Beat band

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Paul McCartney , George Harrison , John Lennon were one of the most famous beat bands with their band Beatles , 1964

A beat band (or beat group ) is a band that plays all or most of the beat music .

History of origin

The early beat bands included Tommy Steele & the Steelmen , whose song Rock With the Cavemen , recorded on September 24, 1956 - written by Lionel Bart  - can be considered an early example of beat music. The line-up structure of the band was similar to later beat bands, namely Ronnie Scott (tenor saxophone), unknown guitarist, Dave Lee (piano), Major Holly (Benny Green ?; double bass with slap technique ) and Kirk Dunning (drums). Recorded in Decca Studio 3 in Hampstead , the single reached number 13 on the British charts after its release in October 1956 . Steele was discovered in the 2 I's Coffee Bar in London's Soho district , as was the first British beat band with lasting success. It was about Cliff Richard's companion group , the Shadows (then Drifters ). Their line- up initially consisted of Ernie Shear (lead guitar), Ian Samwell (rhythm guitar), Frank Clarke (double bass) and Terry Smart (drums). This instrumental line-up, completely corresponding to a beat band , recorded the title Move it under Norrie Paramor in Abbey Road Studios on July 24, 1958 , which, after its release on August 29, 1958, rose to number two in the charts. The way was now paved for more British beat bands, which were recruited from the metropolises of London , Liverpool and Manchester . In the motherland of the band bands, the term “beat groups” was preferred. Their musical styles can be regionally divided into Mersey Sound or Manchester Sound .

Spread to Europe

Apparently for the first time in the media, the word "beat music" was used on July 6, 1961 from the first edition of the music magazine " Mersey Beat - Britain's Leading Beat Paper". At that time there were over 400 beat bands in the Liverpool area. Her role models were British skiffle music, but also influences from American blues , rhythm & blues and rock & roll . This mix was smoothly recorded by British music producers . Even a wrong decision by Decca A&R boss Dick Rowe could not change the spread of beat bands when he announced on February 6, 1962 to Beatles manager Brian Epstein : "Groups are out: four-piece groups with guitars are particularly finished" ("Groups are out of fashion: especially groups of four with guitars are at the end"). The BBC welcomed beat music, and it adopted this style of music to limit the increasing Americanization of the hit parade. This enabled the British soldier broadcaster BFBS Radio Germany to spread the beat music, as it took over programs like Saturday Club with Brian Matthew , where beat bands played live, from the BBC. The "Beatwelle" was also imported acoustically to Germany through Radio Luxembourg , pirate broadcasters and the Star Club .

In March 1964, beat bands were still seen as a purely British phenomenon in Germany. Der Spiegel first used the term beat band in 1965 when it reported on a Pretty Things concert . Beat bands came to German living rooms with the Beat Club . The first episode from September 25, 1965 presented The Liverbirds , a girl group from Liverpool. The first nationally known beat groups were The Rattles , The Lords , Petards and German Bonds . For pragmatic and programmatic reasons, German beat groups were soon no longer represented in the leading show Beat Club . The director of Radio Bremen TV , Heinz Kerneck , set the following goals for the Beat Club on November 8, 1965:

  1. It depends on the quality of the music and not on its nationality ,
  2. German beat bands are mostly the successors of Anglo-Saxon predecessors,
  3. Beat music is an international matter
  4. The hit parades in particular are the measure of the music broadcast.

According to the director Michael Leckebusch, German beat groups produced "at most secondary titles or so-called follow-up titles from foreign bands." In Germany, beat music was associated with the attribute "loud" because it drowned out typical German hits - often because of the electrical amplifiers used and the emphasis on the drums. In the print media, the beat groups were given a platform in short-lived teen magazines such as The Star Club News (1964–1965), OK (1965–1967) and Musikparade (1965–1967), initially less in Bravo . The only German beat music film, Hurray, the Rattles are coming! premiered on February 11, 1966. The weak film showed the beat band performing in Copenhagen. There are said to have been around 300 beat bands in Berlin in 1966. Of the German beat bands, only the Rattles and especially the Lords made it into the Top 20 of the German charts.

Distribution in North America

British beat groups were extremely successful in North America and partly overlaid American styles of music. Their sound was not radically different from that of the Beach Boys, for example . The Beatles' cover versions of rock & roll, rhythm & blues and the Motown sound were seen as an honor in North America and not as commercially motivated versions. In the media there was talk of “ British Invasion ” or “British Beat”, because not only Beatles and Rolling Stones , but also secondary beat groups such as Dave Clark Five , Hollies , Searchers , Manfred Mann or Herman's Hermits stormed the US hit parade. It was not until 1966 that an American group, the Monkees, was lifted from the retort, which enabled a counterbalance to the Beatles. From 1966 onwards, increasing American rock music displaced beat music and beat bands; rock bands have dominated since then.

Musical basics

The classic beat band was composed of a melody group such as lead guitar (sometimes keyboards ) and vocals as well as the rhythm section ( rhythm guitar , bass guitar and drums ). The song is taken from instrument-playing members or a mere singer. The beat band was named after the metric basic beats ( "beat" ) , which were mostly played loudly in the foreground, and their eighth-note divisions, which resulted in driving motor skills . A counter accent ("after beat") on the second and fourth bars created tension. Rhythm guitars were operated with chords , bass guitars provided a simple step progression, and the vocals were often in the close harmony style. Formally, a twelve-bar blues scheme , 4/4 time and two- to three-bar song form were the main characteristics of beat music.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bill Harry: The Beatles Encyclopedia . 1992, p. 564
  2. ↑ Thorsten Knublauch: The Bravo Beatles Blitz Tour . 2005, p. 18
  3. ↑ Martini shown . In: Der Spiegel . No. 19 , 1965, p. 114 ( online ).
  4. ^ Monika Estermann, Edgar Lersch: book, book trade and radio: 1968 and the consequences . 2003, p. 97
  5. ^ Monika Estermann, Edgar Lersch: book, book trade and radio: 1968 and the consequences . 2003, p. 98
  6. ^ Aachener Nachrichten , May 4, 1968
  7. ↑ Christine Jaqueline Feldman: "We Are the Mods": A Transnational History of a Youth Subculture . 2009, p. 76
  8. ↑ Detlef Siegfried: Time is on my Side: Consumption and Politics of West German Youth Culture . 2006, p. 144, footnote 130
  9. ↑ Simon Frith, Will Straw, John Street: The Cambridge Companion to Pop And Rock . 2001, p. 118
  10. ^ Roy Shuker: Popular Music: The Key Concepts , 2005, p. 32
  11. ^ Wieland Ziegenrücker, Peter Wicke: Sachlexikon Popularmusik . 1987, p. 41
  12. ^ Wieland Ziegenrücker, Peter Wicke: Sachlexikon Popularmusik . 1987, p. 42