bayoubill
aka Sheik Yerbouti...
- Thread starter
- #21
The Kinks are vastly underrated.
They virtually invented the power chord. How many rock and heavy metal bands don't play power chords today? zero? or maybe... zero?
History of the Power Chord........
There is disagreement over which was the first record to feature power chords. Link Wray is commonly cited as having introduced power chords with his 1958 instrumental hit "Rumble". Wray used a pencil to punch holes into the loudspeaker of his amplifier in order to replicate a distortion effect first improvised at a show in Fredericksburg, Virginia.Wray pioneered electric guitar distortions, like overdrive and fuzz, and was the first guitarist to use power chords to play a song's melody.
However, power chords can also be found in earlier, less commercially successful recordings. Robert Palmer has argued that blues guitarists Willie Johnson and Pat Hare, both of whom played for Sun Records in the early 1950s, were the true originators of the power chord, citing as evidence Johnson's playing on Howlin' Wolf's "How Many More Years" (recorded 1951) and Hare's playing on James Cotton's "Cotton Crop Blues" (recorded 1954).
A later hit song built around power chords was "You Really Got Me" by the Kinks, released in 1964. This song clearly demonstrates the fast power chord changes that would become typical of heavy rock riffs:
Early heavy rock bands such as Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple also helped to popularize power chords. Examples include Deep Purple's "Smoke On The Water" while examples from other genres in the 80s include the Cars' "You Might Think". In these genres rather then being emphasized through distortion the "austerity" of a power chord may be emphasized, "by muting the strings and plucking the chord repeatedly."
Pete Townshend, having been influenced by Link Wray, is often credited for introducing the term and the power chord in general and is an avid user of them. "My Generation", live versions of "I Can't Explain", and "Baba O'Riley" are good examples of the sound produced.
lol... did somebody mention "Rumble"...?
here's the song done right ... Brownsville Station...
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4eRO_Z86RI]Rumble Brownsville Station - YouTube[/ame]