British Blues Boom

The British Blues Boom is an artistic movement born in the England from the beginning from the Années 1960, which falls under the long story of the English Rock. He quickly was an international success, until the the United States. It consisted of one (Re) discovered Blues, at the same time by the European public and groups of Pop Music which integrated it into their music. This movement had a considerable influence on the Western popular music of 2nd half of the XXe century, and through this one, on the company as a whole.

Context

With the beginning of the year 1960, the Blues is a musical genre little known of the public throughout the world: in the United States, the very compartmentalized market - with the image of the company - prevents this form of art from exceeding the limits of the market of the race records , the discs reserved for the blacks. In Europe, the situation is hardly different: the Blues is accessible only through one handle from very rare and expensive imported discs which do not leave the circle of the Musicologue S and from some enlightened amateurs which came to the Blues through the forms from Jazz from before guard such as the Be-bop or the Free Jazz.

The white Rock'n'roll, as for him, after profitable beginnings in the Years 1950, was choked little by little to be replaced by Pop Music sirupeuse and not very original, which practices Elvis Presley itself. But with the beginning of the year 1960, of young European musicians such as the Beatles integrate this heritage into their music and try to make it evolve/move. With a small knack on behalf of the Blues…

The explosion of the Blues

Indeed, about 1962 - 1963 start to appear the first discs of young impassioned musicians who, after having listened to carefully all the discs available in importation, decide to give their own version of the Blues. The low costs of the musical instruments and the rise of the standard of living in the Western countries in this time of the Glorious Thirty facilitate this movement. Moreover, the Blues, with its immutable musical structure, constitutes an ideal base for young musicians in training, and its universe of sex and violence hidden behind of the metaphors which make it available to the only initiates, is deeply attracting for wearied young people of very strict social conventions inherited the the Fifties.

Some of these musicians are true ayatollas Blues, not tolerating any variation compared to the tradition: it is the case of Brian Jones, young English virtuoso who founded his own group of Blues, with the name inspired of a song of Muddy Waters: the Rolling Stones. Others, as The Yardbirds, take more freedom. But the Blues is in the center of their music to all. At that time, the Blues is still a business of scholars, and to play about it no chance has to bring celebrity or money. But the things will change…

Indeed, as of the first discs of the Rolling Stones, the mixture Rock'n'roll - Rhythm and Blues - Blues takes near the public, which in redemande, attracted by this exotic and sexual music. With the hands of musicians like Eric Clapton, the Blues deviend the ideal base to create a new music, at the same time anchored in the tradition and round towards the future. A all the more dynamic movement as it is made with the support of the legendary musicians of emerged Blues of the past, like John Lee Hooker or Muddy Waters, which vegetated sometimes in a forced retirement (some are become again farmers or workmen!) and are invited to play in Europe in front of boosted audiences. John Lee Hooker will thus tell many years later the surprise which it, persuaded that these white had made it come to make fun of the poor scorned black which he was… A surprise shared by Mick Jagger which will declare later: " it was as if one had been their children, of the white children! "

Consequences

British Blues Boom will have had major consequences on the popular music of the XXe century, from now on deeply anchored in the tradition of the Blues. Almost all the great groups of the the Sixties and 70 started by playing of the Blues, and some, like Cream or Led Zeppelin, pushed the style until in its ultimate cuttings off. While being used as a basis for the musical experiments most insane until today, the Blues played a big role in the Cultural revolutions, social and, to a lesser extent, policies, of 2nd half of the XXe century in the Western countries. And this influence continues: many pieces of Hip-Hop for example are based on rhythmic and literary bases Blues.

British Blues Boom also played a part in the emancipation of the blacks in the United States in the years 1960. While bringing back on the front of the scene of the black artists, by making known them with white many people and by supporting the exchanges between musicians of different skin colors, the Blues contributed to cut down the barriers between white and blacks, as the presence testifies some to white artists, of which Bob Dylan, with walk for the civic rights of 1963, where Martin Luther King made a speech of anthology. So some of these barriers remain set up today, the explosion of the Blues in the Sixties nevertheless contributed to make them waver.

Representative artists

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See too

British Blues

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