Any serious discussion on the history of popular culture in the 20th century is unimaginable without considering the social and artistic impact of rock music. It is also impossible to discuss the development of rock music without first considering the Blues music that spawned it. How did it get from a group of blues scholars and enthusiasts playing in the Roundhouse pub to Rock royalty headlining football stadiums?
Exploring the British blues boom of the sixties. This essay will suggest the roots of this scene go back further. It will also discuss how increasing amplifier technology and the search for authenticity mutated the blues into rock, spawned the cult of the “Guitar God” and gave the world Heavy rock.Finally, it will show evidence that there is a generational deep respect from musicians that would seem to have no musical connection to British blues.
The British blues boom of the 1960s may have only lasted a few years, but it could be argued it was a training ground for a group of musicians that not only dominated the music world for the remainder of the decade but continue to be massive concert draws worldwide. Giorgio Gomelsky, who was a club promoter stated in 1960 there were probably forty people at the time in London who were interested in blues. As origin stories go it's as good as any, however, the interest in blues did not miraculously appear but was nurtured in jazz circles. One of the first musicians to explore the blues was Chris Barber, a band leader and saxophonist. He hired Irish singer Ottilie Paterson, whose deep voice could recreate the stylistic mood of blues 78’s. He also brought blues artists such as Muddy Waters and Sister Rosetta Tharpe to play concerts in England. This combination of Jazz and Blues traditions saw the addition of a guitarist who was to be the catalyst for much that followed.
Alexis Kroner left to form his own band Blues incorporated with Cyril Davis, a gruff panel beater from Middlesex. After building a reputation as blues purists they started to attract young blues fans from all over the country. It could be suggested their policy of allowing these fans to sit in with the band to sing a song or play guitar was the spark for the future of British music, at least in the south of England to ignite. The nucleus of the Rolling Stones Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Brian Jones, were only one example of musiciansgiven a slot at one of those gigs.
The blues scene was soon alive with young bands trying to create the authentic Chicago blues sound. Including the Yardbirds, Animals, and Pretty Things. This quest for Authenticity was to be questioned by Original Blues artist Sonny Boy Williams II, who stated.
“Those English boys want to play Blues real bad…and they do”
The other factor that must be considered when looking at the end of the blues boom is the advancement in Amplifier technology. Eric Clapton had left the yardbirds for being too poppy. He joined John Mayall’s band to record the classic “Blues breaker” album. This album is noteworthy not so much for the songs but for the fact, it is the first album to feature a Marshall amplifier, which Clapton played LOUD. The second thing to note the album title included a credit that featured Eric Clapton. This could be suggested, saw the beginning of the cult of the guitar god. This increasing use of volume and the distortion-driven amps facilitated the focus moving from the singer to the Guitarist. Robert Till draws a comparison with religious icons and worship of the illustration of the divine, rather than the divine itself. The “Clapton is God” graffiti that began to appear supports this suggestion. Till continues saying,to ascend to this divine status the icon must be recognizable by one name. This quantifying mechanism is justified in discussions of guitar gods. For example, “Hendrix, Beck, and Page”
Deena Weinstein notes these Guitar Gods only emerged in tandem with advancements in Guitar amplification. This allowed the musician to project and the audience to receive the illusion of authenticity through the virtuosity in playing and the application of volume as an aesthetic component of the music. Stephen Grossberg describes this as a recent phenomenon known as “Cultural or Meta-Authenticity.” Alan Moore suggests Authenticity is subscribed not inscribed. The application of this is down to personal interpretation. This joint interpretation of performer and audience combined with ever-increasing volume was the seed of Blues mutating into a much brasher, louder, and in some cases obnoxious offspring. Heavy Rock
The original offspring, Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath started as blues bands, The new Yardbirds and Earth respectively. Although Zeppelin continued to explore elements of blues music, Sabbath discarded them entirely. This abandonment of blues motifs saw a new descriptive phrase applied to them and the bands that followed the trail they blazed. Heavy Metal.
In conclusion, this essay suggested that a combination of amplifier technology, perceived authenticity, and the cult of the Guitar God saw blues mutate into hard rock and eventually Heavy metal. With the distance of time and musical evolution, it is valid to suggest there is no link between the 1960s blues boom and the behemoth of touring heavy metal bands such as Metallica. However, the suggestion of authenticity raises its head here. When one considers that Musicians, arguably more than the audience value authenticity and musical legacy as currency. For example, a tribute concert to Peter Green, Clapton's replacement in the Blues Breakers and the founder of Fleetwood Mac was organized. The list of Hard Rock musicians that played is evidence of this. It included Stephen Tyler (Aerosmith), Billy Gibbons (Z.Z. Top) and Kirk Hammett (Metallica). The fact that Kirk Hammett is only the third owner of Peter Green’s famous “Greeny” Guitar and played it that night, is strong evidence of not just Peter Green, and by extension British Blues legacy but its continued influence on generations of musicians that followed.
Figure 1 Peter Green, "Greeny" and Kirk Hammett
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