Library Rock's Backpages

Brinsley Schwarz' Amazing Twelve Inches

Metal Mike Saunders, Phonograph Record, November 1972

THE REAL ISSUE HERE is originality. How much does it matter? There are a lot of theories about the true nature of rock and roll, one of the most popular of which speculates that R&R consists of the same basic handful of chords, banged out in various forms and trappings for over 15 years now. If you take this idea and derive its corollary, the conclusion is that evolutions in outward style and technology, spanning rockabilly to surf to folk-rock to hard rock to metal music, have affected the music more than any intrinsic changes.

Total word count of piece: 2422

Subscribe

Becoming a member is easy. Membership gives you access to all the thousands of articles in the library.

Click here to go to Subscribe page.

Click here for academic and other group subscriptions.