Music of the United Kingdom (1970s)

In the 1970s, music from the United Kingdom further diversified. Heavy metal mu
sic grew into glam metal in the United States, and other American metal
bands like Blue Öyster Cult, Aerosmith and KISS helped move the UK from the forefr
ont of the metal world. A late-1970s influx of British metal bands,
the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, helped change this, especially bands like J
udas Priest. At the same time, disco grew to prominence world-wide and a
brief fad for Jamaican lovers rock also sold well in the UK. The mid- to late 19
70s saw the rise of punk rock in the UK and US. Bands like The Clash and
the Sex Pistols became very controversial, attacking institutions and authoritie
s and using a quick, simple rhythm alongside humorous, immature, nihilist
or thought-provoking lyrics.
Contents
1 Heavy metal
2 Progressive rock
3 Jamaican music
4 Indian music
5 Folk music
6 Pub rock
7 Punk rock

Heavy metal
Heavy metal is a highly-evolved form of blues rock played with intense emotions
and a stronger focus on the bass guitar than other genres. It is sometimes
characterized as needlessly loud, aggressive and bombastic, but it also typical
ly passionate and intense. The genre is generally considered a British
development, with the bands Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath the primary innovator
s. However, these bands drew on earlier heavy metal ranging from British
blues rock bands like The Yardbirds to American protopunks The Stooges and The V
elvet Underground, and the dark psychedelic rock of The Doors and Blue Cheer.
Heavy metal lyrics are often cryptic, sometimes with references to literature (
especially science fiction or fantasy) and the occult.
Black Sabbath's debut, Black Sabbath, was released in 1970 and caused an immedi
ate stir. The name of the band (and album) conjured up images of evil,
rebellion and vulgarity, and the recording confirmed these suspicions for some p
eople. The band found a devoted fanbase, however, who easily related to
the alienation expressed in the lyrics, and found an affinity with the loud and
aggressive nature of the songs.
There was little mainstream success for Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin or the othe
r heavy metal bands in the early 1970s, but the genre left lasting
influences on glam, punk rock and progressive rock. In the latter half of the 19
70s, underground rock was associated primarily with punk music in the UK,
but a New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) began seeing some success in the
States. These bands included Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. Into the 80s,
many of the most innovative heavy metal bands were formed by Americans raised on
NWOBHM, and subgenres like thrash metal were created, while American
pop-heavy metal bands, especially glam metal groups like Mötley Crüe and Ratt, saw m
assive mainstream success in the UK and elsewhere..
 Progressive rock
Progressive rock had seen some mainstream success prior to 1970, from the Moody
Blues (Days of Future Passed) and Procol Harum (A Whiter Shade of Pale).
However, there was no band to be able to consistently lead the genre until Keith
Emerson broke up The Nice and joined with King Crimson's Greg Lake and
The Crazy World of Arthur Brown's Carl Palmer; the trio were Emerson, Lake & Pal
mer, and their 1970 debut Emerson, Lake and Palmer was an American and
British hit that borrowed, originally without giving credit, from classical comp
osers Béla Bartók and Leoš Janáček.
At the same time, Rick Wakeman joined folk-rock band Strawbs, who were incorpor
ating extended piano rolls, and Pink Floyd entered the pure progressive rock
field with Atom Heart Mother, and groups like Yes (The Yes Album, 1971) and Deep
Purple began entering progressive territory. Wakeman soon switched from
Strawbs to Yes, making that band one of the most popular progressive bands, whil
e Strawbs added a mellotron and brought British folk bands like Magna Carta,
Gryphon and Amazing Blondel towards progressive sounds. Jethro Tull was the mos
t influential folk-progressive fusion, and their albums, like Aqualung and
Thick As a Brick, were popular. Genesis began recording long, complex albums lik
e Selling England by the Pound, bringing progressive rock even more
experimental and classical elements.
1971 was the year progressive rock entered the mainstream, with the release of
Yes' The Yes Album, Pink Floyd's Meddle and Emerson, Lake & Palmer's Tarkus.
These were fantastically popular among the British youth, though critical recep
tion was mixed. Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon (1973) remains perhaps
the most popular progressive album of all time, and is one of the best-selling a
lbums of any kind worldwide. By the mid-70s, however, progressive albums
were growing so experimental that fans became alienated, and many bands found th
emselves recording repetitive and derivative albums following the same
formula as previous hits.
Yes released a double album consisting of four side-long tracks, and Jethro Tul
l's single-track LP A Passion Play was scorned by the same critics who
lavished praise upon the single-track predecessor, Thick As a Brick. Roxy Music
arose during this period, and managed to maintain critical acclaim and
launch the careers of both Bryan Ferry and Brian Eno. Progressive rock died quic
kly, beginning in about 1976 with the release of Emerson, Lake & Palmer's
Welcome Back My Friends and the dissolution of the Moody Blues.
By the time progressive rock had begun losing its mainstream acceptance, a new
wave of continental bands were continued the genre, including Germany's
Kraftwerk and Magma and Italy's Premiata Forneria Marconi, while England's own B
arclay James Harvest maintained a huge fanbase in Germany, as did the
English-Germans Nektar. Meanwhile, English bands like Soft Machine and Gong adde
d strong jazz influences, Van der Graaf Generator was a heavy metal fusion
and Caravan was a folk-rock-progressive group.

Jamaican music
Jamaican ska, rocksteady and reggae were introduced to the United Kingdom in the
1960s, and the genres became especially popular with mods, skinheads and
suedeheads. Jamaican music then influenced British pop music, punk rock and the
2 Tone genre. The 1970s saw the first major flowering of British reggae
with bands such as The Cimarons, Aswad and Matumbi. Many of these Jamaican-influ
enced UK bands (such as UB40) adopted pop styles to appeal to mainstream
audiences. However, some UK reggae bands (such as Steel Pulse) played songs with
more confrontational socio-political lyrics. The late 1970s saw the rise
of the (often interracial) 2 Tone bands, such as The Specials, Madness, The Sele
cter and The Beat. The 1970s also saw the rise of dub poetry, exemplified
by Linton Kwesi Johnson, Sister Netifa and Benjamin Zephaniah. The reggae subgen
re lovers rock originated in the UK in the 1970s, and the Louisa Marks song
"Caught You in a Lie" helped popularize the genre.

Indian music
Indians migrated to the UK in great numbers following World War 2, settling in
urban areas like Bradford, London, Manchester and Birmingham. These migrants
brought with them several varieties of Indian music, and a widespread Indian-Br
itish music scene had arisen by the mid-1970s, when dance bands like Alaap
and Bhujungy began performing at weddings and other celebrations.
Bhangra is an Indian folk dance from Punjab that has become the most popular fo
rm of Indian music in the UK. It is led by the dhol drum with romantic or
humorous lyrics. More recently electric guitars, keyboards and other instruments
were added to the ensemble. The biggest early band was Alaap, who formed
in 1977 and were discovered by Pran Gohill of Polygram Records. Gohill's Multito
ne label had previously had success with Indian disco, and artists like
Mussarrat Nazir and Salma Agha, and found bhangra to be an easily dance-able and
potential mainstream success.

Folk music
Fairport Convention had set the stage for British folk-rock. The early 70s saw g
roups like Strawbs and Lindisfarne see mainstream success in the UK, while
old-time performers from the scene like Shirley Collins and Martin Carthy joined
revolutionary groups that tried to make folk music more accessible for
modern audiences. Other performers, like Richard Thompson and Nick Drake, emerge
d inspired by the American singer-songwriter tradition and found
considerable fame. Mainstream success, however, was short-lived, and by the end
of the 70s, folk-rock had lost its edge among British youth.

Pub rock
Pub rock was a short-lived trend that left a lasting influence on the British mu
sic scene, especially in punk rock. It was a back-to-basics movement that
reacted against the glittery glam rock of David Bowie and Gary Glitter, and peak
ed in the mid 1970s. Pub rock developed around London's Tally Ho, a jazz
club, and is said to have begun in 1972 with Eggs Over Easy, an American band, p
laying in Tally Ho. A group of musicians who had been playing in blues and
R&B bands during the 1960s and early 70s soon formed influential bands like Kipp
ington Lodge, Brinsley Schwarz, Ducks Deluxe, The Actions and Bees Make
Honey. Brinsley Schwarz was probably the most influential group, achieving some
mainstream success both in the UK and in the States. The second wave of
pub rock included High Roads, Ace and Chilli Willi & The Red Hot Peppers; these
were followed by the third and final wave of pub rock, including Dr.
Feelgood, The Winkies and Sniff & the Tears. Many pub rock musicians soon found
themselves in Graham Parker's backing band, The Rumours, Elvis Costello &
the Attractions, The Residents and even The Clash.

Punk rock
During the 1970s, punk rock developed among the urban youths of the United King
dom. Many had grown up listening to early skiffle, Merseybeat or psychedelic
rock, and found that they hated the new generation of bombastic bands. Social a
nd economic pressure created a contradictory scene, in which both idealism
and nihilism were valued, multicultural influences such as Jamaican reggae were
incorporated, and a wave of angry rebels openly defied every social norm
they could.
 The middle of the 1970s saw legendary rock stars from the 1960s such as the Rol
ling Stones and Paul McCartney creating imitations of their own previous
work, with little of the originality that made the 1960s musically interesting.
British teens were listening to these records amidst a floundering economy
and a rapidly changing world power structure that seemed to be leaving the UK be
hind. Behind the pop acts, though were more underground pub rock acts,
such as Brinsley Schwarz and Eggs Over Easy; artsy American bands such as The Ve
lvet Underground; and wild and energetic American performers such as
New York Dolls and Iggy Pop. In 1975, Sex Pistols began performing with Malcolm
McLaren as manager. Their first single came out the following year;
"Anarchy in the UK." was dirty and fast, and full of energy, bitterness and veno
m. Other major British punk bands at the time were The Damned, The Clash,
Buzzcocks, The Jam and The Undertones.
Other punk bands followed, including The Saints (from Australia), Generation X
(featuring Billy Idol), X-Ray Spex, Johnny Moped, Slaughter & the Dogs,
The Adverts, The Vibrators, Eater and Chelsea. The pressures of fame proved too
much for some punk rock artists, and Johnny Rotten left the Sex Pistols
during an American tour, The Clash broke into pop American audiences amid cries
of selling out, and many of the lesser-known bands fell prey to infighting
and competition. Punk spawned several subgenres, such as post-punk, New Wave, Go
thic rock, 2 Tone, Oi!, mod revival, and hardcore punk. New wave/postpunk
acts included Elvis Costello, Siouxsie & the Banshees, The Fall, Wire, and The S
oft Boys