160-610: Motion City Soundtrack is an American rock band formed in Minneapolis , Minnesota in 1997. The band's line-up consists of vocalist and guitarist Justin Pierre , lead guitarist Joshua Cain , keyboardist Jesse Johnson, bassist Matthew Taylor, and drummer Tony Thaxton. Over the course of their career, the group has toured heavily and released six studio albums , the majority on independent label Epitaph Records . The band's sound, usually described as pop-punk and/or emo , makes notable use of
320-464: A balance between the benefits of a new major label and their previous grass-roots approach. Their next album saw the band reunite with producer Mark Hoppus, and the album was mostly recorded at his studio in North Hollywood, Opra Music, between April and June 2009. Hoppus said that the band wanted to follow in the tracks of Commit This to Memory , but to push things further. Pierre later recalled that
480-509: A certain degree doesn't care if it's popular. — Bill Wyman in Vulture (2016) The sound of rock is traditionally centered on the amplified electric guitar, which emerged in its modern form in the 1950s with the popularity of rock and roll. It was also greatly influenced by the sounds of electric blues guitarists. The sound of an electric guitar in rock music is typically supported by an electric bass guitar, which pioneered jazz music in
640-502: A co-headlining tour with Relient K that November. The group recorded their sixth album, Panic Stations , over two weeks at Pachyderm Studio in Cannon Falls , Minnesota in June 2014. The group collaborated with producer John Agnello , well known for his work with Dinosaur Jr. , Walt Mink , and Sonic Youth . The album was largely recorded live . The album's release was delayed by over
800-514: A fondness for a good beat, a meaningful lyric with some wit, and the theme of youth, which holds an "eternal attraction" so objective "that all youth music partakes of sociology and the field report ." Writing in Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s (1990), he said this sensibility is evident in the music of folk singer-songwriter Michelle Shocked , rapper LL Cool J , and synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys —"all kids working out their identities"—as much as it
960-477: A foundation of simple syncopated rhythms in a 4 meter , with a repetitive snare drum back beat on beats two and four. Melodies often originate from older musical modes such as the Dorian and Mixolydian , as well as major and minor modes. Harmonies range from the common triad to parallel perfect fourths and fifths and dissonant harmonic progressions. Since the late 1950s, and particularly from
1120-609: A frequent addition to the established rock format of guitars, bass, and drums in subsequent progressive rock. Instrumentals were common, while songs with lyrics were sometimes conceptual, abstract, or based in fantasy and science fiction. The Pretty Things ' SF Sorrow (1968), the Kinks' Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) (1969), and the Who 's Tommy (1969) introduced
1280-507: A friend and co-worker of Cain's, joined the band as keyboardist just three weeks before the band recorded their first album. Johnson had never played the keyboard before but Cain taught him the parts that had already been written. After their first attempt at self-recording an album failed, the band culled together $ 6,000 to record with producer Ed Rose, best known for his work with the Get Up Kids . They recorded much of their debut album, I Am
1440-459: A handstand on the instrument. The group has been widely attributed to a number of different genres, including pop rock , power pop , indie rock , emo , and pop-punk. Joshua Cain dismissed this latter label, remarking, "I definitely wouldn't consider us a pop-punk band. Our influences are more based on '90s bands like Superchunk and early Weezer." Pierre characterized the band's music as "dirty, fast, happy, emotional rock songs." Nylon compared
1600-612: A key feature of psychedelia. Psychedelic rock reached its apogee in the last years of the decade. 1967 saw the Beatles release their definitive psychedelic statement in Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band , including the controversial track " Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds ", the Rolling Stones responded later that year with Their Satanic Majesties Request , and Pink Floyd debuted with The Piper at
1760-534: A label to release Go , ultimately returning to Epitaph. Go was released on June 12, 2012, and received mixed reviews from contemporary music critics. Its chart performance represented a large drop-off from its predecessors, peaking at number 46 on the Billboard 200 and number eight on the Independent Albums chart. " True Romance " was the album's lead single , and featured a one-shot music video reminiscent of
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#17328843007911920-509: A large leap from the group's last chart performance: it peaked at number 16 on the Billboard 200 and number one on the magazine's Independent Albums chart. " This Is for Real " became their best-charting single, peaking at number 48 in Australia . Cain later felt that the band placed far too much emphasis at the time on "numbers and trajectory instead of the creative process." The following year saw
2080-568: A loud amplified sound, often centered on the electric guitar, based on the Chicago blues , particularly after the tour of Britain by Muddy Waters in 1958, which prompted Cyril Davies and guitarist Alexis Korner to form the band Blues Incorporated . The band involved and inspired many of the figures of the subsequent British blues boom, including members of the Rolling Stones and Cream , combining blues standards and forms with rock instrumentation and emphasis. The other key focus for British blues
2240-572: A mainstream audience with hits including " Blowin' in the Wind " (1963) and " Masters of War " (1963), which brought " protest songs " to a wider public, but, although beginning to influence each other, rock and folk music had remained largely separate genres, often with mutually exclusive audiences. Early attempts to combine elements of folk and rock included the Animals' " House of the Rising Sun " (1964), which
2400-485: A major element of progressive rock. From about 1967 bands like Cream and the Jimi Hendrix Experience had moved away from purely blues-based music into psychedelia . By the 1970s, blues rock had become heavier and more riff-based, exemplified by the work of Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple , and the lines between blues rock and hard rock "were barely visible", as bands began recording rock-style albums. The genre
2560-429: A major influence on subsequent electronic rock . With the advent of punk rock and technological changes in the late 1970s, progressive rock was increasingly dismissed as pretentious and overblown. Many bands broke up, but some, including Genesis, ELP, Yes, and Pink Floyd, regularly scored top ten albums with successful accompanying worldwide tours. Some bands which emerged in the aftermath of punk, such as Siouxsie and
2720-608: A member of Bad Religion. This was followed by Bad Religion's next two albums – No Control and Against the Grain – which sold 60,000 and 100,000 copies respectively. By 1993, more punk acts had signed to Epitaph, and the label relocated to new offices in Silver Lake, Los Angeles . Although Bad Religion was the founding band of Epitaph, releasing their early records through the label, they switched over to Atlantic in 1993, with Recipe for Hate being their first record outside of
2880-410: A more basic form of rock and roll that incorporated its original influences, particularly blues, country and folk music, leading to the creation of country rock and Southern rock. In 1966 Bob Dylan went to Nashville to record the album Blonde on Blonde . This, and subsequent more clearly country-influenced albums, such as Nashville Skyline , have been seen as creating the genre of country folk ,
3040-481: A multibillion-dollar industry and doubling its market while, as Christgau noted, suffering a significant "loss of cultural prestige". "Maybe the Bee Gees became more popular than the Beatles, but they were never more popular than Jesus ", he said. "Insofar as the music retained any mythic power, the myth was self-referential – there were lots of songs about the rock and roll life but very few about how rock could change
3200-570: A national phenomenon. It is often argued that the surf music craze and the careers of almost all surf acts was effectively ended by the arrival of the British Invasion from 1964, because most surf music hits were recorded and released between 1960 and 1965. By the end of 1962, what would become the British rock scene had started with beat groups like the Beatles , Gerry & the Pacemakers and
3360-578: A one-off single with him, "Inside Out", in celebration. The band immediately began writing a new album, but progress was slow. The group shelved a group of demos they recorded with Mike Sapone , who also worked with Brand New . In the meantime, a video documentary , I Am the Movie: The Movie , was released in 2013. It mainly consists of footage shot of the band around the time of the album's creation. The group participated in Warped Tour 2013 and went on
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#17328843007913520-456: A preacher, prosecutions of Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry and the breaking of the payola scandal (which implicated major figures, including Alan Freed, in bribery and corruption in promoting individual acts or songs), gave a sense that the rock and roll era established at that point had come to an end. Rock quickly spread out from its origins in the US, associated with the rapid Americanization that
3680-486: A previously unreleased track, "Crooked Ways"; it was recorded a decade prior and submitted for consideration for inclusion in the Twilight film saga . Author Stephenie Meyer , in a blog post, suggested it was inspiration for her novel Midnight Sun . Lastly, the group recorded a cover of Ed Ackerson 's "Wired Weird" for a tribute album to Ackerson, who produced their 2012 album Go and died in 2019. Cain has claimed there
3840-444: A prog rock influence and while ranking among the most commercially successful acts of the 1970s, heralding the era of pomp or arena rock , which would last until the costs of complex shows (often with theatrical staging and special effects), would be replaced by more economical rock festivals as major live venues in the 1990s. The instrumental strand of the genre resulted in albums like Mike Oldfield 's Tubular Bells (1973),
4000-478: A proper label, which was L7 's self-titled album , and it was distributed by Chameleon . Also in 1988, Bad Religion released Suffer , which was both released and distributed by Epitaph. In 1989, Gurewitz signed NOFX to Epitaph. They released their debut for the label, S&M Airlines , that same year, featuring the video for its title track and the cover of Fleetwood Mac 's " Go Your Own Way ", which featured guest vocals by Gurewitz and Greg Graffin , also
4160-446: A rigidly delineated musical definition." In the opinion of music journalist Robert Christgau , "the best rock jolts folk-art virtues—directness, utility, natural audience—into the present with shots of modern technology and modernist dissociation ". Rock and roll was conceived as an outlet for adolescent yearnings ... To make rock and roll is also an ideal way to explore intersections of sex, love, violence, and fun, to broadcast
4320-574: A rise in profile for the band: they worked out promotional deals with Coca-Cola and Pepsi , their music was licensed in various television shows, movies, and video games, and they toured heavily. The band released an acoustic EP featuring songs from Even if It Kills Me in May 2008. After the release of that EP, the band toured on the Honda Civic Tour with Panic at the Disco and Phantom Planet , and then joined
4480-625: A rock-informed album era in the music industry for the next several decades. By the late 1960s " classic rock " period, a few distinct rock music subgenres had emerged, including hybrids like blues rock , folk rock , country rock , Southern rock , raga rock , and jazz rock , which contributed to the development of psychedelic rock , influenced by the countercultural psychedelic and hippie scene . New genres that emerged included progressive rock , which extended artistic elements, heavy metal , which emphasized an aggressive thick sound, and glam rock , which highlighted showmanship and visual style. In
4640-695: A route pursued by a number of largely acoustic folk musicians. Other acts that followed the back-to-basics trend were the Canadian group the Band and the California-based Creedence Clearwater Revival , both of which mixed basic rock and roll with folk, country and blues, to be among the most successful and influential bands of the late 1960s. The same movement saw the beginning of the recording careers of Californian solo artists like Ry Cooder , Bonnie Raitt and Lowell George , and influenced
4800-428: A screenwriting teacher in film school that taught him to "write what you know," but in his case, he could only write about "being a self-obsessed pessimistic sort of loser." This led him to characterize his writing as a sort of therapy for him and a vehicle to better understand the human condition. Commit This to Memory "addresses the themes of substance abuse , psychological disorders and failing relationships." For
4960-435: A self-shot video for "A Lifeless Ordinary" during that time. Columbia dropped the band later that year, with the commercial performance of My Dinosaur Life leading to the split. "I guess we didn't do as well as they hoped or expected us to," said Pierre that year. "And we felt that having all their resources at our disposal would perhaps propel us into another dimension. But we are what we are regardless of what label or machine
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5120-428: A sense of nervousness to the group. They relaxed and took their time writing it, and did not preconceive the album as a change in style. "We just felt like it was like we were just taking our time and just kinda living life and not worrying about too much other than getting together and making music," remarked Taylor. Pierre has since looked back on Go with mixed emotions, citing it as his personal least favorite album by
5280-583: A slew of Epitaph signings, including Matchbook Romance, Scatter the Ashes and From First to Last , amid concerns the Southern California label had strayed too far from its roots, and seemed "a little too emo ." After signing with Epitaph, they recorded three new songs with the bands Reggie and the Full Effect and Ultimate Fakebook for a triple split EP which was never released. The new songs were added to
5440-478: A slogan one only began to hear in 1972 or so, mobilized all those eager to believe that idealism had become passe, and once they were mobilized, it had. In popular music, embracing the '70s meant both an elitist withdrawal from the messy concert and counterculture scene and a profiteering pursuit of the lowest common denominator in FM radio and album rock . Rock saw greater commodification during this decade, turning into
5600-620: A sold-out show at the Metro in Chicago on September 18, 2016. The group performed 36 songs — some dating back to their 2000 EP, Back to the Beat — while both Thaxton and Rivera sat in on drums. During their three-year break, all of the members moved to different states and pursued different interests. Pierre continued to record music and tour as a solo act, issuing his debut effort In the Drink in 2018, which Cain assisted him in producing. The following June,
5760-518: A star on the outside mural of the Minneapolis nightclub First Avenue , recognizing performers that have played sold-out shows or have otherwise demonstrated a major contribution to the culture at the iconic venue. Receiving a star "might be the most prestigious public honor an artist can receive in Minneapolis," according to journalist Steve Marsh. On October 31, 2017, the band's hit single, " Everything Is Alright " received an official gold status by
5920-530: A studio in Los Angeles ' Valley Village region. It was written partially in their hometown of Minneapolis and in Los Angeles, during a period in which Pierre was seeking treatment for alcohol abuse . Commit This to Memory was the first album by the band to feature material crafted by each musician in the group, as previous releases had featured songs written in the years prior to each member joining. In addition,
6080-460: A variety of directions, including Dylan and the Byrds, who began to develop country rock . However, the hybridization of folk and rock has been seen as having a major influence on the development of rock music, bringing in elements of psychedelia, and helping to develop the ideas of the singer-songwriter, the protest song, and concepts of "authenticity". Psychedelic music's LSD -inspired vibe began in
6240-522: A variety of sources such as the Tin Pan Alley pop tradition, folk music , and rhythm and blues . Christgau characterizes rock lyrics as a "cool medium" with simple diction and repeated refrains, and asserts that rock's primary "function" "pertains to music, or, more generally, noise ." The predominance of white, male, and often middle class musicians in rock music has often been noted, and rock has been seen as an appropriation of Black musical forms for
6400-533: A vehicle for releases by his band Bad Religion . The name had been taken from the King Crimson Cold War protest song " Epitaph " from which the lyrics "Confusion will be my epitaph." had struck a chord with Brett and Greg when they were young. Its first release for the label was Bad Religion's 1981 self-titled EP, followed by their debut How Could Hell Be Any Worse? , which was also the label's first full-length release. Also released during this period
6560-506: A year, however, due to the birth of Pierre's daughter. In the interim, the group embarked on a tour celebrating the tenth anniversary of Commit This to Memory between January and February 2015, playing the album in its entirety. The band later extended this anniversary tour, and further toured the album between June and August 2015. Panic Stations was released on September 18, 2015, to positive reviews from music critics, but it debuted even lower on music charts than its predecessor. A tour with
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6720-501: A young, white and largely male audience. As a result, it has also been seen to articulate the concerns of this group in both style and lyrics. Christgau, writing in 1972, said in spite of some exceptions, "rock and roll usually implies an identification of male sexuality and aggression". Since the term "rock" started being used in preference to "rock and roll" from the late-1960s, it has usually been contrasted with pop music, with which it has shared many characteristics, but from which it
6880-641: Is "no official plan" for further music, though he believes the band is not entirely finished making new music. In an Instagram livestream, Pierre hinted at the future possibility of the band releasing new music while answering a viewer's question. Pierre responded, "I would like that. I'm not sure if anyone else would, but I would." In 2023, the band supported the All-American Rejects on the Wet Hot All-American Summer Tour, staging appearances at Adjacent Fest and When We Were Young . In 2024,
7040-522: Is behind us. We did exceptionally well, though, if you want to look strictly at sales numbers in today's climate." After being dropped by Columbia, the band set off to Brazil to support All Time Low in January 2011. They subsequently began recording their fifth studio album with producer and longtime friend Ed Ackerson at his studio, Flowers Studio , in Minneapolis. The band recorded on their own time with their own resources, which both provided comfort and
7200-423: Is 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 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
7360-536: Is credited with first using the phrase "rock and roll" to describe the music. Four years later, Bill Haley 's " Rock Around the Clock " (1954) became the first rock and roll song to top Billboard magazine's main sales and airplay charts, and opened the door worldwide for this new wave of popular culture. Other artists with early rock and roll hits included Chuck Berry , Bo Diddley , Fats Domino , Little Richard , Jerry Lee Lewis , and Gene Vincent . Soon rock and roll
7520-464: Is generally agreed that garage rock peaked both commercially and artistically around 1966. By 1968 the style largely disappeared from the national charts and at the local level as amateur musicians faced college, work or the draft . New styles had evolved to replace garage rock. Although the first impact of the British Invasion on American popular music was through beat and R&B based acts,
7680-600: Is in the music of Chuck Berry , the Ramones , and the Replacements . The foundations of rock music are in rock and roll, which originated in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, and quickly spread to much of the rest of the world. Its immediate origins lay in a melding of various black musical genres of the time, including rhythm and blues and gospel music , with country and western . Debate surrounds
7840-411: Is often distanced by an emphasis on musicianship, live performance, and a focus on serious and progressive themes as part of an ideology of authenticity that is frequently combined with an awareness of the genre's history and development. According to Simon Frith , rock was "something more than pop, something more than rock and roll" and "[r]ock musicians combined an emphasis on skill and technique with
8000-399: Is termed as a rock band or a rock group. Furthermore, it typically consists of between three (the power trio ) and five members. Classically, a rock band takes the form of a quartet whose members cover one or more roles, including vocalist, lead guitarist, rhythm guitarist, bass guitarist, drummer, and often keyboard player or another instrumentalist. Rock music is traditionally built on
8160-502: Is the Band." Epitaph Records Epitaph Records is an American independent record label owned by Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz . A large portion of the record label, known as Hellcat Records , is owned by Tim Armstrong , frontman of the punk rock band Rancid . Several sister labels also exist, such as ANTI- , Burning Heart Records , Hellcat Records , and Heart & Skull Records that have signed other types of bands. Brett Gurewitz formed Epitaph Records as
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#17328843007918320-512: Is the official RIAA membership list, which has been disputed. As of this writing, not only is Epitaph listed as an official member but Lookout! Records is once again listed, after being falsely listed before. In addition, Fat Wreck Chords has released statements denying their own involvement in the RIAA, condemning the organization. Epitaph signed Weezer in 2010, the label releasing Hurley later that year. The label signed Social Distortion in
8480-436: Is tough to be tied to Justin's emotions," Cain remarked at the time. Following completion of the album, Pierre entered a rehabilitation program for alcohol and drug abuse. The band was apart for a six-week stretch in mid-2007, marking their longest break apart in five years. "It might sound clichéd, but we all had a chance to do some growing up," said Cain. Even If It Kills Me was released on September 18, 2007, and represented
8640-528: The Billboard Hot 100 . The British Invasion greatly influenced garage bands, providing them with a national audience, leading many (often surf or hot rod groups) to adopt a British influence, and encouraging many more groups to form. Thousands of garage bands were extant in the United States and Canada during the era and hundreds produced regional hits. Despite scores of bands being signed to major or large regional labels, most were commercial failures. It
8800-519: The American folk music revival had grown to a major movement, using traditional music and new compositions in a traditional style, usually on acoustic instruments. In America the genre was pioneered by figures such as Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger and often identified with progressive or labor politics . In the early sixties figures such as Joan Baez and Bob Dylan had come to the fore in this movement as singer-songwriters. Dylan had begun to reach
8960-510: The COVID-19 pandemic . The five-piece continued to tour in 2022, celebrating the seventeenth anniversary of Commit This to Memory . That same year, the group released three new songs. The first, a cover of Fountains of Wayne's " A Dip in the Ocean ", debuted on Saving for a Custom Van , a tribute compilation celebrating the life of musician Adam Schlesinger. Midway through the year, the quartet issued
9120-538: The Moog synthesizer . Pierre mainly handles the band's lyrics, which often touch on themes of anxiety, alienation, relationships, and self-destructive behavior. The band was founded by Cain and Pierre, and took several years to form a stable lineup. I Am the Movie , the group's debut album, was released in 2003. Their commercial breakthrough, Commit This to Memory , arrived in 2005, and its follow-up Even If It Kills Me (2007)
9280-756: The Recording Industry Association of America . Rock music 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 rock and roll, a style that drew directly from the genres of blues , rhythm and blues , and country music . Rock also drew strongly from genres such as electric blues and folk , and incorporated influences from jazz and other musical styles. For instrumentation, rock
9440-896: The Recording Industry Association of America : Smash by The Offspring , which has been certified six-times platinum, and ...And Out Come the Wolves by Rancid , which has been certified platinum. Seven albums released by the label, or its subsidiaries Hellcat and ANTI- , have been certified gold for sales of 500,000 copies: Ignition by the Offspring, Punk in Drublic by NOFX , Let's Go by Rancid, Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards by Tom Waits , The Drug in Me Is You and Popular Monster by Falling in Reverse , The Warrior's Code by Dropkick Murphys and Sempiternal by Bring Me
9600-471: The Warped Tour 2004 , where they were considered by fans to be a "must-see" act. The band joined Blink-182 for touring stints in Europe and Japan later in the year, at the recommendation of the band's bassist, Mark Hoppus . Cain invited Hoppus to produce Motion City's sophomore album, and he accepted. The album, Commit This to Memory , was recorded at Seedy Underbelly Studios, a suburban home converted into
9760-422: The garage rock / post-punk revival in the 2000s. Since the 2010s, rock has lost its position as the pre-eminent popular music genre in world culture, but remains commercially successful. The increased influence of hip-hop and electronic dance music can be seen in rock music, notably in the techno-pop scene of the early 2010s and the pop-punk-hip-hop revival of the 2020s. Rock has also embodied and served as
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#17328843007919920-417: The protest song , rock music has been associated with political activism , as well as changes in social attitudes to race, sex, and drug use, and is often seen as an expression of youth revolt against adult consumerism and conformity . At the same time, it has been commercially highly successful, leading to accusations of selling out . A good definition of rock, in fact, is that it's popular music that to
10080-454: The 1950s saw the growth in popularity of the electric guitar, and the development of a specifically rock and roll style of playing through such exponents as Chuck Berry, Link Wray , and Scotty Moore . The use of distortion , pioneered by Western swing guitarists such as Junior Barnard and Eldon Shamblin was popularized by Chuck Berry in the mid-1950s. The use of power chords , pioneered by Francisco Tárrega and Heitor Villa-Lobos in
10240-461: The 19th century and later on by Willie Johnson and Pat Hare in the early 1950s, was popularized by Link Wray in the late 1950s. Commentators have traditionally perceived a decline of rock and roll in the late 1950s and early 1960s. By 1959, the death of Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens in a plane crash, the departure of Elvis for the army, the retirement of Little Richard to become
10400-472: The Banshees , Ultravox , and Simple Minds , showed the influence of progressive rock, as well as their more usually recognized punk influences. In the late 1960s, jazz-rock emerged as a distinct subgenre out of the blues-rock, psychedelic, and progressive rock scenes, mixing the power of rock with the musical complexity and improvisational elements of jazz. AllMusic states that the term jazz-rock "may refer to
10560-464: The Beat —were released the following year. Over the course of the early 2000s, the band continued to tour and shuffle through members. In late 2001, while touring in Milton, Pennsylvania with the band Submerge, they convinced two of its members—bassist Matthew Scott Taylor and drummer Tony Richard Thaxton—to join the band. Thaxton initially took about a year to convince to join the band. Jesse Mack Johnson,
10720-609: The Beatles, demonstrating "to the rock generation in general that an album could be a major standalone statement without hit singles", such as on The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963). Folk rock particularly took off in California, where it led acts like the Mamas & the Papas and Crosby, Stills, and Nash to move to electric instrumentation, and in New York, where it spawned performers including
10880-596: The Byrds ' shift from folk to folk rock from 1965. The psychedelic lifestyle, which revolved around hallucinogenic drugs, had already developed in San Francisco and particularly prominent products of the scene were Big Brother and the Holding Company , the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane . The Jimi Hendrix Experience 's lead guitarist, Jimi Hendrix did extended distorted, feedback-filled jams which became
11040-431: The Byrds adopted rock instrumentation, including drums and 12-string Rickenbacker guitars, which became a major element in the sound of the genre. Later that year Dylan adopted electric instruments, much to the outrage of many folk purists, with his " Like a Rolling Stone " becoming a US hit single. According to Ritchie Unterberger , Dylan (even before his adoption of electric instruments) influenced rock musicians like
11200-627: The Carpenters , the Cardigans , Pavement , Tom Waits , the Flaming Lips , and Sunny Day Real Estate , while Taylor cites That Dog , Swervedriver , Radiohead , the Rentals , and Burning Airlines as additional influences. Pierre quoted Waits that "all anybody ever does is imitate their favorite artist—badly," adding, "we're just regurgitating all the crap we listened to in the late '80s and early '90s,
11360-466: The Dino Trail wherein he performed acoustic sets. My Dinosaur Life was released to acclaim from music critics upon its debut on January 19, 2010, and it represented the band's all-time best chart performance, peaking at number 15 on the Billboard 200. They supported Weezer on several dates during this time, and they began a headlining tour in late January in the US. In the first three months following
11520-578: The Dominos , followed by an extensive solo career that helped bring blues rock into the mainstream. Green, along with the Bluesbreaker's rhythm section Mick Fleetwood and John McVie , formed Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac , who enjoyed some of the greatest commercial success in the genre. In the late 1960s Jeff Beck , also an alumnus of the Yardbirds, moved blues rock in the direction of heavy rock with his band,
11680-499: The Gates of Dawn . Key recordings included Jefferson Airplane's Surrealistic Pillow and the Doors ' self-titled debut album . These trends peaked in the 1969 Woodstock festival , which saw performances by most of the major psychedelic acts. Sgt. Pepper was later regarded as the greatest album of all time and a starting point for the album era , during which rock music transitioned from
11840-464: The Jeff Beck Group . The last Yardbirds guitarist was Jimmy Page , who went on to form The New Yardbirds which rapidly became Led Zeppelin . Many of the songs on their first three albums, and occasionally later in their careers, were expansions on traditional blues songs. In America, blues rock had been pioneered in the early 1960s by guitarist Lonnie Mack , but the genre began to take off in
12000-498: The Joint " (1949), also covered by Bill Haley & His Comets in 1952; and " Rocket 88 " by Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats (in fact, Ike Turner and his band the Kings of Rhythm ), recorded by Sam Phillips for Chess Records in 1951. In 1951, Cleveland, Ohio disc jockey Alan Freed began playing rhythm and blues music (then termed " race music ") for a multi-racial audience, and
12160-499: The Lovin' Spoonful and Simon and Garfunkel , with the latter's acoustic " The Sounds of Silence " (1965) being remixed with rock instruments to be the first of many hits. These acts directly influenced British performers like Donovan and Fairport Convention . In 1969 Fairport Convention abandoned their mixture of American covers and Dylan-influenced songs to play traditional English folk music on electric instruments. This British folk-rock
12320-416: The Movie , in ten days. Initial copies were hand-packaged inside floppy disks , which were sold out of the back of their tour van for a year. The band began receiving offers from various record labels, including Universal , Triple Crown Records , and Drive-Thru Records , and they performed at industry showcases. Meanwhile, Brett Gurewitz , founder of Epitaph Records , learned of the band from members of
12480-476: The Rolling Stones and the Yardbirds , were much more directly influenced by rhythm and blues and later blues music. Soon these groups were composing their own material, combining US forms of music and infusing it with a high energy beat. Beat bands tended towards "bouncy, irresistible melodies", while early British blues acts tended towards less sexually innocent, more aggressive songs, often adopting an anti-establishment stance. There was, however, particularly in
12640-573: The Searchers from Liverpool and Freddie and the Dreamers , Herman's Hermits and the Hollies from Manchester. They drew on a wide range of American influences including 1950s rock and roll, soul, rhythm and blues, and surf music, initially reinterpreting standard American tunes and playing for dancers. Bands like the Animals from Newcastle and Them from Belfast , and particularly those from London like
12800-650: The Seeds ) to near-studio musician quality (including the Knickerbockers , the Remains , and the Fifth Estate ). There were also regional variations in many parts of the country with flourishing scenes particularly in California and Texas. The Pacific Northwest states of Washington and Oregon had perhaps the most defined regional sound. The style had been evolving from regional scenes as early as 1958. "Tall Cool One" (1959) by
12960-676: The US was becoming dominated by lightweight pop and ballads, British rock groups at clubs and local dances were developing a style more strongly influenced by blues-rock pioneers, and were starting to play with an intensity and drive seldom found in white American acts; this influence would go on to shape the future of rock music through the British Invasion . The first four years of the 1960s has traditionally been seen as an era of hiatus for rock and roll. More recently some authors have emphasised important innovations and trends in this period without which future developments would not have been possible. While early rock and roll, particularly through
13120-604: The USSR and South Africa from 1955 to 1957, influencing the globalisation of rock. Johnny O'Keefe 's 1958 record " Wild One " was one of the earliest Australian rock and roll hits. By the late 1950s, as well as in the American-influenced Western world, rock was popular in communist states such as Yugoslavia, and the USSR, as well as in regions such as South America. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, American blues music and blues rock artists, who had been surpassed by
13280-722: The Wailers and " Louie Louie " by the Kingsmen (1963) are mainstream examples of the genre in its formative stages. By 1963, garage band singles were creeping into the national charts in greater numbers, including Paul Revere and the Raiders (Boise), the Trashmen (Minneapolis) and the Rivieras (South Bend, Indiana). Other influential garage bands, such as the Sonics (Tacoma, Washington), never reached
13440-464: The Wonder Years followed between October and November 2015, and saw the release of a split 7-inch between the two bands. As the band entered 2016, Cain felt the future for the group was bright: "We're not done yet. I think we got more music in us," he told Substream Magazine in January 2016. Two months later the band announced their break-up with a statement that read in part, "We have no idea what
13600-527: The advent of rockabilly, saw the greatest commercial success for male and white performers, in this era, the genre was dominated by black and female artists. Rock and roll had not disappeared entirely from music at the end of the 1950s and some of its energy can be seen in the various dance crazes of the early 1960s, started by Chubby Checker 's record " The Twist " (1960). Some music historians have also pointed to important and innovative technical developments that built on rock and roll in this period, including
13760-407: The album had sold nearly 500,000 copies. The band's music videos found regular rotation on networks such as MTV2 , and the band also performed on Late Night with Conan O'Brien . However, their mainstream breakthrough brought detractors, and they became a target for critics of pop punk : "[the band was] frequently characterized as the sort of ultra-commercial punk poseurs who water down the genre to
13920-466: The album's release, the band continued to tour heavily: they traveled to Australia for the national Soundwave festival, as well as to Japan and the UK. The band also began to receive radio airplay for the first time in their career, and they released a music video for the single " Her Words Destroyed My Planet ". The group embarked on a large tour with Say Anything between October and November 2010, and premiered
14080-413: The atmosphere in the studio was more loose than their first time working with Hoppus. The band picked the title My Dinosaur Life after a quote Pierre kept repeating—they felt it a nice representation of the album's themes, which include growing old and feeling out of place. After completing the album, the band toured with Blink-182 on their reunion tour , and Pierre undertook a promotional tour called On
14240-485: The band also had more time and funds to create the album. During its recording process, Motion City embarked on their first headlining tour, titled "The Sub-Par Punk Who Cares Tour 2004". At the year's end, the band had played over 270 concerts. Commit This to Memory , which was leaked to file sharing websites months before its official debut, saw release on June 7, 2005, peaking at number two on Billboard 's Independent Albums chart. Pierre estimated that by 2015
14400-513: The band announced their reformation with a U.S. tour. In an interview, Pierre explained their inactivity had given rise to an "excitement" to focus on the band again. The tour, named "Don't Call It a Comeback" for a song on their debut album, took place in January 2020. Thaxton returned to the band in an official capacity for the tour. The band were scheduled to travel to the U.K. for the Slam Dunk Festival that May, but plans were shelved due to
14560-746: The band embarked on an anniversary tour celebrating I Am the Movie . Zach Comtois has filled in as the rhythm guitarist on tour while Pierre recovers from a back injury. The group released the single "Stop Talking" in August 2024 to coincide with the theatrical release of the 2024 film Dìdi , which the song features in. The single is the first original new material released by the band since Panic Stations in 2015. The three main influences that unite all members of Motion City Soundtrack are Superchunk , Jawbox , and Pixies . Both Joshua Pierre and Matt Taylor are also influenced by Ben Folds Five , Fugazi , and Braid . Pierre also takes inspiration from Poster Children ,
14720-506: The band. He noted that he was struggling with dark thoughts and felt that the band's collective misery translated to the record. Following the recording of Go , the band set out on the "4 Albums. 2 Nights. 7 Cities" tour, which found the band performing their past discography over two nights. They also covered "Wait So Long" by Trampled by Turtles for a split 7-inch, which was released in November 2011. During that time period, they searched for
14880-575: The biggest selling rock band of all time and they were followed into the US charts by numerous British bands. During the next two years British acts dominated their own and the US charts with Peter and Gordon , the Animals, Manfred Mann , Petula Clark , Freddie and the Dreamers, Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders , Herman's Hermits, the Rolling Stones, the Troggs , and Donovan all having one or more number one singles. Other major acts that were part of
15040-456: The chart. Their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show on 9 February 1964, drawing an estimated 73 million viewers (at the time a record for an American television program) is considered a milestone in American pop culture. During the week of 4 April 1964, the Beatles held 12 positions on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, including the entire top five. The Beatles went on to become
15200-424: The delights and limitations of the regional , and to deal with the depredations and benefits of mass culture itself. — Robert Christgau in Christgau's Record Guide (1981) Unlike many earlier styles of popular music, rock lyrics have dealt with a wide range of themes, including romantic love, sex, rebellion against " The Establishment ", social concerns, and life styles. These themes were inherited from
15360-617: The duo had separately played in a number of bands. Cain was in a group named the Saddest Girl Story, and recruited Pierre to join as a singer. He was subsequently in a band called Boxcar, and following its dissolution, he and Pierre founded Motion City Soundtrack together. The band's name was inspired by a defunct film project that was originally created by Cain's brother, Brian. Their early days were difficult, as they found it hard to break out of their local scene. When they could get weeks off from their jobs, they would tour. According to Cain,
15520-451: The early 1970s among existing blues-rock and psychedelic bands, as well as newly formed acts. The vibrant Canterbury scene saw acts following Soft Machine from psychedelia, through jazz influences, toward more expansive hard rock, including Caravan , Hatfield and the North , Gong , and National Health . The French group Magma around drummer Christian Vander almost single-handedly created
15680-455: The early 1970s, Robert Christgau wrote in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981): The decade is, of course, an arbitrary schema itself—time doesn't just execute a neat turn toward the future every ten years. But like a lot of artificial concepts—money, say—the category does take on a reality of its own once people figure out how to put it to work. "The '60s are over,"
15840-457: The early stages, considerable musical crossover between the two tendencies. By 1963, led by the Beatles, beat groups had begun to achieve national success in Britain, soon to be followed into the charts by the more rhythm and blues focused acts. " I Want to Hold Your Hand " was the Beatles' first number one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 , spending seven weeks at the top and a total of 15 weeks on
16000-510: The electronic treatment of sound by such innovators as Joe Meek , and the elaborate production methods of the Wall of Sound pursued by Phil Spector . The instrumental rock and roll of performers such as Duane Eddy , Link Wray and the Ventures was further developed by Dick Dale , who added distinctive "wet" reverb , rapid alternate picking, and Middle Eastern and Mexican influences. He produced
16160-568: The example set by the Beatles ' 1965 LP Rubber Soul in particular, other British rock acts released rock albums intended as artistic statements in 1966, including the Rolling Stones ' Aftermath , the Beatles' own Revolver , and the Who 's A Quick One , as well as American acts in the Beach Boys ( Pet Sounds ) and Bob Dylan ( Blonde on Blonde ). Garage rock was a raw form of rock music, particularly prevalent in North America in
16320-403: The experience was a "bum-out." Pierre struggled with writer's block during the sessions and found himself writing lyrics while recording the songs, which he had never done before. The band was also worried their songs would not be catchy enough after their last album was so successful. During this time, Pierre's substance issues nearly disbanded the group. "I think it's an understatement to say it
16480-491: The first record, and worldwide hit, for the Virgin Records label, which became a mainstay of the genre. Instrumental rock was particularly significant in continental Europe, allowing bands like Kraftwerk , Tangerine Dream , Can , Focus (band) and Faust to circumvent the language barrier. Their synthesiser-heavy " krautrock ", along with the work of Brian Eno (for a time the keyboard player with Roxy Music ), would be
16640-451: The folk scene. The first group to advertise themselves as psychedelic rock were the 13th Floor Elevators from Texas. The Beatles introduced many of the major elements of the psychedelic sound to audiences in this period, such as guitar feedback , the Indian sitar and backmasking sound effects . Psychedelic rock particularly took off in California's emerging music scene as groups followed
16800-503: The format of rock operas and opened the door to concept albums , often telling an epic story or tackling a grand overarching theme. King Crimson 's 1969 début album, In the Court of the Crimson King , which mixed powerful guitar riffs and mellotron , with jazz and symphonic music , is often taken as the key recording in progressive rock, helping the widespread adoption of the genre in
16960-556: The future holds, but for now we are done." In interviews later that year, Pierre detailed the band's reasoning, noting that their exhaustion with touring and growing families contributed to their decision: "We’ve done this one thing constantly for so many years nonstop. We all wanted to have something else to look ahead to in our lives." The band embarked on the So Long, Farewell Tour across North America between May and September 2016 with original drummer Tony Thaxton returning. It concluded with
17120-470: The group Matchbook Romance . He attended four of their shows in Los Angeles that Pierre later regarded as among his worst, as his voice was poor from constant touring. While they were interested in Universal, they chose to sign to Epitaph as they felt the contract was less restrictive and more honest. Eli Janney from Girls Against Boys helped the band secure management and a lawyer. Motion City became part of
17280-453: The impetus was soon taken up by a second wave of bands that drew their inspiration more directly from American blues , including the Rolling Stones and the Yardbirds . British blues musicians of the late 1950s and early 1960s had been inspired by the acoustic playing of figures such as Lead Belly , who was a major influence on the Skiffle craze, and Robert Johnson . Increasingly they adopted
17440-460: The invasion included the Kinks and the Dave Clark Five . The British Invasion helped internationalize the production of rock and roll, opening the door for subsequent British (and Irish) performers to achieve international success. In America it arguably spelled the end of instrumental surf music, vocal girl groups and (for a time) the teen idols , that had dominated the American charts in
17600-511: The label were R&B oriented white rock bands that made use of jazzy horn sections, like Electric Flag , Blood, Sweat & Tears and Chicago , to become some of the most commercially successful acts of the later 1960s and the early 1970s. British acts to emerge in the same period from the blues scene, to make use of the tonal and improvisational aspects of jazz, included Nucleus and the Graham Bond and John Mayall spin-off Colosseum . From
17760-480: The label. Brett Gurewitz is thought to have left Bad Religion as a result of internal disputes, but actually left the band in 1994 so he could run Epitaph full-time. In 2001, Brett Gurewitz returned to Bad Religion, and the band returned to Epitaph Records, releasing seven more albums, the latest being Age of Unreason (2019). In mid-2005 Epitaph was added to the official list of RIAA members along with several other high-profile independent labels. The reason for
17920-438: The last weeks of the Warped Tour 2008 . In September, they headlined on The Left Handed Forms of Human Endeavor Tour. Motion City signed a multiple-album deal with Columbia Records several months before releasing their previous album. Following the move, the guitarist Joshua Cain said, "It just felt right to make the move when there was the right interest there." With the new signing, the band's promotional team aimed to develop
18080-446: The late 1950s and 1960s. It dented the careers of established R&B acts like Fats Domino and Chubby Checker and even temporarily derailed the chart success of surviving rock and roll acts, including Elvis. The British Invasion also played a major part in the rise of a distinct genre of rock music, and cemented the primacy of the rock group, based on guitars and drums and producing their own material as singer-songwriters. Following
18240-451: The listing is not clear, but one source points to an agreement for internet P2P distribution. Another source claims label management joined RIAA to get certified sales awards (i.e., official "Gold" or "Platinum" record status) for releases. This sparked some controversy as some feel they should no longer be labeled independent if they are a member of the RIAA. However, the only source that has actually been used for these claims of membership
18400-410: The loudest, wildest, most electrified fusion bands from the jazz camp, but most often it describes performers coming from the rock side of the equation." Jazz-rock "...generally grew out of the most artistically ambitious rock subgenres of the late '60s and early '70s", including the singer-songwriter movement. Many early US rock and roll musicians had begun in jazz and carried some of these elements into
18560-476: The many recordings which have been suggested as "the first rock and roll record ". Contenders include " Strange Things Happening Every Day " by Sister Rosetta Tharpe (1944); " That's All Right " by Arthur Crudup (1946), which was later covered by Elvis Presley in 1954; " The House of Blue Lights " by Ella Mae Morse and Freddie Slack (1946); Wynonie Harris ' " Good Rocking Tonight " (1948); Goree Carter 's "Rock Awhile" (1949); Jimmy Preston 's " Rock
18720-507: The members of the band soon realized that there "wasn't really anywhere to play [shows] in Minneapolis", and that they would have to "tour all the time" to rise in popularity. In its early years, the group went through several lineup changes. Through these, Cain and Pierre would often have to take over keyboard duties during shows. The group's first release was a 7-inch single , "Promenade / Carolina", released in 1999. Their next two releases, both extended plays — Kids for America and Back to
18880-669: The mid-1950s by white singers such as Carl Perkins , Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly and with the greatest commercial success, Elvis Presley . Hispanic and Latino American movements in rock and roll, which would eventually lead to the success of Latin rock and Chicano rock within the US, began to rise in the Southwest ; with rock and roll standard musician Ritchie Valens and even those within other heritage genres, such as Al Hurricane along with his brothers Tiny Morrie and Baby Gaby as they began combining rock and roll with country- western within traditional New Mexico music . In addition,
19040-603: The mid-1960s the Left Banke , the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Beach Boys, had pioneered the inclusion of harpsichords , wind , and string sections on their recordings to produce a form of Baroque rock and can be heard in singles like Procol Harum 's " A Whiter Shade of Pale " (1967), with its Bach -inspired introduction. The Moody Blues used a full orchestra on their album Days of Future Passed (1967) and subsequently created orchestral sounds with synthesizers. Classical orchestration, keyboards, and synthesizers were
19200-479: The mid-1960s and so called because of the perception that it was rehearsed in the suburban family garage. Garage rock songs often revolved around the traumas of high school life, with songs about "lying girls" and unfair social circumstances being particularly common. The lyrics and delivery tended to be more aggressive than was common at the time, often with growled or shouted vocals that dissolved into incoherent screaming. They ranged from crude one-chord music (like
19360-435: The mid-1960s as acts developed a sound similar to British blues musicians. Key acts included Paul Butterfield (whose band acted like Mayall's Bluesbreakers in Britain as a starting point for many successful musicians), Canned Heat , the early Jefferson Airplane , Janis Joplin , Johnny Winter , the J. Geils Band and Jimi Hendrix with his power trios , the Jimi Hendrix Experience (which included two British members, and
19520-401: The mid-1960s onwards, rock music often used the verse–chorus structure derived from blues and folk music, but there has been considerable variation from this model. Critics have stressed the eclecticism and stylistic diversity of rock. Because of its complex history and its tendency to borrow from other musical and cultural forms, it has been argued that "it is impossible to bind rock music to
19680-455: The music of their debut album, I Am the Movie , to All and the Get Up Kids. It has been described as having a "distinctly unified and identifiable style." Subsequent releases varied in style. My Dinosaur Life , for example, saw the band attempting to emulate their favorite post-hardcore acts, such as Archers of Loaf and Dinosaur Jr. Most of Motion City Soundtrack's lyrical content was written by lead vocalist, Justin Pierre. This material
19840-573: The music that got us into playing music in the first place." The band's musical style is widely recognizable by its unique blend of pop-punk with the Moog synthesizer . The usage of the Moog stems from Cain, who first heard the instrument employed on the Rentals' album Return of the Rentals (1995). He subsequently bought a cheap Moog at a pawn shop and wanted it to be an integral part of Motion City upon their formation. Johnson became known for his signature "Moogstand" in live performances, which consisted of
20000-461: The new music genre zeuhl with their first albums in the early 1970s. Greater commercial success was enjoyed by Pink Floyd, who also moved away from psychedelia after the departure of Syd Barrett in 1968, with The Dark Side of the Moon (1973), seen as a masterpiece of the genre, becoming one of the best-selling albums of all time. There was an emphasis on instrumental virtuosity, with Yes showcasing
20160-591: The new music. In Britain the subgenre of blues rock, and many of its leading figures, like Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce of the Eric Clapton -fronted band Cream , had emerged from the British jazz scene. Often highlighted as the first true jazz-rock recording is the only album by the relatively obscure New York–based the Free Spirits with Out of Sight and Sound (1966). The first group of bands to self-consciously use
20320-420: The next year, with US dates alongside Rufio , Mae , and Fall Out Boy , plus Simple Plan and MxPx . A European leg—titled the "Totally Wicked Awesome Tour"—featured the group with Sugarcult , the All-American Rejects , and Limbeck . That year, the band also filmed music videos for the singles " The Future Freaks Me Out " and " My Favorite Accident ". Their fame grew concurrently with a second appearance on
20480-522: The point of drowning it," wrote Michael Roberts of Westword . The group continued to tour constantly, and started attracting larger crowds. They began the year with the inaugural Epitaph Tour, alongside Matchbook Romance and From First to Last. It was followed by dates on the Warped Tour 2005 , and the Nintendo Fusion Tour with Fall Out Boy, Panic! at the Disco , and the Starting Line , which
20640-465: The psychedelic rock and the Canterbury scenes came Soft Machine, who, it has been suggested, produced one of the artistically successfully fusions of the two genres. Perhaps the most critically acclaimed fusion came from the jazz side of the equation, with Miles Davis , particularly influenced by the work of Hendrix, incorporating rock instrumentation into his sound for the album Bitches Brew (1970). It
20800-427: The record is more optimistic and less self-loathing. My Dinosaur Life has lyrics relating to relationships, procrastination , and Pierre's own desire for a life away from his self-destructive behavior. Much of the lyricism on fifth album Go is consumed with death and "the eventual demise of everything." The idea that "nothing lasts forever" is one of the album's most important points. The band has been honored with
20960-406: The record, he intended to simplify his lyrics to enhance storytelling and he drew inspiration from Tom Waits, Ben Folds, and John K. Samson 's writing styles. In some cases, he chose to write from another individual's point of view , rather than his own. Their next album, Even If It Kills Me , was Pierre's first "written completely sober, after battling drugs and alcohol for years;" consequently,
21120-566: The regional hit " Let's Go Trippin ' " in 1961 and launched the surf music craze, following up with songs like " Misirlou " (1962). Like Dale and his Del-Tones , most early surf bands were formed in Southern California, including the Bel-Airs , the Challengers , and Eddie & the Showmen . The Chantays scored a top ten national hit with " Pipeline " in 1963 and probably the best-known surf tune
21280-400: The rise of rock and roll in the US, found new popularity in the UK, visiting with successful tours. Lonnie Donegan 's 1955 hit " Rock Island Line " was a major influence and helped to develop the trend of skiffle music groups throughout the country, many of which, including John Lennon 's Quarrymen (later the Beatles ), moved on to play rock and roll. While former rock and roll market in
21440-475: The romantic concept of art as artistic expression, original and sincere". In the new millennium, the term rock has occasionally been used as a blanket term including forms like pop music, reggae music , soul music , and even hip hop , which it has been influenced with but often contrasted through much of its history. Christgau has used the term broadly to refer to popular and semipopular music that caters to his sensibility as "a rock-and-roller", including
21600-517: The same era, and by percussion produced from a drum kit that combines drums and cymbals. This trio of instruments has often been complemented by the inclusion of other instruments, particularly keyboards such as the piano, the Hammond organ , and the synthesizer. The basic rock instrumentation was derived from the basic blues band instrumentation (prominent lead guitar, second chordal instrument, bass, and drums). A group of musicians performing rock music
21760-600: The same year. Epitaph signed Australian punk band Dangerous! in 2011 and released album Teenage Rampage . Epitaph had also signed the Canadian punk rock band Propagandhi . The label has also been more active in signing bands from the emo revival including The Menzingers , Joyce Manor , Pianos Become the Teeth , Defeater , The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die , and Touché Amoré . Epitaph has issued two albums that have been certified as platinum or multi-platinum, for sales of over 1 million units, by
21920-555: The second half of the 1970s, punk rock reacted by producing stripped-down, energetic social and political critiques. Punk was an influence in the 1980s on new wave , post-punk and eventually alternative rock . From the 1990s, alternative rock began to dominate rock music and break into the mainstream in the form of grunge , Britpop , and indie rock . Further fusion subgenres have since emerged, including pop-punk , electronic rock , rap rock , and rap metal . Some movements were conscious attempts to revisit rock's history, including
22080-513: The second release of I Am the Movie , which was released via Epitaph on June 24, 2003. Epitaph afforded the quartet wider distribution and a proper budget, which allowed them to re-record several songs on the album to match their original vision. During this time, the band visited the United Kingdom for the first time in 2003 while on tour with Sugarcult , followed by an inaugural stint on Warped Tour 2003 . The band continued to tour heavily into
22240-543: The singles format to albums and achieved cultural legitimacy in the mainstream. Led by the Beatles in the mid-1960s, rock musicians advanced the LP as the dominant form of recorded music expression and consumption, initiating a rock-informed album era in the music industry for the next several decades. Progressive rock, a term sometimes used interchangeably with art rock , moved beyond established musical formulas by experimenting with different instruments, song types, and forms. From
22400-413: The skills of both guitarist Steve Howe and keyboard player Rick Wakeman , while Emerson, Lake & Palmer were a supergroup who produced some of the genre's most technically demanding work. Jethro Tull and Genesis both pursued very different, but distinctly English, brands of music. Renaissance , formed in 1969 by ex-Yardbirds Jim McCarty and Keith Relf, evolved into a high-concept band featuring
22560-610: The three-octave voice of Annie Haslam . Most British bands depended on a relatively small cult following, but a handful, including Pink Floyd, Genesis, and Jethro Tull, managed to produce top ten singles at home and break the American market. The American brand of progressive rock varied from the eclectic and innovative Frank Zappa , Captain Beefheart and Blood, Sweat & Tears , to more pop rock orientated bands like Boston , Foreigner , Kansas , Journey , and Styx . These, beside British bands Supertramp and ELO , all demonstrated
22720-409: The vehicle for cultural and social movements, leading to major subcultures including mods and rockers in the U.K., the hippie movement and the wider Western counterculture movement that spread out from San Francisco in the U.S. in the 1960s, the latter of which continues to this day. Similarly, 1970s punk culture spawned the goth , punk, and emo subcultures. Inheriting the folk tradition of
22880-473: The work of the Beach Boys , formed in 1961 in Southern California. Their early albums included both instrumental surf rock (among them covers of music by Dick Dale) and vocal songs, drawing on rock and roll and doo wop and the close harmonies of vocal pop acts like the Four Freshmen . The Beach Boys first chart hit, " Surfin ' " in 1961 reached the Billboard top 100 and helped make the surf music craze
23040-533: The work of established performers such as the Rolling Stones' Beggar's Banquet (1968) and the Beatles' Let It Be (1970). Reflecting on this change of trends in rock music over the past few years, Christgau wrote in his June 1970 "Consumer Guide" column that this "new orthodoxy" and "cultural lag" abandoned improvisatory, studio-ornamented productions in favor of an emphasis on "tight, spare instrumentation" and song composition: "Its referents are '50s rock, country music, and rhythm-and-blues, and its key inspiration
23200-604: The works of Spike Jonze . The group spent much of the remaining year on the road, including dates in Asia in mid-2012 and a headlining US tour in October and November. Drummer Tony Thaxton departed the group in March 2013 following battles with depression, due in part to their ceaseless touring schedule. The band enlisted longtime friend Claudio Rivera of Saves the Day as their new drummer, and released
23360-404: The world, except as a new brand of painkiller ... In the '70s the powerful took over, as rock industrialists capitalized on the national mood to reduce potent music to an often reactionary species of entertainment—and to transmute rock's popular base from the audience to market." Roots rock is the term now used to describe a move away from what some saw as the excesses of the psychedelic scene, to
23520-553: Was Peace thru Vandalism , an EP by The Vandals , who were the first band besides Bad Religion to sign to Epitaph. Two more Bad Religion releases followed – Into the Unknown and the EP Back to the Known – before their temporary split. After Gurewitz had cleaned up his drug issues, both Epitaph and Bad Religion were revived in 1987. In the following year, Epitaph released its first record as
23680-570: Was John Mayall ; his band, the Bluesbreakers , included Eric Clapton (after Clapton's departure from the Yardbirds) and later Peter Green . Particularly significant was the release of Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton (Beano) album (1966), considered one of the seminal British blues recordings and the sound of which was much emulated in both Britain and the United States. Eric Clapton went on to form supergroups Cream, Blind Faith , and Derek and
23840-627: Was 1963's " Wipe Out ", by the Surfaris , which hit number 2 and number 10 on the Billboard charts in 1965. Surf rock was also popular in Europe during this time, with the British group the Shadows scoring hits in the early 1960s with instrumentals such as " Apache " (1960) and " Kon-Tiki " (1961), while Swedish surf group the Spotnicks saw success in both Sweden and Britain. Surf music achieved its greatest commercial success as vocal pop music, particularly
24000-473: Was a major influence on subsequent rock-influenced jazz artists, including Herbie Hancock , Chick Corea and Weather Report . The genre began to fade in the late 1970s, as a mellower form of fusion began to take its audience, but acts like Steely Dan , Frank Zappa and Joni Mitchell recorded significant jazz-influenced albums in this period, and it has continued to be a major influence on rock music. Reflecting on developments that occurred in rock music in
24160-424: Was continued in the 1970s by figures such as George Thorogood and Pat Travers , but, particularly on the British scene (except perhaps for the advent of groups such as Status Quo and Foghat who moved towards a form of high energy and repetitive boogie rock ), bands became focused on heavy metal innovation, and blues rock began to slip out of the mainstream. By the 1960s, the scene that had developed out of
24320-561: Was founded in Britain), and Band of Gypsys , whose guitar virtuosity and showmanship would be among the most emulated of the decade. Blues rock bands from the southern states, like the Allman Brothers Band , Lynyrd Skynyrd , and ZZ Top , incorporated country elements into their style to produce the distinctive genre Southern rock . Early blues rock bands often emulated jazz, playing long, involved improvisations, which would later be
24480-422: Was largely affected by his personal life and past experiences. Songs came about in myriad ways. Many times, the band would write music first that Pierre would set words to, other times Pierre would write a song on guitar with words and bring it to the band. Pierre could often "spend hours and days and weeks and months on lyrics—sometimes they come quick, sometimes they don't come at all," he said. He noted that he had
24640-576: Was similarly successful. For many years, the band was a staple of the Warped Tour . They briefly signed to major label Columbia for My Dinosaur Life (2010), but rejoined Epitaph for Go in 2012. Their most recent effort, Panic Stations , was released in 2015. The group disbanded the following year, but they announced a reunion in 2019. Motion City Soundtrack was formed in Minneapolis , Minnesota in 1997 by singer-songwriter Justin Courtney Pierre and guitarist Joshua Allen Cain . Previously,
24800-515: Was taken up by bands including Pentangle , Steeleye Span and the Albion Band , which in turn prompted Irish groups like Horslips and Scottish acts like the JSD Band , Spencer's Feat and later Five Hand Reel , to use their traditional music to create a brand of Celtic rock in the early 1970s. Folk-rock reached its peak of commercial popularity in the period 1967–68, before many acts moved off in
24960-606: Was taking place globally in the aftermath of the Second World War . Cliff Richard is credited with one of the first rock and roll hits outside of North America with " Move It " (1959), effectively ushering in the sound of British rock . Several artists, most prominently Tommy Steele from the UK, found success with covers of major American rock and roll hits before the recordings could spread internationally, often translating them into local languages where appropriate. Steele in particular toured Britain, Scandinavia, Australia,
25120-439: Was the first commercially successful folk song to be recorded with rock and roll instrumentation and the Beatles " I'm a Loser " (1964), arguably the first Beatles song to be influenced directly by Dylan. The folk rock movement is usually thought to have taken off with the Byrds ' recording of Dylan's " Mr. Tambourine Man " which topped the charts in 1965. With members who had been part of the café-based folk scene in Los Angeles,
25280-430: Was the major force in American record sales and crooners , such as Eddie Fisher , Perry Como , and Patti Page , who had dominated the previous decade of popular music, found their access to the pop charts significantly curtailed. Rock and roll has been seen as leading to a number of distinct subgenres, including rockabilly, combining rock and roll with "hillbilly" country music, which was usually played and recorded in
25440-450: Was the most popular genre of music in the U.S. and much of the Western world from the 1950s to the 2010s. Rock musicians in the mid-1960s began to advance the album ahead of the single as the dominant form of recorded music expression and consumption, with the Beatles at the forefront of this development. Their contributions lent the genre a cultural legitimacy in the mainstream and initiated
25600-511: Was their largest nationwide tour to that point. The band's follow-up, Even If It Kills Me (2007), was recorded in New York City with Eli Janney, Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne , and Ric Ocasek of the Cars . The group, though big fans of his work, were disappointed with Ocasek's role. "He just confused me the whole time," said Pierre later, who noted that he was afraid to disclose that
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