Play It Loud! - The Beginnings of Rock

Songs like the Kinks' "You Really Got Me" and Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze" are still radio staples. And fans agree: You have to listen to them loud. But why is that?

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Rock music's fondness for volume was a practical necessity. Bands needed to be louder than the audience. In the mid-Sixties, Kinks guitarist Dave Davies says, fans would often drown out the musicians fifteen minutes into a concert. As a result, a new generation of amplifiers evolved. You can see them at the Marshall Museum in Friedland in central Germany.

03.03.2016 DW Doku Hauptsache laut 1 — The influence of Jimi Hendrix, the master of guitar feedback, can still be heard in today's rock music.

Musician began to compete for the unofficial title of world's loudest band. For a long time, that distinction went to Deep Purple, whose knack for experimentation touched a nerve among rebellious young people at the time. The Vietnam War and the race riots encouraged the development of a more aggressive sound in the US, of which MC5 were major precursors. University students in Germany and France took to the streets to protest against their governments, and the soundtrack to those demonstrations was rock music.

Ian Gillan of Deep Purple, Dave Davies from the Kinks and Ozzy Osbourne from Black Sabbath tell us how the volume got cranked up and what they contributed to that trend. Back in their day, music wasn't divided up into categories like punk or heavy metal. As Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin says: "In the end it was just hard rock!" This documentary features excerpts from live concerts by Jimi Hendrix, The Kinks, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Vanilla Fudge, MC5, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple.

03.03.2016 DW Doku Hauptsache laut 4 — Steppenwolf and their front man John Kay shot to fame with their hit "Born to be Wild“ from the film "Easy Rider."

03.03.2016 DW Doku Hauptsache laut 3 — Singer Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath are considered one of the most influential hard rock bands of the 1970s.

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Play It Loud! - The Beginnings of Rock

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