Dance-rock

Last updated

Dance-rock is a dance-infused genre of rock music. [2] It is a post-disco genre connected with pop rock and post-punk with fewer rhythm and blues influences. It originated in the early 1980s, following the decline in popularity of both punk and disco. [3]

Contents

Examples of early dance-rock include Gina X's "No G.D.M.", [4] Russ Ballard's "On the Rebound", [5] artists such as Dinosaur L, Liquid Liquid and Polyrock, [6] and the compilation album Disco Not Disco . [7] [8]

Definitions

Michael Campbell, in his book Popular Music in America, defines the genre as "post-punk/post-disco fusion". Campbell also cited Robert Christgau, who described dance-oriented rock (or DOR) as an umbrella term used by various DJs in the 1980s. [9]

However, AllMusic defines "dance-rock" as 1980s and 1990s music practiced by rock musicians, influenced by Philly soul, disco and funk, fusing those styles with rock and dance. Artists like the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Duran Duran, Simple Minds, INXS, Eurythmics, Depeche Mode, the Clash, New Order and Devo belong, according to AllMusic, to this genre. Dance-rock embraces some experimental funk acts like A Certain Ratio, Gang of Four, and also mainstream musicians, for example Robert Palmer, Billy Idol and Hall & Oates. [3]

History

Despite predictions that rock music would replace disco in the dance clubs, a mix of post-disco, post-punk and new wave took its place instead. The first wave of artists arrived with New Order, Prince, the Human League, Blondie, Tom Tom Club (consisting of two members from Talking Heads) and Devo, followed by Daryl Hall & John Oates, Thompson Twins, Haircut 100, ABC, Depeche Mode and Spandau Ballet. [3] The scene also produced many crossovers, including Kraftwerk getting R&B audiences with their 1981 influential album Computer World , which paved the way for Afrika Bambaataa's "Planet Rock" [10] and electro in general. Reinstated interest in dance-rock and post-disco caused popularity of 12-inch singles and EPs around that era. [3] [11]

Key influences of the genre include New Romantic synthpop acts Human League and Spandau Ballet while, according to Billboard , the pivotal record of the genre is Human League's "Don't You Want Me".

Arthur Baker argued that synthesizers helped to shape the new music: "I'm into synthesizers right now. The options are limitless. It cuts costs and gives you more ultimate control, but it doesn't sound made up. It still has a human feel", while the sound, composed of electronic Eurodisco influences, was generally regarded as "cold, anti-human and mechanical." [3]

Legacy

This kind of dance-rock influenced such alternative rock acts such as Garbage, No Doubt, Robbie Williams, Scissor Sisters, [12] Young Love, Franz Ferdinand, Arctic Monkeys, Kasabian and the Killers. [13]

See also

Related Research Articles

New wave is a music genre that encompasses pop-oriented styles from the late 1970s through the 1980s. It is considered a lighter and more melodic "broadening of punk culture". It was originally used as a catch-all for the various styles of music that emerged after punk rock, including punk itself. Later, critical consensus favored "new wave" as an umbrella term involving many popular music styles of the era, including power pop, synth-pop, alternative dance, and specific forms of punk that were less abrasive. It may also be viewed as a more accessible counterpart of post-punk.

Rock is a broad genre of popular music that originated as "rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles from the mid-1960s, particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, a style that drew directly from the blues and rhythm and blues genres of African-American music and from country music. Rock also drew strongly from genres such as electric blues and folk, and incorporated influences from jazz, classical, and other musical styles. For instrumentation, rock has centered on the electric guitar, usually as part of a rock group with electric bass guitar, drums, and one or more singers. Usually, rock is song-based music with a 4
4
time signature
using a verse–chorus form, but the genre has become extremely diverse. Like pop music, lyrics often stress romantic love but also address a wide variety of other themes that are frequently social or political. Rock was the most popular genre of music in the U.S. and much of the Western world from the 1950s to the 2010s.

Synth-pop is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in progressive rock, electronic, art rock, disco, and particularly the Krautrock of bands like Kraftwerk. It arose as a distinct genre in Japan and the United Kingdom in the post-punk era as part of the new wave movement of the late 1970s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Romantic</span> 1970s popular culture movement originating in the UK

The New Romantic movement was an underground subculture movement that originated in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The movement emerged from the nightclub scene in London and Birmingham at venues such as Billy's and The Blitz. The New Romantic movement was characterised by flamboyant, eccentric fashion inspired by fashion boutiques such as Kahn and Bell in Birmingham and PX in London. Early adherents of the movement were often referred to by the press by such names as Blitz Kids, New Dandies and Romantic Rebels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Music history of the United States in the 1980s</span>

Popular music of the United States in the 1980s saw heavy metal, country music, Top40 hits, hip hop, MTV, CMJ, and new wave as mainstream. Punk rock and hardcore punk was popular on CMJ. With the demise of punk rock, a new generation of punk-influenced genres arose, including Gothic rock, post-punk, alternative rock, emo and thrash metal. Hip hop underwent its first diversification, with Miami bass, Chicago hip house, Washington, D.C. go-go, Detroit ghettotech, Los Angeles G-funk and the "golden age of old school hip hop" in New York City. House music developed in Chicago, techno music developed in Detroit which also saw the flowering of the Detroit Sound in gospel. This helped inspire the greatest crossover success of Christian Contemporary Music (CCM), as well as the Miami Sound of Cuban pop.

Popular music of the United Kingdom in the 1970s built upon the new forms of music developed from blues rock towards the end of the 1960s, including folk rock and psychedelic rock movements. Several important and influential subgenres were created in Britain in this period, by pursuing the limitations of rock music, including British folk rock and glam rock, a process that reached its apogee in the development of progressive rock and one of the most enduring subgenres in heavy metal music. Britain also began to be increasingly influenced by third world music, including Jamaican and Indian music, resulting in new music scenes and subgenres. In the middle years of the decade the influence of the pub rock and American punk rock movements led to the British intensification of punk, which swept away much of the existing landscape of popular music, replacing it with much more diverse new wave and post punk bands who mixed different forms of music and influences to dominate rock and pop music into the 1980s.

Popular music of the United Kingdom in the 1980s built on the post-punk and new wave movements, incorporating different sources of inspiration from subgenres and what is now classed as world music in the shape of Jamaican and Indian music. It also explored the consequences of new technology and social change in the electronic music of synthpop. In the early years of the decade, while subgenres like heavy metal music continued to develop separately, there was a considerable crossover between rock and more commercial popular music, with a large number of more "serious" bands, like The Police and UB40, enjoying considerable single chart success.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American rock</span> Overview of rock music in the United States

American rock has its roots from 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and country music, and also draws from folk music, jazz, blues, and classical music. American rock music was further influenced by the British Invasion of the American pop charts from 1964 and resulted in the development of psychedelic rock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British rock music</span> Rock music from the United Kingdom

British rock describes a wide variety of forms of music made in the United Kingdom. Since around 1964, with the "British Invasion" of the United States spearheaded by the Beatles, British rock music has had a considerable impact on the development of American music and rock music across the world.

Dance-punk is a post-punk subgenre that emerged in the late 1970s, and is closely associated with the disco, post-disco and new wave movements. The genre is characterized by mixing the energy of punk rock with the danceable rhythms of funk and disco. It was most prominent in the New York City punk movement.

Post-disco is a term to describe an aftermath in popular music history circa 1979–1986, imprecisely beginning with an unprecedented backlash against disco music in the United States, leading to civil unrest and a riot in Chicago known as the Disco Demolition Night on July 12, 1979, and indistinctly ending with the mainstream appearance of new wave in 1980. During its dying stage, disco displayed an increasingly electronic character that soon served as a stepping stone to new wave, old-school hip hop, Euro disco, and was succeeded by an underground club music called hi-NRG, which was its direct continuation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electronics in rock music</span>

The use of electronic music technology in rock music coincided with the practical availability of electronic musical instruments and the genre's emergence as a distinct style. Rock music has been highly dependent on technological developments, particularly the invention and refinement of the synthesizer, the development of the MIDI digital format and computer technology.

This article includes an overview of the famous events and trends in popular music in the 1980s.

British pop music is popular music, produced commercially in the United Kingdom. It emerged in the mid-to late 1950s as a softer alternative to American rock 'n' roll. Like American pop music it has a focus on commercial recording, often orientated towards a youth market, as well as that of the Singles Chart usually through the medium of relatively short and simple love songs. While these basic elements of the genre have remained fairly constant, pop music has absorbed influences from most other forms of popular music, particularly borrowing from the development of rock music, and utilising key technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes. From the British Invasion in the 1960s, led by The Beatles, British pop music has alternated between acts and genres with national appeal and those with international success that have had a considerable impact on the development of the wider genre and on popular music in general

New pop is a loosely defined British-centric pop music movement consisting of ambitious, DIY-minded artists who achieved commercial success in the early 1980s through sources such as MTV. Rooted in the post-punk movement of the late 1970s, the movement spanned a wide variety of styles and artists, including acts such as Orange Juice, the Human League, and ABC. The term "rockist", a pejorative against people who shunned this type of music, coincided with and was associated with new pop.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Second British Invasion</span> Early-to-mid-1980s music cultural movement

The Second British Invasion was a sharp increase in the popularity of British synth-pop and new pop artists in the United States. It began in the summer of 1982, peaked in 1983, and continued throughout much of the 1980s. MTV began in 1981. Its popularity was the main catalyst for the second British Invasion. According to Rolling Stone, British acts brought a "revolution in sound and style" to the US.

Classic alternative is a radio format focusing on alternative music from the late 1970s to early 1990s, with particular focus on the early days of MTV.

Electronic rock is a music genre that involves a combination of rock music and electronic music, featuring instruments typically found within both genres. It originates from the late 1960s, when rock bands began incorporating electronic instrumentation into their music. Electronic rock acts usually fuse elements from other music styles, including punk rock, industrial rock, hip hop, techno, and synth-pop, which has helped spur subgenres such as indietronica, dance-punk, and electroclash.

References

  1. Modell, Josh (13 October 2014). "Dudes on 'ludes: 15 bands named after drugs that aren't weed". The A.V. Club . Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  2. "Dance-Rock Music Genre Overview". AllMusic .
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "The Music Steps Beyond Disco: Where The Beat Meets The Street/Danceable Rock Generates First Bevy of Crossover Stars". Billboard . No. 94. 19 June 1982. ISSN   0006-2510.
  4. "The Fader, Issues 14-15". The Fader . Fader, Incorporated: 38. 2002. [the] classic post-disco track "No GDM" by Gina X
  5. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "AllMusic Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine". AlMusic.com. Allmusic. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  6. Fink, Robert (2005). Repeating Ourselves: American Minimal Music As Cultural Practice . University of California Press. p.  26. ISBN   978-0-520-24550-1.
  7. "Disco Not Disco (2000)". AllMusic . Retrieved 10 August 2009.
  8. Battaglia, Andy (2008). "Album Reviews: VA - Disco Not Disco (Post-Punk, Electro & Leftfield Disco Classics)". Pitchfork Media . Retrieved 13 August 2009.
  9. Campbell, Michael (2008). Popular Music in America: And the Beat Goes On. Cengage Learning. p. 359. ISBN   978-0-495-50530-3.
  10. Kraftwerk Win Bizarre Sampling Lawsuit in Germany: ‘Planet Rock’ for All|SPIN
  11. Computer World (1981) by Krafwerk. Review. Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 22 December 2011.
  12. "Explore music... Genre: Dance-Rock". Allmusic. Retrieved 12 August 2009.
  13. Paoletta, Michael (25 December 2004). "Music [Dance]: Mash-Ups, Dance-Rock Lead Breakthroughs". Billboard Magazine: 38. ISSN   0006-2510.