Down the Rabbit Hole: Stoner rock and related stuff

Sometimes I spend an evening digging through YouTube for music-related stuff. This often results in a day(s) worth of documentary binge watching list. Music is interesting, people behind the music even more interesting.

It might be nice to publish those searches publicly. Today the past of the Doom and related genres. After listening to the debut (Bleach) of Nirvana decided that band wasn't for me (it grabbed not really me at the time), I had more with the bootleg cassette tapes of the band Katzenjammer and Kyuss (Sons of Kyuss) went. Nirvana and Kyuss have many similarities, but the differences grew as the bands and musicians evolved.

In my hearing, and feeling, the extent to which Nirvana and Kyuss (and sequel bands) use the Black Sabbath influence shapes the big difference.

Black Sabbath:

NERD ALERT!

Many people think that the typical Sabbath sound is due to some sort of Fuzz effect. This is not the case, Tonny Iommi got his signature sound initially by plugging a Dallas Rangemaster Treble Booster into a Laney LA 100 BL amplifier. The Dallas Rangemaster Treble Booster was also featured on the “Beano” album from John Mayall & The Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton, an album praised for its guitar tone, but that aside.

The Fuzz sound is a fairly essential part of the stoner rock genre:

Metal:

The band Black Sabbath is called the father of metal. In my ear the stoner rock that came after Black Sabbath is a bit different from metal though.

But the fact remains that chopping off a few fingertips has enriched the world with the lower tuning of a guitar, and the sound of darkness that comes with it.

Psychedelica:

The name stoner rock already gives it away a bit, psychedelics play a role.

Stoner rock:

Met bovenstaande hoofd ingrediënten komen we tot de hoofdmaaltijd. Het nummer Sweet Leaf van het Black Sabbath album Master of Reality wordt door sommigen als de geboorte van stoner rock gezien.

Ik kan me echter niet voorstellen dat andere nummers van een hele andere band vooral invloed gehad heeft op het bas geluid in stoner rock. De band is Hawkwind, de nummers zijn in ieder geval Motörhead en Silver Machine de bassist is Lemmy Kilmister later bekend geworden met de band Motörhead.

Kyuss:

Couple of my favorite songs:

After the breakup of Kyuss

The collapse of Kyuss caused a tidal wave of bands that formed directly from members of Kyuss, or other musicians who liked the genre.

Next generation?

The stoner rock sound has guided me from the cradle to where I am in my life so far… will it make it to my grave with the next generation?

Wish list for the future:

Instrumentally please, with a nostalgia that grows with my years:

A touch of ethnic folk music is also allowed:

The above bands may just fall into a subgenre, guitar sound is less distorted, uses a somewhat different drum and bass feel and intensity.