A History of Rock Music
a book written by Piero Scaruffi

These are texts on non-rock genres and national scenes that were not included in my book, "A History of Rock Music 1951-2000" (To purchase it, click here).

Chapter 1.1 ( Background: The 20th Century):

After the line "In 1920 Eric Satie...", insert In 1922 Laszlo Moholy-Nagy advocated the use of phonograph records to produce music, not only to reproduce it.
The sentence "Across the ocean" must be changed to: Across the ocean, John Cage was composing music for radio frequencies (1951), multi-media pieces that employed a computer (1952), and electronic collages of hundreds of random noises (1952),
Almost at the end, after "the Mark I", insert: It was just a matter of time before new genres based on electronic instruments appeared: Bruno Maderna's Musica su Due Dimensioni (1957) was the first "electroacoustic" composition, mixing traditional instruments and electronic tape, and Karlheinz Stockhausen's Mikrophonie I (1964) was the the first example of "live electronic music", which uses the electronic instrument "like" a traditional instrument (save that, obviously, the electronic instrument can play the sounds of all instruments as well as sounds that no acoustic instrument can play). A computer composed the Illiac Suite (1957), using software created by Lejaren Hiller. Last, but not least, John Cage had introduced "chance" and non-musical gestures into the compositional process. The structure of Music Of Changes (1951) was determined by coin tosses and the patterns of the "I Ching". Water Music (1952) instructs the performers to also perform non-musical gestures.

Chapter 1.2 (Rock'n'Roll):

Chapter 1.3 (Before the Flood 1957-1962):

after Hear a New World (1960), add: a genre of orchestral and sometimes electronic extravaganzas that would peak with the space-age pop muzak of Attilio Mineo's Man in Space with Sounds (1962).
In the exotica section add: Africa was also on the rise. South African composer Todd Matshikiza's musical King-Kong (1959) fused classical, jazz and African music. Nigerian hand drumming virtuoso Babatunde Olatunji shocked the USA with Drums of Passion (1959) for percussion ensemble. (He would continue to pursue his aesthetic of drumming-induced trance with the The Invocation of 1988 and the 21-minute Cosmic Rhythm Vibrations of 1993).

Chapter 1.4 (Trouble in Paradise):

Chapter 1.5 (The Flood-76)

Chapter 1.7 (Counter-culture)

After the paragraph on Basho insert: Black Brazilian guitarist Djalma "Bola Sete" DeAndrade (3), who had relocated to San Francisco in 1959, blended samba, jazz, American folk music and European classical music in the effortless improvisations of The Solo Guitar (1965), Ocean (1972), Shambhala Moon (1982).

Chapter 2.1 (Psychedelia)

After the paragraph on Parson Sound insert: Their only competitors were Italy's Le Stelle di Mario Schifano, a musical event put together by decadent-futuristi pop artist Schifano the same way Andy Warhol put together the Velvet Underground. They composed a cacophonous suite Le Ultime Parole di Brandimarte, dall'Orlando Furioso (with the instructions "to be listened with the TV on and no volume), off their only album Dedicato A (1967), one of the most experimental tracks of the time.
Brazil's Os Mutantes (1) concocted a high-volume maelstrom of dissonant guitar, musique concrete, found sounds and pop melodies on albums such as Os Mutantes (1968) and especially Mutantes (1969).
The Czech band Plastic People of the Universe was the main psychedelic act of Eastern Europe (unreleased till 1978).

Chapter 2.2 (The Age of revivals)

Chapter 2.3 (Solo careers)

Chapter 2.4 (Electronics and Rock)

Chapter 2.5 (Progressive-rock)

After Samla insert: Algarnas Tradgard (1) concocted the puzzling and oddly orchestrated suites of Framtiden Ar Ett Svavande Skepp Forankrat I Forntiden (1972), a meeting of prog-rock jamming, psychedelic freak-out and exotic chamber music.
Remove the paragraph on Finch
See the new section on Italian progressive-rock

Chapter 2.6 (Canterbury)

Chapter 2.7 (Kosmische Musik)

Chapter 2.8 (Hard-rock)

Chapter 2.9 (Avantgarde)

Chapter 3.1 (Psychedelic Madness)

See additions to the paragraph on Japanese psychedelia

Chapter 3.2 (Re-alignment )

Chapter 3.3 (Singer Songwriters)

See the new section on Brazilian singer-songwriters.
See the new section on Italian singer-songwriters.
After the Italians singer-songwriters add In the 1970s, a few singer-songwriters began experimenting with new formats. The trend yielded albums such as Kan Mikami's Bang (1974), heavy on electronics and free-jazz, and Kazuki Tomokawa's Sakura No Kuni No Chiru Naka O (1980), with a 15-minute Wagnerian tour de force.

Chapter 3.4 (Decadence

Chapter 3.5 (Sound)

After Shub-Niggurath insert: Two Swedish groups pioneered an original folk-jazz-classical fusion: Ragnarok on Ragnarok (1976), and Kebnekajse in Balladen om Bjorbar och Natmelor, off their III (1975).
Finch (1), from Holland, crafted the four lengthy instrumental jams of Glory Of The Inner Force (1975) and the two fluent melodramas of Beyond Expression (1976), A Passion Condensed and Beyond the Bizarre.
After Zazou add: He had already delivered an original prog-rock work, Traite De Mechanique Populaire (1979), as a member of ZNR.

Chapter 3.6 (Auteurs)

Chapter 3.7 (Disco-music)

The sentence "The sound of disco-music" must be rewritten as follows: The sound of disco-music began to change after (1978) Dave Smith (of Sequential Circuits) introduced the "Prophet-5", the world's first microprocessor-based musical instrument, thus ushering in the age of digital synthesizers, which replaced the voltage-controlled (analog) synthesizers. The year before Roland had introduced the first rhythm machine for the masses, and in 1978 Roland introduced the MC-4 sequencer, the first sequencer for the masses. Sequencing, drum-machines and the new synthesizers came to characterize the sound of the disco era.

Chapter 3.8 (Decadence 1969-76)

Appendix of part 3

Add the albums of Diamanda Galas, Laurie Anderson, Harold Budd

Chapter 4.1 (New Wave):

Chapter 4.2 (Punk-rock):

Chapter 4.3 (Blank Generation):

Chapter 4.5 (British Graffiti):

Chapter 4.6 ( Dance music for punks):

Chapter 4.8 ( Industrial Music):

Chapter 4.9 (Hardcore):

Chapter 4.10 (College pop):

Chapter 4.12 (Neo-progressive):

The sentence on White Heaven should be changed to: High Rise's most faithful disciples were probably Michio Kurihara's White Heaven (1), whose Out (1986) was inspired by the same demigods (Blue Cheer, Iron Butterfly, Jimi Hendrix).
See the new section on Italian hardcore
At the end, after Astley, insert: English-Indian vocalist Sheila Chandra (1) carried out the most daring experiments on the voice, particularly in the epic-length collage of Nada Brahma (1985).

Chapter 4.13 ( Minimal Rock):

Chapter 4.14 ( Psychedelic Revival):

Chapter 4.15 ( Heavy Metal):

Chapter 4.16 (Songwriters of the 1980s):

Appendix of part 4

Chapter 4.17 (Roots-rock of the 1980s):

Chapter 4.21 (Extreme Hardcore):

Chapter 4.23 (Punk Crossover):

Chapter 5.1 (Noisier than rock):

At the end after Swamp Terrorists add: Italy's Uzeda,

Chapter 5.2 ( Progressive sounds ):

Chapter 5.3 ( Post-psychedelia ):

Chapter 5.4 (Surf and garage):

Chapter 5.6 ( Lo-fi Singer-songwriters ):

Chapter 5.9 (Dance Music):

After the sentence on Jeff Mills insert DJ Assault (Craig Adams) publicized the "ghetto tech" style, influenced by hip-hop culture. Felix Da Housecat was a purveyor of old-fashioned Chicago house.
Replace "while Air Liquide..." with while Maurizio (Moritz Von Oswald) coined a dub-inflected style in Berlin. Air Liquide (10)

Chapter 5.16 (From grindcore to stoner-rock):

Chapter 5.11 (Brit-pop):

Chapter 5.12 (Alt-pop):

Chapter 5.13 (Grunge):

Chapter 5.14 (Rap):

The section on Rap of the 1990s has been greatly expanded
About DJ Krush, before Ki-Oku insert Strictly Turntablised (1994) and
After FUndanmental, insert: And Asian Dub Foundation, a London-based sound system of ethnic Indian musicians halfway between Tackhead and Clash, concocted the militant ethnic-punk-folk-dance music of Rafi's Revenge (1998).

Chapter 5.15 (Roots rock):

Chapter 5.16 (Hardcore):

Chapter 5.17 (From grindcore to stoner-rock):

After "Cradle of Filth", the last section of that paragraph becomes: The greatest black-metal band of the decade was probably from Norway, Emperor (1), whose In The Nightside Eclipse (1994) was a concentrate of violence but also a metaphysical (and symphonic) inspection in the otherworld. Among more experimental acts, Ved Buens Ende, also from Norway, wed black metal and post-rock on Written In Waters (1995).
New standard for the genre were set by Satyricon's Nemesis Divina (1996), In The Woods' Omnio (1997), Borknagar's The Archaic Course (1998), Carpathian Forest's Black Shining Leather (1998).
Burzum, the project of former Mayhem's Christian "Count Grishnackh" Vikernes, subscribed to the electronic/ambient version of dark metal on Filosofem (1996).
Black-metal bands inspired by the Scandinavian masters abounded in other countries: Poland's Graveland, with Thousand Swords (1995), Germany's Nargaroth, with Herbstleyd (1998), etc.
Ulver (1) created an "electronic black metal" with the colossal Themes From William Blake's The Marriage Of Heaven & Hell (1998) that introduced elements of techno, industrial, ambient and trip-hop music.
A new trend in black metal was orchestral/electronic arrangements: Norway's Dimmu Borgir, with Stormblast (1996), Japan's Sigh, with Hail Horror Hail (1997), Finland's And Oceans, with The Dynamic Gallery Of Thoughts (1998). Tiamat, Therion, and Amorphis pursued a neoclassical version of death metal, which preferred the sound of keyboards. Norway's Theatre of Tragedy even adopted operatic vocals. Haggard introduced symphonic arrangements.
Finland's prolific Circle (1), a mostly instrumental combo fronted by bassist, vocalist and keyboardist Jussi Lehtisalo, adopted a stance that wed progressive-rock, metal riffs, repetitive patterns a` la Steve Reich's minimalist music, "motorik" rhythms a` la Neu, and mystical trance on Andexelt (2000) and Guillotine (2003), while Miljard (2006) removed the "metal" element altogether indulging in quasi new-age atmospheres.
Prog-metal staged a comeback in Scandinavia with the super-technical style of Norway's Solefald (1), which turned Pills Against the Ageless Ills (2001) into a brainy exercise of fusion-metal, and with Pain Of Salvation's One Hour By The Concrete Lake (1999) in Sweden.

Chapter 5.19 (Drum'n'bass):

After Neotropic, add: Icarus (1), the London-based duo of Ollie Bown and Sam Britton, dislocated beats and melodies on Fijaka (1998) while adopting a digital and minimalist aesthetics that would lead to pieces such as Three False Starts, off I Tweet the Birdy Electric (2004), at the border between ambient, jazz, concrete and glitch music.
At the very end, add: San Francisco-based disc-jockey Jhno (John Eichenseer) offered a bold fusion of ethnic, ambient, jazz and techno music on Understand (1995), while Kwno (1998) mixed drum'n'bass and computer-generated improvisation and Membrane (2000) focused on inventing a new vocabulary of irregular rhythms and eerie soundscapes.

Chapter 5.20 (Trip-hop):

Open the list of dub albums with President's Breakfrast (1990) by President's Breakfast, a San-Francisco based ensemble led by drummer and sampler technician Click Dark that played an insane fusion of dub, funk, hip-hop and jazz;
After Pole, add: Thomas Brinkmann (1) transposed the minimal aesthetic of glitch music into the subliminal ideology of dub music on Klick (2001), the ideal link between sound sculpting and dance-floor beats.

Chapter 5.22 ( Ambient and glitch music):

Add a sentence to Paul Schutze's section and increase the rating to 13: the colossal collages of The Surgery Of Touch (1994),
After Schutze insert: German composer Thomas Koner (1) penned the drone-based ambient music of Permafrost (Barooni, 1993).
After Michigan's Fibreforms... add: The lush electronic arrangements and soothing melodies of Mythos (1998) by Canada's Mythos were the obvious bridge with new-age music.
After Tuatara add: Hochenkeit, led by guitarist Jeff Fuccillo of the Irving Klaw Trio, concocted the psychedelic/electronic world-music cauldron I Love You (1999), inspired by German avant-rock of the 1970s.
Add to Experimental Audio Research: and, in between, the textural black holes of The Koner Experiment (1997).
Add "and Beautiful Speck Triumph (2004)" to Birchville.
Add this text to glitch music after Oval. Bernhard Guenter (13) was the link with the classical avantgarde. The guru of digital, dissonant minimalism, he sculpted sub-atomic soundtracks that picked up the sounds from the crevices between one quantum event and the next one. His Un Peu De Neige Salie (1993) was a work of musique concrete that manipulated noises of ordinary life to the point that they became unrecognizable, and then turned them into cold, dark, monolithic structures of silence, terrible depths from which there emerge unidentified and barely-audible bursts of sound. Time Dreaming Itself (2000) and Then Silence (2001) opened a new phase of sonic exploration, "active" rather than "passive", and frequently reminiscent of Morton Feldman. Redshift - Abschied (2002) bridged this hyper-minimal music and chamber music.
Add after Oval/Microstoria: Another precursor was Pita (1), the project of Austrian electronic musician Peter Rehberg, who contributed to formalize the "glitch" aesthetics with Seven Tons For Free (1996), a concerto for pulse signals, and Get Out (1999), which was the cacophonous equivalent of a romantic symphony.
Add this text to Matmos: In the meantime, the duo had experimented with traditional instruments on The West (1999), a work that basically "remixed" the history of the United States and let a "human" quality transpire through the dense jelly of the digital "arrangement".
At the end of glitch music insert: Arovane, the project of Berlin's multi-instrumentalist Uwe Zahn, wed ambient music, Debussy's impressionism and new-age relaxation on Tides (2000).

Appendix of part 5

Add Guenter's albums to the list of recommended albums

Alphabetical index

Appendixes