Christine has an M.A. in American Studies, the study of American history/society/culture. She is an instructional designer, educator, and writer.
Imagine you're a teenager living in the United States in 1969. As you look around a music store for a new album, there are several major acts from recent years that catch your eye. This lesson explores what each had to offer the world of rock and why a teen like you might be drawn to listen to these greats.
Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
-''Blackbird,'' The Beatles
Since we're imaging the year 1969, we wouldn't know that the Beatles are in their last year as a group, about to break up the following year. Yet their legacy is one that will last into the future, influencing just about every rock group to come after them.
Formed in the late 1950s in Liverpool, England, the Beatles were a young group full of energy and personality that kicked off a movement known as the British Invasion. By 1964, they did the unthinkable on Billboard's Top 40: All five of the top spots were Beatles songs. For comparison, imagine a star of today like Katy Perry holding all five top spots at once! Their record is one that hasn't yet been broken.
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Although some albums are considered more closely related to pop music due to their mass appeal, other Beatles' songs like ''Helter Skelter'' take on the harder edge you might expect from heavy metal bands. They also broke major barriers with albums like Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band with creative sounds and lyrics that felt completely new and mind-blowing to the music world. As a teen deciding on an album to buy, this one would be hard to beat.
When I'm drivin' in my car
And a man comes on the radio
And he's tellin' me more and more
About some useless information
Supposed to drive my imagination
-''(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction,'' The Rolling Stones
Formed in 1962 in London, England, this band was appropriately named after a blues song by the great Muddy Waters called ''Rollin' Stone.''
As a teen in the late 1960s, you would be familiar with the similarities and differences between the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Both were inspired by the blues of the United States, music that mainly originated in the African American experience of the southern states.
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The Rolling Stones sent shockwaves into America with each album's arrival. Their initial focus on covering blues songs became their own sound, captured in original songs like ''You Can't Always Get What You Want'' and ''Jumpin' Jack Flash.''
Ultimately, the Rolling Stones would prove to have unmatched longevity, still touring in 2015 after only some breaks during their career as a group.
Purple haze, all in my brain
Lately things they don't seem the same
Actin' funny, but I don't know why
'Scuse me while I kiss the sky
- ''Purple Haze,'' Jimi Hendrix
An American guitarist and songwriter who paired up with British musicians Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell in 1966, Jimi Hendrix is known for his completely unique sound and beyond-impressive guitar talent. He's also credited with establishing a hard rock sound that stole the attention of many rock fans. As you consider albums in the music store, you recognize three major albums, Are You Experienced, Axis: Bold As Love, and Electric Ladyland.
Like the Rolling Stones and many other rock groups of the time, Hendrix came from a rhythm and blues tradition that he turned into something completely new. Accompanied by drums and bass, Hendrix performed vocals and guitar in a demanding whirlwind of a career. His psychedelic sounds captured the spirit of the times, including experimentation with altered states of consciousness.
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The group toured heavily, including a reported 63 shows in 66 days in 1968, a pace that's hard to imagine. Ultimately Hendrix would not live past age 27. With songs like ''Purple Haze,'' ''Foxy Lady,'' and ''Fire,'' he is remembered as one of the most important early major contributors to rock.
In the days of my youth, I was told what it means to be a man,
Now I've reached that age, I've tried to do all those things the best I can.
No matter how I try, I find my way into the same old jam.
-''Good Times Bad Times,'' Led Zeppelin
If you were browsing music in 1969, Led Zeppelin's very first album would have just hit the shelves. Bassist John Paul Jones is quoted as saying, ''The very thing Zeppelin was about was that there were absolutely no limits…We all had ideas, and we'd use everything we came across, whether it was folk, country music, blues, Indian, Arabic.'' This sense of traveling the globe comes across in their music and was combined with a harder sound than most groups of the 1960s.
If you listen to radio today, you'll still find their 1971 masterpiece ''Stairway to Heaven'' frequently gracing the airwaves. The original 8-minute version may not always be played in full, but you'll have a taste of what made this band great when you listen to this song, which becomes a journey in itself.
In the 1960s, British Invasion groups emerged from American blues roots to bring new sounds to rock. The Beatles achieved incredibly universal success with a pop sound that could also be anything-but-pop-sounding at times. Legacies like that of Jimi Hendrix live on through iconic songs that can still feel ground-breaking when heard today, including a psychedelic, experimental sound.
Led Zeppelin would carry on into the 1970s where other acts had left off in the 60s, bridging the two decades as a newer group. While only some 1960s rock acts have persisted through time, those like the Rolling Stones have created music that has spanned generations.
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