 | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source .(May 2008) |
The trend of Australian music have often mirrored those of the United States and United Kingdom [ citation needed ]. Australian Aboriginal music during the prehistory of Australia is not well documented.
Aboriginal music continued to be created and performed during this period.. There is evidence that Aboriginal music may have been influenced by contact with seafaring nations before European settlement. [1]
Some Aboriginal music was documented by scientists and explorers like Lesesur and Freycinet. [2] Surveyor Philip Chauncy transcribed examples of Aboriginal song possibly influenced by a generation of European settlement. [3]
Rosendo Salvado and Isaac Nathan published music with Aboriginal titles which resembles their culture of origin, consequently transcriptions are regarded as 'filtered' by ear and notation.
The majority of populations in colonial settlements were born abroad or in transit. Consequently the music was mostly imported. Australians were initially in awe of European music training. It was not long before music was being written and composed by residents of the colonies. A generation after settlement, there were printing presses and pipe organs being installed. but British habits of publishing in London and printing in Leipzig were followed. We do well to remember that the recently united kingdom of Britain was allied and intermarried across Europe, especially Prussia. German composers like Hugo Alpen, Raimund Pechotsch, Karl Linger, Julius Herz, Augustus Juncker found welcome.
Staples of colonial composition included Waltz, Quadrille, Polka, Galop, Gavotte. British culture at the time favoured minimalist salon music, and this is reflected in Australian fondness for piano accompanied vocal Ballads.
The year 1900 deserves a special mention for several reasons. The silver Jubilee of Queen Victoria, celebrating the safe return of South Africa to the empire and Australian troops from the Boer war. Most importantly Edmund Barton, supported by crown representative Lord Brassey, formed the federation of the colonies into a single nation. Until this time, New South wales housed the colonial censorship office and all published material carried the mark 'Entered at Stationers Hall'. The Commonwealth of Australia formed a single archive.
The newly formed states no longer imposed tax on each other. Unfortunately, once independent the nation was no longer sovereign British territory for copyright purposes. This became important as Australia reached populations attractive as a return leg of performing arts on [English speaking] 'world' tours. Entrepreneurs began operating regular chains of theatres and performances. The Fuller Brothers represented UK companies. American J.C.Williamson managed USA contracts. Others like Rickards, Musgrove, Nicholson etc blended these with their own material.
Australia followed a worldwide trend for serious art music to separate away from more affordable and accessible forms of entertainment. Variety theatre or 'Tivoli' became a Household Australian term, equivalent to British Vaudeville Music-Hall and American Broadway musical. This was an expansive period, a golden age of live entertainment which came under threat from changes in technology - radio, phonograph and talkies all caused a drastic fall in demand in domestic music production by the end of the decade.
During this period the ubiquitous waltz began losing its primacy as the leading rhythm in dance halls The fox-trot, barn dance, tango, mazurka were found.
Still strongly reflecting American culture, in 1962 Australia experienced the Twist fad, soon followed by the Stomp fad (reflecting surf culture, which came to Australia through the Americans a few years before). In 1964, one of the biggest bands of this genre, the Beach Boys toured Australia. Other American acts also toured - rock and roll was still quite popular there - but very few American acts were just as successful.
More and more Australians were buying television sets, which gave the four television networks - Seven, Nine, Ten and ABC - an opportunity to air its own music show. In music shows of the 1950s and 1960s, every single song on the show was performed live in a small studio in front of an audience of 300 at the most, and they were nearly always teenagers.
Rick Springfield's success began in 1962 and peaked in 1981 to 1983.
The British invasion, which started with The Beatles, swept through Australia with many British acts being considered alternatives to the American ones. When the Beatles toured Australia in 1964, there were fans running to meet them everywhere. They performed to sell-out crowds in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. The Rolling Stones also toured Australia in 1965, again to sellout crowds. But American singers still came to Australia for tours - Bob Dylan in 1966. The mid-1960s saw the 'mod' fad, which had been popular in Britain, come and go.
Most of the Australian acts of the 1960s were influenced by the British acts, which were more common and thus more exposable, than the American acts and so most of the Australian songs of the decade were recorded in British styles of music. However, there were some Australians who were willing to stay Americanized and record surf rock, or rock and roll songs (although for the latter genre, the Rolling Stones and the Beatles would have been bigger influences than the US acts of the 1950s).
Because of its small population at the time, not every Australian singer could be signed to an Australian label the traditional way (via a demo). So to pursue their dreams of becoming music stars, they had to enter talent shows. The winner of each talent show would get the chance to travel to Los Angeles, New York or London and be signed to a major British or American recording label. Olivia Newton-John and Helen Reddy were two of these singers, with Newton-John moving to London and performing songs with fellow Australian singer Pat Carroll. The Bee Gees, influenced by the big bands of the 1940s and 1950s also had to go on a talent show before they could start their recording careers. They became extremely successful in this style of music.
A cover of The Coasters' "Poison Ivy" (also covered by the Rolling Stones) gave Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs, a surf rock band, their first #1 hit, keeping even the Beatles at bay. (Creswell & Fabinyi, 1999) 1964 also saw Jimmy Little have a hit with "Royal Telephone" - he was the first indigenous Australian to do so. (Creswell & Fabinyi, 1999)
The Seekers had two Hot 100 top 5 hits, the #4 hit "I'll Never Find Another You" in May 1965 and the #2 hit "Georgy Girl" in February 1967, plus several smaller hits.
In 1966, Australia's prestigious (but quite Anglicized) annual rock band competition, Hoadley's Battle of the Sounds began, and this ran until 1972.
By 1966, the Loved Ones (through "The Loved One") and the Easybeats (through "Friday on my Mind")had both seen success. Johnny Young was host of Young Talent Time and the Seekers became the first Australian band to sell over a million records internationally. (Creswell & Fabinyi, 1999) Their best known songs were "Georgy Girl" and "The Carnival is Over". The last three mentioned bands all list British bands as their influences (to some extent).
Pop paper Go-Set was also launched this year (1966), hosting their own televised pop awards (the Pop Poll).
The late 1970s and early 1980s saw the dominance of the hugely popular pub rock, typified by Mental As Anything, Matt Finish, Midnight Oil, The Angels, Cold Chisel and Icehouse. (See Australian Rock.)
Air Supply's huge success spanned 1980 to 1983.
In 1981, Men at Work's "Down Under" was hugely popular both domestically and in the U.S., with the single staying at #1 on the Billboard charts for 4 weeks in January to February 1983. INXS also experienced big success with "What You Need" reaching the U.S. top 5, and the band selling over 1.3 million copies of their Listen Like Thieves album. (Creswell & Fabinyi, 1999)
The launch of MTV in America in 1981 ensured that Australians were exposed to the new generation of musical acts - and video clips - produced in the Northern Hemisphere. By 1983 Australian musical acts were making the transition from regular live performances to making promotional video clips - some acts for all of their singles.
In 1984, Midnight Oil's charismatic lead singer Peter Garrett ran for parliament with the Nuclear Disarmament Party. In the end Garrett narrowly missed out on winning a senate seat. In the mid-1980s, politics and music were increasingly entwined - the 1985 Live Aid concert was huge. Midnight Oil's Diesel and Dust album, featuring the "Beds Are Burning" single, broke the band in the US.
The mid 1980s also saw the arrival of dance music and the synthesiser, for example Rockmelons and Pseudo Echo who topped the Australian charts for 7 weeks with 'Funky Town'.
There was a sudden burst of interest in female singer/songwriters in the late 1980s, with Kate Ceberano, Wendy Matthews and Jenny Morris (actually a New Zealander) being popular. In 1987, Kylie Minogue hit the pop charts with a bang, "Locomotion" becoming the biggest selling Australian single of the decade and #2 in the UK, #3 in the US.
Split Enz split up and Neil Finn formed Crowded House. In 1987 "Don't Dream It's Over" peaked at #2 in the US.
Alternative music was well represented during the 1980s, with the formation of bands such as, The Birthday Party, the Hoodoo Gurus, The Cruel Sea and TISM.
It has been said that Madonna and Michael Jackson, American singers who were both quite popular in Australia during this time, are major influences for Australian music from the 1980s onwards: in terms of the topics of the songs (nearly every song recorded since 1990 are related to love), the video clips, and the actual styles of music.
The 1990s saw the continued expansion and then popularity of alternative music. It also saw a renaissance in music festivals, with some dozen or more being established and holding their own. Several expanded to cover multiple cities (Homebake, Big Day Out, Livid). The trend was kicked off by the establishment of the Big Day Out in 1992 in Sydney. Grunge had become huge in Australia after the death of Nirvana's Kurt Cobain in 1994, and Silverchair were the chief beneficiaries, with huge success both locally and within the US (1996).
Alternative going mainstream was confirmed in 1994, when the Cruel Sea dominated the ARIA Music Awards with their album The Honeymoon Is Over . Nick Cave experienced wider commercial success, and You Am I had three successive albums debut at #1. Other stalwarts of the 1990s have been Regurgitator, Magic Dirt and Spiderbait.
The baby boomer's rock scene, by the 1990s, translated into adult contemporary, with Wendy Matthews, Daryl Braithwaite and the Screaming Jets finding success.
In the late 1990s, pop broke out all over. Savage Garden hit the US#1 with their single "Truly Madly Deeply" and their debut album sold over 8 million copies. (Creswell & Fabinyi, 1999) Tina Arena and Natalie Imbruglia also had big chart success.
The 1990s also saw a rise in popular Australian music and videos for young children, particularly The Wiggles and Hi-5.
Triple J's influence in possible success for a band was clearer than ever, with the station breaking Grinspoon, Missy Higgins and largely responsible for promoting the Whitlams, who after winning Triple J's Hottest 100 poll in 1997 with their "No Aphrodisiac", went on to win Song of the Year at the 1998 ARIA music awards.
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 U.S. 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.
The music of Australia has an extensive history made of music societies. Indigenous Australian music forms a significant part of the unique heritage of a 40,000- to 60,000-year history which produced the iconic didgeridoo. Contemporary fusions of indigenous and Western styles are exemplified in the works of Yothu Yindi, No Fixed Address, Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu and Christine Anu, and mark distinctly Australian contributions to world music.
The British Invasion was a cultural phenomenon of the mid-1960s, when rock and pop music acts from the United Kingdom and other aspects of British culture became popular in the United States with significant influence on the rising "counterculture" on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. UK pop and rock groups such as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Who, the Kinks, the Zombies, Small Faces, the Pretty Things, the Dave Clark Five, the Spencer Davis Group, Herman's Hermits, the Hollies, the Animals, Gerry and the Pacemakers, the Searchers, the Yardbirds, and Them, as well as solo singers such as Dusty Springfield, Cilla Black, Petula Clark, Tom Jones and Donovan, were at the forefront of the "invasion".
The Bee Gees were a musical group formed in 1958 by brothers Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio were especially successful in popular music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers in the disco music era in the mid- to late 1970s. The group sang recognisable three-part tight harmonies: Robin's clear vibrato lead vocals were a hallmark of their earlier hits, while Barry's R&B falsetto became their signature sound during the mid- to late 1970s and 1980s. The group wrote all their own original material, as well as writing and producing several major hits for other artists, and are regarded as one of the most important and influential acts in pop-music history. They have been referred to in the media as The Disco Kings, Britain's First Family of Harmony, and The Kings of Dance Music.
Alternative rock is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commercial rock or pop music. The term's original meaning was broader, referring to musicians influenced by the musical style or independent, DIY ethos of late-1970s punk rock.
Folk rock is a genre of rock music with heavy influences from English folk and American folk music. Combining the elements of folk and rock music, it arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers such as Bob Dylan and the Byrds—several of whose members had earlier played in folk ensembles—attempted to blend the sounds of rock with their pre-existing folk repertoire, adopting the use of electric instrumentation and drums in a way previously discouraged in the U.S. folk community. The term "folk rock" was initially used in the U.S. music press in June 1965 to describe the Byrds' music.
Power pop is a rock music subgenre and a form of pop rock based on the early music of bands such as the Who, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Byrds. It typically incorporates melodic hooks, vocal harmonies, an energetic performance, and cheerful sounding music underpinned by a sense of yearning, longing, despair, or self-empowerment. The sound is primarily rooted in pop and rock traditions of the early to mid-1960s, although some artists have occasionally drawn from later styles such as punk, new wave, glam rock, pub rock, college rock, and neo-psychedelia.
A roots revival is a trend which includes young performers popularizing the traditional musical styles of their ancestors. Often, roots revivals include an addition of newly composed songs with socially and politically aware lyrics, as well as a general modernization of the folk sound.
British popular music and popular music in general, can be defined in a number of ways, but is used here to describe music which is not part of the art/classical music or Church music traditions, including folk music, jazz, pop and rock music. These forms of music have particularly flourished in Britain, which, it has been argued, has influenced popular music disproportionately to its size, partly due to its linguistic and cultural links with many countries, particularly the former areas of British control such as United States, Canada, and Australia, but also a capacity for invention, innovation and fusion, which has led to the development of, or participation in, many of the major trends in popular music. This is particularly true since the early 1960s when the British Invasion led by The Beatles, helped to secure British performers a major place in development of pop and rock music, which has been revisited at various times, with genres originating in or being radically developed by British musicians, including: blues rock, heavy metal music, progressive rock, punk rock, British folk rock, folk punk, acid jazz, drum and bass, grime, afroswing, dubstep and Britpop.
Popular music of the United States in the 1970s saw various forms of pop music dominating the charts. Often characterized as being shallow, 1970s pop took many forms and could be seen as a reaction against the high-energy and activist pop of the previous decade. It began with singer-songwriters like Carole King and Carly Simon topping the charts, while New York City saw a period of great innovation; hip hop, punk rock and salsa were invented in 1970s New York, which was also a center for electronic music, techno.
Popular music in the 1990s saw the continuation of teen pop and dance-pop trends which had emerged in the 1970s and 1980s. Furthermore, hip hop grew and continued to be highly successful in the decade, with the continuation of the genre's golden age. Aside from rap, reggae, contemporary R&B, and urban music in general remained extremely popular throughout the decade; urban music in the late-1980s and 1990s often blended with styles such as soul, funk, and jazz, resulting in fusion genres such as new jack swing, neo-soul, hip hop soul, and g-funk which were popular.
American rock has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and country music, and also drew on 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.
Rock music in Australia, also known as Oz rock, Australian rock and Aussie rock, has a rich history, rooted in an appreciation of various rock genres originating in the United States and Britain, and to a lesser extent, in continental Europe and Africa. Australian rock has also contributed to the development of some of these genres, as well as having its own unique Australiana sound with pub rock and its indigenous music.
Rock music in New Zealand, also known as Kiwi rock music and New Zealand rock music, rose to prominence first in 1955 with Johnny Cooper's cover version of Bill Haley's hit song "Rock Around the Clock". This was followed by Johnny Devlin, sometimes nicknamed New Zealand's Elvis Presley, and his cover of "Lawdy Miss Clawdy". The 1960s saw Max Merritt and the Meteors and Ray Columbus & the Invaders achieve success. In the 1970s and early 1980s the innovative Split Enz had success internationally as well as nationally, with member Neil Finn later continuing with Crowded House. Other influential bands in the 1970s were Th' Dudes, Dragon and Hello Sailor. The early 1980s saw the development of the indie rock "Dunedin sound", typified by Dunedin bands such as The Clean, Straitjacket Fits and The Chills, recorded by the Flying Nun record label of Christchurch. New Zealand's foremost hard rock band Shihad started their long career in 1988. Since 2018 this title is now undoubtedly held by New Zealand Māori metal band Alien Weaponry who have achieved huge success in Europe and the USA.
American popular music has had a profound effect on music across the world. The country has seen the rise of popular styles that have had a significant influence on global culture, including ragtime, blues, jazz, swing, rock, bluegrass, country, R&B, doo wop, gospel, soul, funk, punk, disco, house, techno, salsa, grunge and hip hop. In addition, the American music industry is quite diverse, supporting a number of regional styles such as zydeco, klezmer and slack-key.
This article includes an overview of the major events and trends in popular music in the 1970s.
This article includes an overview of the famous events and trends in popular music in the 1980s.
British soul, Brit soul, or the British soul invasion, is soul music performed by British artists. Soul has been a major influence on British popular music since the 1960s, and American soul was extremely popular among some youth subcultures, such as mods, skinheads, and the Northern soul movement. In the 1970s, soul gained more mainstream popularity in the UK during the disco era.
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
This article includes an overview of the events and trends in popular music in the 1960s.
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