How to rock?

[Billy's Little Trip]

Jet? Wolfmother? AC/DC?
Does "the rock" have a geographical component?

There's no doubt that I'm partial to Aussie bands. It's like the rest of the world kept advancing, but the land down under got stuck in some kind of vacuum space and is now surfing in on waves under the photon light.

[Hoblit]

Jet? Wolfmother? AC/DC?
Does "the rock" have a geographical component?

There's no doubt that I'm partial to Aussie bands. It's like the rest of the world kept advancing, but the land down under got stuck in some kind of vacuum space and is now surfing in on waves under the photon light.

In a strange coincidence, I downloaded two Jet albums just last week. (and Two Arctic Monkeys as well) I've been listening to a lot of Jet lately. As a matter of fact, I didn't realize that they did a couple of those popular songs from a couple of years ago. I heard some stuff off of Shine and decided I liked it and made the downloads.

Jet ROCKS.

[Mostess]

So Madonna was just enshrined in the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame. Apparently, there's another way to rock: you can get an honorary degree in it if you're successful enough in other areas.

I mean, she's done songs that were good for what they were. Borderline comes to mind. But she has never, in my opinion, rocked. Can someone point to an example, perhaps?

(Not that the Hall of Fame is the ideal litmus test, mind you. But still.)

This is what I'm talking about. Does Madonna rock? Lots of people think so. She certainly has balls and commitment to her performance. I'm not sure I agree that irreverence is a necessary quality for rock, but she certainly has that, too. Her sex-liberation war is largely won: whatever shock value she brought to the mainstream is now much weaker (though was she the innoculation, or merely the infection we managed to fight off?) In any case, her general point has largely been accepted as truth, so she wins.

In this case, "ROCK" again seems to be largely extra-musical. And the logic in the current content of this thread (the "X rocks" "NO! X sux!" stuff) is so between-the-lines, I can't tell what you're all talking about.

Reist's point that some bands "bring no ROCK to the rock" is interesting. I'm curious what percentage of the ROCK that the band he links to is due to the song and playing, and what percentage is due to the lightshow, hair, jumping, shirtlessness, huge arena staging, lowness of guitar slinging, etc. Obviously, one can give a big wig, a pack of cigarettes, and an empty bar cup to an actual rock and we all get the joke.

Part of me wants to keep trying to nail this down. But part of me is about to give up and decide that "ROCK" is just a proxy word for "I like it" or (more charitably) "I lost myself in it" and that has no actual independent validity.

[ujnhunter]

The Darkness Rocks! You should too! Follow the leader, wear some tight Spandex and ROCK!

[Billy's Little Trip]

Jet? Wolfmother? AC/DC?
Does "the rock" have a geographical component?

There's no doubt that I'm partial to Aussie bands. It's like the rest of the world kept advancing, but the land down under got stuck in some kind of vacuum space and is now surfing in on waves under the photon light.

In a strange coincidence, I downloaded two Jet albums just last week. (and Two Arctic Monkeys as well) I've been listening to a lot of Jet lately. As a matter of fact, I didn't realize that they did a couple of those popular songs from a couple of years ago. I heard some stuff off of Shine and decided I liked it and made the downloads.

Jet ROCKS.

They really are a great band, and even the stuff that doesn't rock is great. Nic Cester has such wonderful Lennon'esque voice that it's very comforting. But the plus is that they actually write good songs.

[Caravan Ray]

There's no doubt that I'm partial to Aussie bands. It's like the rest of the world kept advancing, but the land down under got stuck in some kind of vacuum space and is now surfing in on waves under the photon light.

In a strange coincidence, I downloaded two Jet albums just last week. (and Two Arctic Monkeys as well) I've been listening to a lot of Jet lately. As a matter of fact, I didn't realize that they did a couple of those popular songs from a couple of years ago. I heard some stuff off of Shine and decided I liked it and made the downloads.

Jet ROCKS.

They really are a great band, and even the stuff that doesn't rock is great. Nic Cester has such wonderful Lennon'esque voice that it's very comforting. But the plus is that they actually write good songs.

I really don't like Jet that much. They do have a few really good songs. "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" is an absolute cracker. As is "Roll Over DJ" and "Rip It Up" - they totally rock. But some of their songs I find really cringeworthy - "Look What You've Done" comes to mind. Overall - they are just way too derivative of 1970s Aus. Rock - not that being derivative is really a bad thing - but they they stick so close to the Vanda & Young* songbook, they sound like they are a cover band.

Here is some 1974-ish footage of Stevie Wright (former lead singer of The Easybeats):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbi4x3Yd ... re=related

Here are some of he members of Jet (with others, calling themselves "The Wrights") doing a cover of Stevie Wright's biggest solo hit, "Evie"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlLcJ4RL ... re=related

*And just in case you don't know who Vanda & Young are - they were guitarists and songwriters for the Easybeats. George Young is also the big brother of Angus Young of AC/DC. After the Easybeats broke up in the late 60s - Vanda & Young basically defined the "Aus Rock" sound that Jet now plays - writing and producing a huge string of hits for artists such as ACDC, Stevie Wright, Rose Tattoo, The Angels, John Paul Young.....

So - at least I like the music Jet copies, and when they do it well, they are great - but overall, meh....

Same thing for Wolfmother really - just insert Led Zepplin or Marc Bolan for Vanda & Young. Though I much prefer Vanda & Young to Led Zep - so I like Jet much more than Wolfmother.

[Billy's Little Trip]

That's what I mean, they seem to stay strong to a traditional sound. I love that! It's like a bunch of hillbilly's on the porch playing the fiddle and blowing on jugs. It's a real true sound that should never be forgotten. It was developed and passed down in Australia. When I was a teenager hanging out at the beach everyday, Australian rock set us apart from the masses. No one ever heard of AC/DC in the mid 70's, but we were blasting them. It was raw, loud and different. It was about subjects that no one else sung about. We rocked in a different way.
I agree that Wolfmother is a Zep, Ozzy, 70's sound, but that's what I love about them. 3 guys in the band completely rock with a passion measured by no one else in this time zone. That makes them different. I like um, and I don't care how much they sound like someone from 30 or 40 years ago.
We stand on the shoulders of giants.

By the way, thank you for all the links. That kept me entertained for a good hour and I have a half dozen sites saved to go back to. I have never heard of the Easybeats. I knew Angus had a musical family before him, but I really never knew about the whole story. Why hasn't this been in a "behid the music" type thing here in the US? It's pretty damn fascinating.
Also, my band, Circle Of Influence, covered Evie on a regular. Everyone thought it was an original because our style was so close.

[Caravan Ray]

That's what I mean, they seem to stay strong to a traditional sound. I love that! It's like a bunch of hillbilly's on the porch playing the fiddle and blowing on jugs. It's a real true sound that should never be forgotten.

Yes - I guess if you put it that way - they do rock. They are sort of like Rosetta Stones for future generations

As I said earlier - their good songs are very, very good. I guess I can excuse the occaisional duds they put out. But I stll prefer The Easybeats.

Also, my band, Circle Of Influence, covered Evie on a regular. Everyone thought it was an original because our style was so close.

Did you do Evie - Parts 1, 2 and 3?

[Billy's Little Trip]

The whole song is like 10 minutes long. But when we first heard the song, it was only part one, and we didn't even know about the whole song until a year or so later. When we heard the whole song, we started making longer songs.
edit: thought I'd check it out, it's 11 minutes long.

[Caravan Ray]

I have never heard of the Easybeats. I knew Angus had a musical family before him, but I really never knew about the whole story. Why hasn't this been in a "behid the music" type thing here in the US? It's pretty damn fascinating.

I always thought "The Easybeats Story" would make a great movie. They were all the sons of post-war European immigrants who apparently met at a migrant relocation camp in the early 60s. 2 of them were Dutch born (including Harry Vanda) and couldn't even speak English. Stevie Wright eventually went completely off the rails after the band broke up. There are stories that he was sighted in the late 70s working as a cleaner at Sydney's Central station.

There is a good background on wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Easybeats

(...and there is even a very tenuous Caravan Ray link. Jack Marx, the dude who found Stevie living in a caravan a few years ago and wrote his biography, was the year above me at my school and we worked at McDonalds together when we were teenagers)

[Billy's Little Trip]

Maybe you should write a book. That is pretty interesting. I'm a big believer in keeping our rock Legends alive. If for no other reason, to prove to the world that this shit started in Australia.

Should we keep believing it started in the UK? Or did the UK snake it from the Aussie's?

[Dan-O from Five-O]

Back to the point, that is if Mostess hasn't given up reading this thread because of all the Aussie rock blathering, I would stress that since this is a "How to Rock" question that you cherry pick the advice being given here. I say that because I don't think there is any particular formula you can follow, and as demonstrated by the various "this band rocks" "no they don't" replies (which you already touched on) it all becomes very subjective. You would think you could get people to agree on something like, well since no one has mentioned him yet, Jimi Hendrix rocks. But as much as I can list his cutting edge style of play, his outlandish stage presence, or his wall of Marshall amps tone, I can all but guarantee someone listing any or all of those things as reasons why they loath him. The point is there is no absolute formula, thus there is no real concrete answer.

For years, people tried in vain to discover the secret of the Motown sound. In the end, even Motown couldn't produce it anymore. Motown's sound came down to 3 main factors, the people who wrote the music, the people who recorded and produced the music, and the guys that played it. From this you can extrapolate a formula; good song writing + good production + good musicianship = success. Whether you translate success into a live or recorded product is irrelevant, as is genre BTW, it's just hard to beat a well written song that sounds good and is played well. The problem is as formulaic as that sounds, that road is full of pitfalls and starts with each individuals interpretation of those ingredients.

So yeah, cherry pick the advice and blaze your own trail. That rocks.

[Project-D]

This Rocks


This does not.

[Spud]

Uh...

[Adam!]

[Project-D]

Sorry, I posted the wrong second link, which I fixed. I did not rock with that post.

My point is, a bunch of little kids playing Zep's Rock and Roll with Carmine Appice, Rocks.

A 6 page discussion of what beat the the first bass note starts on, does not Rock.

[Albatross]

My point is, a bunch of little kids playing Zep's Rock and Roll with Carmine Appice, Rocks.

A 6 page discussion of what beat the the first bass note starts on, does not Rock.

They should be spending six pages discussing songs to play other than "Rock and Roll."

[adam b]

1. be confident in yourself
2. be confident in your instrument
3. learn your songs. learn them fucking well. learn them until you can play them in your sleep... without looking will suffice.

then you can relax onstage. I've found that before I can go nuts, I have to be able to NOT look at my guitar etc. Of course for the harder parts, you will have to look at your instrument but you can do other things... I've stood on my amp during my best solo, walked into the crowd for another song...
Use the stage as part of your performance, become part of the crowd - don't just interact with them. Like someone mentioned, it's an awesome feeling to be on the same level as the crowd, literally. try looking into the eyes of individual audience members if you can.
Write songs with balls, if you want to jump, then write pacey songs. That kind of thing.

In the studio, do pre-production as a band, and then track over that later on. If possible, don't use a click track, or try to play as a band while using that track. Get a producer who will really push your limits - ours was a good friend who, for our best take of one song, bagged the shit out of the drummer throughout that whole take. I was laughing my head off while playing, but didn't miss a note. For another song, we all took our pants off. Whatever gets you in the mood, just make sure you're having FUN.

fun=rock