Rock Music of the 1970s

In the early 1970s, rock music began to transition out of the 60’s Psychedelic Rock era as new styles were beginning to emerge into the industry. Variations of rock music like blues rock and progressive rock became popular with how artists were still in limbo to experiment with their music and push towards new limits. In these new genres, we start to see many contributions to American culture from the rock artists who aimed to produce music artistically and authentically.

In Blues-rock and Progressive rock music, we see a similar approach with how bands fused rock with classical elements. Yes’s “Roundabout” and Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” and “Kashmir” all incorporate classical elements ranging use of quasiclassical guitar and orchestral strings. Other bands like the Allman Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd were able to incorporate southern culture elements with their blues rocks to commemorate American culture with songs like “Sweet Home Alabama” and “Whipping Post”.

In theatrical and glam rock, artists were able to bring in new attention towards their audience with how they incorporated outstanding live performances that included special effects and artists developing onstage personas. David Bowie was known for creating the alter ego called Ziggy Stardust, which allowed him to push sexual and gender identity boundaries. The same goes for Alice Cooper with the theatrical performances that end with himself staging various forms of his own death.