Band (rock and pop)
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A rock band or pop band is a small musical ensemble that performs rock music, pop music, or a related genre. A four-piece band is the most common configuration in rock and pop music. In the early years, the configuration was typically two guitarists (a lead guitarist and a rhythm guitarist, with one of them singing lead vocals), a bassist, and a drummer (e.g. the Beatles and KISS). Another common formation is a vocalist who does not play an instrument, electric guitarist, bass guitarist, and a drummer (e.g. the Who, the Monkees, Led Zeppelin and U2). Instrumentally, these bands can be considered as trios. Sometimes, in addition to electric guitars, electric bass, and drums, also a keyboardist (especially a pianist) plays.
Additionally, rock and pop bands can also include boy bands or girl bands, which many times have bands where the members do not play any instruments but sing and dance instead. Such is the case of Menudo, the Spice Girls and K-pop bands, for example.
Etymology
The usage of band as "group of musicians" originated from 1659 to describe musicians attached to a regiment of the army and playing instruments which may be used while marching.[1] This word also used in 1931 to describe "one man band" for people who plays several musical instruments simultaneously.[1]
Two members
Two-member rock and pop bands (such as
Other examples of two-member bands are
When electronic
Starting in the 2000s, blues-influenced rock bands such as the White Stripes and the Black Keys used a guitar-and-drums scheme. Death from Above 1979 featured a drummer and bass guitarist. Tenacious D is a two-guitar band; One Day as a Lion and the Dresden Dolls both feature a keyboardist and a drummer. Ratatat comprises a two-guitar band that uses a drum machine for beats. W.A.S.P. guitarist Doug Blair is also known for his work in the two-piece progressive rock band Signal2Noise, where he acts as the lead guitarist and bassist at the same time, due to a special custom instrument he invented (an electric guitar with five regular guitar strings paired with three bass guitar strings). Heisenflei of Los Angeles duo the Pity Party plays drums, keyboards, and sings simultaneously. Royal Blood and The Garden are two-piece bands that uses bass and drums along with electronic effects.[2]
Three members
The smallest ensemble commonly used in rock music is the trio format. In a hard-rock or blues-rock band, or heavy-metal rock group, a "
.A handful of others with the bassist on vocals include
Some power trios feature two lead vocalists. For example, in the band
An alternative to the power trio is an
A power trio with the guitarist on lead vocals is a popular record-company lineup, as the guitarist and singer usually are songwriters. Therefore, the label only has to present one "face" to the public. The
Four members
The four-piece band is the most common configuration in rock and pop music. Before the development of the electronic keyboard, the configuration was typically two guitarists, a bassist, and a drummer (e.g. The Beatles, KISS, Metallica, Rise Against, the Clash, and the Smashing Pumpkins).
Another common formation is a vocalist, electric guitarist, bass guitarist, and a drummer (e.g. Van Halen, the Who, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Led Zeppelin, and Blur). Instrumentally, these bands can be considered as trios.
In some bands, the guitarist could also be an occasional keyboardist, like the Who, the Smiths, and Joy Division. And some bands might have a keyboardist instead of a guitarist, like Bastille and Future Islands. In some rock bands, bassists could be occasional keyboardists like Led Zeppelin and R.E.M. Keyboardists are used in place of bass, performing with a guitarist, singer, and drummer, for instance the Doors. Some bands have a guitarist, keyboard player, bassist, and drummer, for example Talking Heads, the Small Faces, and Pink Floyd.
Some bands have the bassist on lead vocals, such as Thin Lizzy (a four-piece from 1974 onwards), Pink Floyd, Motörhead (as a four-piece 1984–1995), NOFX, Skillet, or even the lead guitarist, such as Dire Straits, Megadeth, Weezer, and Creedence Clearwater Revival. Some bands, such as the Beatles, have a lead guitarist, a rhythm guitarist, and a bassist that all sing lead and backing vocals, with those three playing and composing on keyboards regularly, as well as a drummer. Others, such as the Four Seasons, have a lead vocalist, a lead guitarist, a keyboard player, and a bassist, with the drummer not being a member of the band.
Five members
Five-piece bands have existed in rock music since the development of the genre.
Further alternatives include a keyboardist, guitarist, drummer, bassist, and saxophonist, such as
Other times, the vocalist brings another musical "voice" to the table, most commonly a harmonica or percussion;
Larger rock ensembles
Larger bands have long been a part of rock and pop music, in part due to the influence of the "singer accompanied with orchestra" model inherited from popular
In larger groups (such as the Band), instrumentalists could play multiple instruments, which enabled the ensemble to create a wider variety of instrument combinations. More modern examples of such a band are Arcade Fire and the Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. More rarely, rock or pop groups are accompanied in concerts by a full or partial symphony orchestra, where lush string-orchestra arrangements are used to flesh out the sound of slow ballads. Rhys Chatham and Glenn Branca started doing performances in the late 1970s with orchestras consisting of 10 to 100 (Branca) and even 400 guitars.[9] Some groups have a large number of members who all play the same instrument, such as guitar, keyboard, horns, or strings.
Role of women
Women have a high prominence in many popular music styles as singers. However, professional women instrumentalists are uncommon in popular music, especially in rock genres such as heavy metal. "[P]laying in a band is largely a male homosocial activity, that is, learning to play in a band is largely a peer-based... experience, shaped by existing sex-segregated friendship networks.[10] As well, rock music "...is often defined as a form of male rebellion vis-à-vis female bedroom culture."[11] In popular music, a gendered "distinction between public (male) and private (female) participation" in music has existed.[11] "[S]everal scholars have argued that men exclude women from bands or from the bands' rehearsals, recordings, performances, and other social activities."[12] "Women are mainly regarded as passive and private consumers of allegedly slick, prefabricated – hence, inferior – pop music..., excluding them from participating as high-status rock musicians."[12] One of the reasons that mixed-gender bands rarely exist is that "bands operate as tight-knit units in which homosocial solidarity – social bonds between people of the same sex... – plays a crucial role."[12] In the 1960s, pop music scene, "[s]inging was sometimes an acceptable pastime for a girl, but playing an instrument...simply wasn't done."[13]
"The rebellion of rock music was largely a male rebellion; the women—often, in the 1950s and '60s, girls in their teens—in rock usually sang songs as personæ utterly dependent on their macho boyfriends...".
Variable lineups
Many bands maintain different but consistent lineups for studio recording vs. live performances. Toxic Holocaust, for instance, consisted entirely of a single member within the recording studio for the first 10 years of their existence but still toured as a band with supplementary members on stage. For decades Genesis maintained two consistent lineups: Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins in the studio with Chester Thompson and Daryl Stuermer always additionally appearing as band members in live performances.
See also
- Side project, a band containing a person or persons already in another band
References
- ^ a b "band | Origin and meaning of band by Online Etymology Dictionary". www.etymonline.com. Archived from the original on 5 February 2023. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
- ^ a b Ippersiel, Mike. "Royal Blood Goes Beyond Drums and Bass Guitar". Bass Guitar Rocks. Retrieved 9 April 2024.
- ^ Shipley, Al (22 February 2023). "The 22 Greatest Two-Person Bands of All Time". Spin (magazine). Retrieved 9 April 2024.
- ^ Keaterley, Avery (24 September 2021). "Defining T. Rex Album Came Out The Same Year NPR Debuted Original Programming". NPR. Retrieved 9 April 2024.
- ^ "Ninja Sex Party Cool Patrol review". Sputnikmusic. 22 August 2018. Retrieved 9 April 2024.
- ^ Wasoba, Ryan (25 April 2011). "Deftones' Frank Delgado on Changing Perceptions and Chi's Current Health". Riverfront Times. Retrieved 9 April 2024.
- ^ Hutchinson, Kate (25 April 2017). "Incubus on nu-metal: 'It always made me cringe'". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 April 2024.
- ^ "Limp Bizkit". AllMusic. Retrieved 9 April 2024.
- ^ Chatham
- ^ Julian Schaap and Pauwke Berkers. "Grunting Alone? Online Gender Inequality in Extreme Metal Music" in IASPM Journal. Vol.4, no.1 (2014). p. 101–102.
- ^ a b Julian Schaap and Pauwke Berkers. "Grunting Alone? Online Gender Inequality in Extreme Metal Music" in IASPM Journal. Vol.4, no.1 (2014) p. 102
- ^ a b c Julian Schaap and Pauwke Berkers. "Grunting Alone? Online Gender Inequality in Extreme Metal Music" in IASPM Journal. Vol.4, no.1 (2014) p. 104
- ^ White, Erika (28 January 2015). "Music History Primer: 3 Pioneering Female Songwriters of the '60s | REBEAT Magazine". Rebeatmag.com. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
- ISSN 0300-7766.
- ^ S2CID 191508078. Archived from the original(PDF) on 24 May 2013. Retrieved 25 April 2012.
- ^ a b Brake, Mike (1990). "Heavy Metal Culture, Masculinity and Iconography". In Frith, Simon; Goodwin, Andrew (eds.). On Record: Rock, Pop and the Written Word. Routledge. pp. 87–91.
- ^ Walser, Robert (1993). Running with the Devil:Power, Gender and Madness in Heavy Metal Music. Wesleyan University Press. p. 76.
- ^ Eddy, Chuck (1 July 2011). "Women of Metal". Spin. SpinMedia Group.
- ^ Kelly, Kim (17 January 2013). "Queens of noise: heavy metal encourages heavy-hitting women". The Telegraph.