Gospel rock
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| Gospel rock | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins | |
| Cultural origins | 1960's |
| Typical instruments | |
| Subgenres | |
Gospel rock is a subgenre of gospel, that combines rock and roll, and rock music with the atmosphere of gospel music. Johnny Cash, Elvis Presely, and Jerry Lee Lewis were amongst the earliest to fuse gospel with rock or rock and roll in the 1950's.
History (1950's-1970)
Gospel rock is believed to have it's roots in 50's rock and roll artists such as Johnny Cash, Elvis Presely, and Jerry Lee Lewis just to name a few. The Beatles late 1960's albums, especially their Let It Be album and it's title track would also further aid in bringing this sub-genre to the mainstream by using gospel style arrangements on a couple tracks here and there. Norman Greenbaum would also have a gospel rock hit with his song Spirit in the Sky, which combined psychedelic rock, and hard rock with gospel arrangements such as a female quior.[1][2] This arrangement of psychedelic rock, hard rock, and gospel music was cited as oddly compelling.[1] the Stovall Sisters provided the female gospel quior on the track as well. the Rolling Stones have also combined rock music with gospel, doing so on their track You Can't Always Get What You Want.
1970's
George Harrison has also incorporated religious music into his solo work, especially in his "My Sweet Lord", which combines folk rock and Hindu religious devotional. Although not considered a gospel artist, Paul McCartney's "Maybe I'm Amazed" has hints of gospel in it as well. Meatloaf's pre-solo career band Stoney and Meatloaf, which featured Shaun Murphy, was a Motown signed band that incorporated gospel rock in addition to hints of the Motown sound. Queen would also embrace the gospel rock genre by incorporating gospel in their "Somebody to Love", released in 1976.
1980's
Irish rock band U2 would embrace gospel music starting with The Joshua Tree, and the track "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For". They would further expand on the gospel influence with their next album Rattle and Hum, which included tracks such as "Desire", "Angel of Harlem", and the B.B. King duet on "When Love Comes to Town". Bono (of U2) would also do a gospel-esk duet with irish new-age and traditional irish-folk band clannad on In a Lifetime.
Late 1980's-current
Van Morrison, best known for writing the garage rock standard Gloria, and performed by his former current band Them, has also embraced the gospel rock genre, mainly later in his career when he started adding touches of new-age to his work. Gospel rock would see its demise starting with the emergent of heavy metal sub-genre glam metal in the late 1980's. While U2 would have the hits listed above, they were one of the few bands to score a hit while gospel rock was on its last legs. They gave the gospel rock sub-genre much needed cpr, however, it didn't last long and gospel rock was unable to be revived again, officialy dying in the early 1990's with its spirit possesing Christian rock and Contemporary Christian Music. Grunge, and the rise of bands such as Nirvana and Stone Temple Pilots most ceraintly did not help with gospel rock's popularity either. Many of the artists/songs listed here would probably be lumped under either the christain rock or CCM music label if they formed/released their song's today. Gospel rock would be echoed in Jet's 2003 hit Look What You've Done, which borrows elements from John Lennon's Imagine and the Beatles Let It Be.
References
- ^ a b McNichol, Tom (24 December 2006). "A 'Spirit' From the '60s That Won't Die". Retrieved 24 April 2018 – via NYTimes.com.
- ^ "Spirit in the Sky - Norman Greenbaum - Song Info - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 24 April 2018.