Blues rock : Back to the roots

Hey there !

Today we meet for a recognizable and inevitable genre!

I’ll get you in the mood.

Imagine: you go into a club, the lights are dimmed, there’s a pool table in one corner, people are sitting at tables drinking their whiskies, we’re going to avoid the cigarette smoke because it’s disgusting and smells so bad 😂 and in another corner of the room, there is this little scene with a guitarist/singer who plays this beautiful and plaintive melody.

Got it ? We’re obviously going to talk about Blues Rock !

Let’s go !

DISCLAIMER: This post is based on some of my knowledge and is backed up and supplemented by research done before its writing. You can find the sources at the bottom of the page.

Note: Bands/ artists I quote in the posts, I only mention them to give you an idea of the sounds you find in the different genres. But I want to be clear that over time it has become more and more complicated to do it with style blends and so on.
In addition, my goal is not to categorize artists, but to present them to you so that you discover the different possibilities that there are in rock and metal. And even make you enjoy those genres.

WHAT IS BLUES ROCK ?

Blues rock, if you don’t already know what it is (let’s be honest, you don’t have to be Sherlock), it’s a very marked mix between rock and blues.

Although these two are intrinsically linked (yes, sometimes I manage to put more complex words in my posts 😁), it became a genre only at the end of the 60s!

BLUES ROCK ORIGINS

Blues Rock, as explained above, is the mix of blues and rock n’ roll (which itself is already influenced by the blues. If you want to know more about it, you can find the history of rock n’ roll creation and origins right here and there!)

So, you could say that the basis of Blues Rock was already present at the beginning of the appearance of Rock n’ Roll with Elvis or Chuck Berry.

Then the British Invasion took place, and with it the development of this genre. It must be said that the majority of these groups were influenced by the blues:

Many artists have been involved with Alexis Korner and his band the Blues Incorporated. We can name in future members of bands such as Pentangle, Free, Cream, Led Zeppelin, or The Rolling Stones

With the success of the Rolling Stones, a whole stream of such bands will be brought to light. Among others:
- the Bluesbreakers (created by John Mayall and where you can find Eric Clapton, Mick Fleetwood, and John McVie – Fleetwood Mac if ever for the last two),
- the Yardbirds (or you can find Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck or Jimmy Page)
- the Animals (House of The Rising Sun it means something to you? Well, the most famous version is them!)

It’s with all those beautiful people that will «really» start the genre.

BLUES ROCK CHARACTERISTICS

Music and instrumentation

We keep the 12-bar base and the three-chord grid of the blues, the guitars play riffs and we leave a strong place for improvisation (for example: solos). We also turn the sound up (mainly using electric guitar) and use distortion.

Singing

We use clean vocals with the growling of the blues (which is not the same as that of metal at all – which, in the theory, is not called growl but nevermind, I digress). It is a kind of rolling part of the throat that produces a rolled sound (as if one were in pain). This is also called epiglottic distortion in the singing jargon.

If you want to know more about singing in rock and metal, it’s here!

Lyrics

The themes covered are the same as blues: society’s problems, love and its problems, spirituality also at times. Everything that can be found in a blues song, is found in a blues rock song.

BLUES ROCK BANDS / ARTISTS

We can mention : The Rolling Stones, The Bluesbreakers, The Yardbirds, The Animals, Free, Cream, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, The Allman Brothers Band, Bad Company, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Janis Joplin, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Gov’t Mule, Santana, The Black Keys, The White Stripes, Joe Bonamassa, Canned Heat, Rival Sons, Beth Hart, Robin Trower, John Mayer, Gary Clark Jr., 4 Non Blondes, Aerosmith, Lynyrd Skynyrd, ZZ Top, between so many others.

Caricature Jimi Hendrix, blues rock — ZZ Top’

Caricature Janis Joplin, blues rock — ZZ Top’

EVOLUTION

Blues Rock has had a colossal impact on ALL genres. Whether it’s the current pop, rock, hard rock or heavy metal (yes, because without hard rock and all that stuff, metal would not exist as it is today). Each style has borrowed something from the latter.