next ploy was to press the band to pass up
28461-457: The unexpectedly limited releases of "Dear Angie" and Maybe Tomorrow , Griffiths complained about Apple's handling of the Iveys in an interview for the Disc & Music Echo magazine, saying: "We do feel a bit neglected. We keep writing songs for a new single and submitting them to Apple, but they keep sending them back, saying they're not good enough." Paul McCartney read the interview and offered
28640-409: The vehicle for cultural and social movements, leading to major subcultures including mods and rockers in the U.K., the hippie movement and the wider Western counterculture movement that spread out from San Francisco in the U.S. in the 1960s, the latter of which continues to this day. Similarly, 1970s punk culture spawned the goth , punk, and emo subcultures. Inheriting the folk tradition of
28819-480: The work of the Beach Boys , formed in 1961 in Southern California. Their early albums included both instrumental surf rock (among them covers of music by Dick Dale) and vocal songs, drawing on rock and roll and doo wop and the close harmonies of vocal pop acts like the Four Freshmen . The Beach Boys first chart hit, " Surfin ' " in 1961 reached the Billboard top 100 and helped make the surf music craze
28998-533: The work of established performers such as the Rolling Stones' Beggar's Banquet (1968) and the Beatles' Let It Be (1970). Reflecting on this change of trends in rock music over the past few years, Christgau wrote in his June 1970 "Consumer Guide" column that this "new orthodoxy" and "cultural lag" abandoned improvisatory, studio-ornamented productions in favor of an emphasis on "tight, spare instrumentation" and song composition: "Its referents are '50s rock, country music, and rhythm-and-blues, and its key inspiration
29177-404: The world, except as a new brand of painkiller ... In the '70s the powerful took over, as rock industrialists capitalized on the national mood to reduce potent music to an often reactionary species of entertainment—and to transmute rock's popular base from the audience to market." Roots rock is the term now used to describe a move away from what some saw as the excesses of the psychedelic scene, to
29356-582: Was John Mayall ; his band, the Bluesbreakers , included Eric Clapton (after Clapton's departure from the Yardbirds) and later Peter Green . Particularly significant was the release of Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton (Beano) album (1966), considered one of the seminal British blues recordings and the sound of which was much emulated in both Britain and the United States. Eric Clapton went on to form supergroups Cream, Blind Faith , and Derek and
29535-628: Was 1963's " Wipe Out ", by the Surfaris , which hit number 2 and number 10 on the Billboard charts in 1965. Surf rock was also popular in Europe during this time, with the British group the Shadows scoring hits in the early 1960s with instrumentals such as " Apache " and " Kon-Tiki ", while Swedish surf group the Spotnicks saw success in both Sweden and Britain. Surf music achieved its greatest commercial success as vocal pop music, particularly
29714-473: Was a major influence on subsequent rock-influenced jazz artists, including Herbie Hancock , Chick Corea and Weather Report . The genre began to fade in the late 1970s, as a mellower form of fusion began to take its audience, but acts like Steely Dan , Frank Zappa and Joni Mitchell recorded significant jazz-influenced albums in this period, and it has continued to be a major influence on rock music. Reflecting on developments that occurred in rock music in
29893-430: Was an influence in the 1980s on new wave , post-punk and eventually alternative rock . From the 1990s, alternative rock began to dominate rock music and break into the mainstream in the form of grunge , Britpop , and indie rock . Further fusion subgenres have since emerged, including pop-punk , electronic rock , rap rock , and rap metal . Some movements were conscious attempts to revisit rock's history, including
30072-424: Was continued in the 1970s by figures such as George Thorogood and Pat Travers , but, particularly on the British scene (except perhaps for the advent of groups such as Status Quo and Foghat who moved towards a form of high energy and repetitive boogie rock ), bands became focused on heavy metal innovation, and blues rock began to slip out of the mainstream. By the 1960s, the scene that had developed out of
30251-428: Was finally released as a single, and reached numerous Top Ten charts around the world—peaking at #8 in the US and #5 in the UK. An Emerick-produced album track from No Dice titled " Without You " became even more successful after Harry Nilsson covered the song in 1972; his version became an international hit, reaching #1 on Billboard in the US, and also spending five weeks at the top of the UK chart. The song began as
30430-575: Was founded in Britain), and Band of Gypsys , whose guitar virtuosity and showmanship would be among the most emulated of the decade. Blues rock bands from the southern states, like the Allman Brothers Band , Lynyrd Skynyrd , and ZZ Top , incorporated country elements into their style to produce the distinctive genre Southern rock . Early blues rock bands often emulated jazz, playing long, involved improvisations, which would later be
30609-469: Was frequently found at the famous Cavern Club and once improvised an opera excerpt of Pagliacci , rendering him the surname "The Opera Singer" at the club. The Kinks ' manager, Robert Wace, invited Core to come to London to record a first single. He picked the name "David Garrick" as stage name, after the famous 18th-century actor and playwright . Garrick's first two singles, "Go" (1965) and "One Little Smile" (1965), were unsuccessful. In 1966 he released
30788-549: Was now receiving, which Molland, former manager Collins and Gibbins all wanted a share of. Following this argument, Evans hanged himself in the garden at his home in New Haw, Surrey, on the morning of 19 November 1983. He was cremated at the Woking Crematorium, Surrey, on 25 November 1983. In 1984, Molland, Gibbins and Jackson reunited as Badfinger, along with Al Wodtke and Randy Anderson, playing 31 dates as part of
30967-537: Was rejected by Apple as a potential single. Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick then took over as producer and the band completed its second album in July 1970. During the recordings, the band were sent to Hawaii on 4 June, to appear at a Capitol/Apple Records convention, and then flew to Italy to play concerts in Rome. No Dice was released in the US in late 1970, peaking at #28 on the Billboard album chart. The Mal Evans-produced track "No Matter What", as re-mixed by Emerick,
31146-437: Was released in 1979. Harck was fired from the band during the sessions and Tansin left the band immediately after the album was completed. To promote the album Molland and Evans recruited Tony Kaye (ex- Yes ) on keyboards, and Peter Clarke on drums from Stealers Wheel . The single "Love is Gonna Come at Last" from Airwaves reached No. 69 on the Billboard chart. With Glenn Sherba added on second guitar and Richard Bryans (from
31325-526: Was taken up by bands including Pentangle , Steeleye Span and the Albion Band , which in turn prompted Irish groups like Horslips and Scottish acts like the JSD Band , Spencer's Feat and later Five Hand Reel , to use their traditional music to create a brand of Celtic rock in the early 1970s. Folk-rock reached its peak of commercial popularity in the period 1967–68, before many acts moved off in
31504-548: Was taking place globally in the aftermath of the Second World War . Cliff Richard is credited with one of the first rock and roll hits outside of North America with " Move It " (1959), effectively ushering in the sound of British rock . Several artists, most prominently Tommy Steele from the UK, found success with covers of major American rock and roll hits before the recordings could spread internationally, often translating them into local languages where appropriate. Steele in particular toured Britain, Scandinavia, Australia,
31683-439: Was the first commercially successful folk song to be recorded with rock and roll instrumentation and the Beatles " I'm a Loser " (1964), arguably the first Beatles song to be influenced directly by Dylan. The folk rock movement is usually thought to have taken off with the Byrds ' recording of Dylan's " Mr. Tambourine Man " which topped the charts in 1965. With members who had been part of the café-based folk scene in Los Angeles,
31862-430: Was the major force in American record sales and crooners , such as Eddie Fisher , Perry Como , and Patti Page , who had dominated the previous decade of popular music, found their access to the pop charts significantly curtailed. Rock and roll has been seen as leading to a number of distinct subgenres, including rockabilly, combining rock and roll with "hillbilly" country music, which was usually played and recorded in
32041-429: Was well received by Rolling Stone and other periodicals upon its release in October 1974. However, over the previous year, Warner Brothers' publishing arm had become increasingly troubled by a lack of communication from Polley regarding the status of an escrow account of advance funds. Per their contract, Polley was to deposit $ 250,000 into a mutually accessible account for safekeeping, which both Warner Publishing and
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