Glam Rock

Glam rock (also known as glitter rock), is a sub-genre of rock music that developed in the UK in the post-hippie early 1970s which was "performed by singers and musicians wearing outrageous clothes, makeup, hairstyles, and platform-soled boots." The flamboyant lyrics, costumes, and visual styles of glam performers were a campy, theatrical blend of nostalgic references to science fiction and old movies, all over a guitar-driven hard rock sound.

Largely a British phenomenon, glam rock peaked during the mid 1970s. The most famous exponents of the movement were Marc Bolan and T.Rex, Gary Glitter, and Slade. Other influential performers include David Bowie, Alice Cooper, Sweet, Wizzard, Roxy Music, Mud, Mott the Hoople, The Glitter Band, The New York Dolls, The Tubes and Suzi Quatro.

More: Glam rock

Disco

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disco

Disco is a genre of dance-oriented music whose origins are hard to define.
In what is considered a forerunner to disco style clubs in February 1970 New York City DJ David Mancuso opened The Loft, a members-only private dance club set in his own home.
Most agree that the first disco songs were released in 1973, though some claim Manu Dibango's 1972 Soul Makossa to be the first disco record.
The first article about disco was written in September 1973 by Vince Aletti for Rolling Stone Magazine.
In 1974 New York City's WPIX-FM premiered the first disco radio show.

Musical influences include funk, soul music, and salsa and the Latin or Hispanic musics which influenced salsa. The disco sound has a soaring, often reverberated vocals over a steady "four-on-the-floor" beat, an eighth note (quaver) or sixteenth note (semi-quaver) hi-hat pattern with an open hi-hat on the off-beat, and prominent, syncopated electric bass line. Strings, horns, electric pianos, and electric guitars create a lush background sound. Orchestral instruments such as the flute are often used for solo melodies, and unlike in rock, lead guitar is rarely used.

Well-known late 1970s disco performers included Bee Gees, Donna Summer and The Jacksons. Summer would become the first well-known and most popular female disco artist, and also played a part in pioneering the electronic sound that later became a part of disco.
While performers and singers garnered the lion's share of public attention, the behind-the-scenes producers played an equal, if not more important role in disco, since they often wrote the songs and created the innovative sounds and production techniques that were part of the "disco sound".

Disco was very important in the development of Hip hop music (especially the subgenres of crunk, snap, and hyphy), British New Wave, and disco's direct descendants: the 1980s and 1990s dance music genres of house music and its harder-driving offshoot, techno.

(Wikipedia)

Rock and Roll

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_n_roll

Rock and roll (also known as rock 'n' roll) is a form of music that evolved in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, and quickly spread to the rest of the world.

Classic rock and roll is played with one or two electric guitars (one lead, one rhythm), a string bass or (after the mid-1950s) an electric bass guitar, and a drum kit. In the earliest rock and roll styles of the late 1940s and early 1950s, either the piano or saxophone was often the lead instrument, but these were generally replaced or supplemented by guitar in the middle to late 1950s. The beat is essentially a boogie woogie blues rhythm with an accentuated backbeat, the latter almost always provided by a snare drum.

The massive popularity and eventual worldwide view of rock and roll gave it an unprecedented social impact. Far beyond simply a musical style, rock and roll, as seen in movies and in the new medium of television, influenced lifestyles, fashion, attitudes, and language. It went on to spawn various sub-genres, often without the characteristic backbeat, that are more properly called simply 'rock music'.

Doo-Wop

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doo_wop

Doo-wop is a style of vocal-based rhythm and blues music, which was started in the black community and became popular in the 1950s to the early 1960s.

Philadelphia Soul

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philly_soul

Philadelphia (or Philly) soul, sometimes called the Philadelphia Sound or Sweet Philly, is a style of soul music characterized by funk influences and lush instrumental arrangements, often featuring sweeping strings and piercing horns. The subtle sound of a glockenspiel can often be heard in the background of philly soul songs. The genre laid the groundwork for what are now considered Adult contemporary and smooth jazz by fusing the R & B rhythm sections of the 1960s with the Pop Vocal tradition, and featuring a slightly more pronounced Jazz influence in its melodic structures and arrangements.

Notable Philadelphia soul artists include:
The Delfonics
The Intruders
Patti LaBelle
Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes
MFSB
The O'Jays
Billy Paul
Teddy Pendergrass
The Spinners
The Stylistics
The Three Degrees
The Trammps
Blue Magic
The Soul Survivors
Dexter Wansel
Gamble and Huff - Notable Songwriters and Producers
Thom Bell - Notable Songwriter and Producer
Daryl Hall & John Oates
The Ethics
Jerry Butler - Some Notable Songs with Gamble and Huff
Charles M. Mann - Singer/Songwriter

(Wikipedia)

Gospel

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_music

Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as (in terms of the varying music styles) to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music.

Like other forms of Christian music the creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of Gospel music varies according to culture and social context. Gospel music is composed and performed for many purposes, including aesthetic pleasure, religious or ceremonial purposes, and as an entertainment product for the marketplace. However, a common theme of most Gospel music is praise, worship or thanks to God, Christ, or the Holy Spirit.

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Country

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Country_music

Country music is a blend of popular musical forms originally found in the Southern United States and the Appalachian Mountains. It has roots in traditional folk music, Celtic music, blues, gospel music, hokum, and old-time music and evolved rapidly in the 1920s. The term country music began to be used in the 1940s when the earlier term hillbilly music was deemed to be degrading, and the term was widely embraced in the 1970s, while country and western has declined in use since that time, except in the United Kingdom and Ireland, where it is still commonly used.

Immigrants to the Southern Appalachian Mountains of North America brought the music and instruments of the Old World along with them for nearly 300 years. The Irish fiddle, the German derived dulcimer, the Italian mandolin, the Spanish guitar, and the African banjo were the most common musical instruments. The interactions among musicians from different ethnic groups produced music unique to this region of North America. Appalachian string bands of the early twentieth century primarliy consisted of the fiddle, guitar, and banjo. This early country music along with early recorded country music is often referred to as Old-time music.

Throughout the nineteenth century, several immigrant groups from Europe, most notably from Ireland, The United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, and Italy moved to Texas. These groups interacted with the Spanish, Mexican, Native American, and U.S. communities that were already established in Texas. As a result of this cohabitation and extended contact, Texas has developed unique cultural traits that are rooted in the culture of all of its founding communities. The settlers from the areas now known as Germany and the Czech Republic established large dance halls in Texas where farmers and townspeople from neighboring communities could gather, dance, and spend a night enjoying each other’s company. The music at these halls, brought from Europe, included the waltz and the polka, played on an accordion, an instrument invented in Italy, which was loud enough to fill the entire dance hall.

While album sales of most musical genres have declined, country music experienced one of its best years in 2006, when, during the first six months of the year, U.S. sales of country albums increased by 17.7 percent to 36 million. Moreover, country music listening nationwide has remained steady for almost a decade, reaching 77.3 million adults every week according to the radio-ratings agency Arbitron Inc.
The term "country music" is used to describe many styles, genres, or subgenres.

(Wikipedia)

Blues/The Blues

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blues

The blues is a vocal and instrumental form of music based on the use of the blue notes. It emerged in African-American communities of the United States from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads. The use of blue notes and the prominence of call-and-response patterns in the music and lyrics are indicative of African influence. The blues influenced later American and Western popular music, as it became the roots of jazz, rhythm and blues, and bluegrass. In the 1960s and 1970s, a hybrid form called blues rock developed from the combining of blues with various rock and roll forms.

The phrase "the blues" is a reference to the the blue devils, meaning "down" spirits, melancholy, and sadness. An early reference to "the blues" can be found in George Colman's one act farce Blue devils (1798). Later during the 19th century, the phrase was used as a euphemism for delirium tremens and the police, and it has been found used in these contexts in letters from Civil War soldiers.[citation needed]
Though the use of the phrase in African American music may be older, it has been attested to since 1912, when Hart Wand's "Dallas Blues" became the first copyrighted Blues composition. In lyrics the phrase is often used to describe a depressed mood.

(Wikipedia)

Funk

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funk

Funk is an American musical style that originated in the mid- to late-1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, soul jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony, and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground. Unlike R&B and soul songs, which had many chord changes, funk songs are often based on an extended vamp on a single chord.

Like much of African inspired music, funk typically consists of a complex groove with rhythm instruments such as electric guitar, electric bass, Hammond organ, and drums playing interlocking rhythms. Funk bands also usually have a horn section of several saxophones, trumpets, and in some cases, a trombone, which plays rhythmic "hits".

Influential African American funk performers include James Brown, Sly and the Family Stone, George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic, Curtis Mayfield, The Meters, The Funk Brothers, Bootsy Collins, and Prince. Notable 1970s funk bands included Earth, Wind & Fire, Tower of Power, Average White Band, The Ohio Players, The Commodores, and Kool & the Gang though many of these most famous bands in the genre also played disco and soul extensively. Funk music was a major influence on the development of 1970s disco music and funk samples are used in most styles of house music and hip hop music, and it's also the main influence of Go-Go. Funk even left its mark on New Wave, and its pulse was evident in post punk as well.

(Wikipedia)

Pop

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop_music

Pop music is music charted by the number or sales, plays, etc., that the work receives. It is not a particular genre or style of music, but simply that which is the most popular for the tracked period of time[citation needed]. Most commercial music of any genre is composed with deliberate intent to appeal to the majority of its contemporaries, but, unless extremely popular in its own genre, it must appeal to a wider audience to appear on the pop charts.

In opposition to music that may require education or formation to fully appreciate, a defining characteristic of pop music is that anyone is able to enjoy it. Artistic concepts such as musical form and aesthetics are not a concern in the writing of pop songs, the primary objectives being audience enjoyment and commercial success.

Although pop music is produced with a desire to sell records and do well in the charts, it does not necessitate wide acclaim or commercial success: there are bad or failed pop songs.

Initially the term was an abbreviation of, and synonymous with, popular music, but evolved around the 1950s to describe a specific musical category.

Soul

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soul_%28genre%29

Soul music is a music genre that combines rhythm and blues and gospel music, originating in the United States . According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of funky, secular testifying." The performance is very emotional, and the melody is decorated with improvisational additions, twirls and auxiliary sounds. Catchy rhythms, stressed by handclaps and plastic body moves, are an important feature. Other characteristics are a call and response between the soloist and the chorus, and an especially tense vocal sound.

The Soul Music Map
http://www.history-of-rock.com/soul_music.htm

Rhythm & Blues/R&B

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhythm_%26_Blues

Rhythm and blues (also known as R&B or RnB) is a popular music genre combining jazz, gospel, and blues influences, first performed by African American artists. It is now[citation needed] performed worldwide by people of many cultures and ethnic groups.

Writer/producer Robert Palmer defined "rhythm & blues as a catchall term referring to any music that was made by and for black Americans."
Lawrence Cohn, author of Nothing but the Blues, writes that rhythm and blues was an umbrella term invented for industry convenience. According to him, the term embraced all black music except classical music and religious music, unless a gospel song sold enough to break into the charts.

In 1948, the term rhythm and blues was coined as a musical marketing term in the United States by Jerry Wexler of Billboard magazine. It replaced the term race music, which originally came from within the black community, but was deemed offensive in the postwar world.

(Wikipedia)