Experimental rock

Experimental rock
Stylistic origins	Rock avant-garde
Cultural origins	1960s, United States
Derivative forms	Art rock[1] Krautrock[2]
Other topics
Experimental pop progressive rock

Experimental rock (or avant-rock)^[3] is a subgenre of rock music^[4] which pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique^[5] or which experiments with the basic elements of the genre.^[6] Artists aim to liberate and innovate, with some of the genre's distinguishing characteristics being improvisational performances, avant-garde influences, odd instrumentation, opaque lyrics (or instrumentals), unorthodox structures and rhythms, and an underlying rejection of commercial aspirations.^[7]

History

Origins (1960s)

Professor Bill Martin states that American band the Beach Boys opened a path in rock music "that went from Sgt. Pepper's to Close to the Edge and beyond".^[8] He argues that the advancing technology of multitrack recording and mixing boards were more influential to experimental rock than electronic instruments such as the synthesizer, allowing the Beatles and the Beach Boys to become the first crop of non-classically trained musicians to create extended and complex compositions.^[8] Drawing from the influence of the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson and the Beatles' George Martin, music producers after the mid 1960s began to view the recording studio as a musical instrument used to aid the process of composition.^{[9][nb 1]} When the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds (1966) was released to a four-month chart stay in the British Top 10, many British groups responded to the album by making more experimental use of recording studio techniques.^{[12][nb 2]}

Frank Zappa with Captain Beefheart, seated left, during a 1975 concert

As progressive rock developed in the late 1960s, experimental rock acquired notoriety alongside art rock.^[4] In the opinion of Stuart Rosenberg, the first "noteworthy" experimental rock group was the Mothers of Invention led by Frank Zappa, a composer who demonstrated a mastery of pop idioms ranging from jazz to classical.^[4] Professor and Zappa biographer Kelly Fisher Lowe wrote that Zappa appeared to "set the tone" for experimental rock with the way he incorporated "countertextural aspects ... calling attention to the very recordedness of the album" similar to contemporary experimental rock LPs by the Beach Boys (Pet Sounds and Smile), the Beatles (Sgt. Pepper's), and the Who (The Who Sell Out and Tommy).^[16]

	The Mothers of Invention – "The Return of the Son of Monster Magnet" The closing track from the 1966 album Freak Out!.
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According to author Chris Smith, the Mothers of Inventions' 1966 debut album Freak Out! inspired the Beatles to make Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967), which "opened the door to commercially successful experimental rock".^[17] Journalist Richie Unterberger writes that experimental rock bands like the Mothers of Invention, the Velvet Underground, the Fugs, 1967-era Beatles, and the Jimi Hendrix Experience shared the distinction of incorporating avant-garde music, sound collage, and poetry into their records, which was particularly influential to German progressive rock bands, specifically the development of krautrock in the late 1960s and early 1970s.^[2]

Notes

1. Journalist Richard Williams wrote of record producer Phil Spector: "[He] created a new concept: the producer as overall director of the creative process, from beginning to end. He took control of everything, he picked the artists, wrote or chose the material, supervised the arrangements, told the singers how to phrase, masterminded all phases of the recording process with the most painful attention to detail, and released the result on his own label."^[10] According to Williams, it was Spector who transformed rock music as a performing art to an art which could only exist in the recording studio, which "paved the way for art rock".^[11]
2. The Beach Boys followed Pet Sounds several months later with the single "Good Vibrations" (1966), credited as a milestone in the development of rock music^[13] and a prime proponent in revolutionizing rock music from live concert performances to studio productions which could only exist on record.^[14] Musicologist Charlie Gillett called it "one of the first records to flaunt studio production as a quality in its own right, rather than as a means of presenting a performance".^[12] Popmatters wrote: ""Its influence on the ensuing psychedelic and progressive rock movements can’t be overstated."^[15]

References

1. "Pop/Rock » Art-Rock/Experimental » Prog-Rock". AllMusic.
2. Unterberger, p. 174.
3. "EXPERIMENTAL ROCK (AVANT-ROCK)". The Independent. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
4. Rosenberg 2009, p. 179.
5. Bogdanov 2001, p. 10.
6. Martin 1998, p. 93.
7. "Experimental Rock". AllMusic. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
8. Martin 2015, p. 75.
9. Edmondson 2013, p. 890.
10. Williams 2003, pp. 15–16.
11. Williams 2003, p. 38.
12. Gillett 1984, p. 329.
13. Stuessy & Lipscomb 2009, p. 71.
14. Ashby 2004, p. 282.
15. Interrante, Scott (May 20, 2015). "The 12 Best Brian Wilson Songs". Popmatters.
16. Lowe 2007, pp. 38, 219.
17. Smith 2006, p. 35.

Bibliography

• Bogdanov, Vladimir, ed. (2001). All Music Guide to Electronica. Backbeat Books. ISBN 0-87930-628-9.
• Edmondson, Jacqueline, ed. (2013). Music in American Life: An Encyclopedia of the Songs, Styles, Stars, and Stories that Shaped our Culture. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-0-313-39348-8.
• Gillett, Charlie (1984). The Sound of the City: The Rise of Rock and Roll. Perseus Books Group. ISBN 978-0-306-80683-4.
• Lowe, Kelly Fisher (2007). The Words and Music of Frank Zappa. U of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-6005-9.
• Martin, Bill (1998). Listening to the Future: The Time of Progressive Rock, 1968–1978. Open Court. ISBN 0-8126-9368-X.
• Martin, Bill (2015). Avant Rock: Experimental Music from the Beatles to Bjork. Open Court Publishing Company. ISBN 978-0-8126-9939-5.
• Rosenberg, Stuart (2009). Rock and Roll and the American Landscape: The Birth of an Industry and the Expansion of the Popular Culture, 1955-1969. iUniverse. ISBN 978-1-4401-6458-3.
• Smith, Chris (2006). The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Rock History: From arenas to the underground, 1974-1980. Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-33611-9.
• Unterberger, Richie. Unknown Legends of Rock 'n' Roll. Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN 978-1-61774-469-3.
• Williams, Richard (2003). Phil Spector: Out of His Head. Music Sales Group. ISBN 978-0-7119-9864-3.