Music of the United Kingdom

Broadside ballads

Broadside ballads[?] were a form of popular music from the 16th century to the early 20th century England. They were purchases on streetcorners for a small amount and performed at home and at fairs and other gatherings.

Northumbrian folk

Northumbria, at the northern edge of England, bordering on Scotland across the Tweed River[?], is characterized by the use of Northumbrian smallpipes[?] as well as a strong Scottish and Celtic influence. Northumbrian pipes are small and elbow-driven and the music is traditionally very swift and rhythmic. Northumbrian pipe music has seen a recent revival due to the touring of artists like Kathryn Tickell[?]. Another distinct form of Northumbrian pipe is called the "half-long" or "border" pipe. Northumbria is also known for its long history of border ballads[?], such as "The Ballad of Chevy Chase[?]" and dances, including social ones like the Elsdon Reel[?] and others, like rapper dancing[?] and Northumbrian clog dancing[?], more typically seen in concert halls.

Sea shanties

Sea shanties[?] are a form of work song[?] traditionally sung by sailors working on the rigging of ships. There are three types, divided based on the type of work they set the rhythmic base for.

• short haul shanties: for quicks pulls over a short time
• capstan shanties: for repetitive, longer tasks that require a sustained rhythm
• halyard shanties: for heavier work that require more time between pulls to set up

British rock Rock and roll is form of music that developed among African-Americans during the 1940s and 1950s. While rock music and its country-influenced cousin, rockabilly, topped the American charts, a group of blues musicians started to become very popular in the United Kingdom in the late 1950s and early 1960s. British blues soon became a distinct genre, while rock, rockabilly and other forms of popular music mixed, resulting teen crazes like mod and merseybeat.

By the mid-1960s, British rock dominated charts over much of the world; this was known as the British Invasion. The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, The Yardbirds, The Animals and other artists played a form of pop rock, with some grit and swagger. After the disintegration of one of the grittiest, The Yardbirds, a group called Led Zeppelin formed. Led Zeppelin, along with contemporaries like Black Sabbath and American bands like The Velvet Underground and Blue Cheer, invented heavy metal music. By the end of the 1960s, British psychedelia was reaching its peak of influence with dark bands like The Doors and glam rock artists like David Bowie and Mott the Hoople and splitting into more experimental directions, such as in the Canterbury Scene and the further evolution and popularization of progressive rock bands like King Crimson, Procol Harum, Genesis and The Moody Blues.

In the 1970s, music from the United Kingdom further diversified. Heavy metal music grew into hair metal in the United States, and other American metal bands like Blue Oyster Cult, Aerosmith and KISS helped move the UK from the forefront of the metal world. A late-1970s influx of British metal bands, the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, helped change this, especially bands like Judas Priest. At the same time, disco grew to prominence world-wide and a brief fad for Jamaican lovers rock also sold well in the UK. The mid- to late 1970s saw the rise of punk rock in the UK and US. Bands like The Clash and the Sex Pistols became very controversial, attacking institutions and authorities and using a quick, simple rhythm alongside humorous, immature, nihilist or thought-provoking lyrics.

In the early 1980s, the death of Sid Vicious (of the Sex Pistols) and the alleged selling-out of bands like The Clash and The Jam led to still-frequent cries that punk is dead[?]. Hardcore punk diversified into Gothic rock, including Siouxsie & the Banshees and The Cure, and New Wave bands like Adam & the Ants. The rebellious punk esthetic was adopted by a group of independent record labels[?] and bands playing distinct and uncompromising alternative rock arose. By the end of the 80s, alternative rock in the United Kingdom had split into multiple genres, including dream pop, twee pop, shoegazing and space rock.

In the early 1990s, American alternative rock bands became mainstream in the US and achieved great popularity in the UK as well. Grunge bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam helped inspire the British alternative rock scene. By the middle of the decade, the British charts were dominated by Britrock, a melding of British rock and roll forms from the last thirty years. Bands like Blur, Suede and Oasis helped lead this charge. In addition, electronica, techno and other forms of dance music topped the charts in the middle of the decade, especially artists like The Chemical Brothers, The Prodigy and Paul Oakenfold. These forms combined and mutated into dozens of subgenres, including various combinations of drum and bass, jungle, trance, house and trip hop. Later in the 90s and into the next millennium, melodic British rock groups like Radiohead and Coldplay achieved great critical and commercial success.

External links

• Official County of Northumbria music resources site (http://www.northumberland.gov.uk/VG/music)
• some traditional sea shanties (http://www.rendance.org/shanty/)