Groups, hard rock. Hard rock: foreign bands

Hard rock (the first word is translated as "heavy") is a musical style that appeared in the 60's and received the greatest popularity in the 70's of the last century. What are its distinctive qualities? Firstly, heavy guitar riffs, and secondly, a fairly quiet pace, which can not be said about heavy metal, which appeared a little later.

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 on the embroidered guitars. Just imagine: we probably would not know anything about this style, if not for the contribution of this group. Hard rock came about thanks to this band. At about the same time, the work of Jimi Hendrix, who performed music in the same style. But it was filled with impurity of psychedelics. Also, the new style began to come commands playing blues, for example, "Yardbirds", as well as "Cream".

The best bands, the early 70's

It should be noted that this direction was most actively developed in the UK, and soon the best hard rock bands were formed: "Black Sabbath", "Deep Purple" and "Led Zeppelin". Soon there were such hits for all time, as "Paranoid" and "In Rock". The most successful album, sustained in the style of hard rock, was "Machine Head", which included a song that is now known absolutely everything, it was called "Smoke On The Water". At the same time, a rather gloomy band from Birmingham, who calls himself "Black Sabbath", worked alongside his illustrious colleagues. Also this team laid the foundation of the style called doom, which began to develop only after ten years. Hardly the 70's began, as new hard rock bands appeared: Uriah Heep, Free, Nazareth, Atomic Rooster, UFO, Budgie, Thin Lizzy, Black Widow "," Status Quo "," Foghat ". And this is by no means all collectives based at this time. There were some bands among them who flirted with other styles (for example, "Atomic Rooster" and "Uriah Heep" did not shun progressives, "Foghat" and "Status Quo" were boogie, and "Free" gravitated towards blues rock) . But, anyway, they all played just hard. In the United States, too, many have paid attention to this style. There appeared groups "Bloodrock", "Blue Cheer", and also "Grand Funk Railroad". Collectives were not bad at all, but they did not achieve wide popularity. But many still fell in love with these groups. Hard rock, which they played, lit the hearts of their fans.

Mid and late 70's

In the mid-70s, such fine bands as Montrose, Kiss and Aerosmith were founded. In addition, popularity began to win Alice Cooper, who performed shock rock, and Ted Nugent. Also came the followers of the style from other states: Australia put on the stage the kings of hard rock and roll called "AC / DC", Canada gave us "April Wine", Germany arose a rather melodic band "Scorpions", Switzerland formed " Krokus ". But the "Deep Purple" did not develop very well - they experienced a difficult period in their lives. Soon the band ceased to exist, but after that two beautiful collectives formed - "Rainbow", founded by R. Blackmore (later he gave birth to "Dio"), and "Whitesnake" - the offspring of D. Coverdale. However, the late 70's could not be called a good time for hard rock, as then a new wave and punk began to gain popularity. It is also important that the kings of style began to take positions - "Deep Purple" no longer existed, "Black Sabbath" lost their leader and unsuccessfully looked for a new one, and nothing was heard about "Led Zeppelin" after John Bonham died.

The 90s

The 1990s were marked by widespread interest in the alternative, including grunge, and hard rock at that time was pushed into the background, although occasionally there were good teams. The greatest interest was caused by the group "Guns N 'Roses", which shook the world with its song "Use Your Illusion", from them the European collectives "Gotthard" (Switzerland) and "Axel Rudi Pell" (Germany) kept up.

A little bit later…

Music in this style was performed later, but 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. Groups of foreigners in the majority and did not try to adhere to any standards. But the most dedicated followers of the style, not forgetting the classical traditions, can be called "Answer", "Darkness", and "Roadstar", however the last two of them soon ceased to exist.

"Gorky Park"

Of the number of Russian representatives of hard rock, this group stands out most clearly. It was popular in the USSR, the guys performed songs in English. In the 1980s, the band was also recognized in America, and soon it became the first domestic team to be shown on MTV. Many remember such "chips" of this group as Soviet symbolism and folk clothes.

Speech with Scorpions, a new album, video clips, popularity in America

The collective "Gorky Park" 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 self-titled album was recorded . The cover had an interesting design - on it were letters G and P, reminiscent of the shape of the sickle and hammer. Then the group flew to New York to make clips called "Bang!" And "My Generation". In Western countries at that time many were interested in the USSR, and the collective fell in love with a wide circle of Americans. And it's not surprising, because it was the best Russian hard rock. Groups playing in this style in our homeland, could be counted on the fingers, and "Gorky Park", of course, bypassed them all. Their success was grandiose.

"Music Festival of Peace"

"Gorky Park" began to travel both in their native country, and in the states. In 1989, the band performed their songs at the famous "Music Festival of the World" in Moscow, when they heard one hundred and fifty thousand music lovers. The same scene was performed by Bon Jovi, Ozzy Osbourne, Motley Crue, Skid Row, Cinderella and Scorpions. Of course, for the group it was a grandiose event, the guys were happy that they managed to sing along with such legendary musicians. Later they remembered this festival as one of the best events in the history of the band, and they were right.

Touring in Europe

Two years later, the group received the status of the most successful new international team. At the dawn of the 90th the band successfully toured Sweden, Germany, Denmark, and Norway. For a long time these countries have not seen such a remarkable group. Hard rock in their performance was simply magnificent. At each performance there was a full house, people crowded to listen to good music. And no one remained disappointed, everyone was delighted with the performance of this group. And was it possible to expect something different from the collective, each participant of which was really talented? Therefore, there is nothing surprising in the fact that the group achieved success.

"Moscow Calling", the departure of Alexander Minkov, the disintegration of the group

However, after a while, Russia ceased to captivate the minds of people in the West, and the "Gorky Park" in America began to be forgotten. Soon the band released the album "Moscow Calling", and tours around our country began.

1998 was marked by the departure from the team of Alexander Minkov, who came up with the name "Alexander Marshal" and began to sing separately from the group. After that, "Gorky Park" began to experience bad times, and soon the collective actually ceased to exist. However, Jan Yanenkov, together with Alexei Belov, continued to perform old compositions. They began to call themselves "Belov Park".

But the former participants of the once famous band did not forget about each other and sometimes gathered together for performances. Well, not a bad idea. Their fans were happy to see the newly assembled collective and listen to the favorite songs. Each time they sang them together with their idols, wondering if this is the last show or they will have another opportunity to hear the legendary band.

Hard rock bands: list

Summing up, it is necessary to list the collectives playing in this style. Just for the convenience of perception.

Foreign performers: Jimi Hendrix, 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, Bes Illyuzii, Moby Dick, Voice of the Prophet.

Before you the most successful groups. Hard rock perform completely different and at the same time something similar collectives.