Rereading the history of rock between an American roll and a British riff. A creative and energetic exchange between two countries that have set memorable pages to music.

70 years have passed and we haven't even noticed. Because we take Rock'n'Roll for granted in a good way. It has always existed and will always resonate in our ears and make us go wild and release endorphins better than a cross-fit class. In 2024 , Rock'n'Roll turns 70 and there is certainly no shortage of celebrations. An event for fans of the retro sound was the Summer Jamboree in Senigallia, which dedicated this year's edition to it. In <a href="https://www.lofficielibiza.com/ibiza/tokyo-drift-fashion-editorial-l-officiel-ibiza" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tokyo,</a> a group of enthusiasts have been meeting at Yoyogi Park to dance to rockabilly music dressed as rockabilly for over 30 years. A perennial celebration of the American 50s that attracts fans from all over Japan and beyond. Jeans with cuffs and exposed selvedge, varsity jackets, brilliantine on the banana quiff and flared skirts paired with pastel sweaters to shake with kick-ball changes. Not exactly a fleeting <a href="https://www.lofficielibiza.com/beauty/skin-flooding-new-tiktok-trend-or-a-long-standing-korean-standard-skin-care-art" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TikTok trend</a>. &nbsp;
In the galaxy of infinite musical worlds, rock'n'roll is the genre with the most strength and vigor that more than others has been able to give body to the expressive urgency of the spirit of the times of those who have chosen it as their unique musical register. It is impossible to condense 70 years of rock'n'roll without involuntarily leaving out the thousands of experiments that have appeared in the charts, but this is certainly a magnificent and beautiful ping-pong in 4/4 between the United States and England, two countries that have seen the birth of the most beautiful, courageous and subversive versions of the many souls that inhabit the vast spectrum of rock. And yes, in the middle of the USA and the UK there are also Italy and Germany.

If Rock&#39;n&#39;Roll was born in the fifties

Lillian Briggs, defined as the Queen of Rock'n'Roll in 1958 (Getty Images)

It is difficult to establish which was the first real rock'n'roll song in the history of music. Instead, it is certainly the 70th anniversary of the most iconic song that perfectly expressed the desire for rebellion of the American youth of the time: Rock Around The Clock recorded by Bill Haley &amp; The Comets in 1955. Perhaps not even the authors would have believed in such glory; the song recorded as the b-side of a 45 rpm single saw its definitive consecration once it was included in the soundtrack of the film Blackboard Jungle. Sparkling rhythm guitars, blues basses and energetic voices praising a new freedom of expression, truly unleashed hell. Where does this strange hybrid between Rhythm and Blues come from, born mainly by black artists, with the country of Woody Guthrie and the hillbilly of American cowboys. As in all musical revolutions there is no certain song or date but there are many well-known artists who have contributed to the renewed faith of rock'n'roll. The musical legacy is enormous. We also mention Lillian Briggs , the first female voice to be recognized as a rock'n'roll artist, whose I want you to be my baby deserves a new listen. Nat King Cole's sidekick, in 1956 she was defined as the Queen of the musical genre. And then yes, Chuck Berry together with the king of rock Elvis Presley are undoubtedly at the top of the list.
Chuck Berry's 1956 duck step is referenced in the film Back to the Future (1985): Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) plays a Chuck Berry song, Johnny B. Goode replicating it in full, duck step included.

Bill Haley & His Comets (1964) (Getty Images)

Chuck Berry guitar Gibson hollowbody 1958 (Getty Images)

Elvis Presley recording Love me tender- in 1956 (Getty Images)

In the 60s Rock&#39;n&#39;Roll opens up to new horizons (very psychedelic)

Wanda Jackson (Getty Images)

From a certainty like W anda Jackson with Funnel of Love (1961), considered the first singer to have dedicated herself to rock and roll music and for this reason also called "Queen of Rockabilly", during the decade of the sixties rock is at the center of a real transformation towards new and original &nbsp;&nbsp; facets.
On one hand in England there are the Beatles and the Rolling Stones with their rock songs mixed with an ingenious pop structure, so much so that they become the standard-bearers of a programmatic new modus operandi of the song, on the other there are groups like The Kinks with their distorted and powerful guitar riffs also defined as power chords (two chords played at the same time). In America in that same period, the crazy melodies of the Velvet Underground vibrate with their first album under the aegis of <a href="https://www.lofficielibiza.com/art/andy-warhol-exhibition-puglia-2024" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Andy Warhol</a> 's Factory, The Velvet Underground &amp; Nico (1967) , together with the crazy and unusual incursions of the album Freak Out ! (1966) by The Mothers of Invention , the group led by the moustachioed guru Frank Zappa.

The Beatles (Getty Images)

Rolling Stones, 1960 (Getty Images)

Velvet Underground perform 'Venus in Furs in 1965 (Getty Images)

Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention 1966 (Getty Images)

The youth protests and the political and social implications of the late 60s gave rise to a new musical awareness. Thus the hard rock of Led Zeppelin , Deep Purple and the inexhaustible propulsive and wild charge of the MC5 appeared, where Motor City 5 indicates the city of motors, that is, Detroit. They were given the label of authors of punk rock music today also defined as proto punk.

Robert Plant and Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin

Deep Purple posing

Rock takes on all the strength and form of class struggle. So we will see many of these bands on the legendary stage of Woodstock from July 15 to July 18, 1969. Here the scenario of a psychedelic rock opens up where the intake of psychotropic drugs transforms simple listening into a real trip. Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin tower over the stage. The playlist includes Are You Experienced, the debut album of the English/American band The Jimi Hendrix Experience released in 1967, Piper at the Gates of Dawn by Pink Floyd, arriving at The Doors, a fundamental album for the evolution of rock with the charismatic king lizard Jim Morrison.

Janis Joplin at Peace of Shea Stadium

Jimi Hendrix

Pink Floyd in London in concert in 1966

The Doors in 1968

<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">Even the 4 from Liverpool change skin and with The Beatles, <span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">Sgt. 1967 Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band , they touch new hippie and spiritual shores very close and in line with American psychedelic rock. From an authorial standpoint we cite the Scotsman Donovan , Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan who with that spiritual rock set up new folk and introspective metrics from modern poets. In the early 2000s it will be Devendra Banhart who will collect that legacy to produce music defined as indie rock, indie folk, psych folk, avant folk, Naturalism and New Weird America.&nbsp;

Leonard Cohen, August, 1967

A final note to close the decade. In Germany in the late 60s and early 70s, in that particular historical climate, a phenomenon was forming that had no equal in the history of music: Kraut-rock. Hypnotic, repetitive, sparse and visionary music. German rock asserted itself as the real novelty. Can, Amount Duul, Neu and Faust are just some of the most important bands of this Teutonic rock, defined as gaseous and innovative. &nbsp;

Rock&#39;n&#39;Roll in the 70s becomes a show and performance, it becomes GLAM!

David Bowie glam rock Ziggy Stardust

Having passed the years of the most sincere psychedelia, the rock sound spreads until it reaches a certain familiarity and, in fact, discharging itself of that vein of rupture and rebellion with which it was born. Not only that, the rise of disco music threatens its area of action. However, new roads await it.
Let's talk about <a href="https://www.lofficielibiza.com/music/should-you-see-this-new-documentary-devoted-to-david-bowie" target="_blank" rel="noopener">David Bowie</a> 's English glam rock celebrated through the exploits of his alter-ego Ziggy Stardust , Marc Bolan 's vaporous curls on the sequined shoulders of T-Rex alongside the glorious Queen and Roxy Music with Brian Eno. We owe them the romantic and synthpop influences that will emerge in the early eighties. Once again everything really changes. The natural effervescence of rock performance shows a second face, the soul of an evolved and "intelligent" rock defined as progressive rock. The musical compositions are increasingly complex and full of references to the classical orchestral tradition. Genesis, Yes, Electric Light Orchestra are certainly among the leading names of the phenomenon. In Italy, progressive rock is no exception: Concerto Grosso by New Trolls (1971) and Storia di Un Aiuto by Premiata Forneria Marconi released in 1972 are cornerstones of an authentic success still cited today by those who live and study music.

But you have to cross the Atlantic Ocean again to recognize the rebellious seed of the new rock of the 70s. It was 1973 when CBGB (acronym for Country Blue Grass Blues and Other Music For Uplifting Gourmandizers) opened, a famous hot spot for rock performances in the Lower East Side of Manhattan - today a fashion boutique of the John Varvatos brand - where the punk and hardcore sound found the right sounding board. The Ramones , the true fathers of riot music, played here, as did bands emerging at the time such as Television , Patti Smith and Lenny Kaye of the Patti Smith Group , the Stillettos (which also included the future singer of Blondie, Debbie Harry ) and, over the years, sacred monsters such as Lou Reed and Iggy Pop . It was 1973 when Kiss were formed, the wonderful rockers made up like kabuki actors from space. That feverish and creative period allows artists like Patti Smith and Lydia Lunch to express themselves at their best and to finally put the figure of the female rocker in the foreground. Honorable mention to Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne, an English heavy metal band from Birmingham born in 1968.

The Ramones at CBGB on the Lower East Side

Deborah Harry on stage

Lou Reed

Patti Smith on stage

Tony Iommi and Ozzy Osbourne of Black Sabbath in 1974

Kiss in London in 1976

So let's go back to England. In 1977, in London, a certain Malcom McLaren sets up those irreverent and anarchic Sex Pistols: boys with dysfunctional behavior united against everything and everyone, especially against the most mainstream rock. And yes, a certain <a href="https://www.lofficielibiza.com/portraits/andreas-kronthaler-vivienne-westwood-husband-interview-creative-director" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Vivienne Westwood</a> also dresses them. The anger against the system, against the strong powers mixed with the frustration for a heavy social condition with a future much more gray than rosy, is the fertile ground for a reinterpretation of the DIY concept. I go to the garage and play, fuck the record companies. There are also the Clash who quote rockabilly and, naturally, the nihilistic post-punk of Joy Division who later merged into New Order after the premature passing of Ian Curtis. In this synaesthetic chaos, the rockabilly style with the Teddy Boys with their banana quiff, western jackets and shoes with thick soles, holds high the flag of the most authentic rock'n'roll even if blackened by bad vibes.

Sex Pistols on stage punk London 1976

The Clash in 1978

With the 80&#39;s Rock&#39;n&#39;Roll becomes really bad with metal and dark

Metallica 1980

We can certainly also divide in two the aspects of contamination and hybridization of what remains of the original rock&#39;n&#39;roll in the fabulous 80s. On one side there is the sound of the United States increasingly angry and shouted with hard rock, heavy metal and thrash where the guitar is a blade that tears the air of obvious southern rock derivation, with groups like Metallica, Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Iron Maiden , Anthrax and Guns N&#39; Roses. They are the ones who swirl their long highlighted and permed hair and sway their slender hips wrapped in skinny jeans and sporty leggings.

Bon Jovi in 1984

Dave Murray and Steve Harris of Iron Maiden in 1980

Def Leppard on stage

Axl Rose of Guns N' Roses on stage

On the other side of the world, instead, there is the English introspective emotion of Killing Joke, Bauhaus, The Cure and Siuxie and The Banshees. A movement that photographs a group of singers a little depressed but sweet and romantic, signatures of the manifesto of the dark world, defined as New Wave , disenchanted and refractory to the arrogant enthusiasm of the contemporary eighties.

The Cure 1980

Siuxie and The Banshees

Killing Joke Band-1980

Stray Cats, Lee Rocker, Brian Setzer, Slim Jim Phantom at Music File Photos in Hollywood in 1981

But there is also a happy part with the revival of rockabilly and sixties melodies also defined as power rock thanks to the effervescent impact, both musical and aesthetic, of the Americans Stray Cats with their Elvis quiff and double bass . There are the neo-romantic ballads of REM and the propulsive energy of Bruce Springsteen , to arrive at the incursions into the springy rock of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers.

Stray Cats - Runaway Boys [Top Of The Pops 1980]

The Red Hot Chili Peppers in 1984

Rock&#39;n&#39;Roll in the 90s becomes alternative

Kurt Cobain of Nirvana at MTV Unplugged 1994

Only one word: grunge. Only one place: the <span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">American Northwest, oppressed since the mid-80s by poverty, <span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">unemployment and <span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">drugs. Lots of heroin. Hardcore punk is the root of this new desperate and torn sound, a rock cry for help spat out in a lake of inescapable destiny. In Seattle, from this feeling of desperation emerge Nirvana and Kurt Cobain . They are the manifesto of the movement that will leave beautiful and painful scars in every expressive field of the nineties, fashion included. Smells like Ten Spirits is THE reference album. Alongside them are Holes with the irrepressible interrupted lolita Courtney Love. Let's also mention Soundgarden , also from Seattle, also inclined to throw in our faces all the discomfort and cynicism of an unlivable reality (Black Hole Sun). But in Seattle there are also Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains and Mudhoney , cited in the 1965 film Mudhoney by Russ Meyer. In 1994 the Foo Fighters were born, an alternative rock group founded in Seattle by Dave Grohl, former drummer of Nirvana. Instead GOO, the sixth album by Sonic Youth, is one of those albums to be included in the alternative rock playlist of the nineties.
And then there's her, PJ Harvey , English singer-songwriter, composer and multi-instrumentalist from Dorset, a musical icon of alternative poetry, where the blues pieces are rock but so bare and essential and in stark contrast to the maximalist circus aesthetic. A deliberately off-key and outsized choice that she applies from the beginning to get on stage, alienate herself and immerse herself in another dimension, enchanting her audience. Very "riot-grrrrl". And on the wave of introspective and disenchanted rock, we also include the poignant pieces of Radiohead. Finally, a crazy leap from the Los Angeles scene comes from Rage Against the Machine. The group, formed in 1991, manages to take rap and inexplicably fuse it with the metal sound, an experiment already practiced in the eighties by Run DMC with Aerosmith in Walk This Way. In 1999, another group broke the mould, this time British, called Skunk Anansie with an irrepressible lead voice, that of Skin .

The Hole with Courtney Love

Chris Cornell and Ben Shepherd of Soundgarden on stage in 1996

Pearl Jam in Amsterdam in 1992

Screeming Trees drummer in 1992

PJ Harvey on stage in 1995

The heavy funk, blues, punk rock, reggae and hip hop group Skunk Anansie (Getty Images)

If in the new millennium rock&#39;n&#39;roll is contaminated

The White Stripes with Meg White and Jack White in 2001 (Getty Images)

Rock , and all that remains of ' n' roll, arrives in the new millennium ready to be manipulated and revised. This is a phase of great stylistic contamination, a new mix that takes advantage of the sound journeys undertaken in the past decades. We cite the recording enterprises of the guitarist Jack White in the debut with Meg White, Jack's much envied wife. Together at the beginning of the 2000s, on an unforgettable two-tone red and white, they founded the duo White Stripes with the hot debut titled "Get Behind Me Satan". White then started working on other projects, the most famous and compact of which was Dead Weather with singer Allisson Mosshart , already leader of another notable rock group The Kills (Jamie Hince would later become Kate Moss ' husband in 2011). But that's not all. In the depths of the smoky and dirty English clubs, the Libertines of underground and punkish memory emerged with the unstable Pete Doherty, also the lead voice of Babyshambles, the blessing and curse of the model Kate Moss, clearly totally fascinated by the self-distortion and fragility of the artists of the period. Their intense and stormy story, which began in 2005, didn't last long, but long enough to fill pages and pages of tabloids. In the background, obviously, a lot of indie-rock. But it is thanks to the Arctic Monkeys that England recovers from the very long wave of post-Oasis and Blur Brit pop, post-boy band and sycophantic melodies. We owe them the resumption of the sound battle. We cite the album Whatever People Say I Am That from 2006 as a huge turning point in the music market. An experimental rock that is eager to rekindle a light on the post-2000 American scene comes instead from Animal Collective from Baltimore, based in New York. Psycho-folk or noise-rock is what we need to look to in order to rediscover the creative freedom of the rock spirit. Even if contaminated: it will be our journey to undertake to decode its new message.

Pete Doherty with the LIBERTINES in 2003

Jamie "Hotel" Hince and Alison "W" Mosshart of The Kills in 2005 (Getty Images)

Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys in Reading in 2005

Måneskin at Eurovision in 2021 (Getty Images)

Those who entered the American and English charts in the second decade of the 2000s, with the ease of the Rolling Stones and Led Zepplin at the time, were Italian bands that immersed themselves completely in the most authentic and honest rock. We are talking about M&aring;neskin , the only band to date that has been able to ferry a language that was only apparently put in the attic, rehabilitating 100% of its power to the eyes and ears not only of the nostalgic but above all of the new and young generations. In fact, opening up vast and wonderful worlds to (re)discover and love from the first to the last riff.

Rock'n'Roll Turns 70. The Story of a Free and Rebellious Sound

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