A History of Rock in 15 Minutes

March 8, 2016 11:03 PM

What it says on the tin: 348 rockstars, 84 guitarists, 64 songs, 44 drummers, 1 mashup. [SLVimeo]
posted by MoonOrb (23 comments total)

Wow, too bad that the only woman who has ever existed in rock is Meg White.

Seriously, this is an amazing mashup and the way it's produced is really cool, but that only increases my sense of white hot rage at the complete dismissal of almost every single woman who has had anything to do with rock music.
posted by lunasol at 11:17 PM on March 8, 2016 [21 favorites]

And on International Women's Day!!
posted by lunasol at 11:18 PM on March 8, 2016 [3 favorites]

...so mostly the history of white dudes who played rock in England and Her Colonies up until about the year 2000...

Pretty good mashup though. Makes me want to listen to more Black Sabbath
posted by Doleful Creature at 11:28 PM on March 8, 2016 [1 favorite]

My thoughts exactly. The women get relegated to the comments sections as fans - Patti Smith, Stevie Nicks, Ann Wilson. I did laugh out loud, though, at Stevie Nicks "liking" Peter Green's "Oh Well" in early Fleetwood Mac.
posted by mountainpeak at 11:31 PM on March 8, 2016 [5 favorites]

I agree with the above comments, it is very well done but where on earth are the women?
And it is very white.
Also, an awful lot of tepidness in the choice of songs and some bands, where are the great proto punk and indie punk bands like The MC5, the Stooges, etc and I could go on and on but that is all.

Not sure 'History of Rock' is the best choice of titles here.
posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 11:50 PM on March 8, 2016 [2 favorites]

"History of Cock"
posted by the quidnunc kid at 12:08 AM on March 9, 2016 [7 favorites]

Hit "Back" when I realized that was going to be presented in the form of a series of social media posts. I have enough social media posts in my life.
posted by humboldt32 at 1:14 AM on March 9, 2016 [1 favorite]

Meet Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the black woman who invented that rock and roll sound. (just one of many, many articles asserting her importance; the Gibson guitar site says, "nearly everything Rosetta accomplished as a musician seems ahead of its time—sometimes not by years, but by decades," and "but of course Elvis emerged in a world that venerated the achievements of white men above all others, while Rosetta was neither white nor male.")

In the fusion.net article, where it says "Just watch her go here, at the beginning of the documentary about her life," the video has been removed. You can see it here. Strike that, you MUST SEE it. wowzer.

Still not in the the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Earlier mefi post from nebulawindphone here.
posted by taz at 2:46 AM on March 9, 2016 [21 favorites]

So not really a history of rock, more a HIStory of rock. It's more what songs are going to fit into what other songs as a mashup and then retrofit some social media posts around it. As a mashup, it's quite well done, although also a good example of "less is probably more". And seriously - Journey? Journey?
posted by awfurby at 3:01 AM on March 9, 2016 [2 favorites]

I wasn't going to watch this, but then I decided I wanted to snark about Pink Floyd, so I had to earn it. I fucking hate Pink Floyd. Turgid bullshit and they're on the radio every goddamn time hit the scan button. Plus Another Goddamn Brick in the Motherfucking Wall was the Billboard #1 on the day I was born.

Don't care much for the Doors, either. Similar complaint.

Don't get me started on the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

You can see it here . Strike that, you MUST SEE it. wowzer.

Holy hell, thanks taz!
posted by uncleozzy at 4:50 AM on March 9, 2016 [1 favorite]

taz: "Strike that, you MUST SEE it. wowzer."

That is amazing. She is amazing. I had never heard of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, but now I am listening to Up Above My Head and goddamn but that's amazing.
posted by chavenet at 6:08 AM on March 9, 2016

The video seems to be more about making music by sampling. Lots of repetitive rhythm, and identical repeats of the same phrases. The original tracks were made by real drummers and guitarists playing actual instruments.

I always liked how good rock drummers had interesting variations in their playing, instead of mechanically repeating the exact same thing.
posted by jjj606 at 6:53 AM on March 9, 2016 [1 favorite]

@lunasol, I was watching this BBC documentary the other day. Does it help? :)
posted by sukeban at 7:43 AM on March 9, 2016 [3 favorites]

The video seems to be more about making music by sampling. Lots of repetitive rhythm, and identical repeats of the same phrases. The original tracks were made by real drummers and guitarists playing actual instruments.

I always liked how good rock drummers had interesting variations in their playing, instead of mechanically repeating the exact same thing.

I guess it's my privilege showing but I wish this thread could have been more about this particular culture-crime.
posted by philip-random at 9:54 AM on March 9, 2016

The pretend social media thing is a pretty cool way to show how one artist influenced another but the choice of artists suggests an incomplete musical education.

In addition to Sister Rosetta, I would offer two words:

Chuck Motherfucking Berry
posted by wabbittwax at 10:40 AM on March 9, 2016 [2 favorites]

Given the prominence the video gives to Zeppelin, it is silent on where, you know, Zeppelin lifted their stuff from. And I say that as a fan. You can't talk about "Whole Lotta Love" without talking about Willie Dixon and Muddy Waters.

chavenet: you might also be interested in Beverly Watkins (he says as he shamelessly links to his own post).
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 11:43 AM on March 9, 2016

it is silent on where, you know, Zeppelin lifted their stuff from. And I say that as a fan.

also, Janis Joplin, who clearly taught Robert Plant not so much how to sing the blues as how to howl them through the amplified din.
posted by philip-random at 11:54 AM on March 9, 2016 [1 favorite]

Hmmm, okay. On a Usenet rock group quite some years ago, after a long discussion, we decided that the first teenage songwriter to pen a song that made the US top-40 ... ever ... was Sharon Sheeley.

Sharon, born in 1940, was in the car that boyfriend Eddie Cochran died in. She wrote the song Poor Little Fool when she was 15. And went on to co-write many more hits.

Yeah, there were hundreds of teens performing songs. But up until that song (sung by Ricky Nelson) became the first #1 on the new Hot 100 chart, nearly all the rock'n'roll hits were written by adults for the lucrative ... and closely managed ... 'Teen Market'. And it mostly stayed that way for many more years. Sharon's hit came seven years before Janis Ian's Society's Child was recorded.
posted by Twang at 1:10 PM on March 9, 2016 [2 favorites]

Well, I thought it was awesome. I liked the FB comments, shares, and likes, I liked the mashup, the songs, the bands, everything. Thanks for sharing.
posted by Cobalt at 4:17 PM on March 9, 2016

Very cool, hugely impressive effort - doomed on MeFi however to the overreaching "History of Rock" title.
posted by modernnomad at 6:17 PM on March 9, 2016

Nicely done, but it does sort of have the feel of an old K-Tel commercial.
posted by Aversion Therapy at 7:59 PM on March 9, 2016

I enjoyed the shit out of this, but I'm old, male, and caucasian.

I hate Facebook, though, so there's that.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 2:53 PM on March 10, 2016

I'll admit gladly that the idea of a FB timeline or whatever it's called to chart influence, with 'likes' and comments, was super clever.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 2:54 PM on March 10, 2016