The Story of Rock and Roll: Late 1960s and 1970s

This is a six-week course running on the Mondays listed below from 1pm to 3pm at Red Bird. One registration or ticket is for the entire course. 

Rock in the Late 1960s and 1970s

By the mid-to-late 1960s, rock music had solidified its place as a respected artform. No longer dismissed as disposable teen pop, it was widely recognized for its musical and cultural significance. This course focuses on rock music from 1967-1980, including subgenres such as psychedelic rock, blues rock, progressive rock, and early punk. The social and historical context of this music, its major figures, and descriptions of musical characteristics will be explored. Discover the various sounds and cultural influences of this exciting era of rock music!

 

Week 1 - March 2

This course starts with the early psychedelic countercultural scene in San Francisco in the late 1960s. Groups like Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead, and Janis Joplin were innovators in this experimental style, where musicians pushed the boundaries of rock music. A psychedelic scene in London developed around the same time, where the Beatles and others were adding South Asian music, collage recording techniques, and tape loops to the sound of rock music.

Week 2 - March 9

Continuing with psychedelic rock, this week starts with the scene in Los Angeles, and focuses on the innovations of the Beach Boys. Outdoor music festivals in the late 1960s will also be discussed, including Woodstock, which was one of the major cultural moments of the 20^th century. Finally, we’ll look at rock in the 1970s, notably country rock (The Byrds), The Band, and southern rock (The Allman Brothers Band).

Week 3 - March 23

The 1970s saw the rise of many new rock subgenres, including the blues-influenced rock of the Guess Who and ZZ Top, to the Latin-tinged blues of Santana. Two other popular rock styles of the 70s were roots rock (Creedence Clearwater Revival), and hard rock (Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin). Finally, a less mainstream and more challenging, virtuosic music is the classical-influenced progressive rock (Yes, Pink Floyd, and Rush).

 

Week 4 - March 30

Continuing with the 1970s, Queen and the Who give us art rock, while David Bowie and Alice Cooper pioneer a glam rock style, both with strong visual elements. Jazz was combined with rock by Van Morrison, and jazz-rock bands including Chicago and Steely Dan, while soft rock (Fleetwood Mac, and The Eagles) became one of the era’s most commercially successful styles. Finally, this decade also saw the rise of disco, which was often seen in contrast with rock, musically, aesthetically, and culturally.

 

Week 5 - April 13

A major rock style that emerged in the 1970s was punk, and we will look back to some proto-punk, including 60s garage bands, the Velvet Underground, and the Stooges. The Ramones and the Sex Pistols are considered some of the first proper punk bands, which leads to hardcore (Black Flag), new wave (the Special, the B-52s), and post punk (Joy Division).

 

Week 6 - April 20

The final topic in this course is heavy metal, a style with roots in late 1960s blues rock. Black Sabbath are widely considered the first heavy metal band, and along with Iron Maiden and others, this style took many forms in the 1970s. We’ll also look at several metal subgenres (thrash, black metal, and death metal), and some of the ways that metal was portrayed negatively in the mass media.