The Melody Web what each genre heard, and what it passed on

heard passed on Click or tap a node to recenter. Use a connecting line, or Influence, for the story.

Heard

Blues genre · 1860–

British blues learns the American book from records: Chess and related 12-bar songs, amplified guitar, harp, and a club band that treats blues as the set, not as a rock original.

Influence
Skiffle genre · 1956–1959

British blues keeps skiffle’s American Black-song job and youth-club band and plugs in.

Influence

British blues

style · 1962–

Also called UK blues, British blues boom

Kind of Blues

Early-to-mid-1960s British scene that treats Chicago and Delta Blues as the job of a London club band (Mayall, early Fleetwood Mac, Yardbirds’ blues wing, Korner/Barber as the older hinge). It is a style of blues, not an alias of British beat and not yet Hard rock. It hears Blues for the Chicago/Delta guitar-and-harp job and Skiffle as the club door. Beat, hard-rock, and psychedelic hops are drawn. British trad-jazz leftover as a Barber/Korner door, not a sounding parent. Chicago blues leftover on the Blues umbrella; no second hop. Rhythm-and-blues leftover as a London marketing name for this same club job.

Listen

  1. Crawling Up a Hill John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers (1964) YouTube · Spotify
  2. Hideaway John Mayall / Eric Clapton (1966) YouTube · Spotify
  3. Need Your Love So Bad Fleetwood Mac (1968) YouTube · Spotify
  4. I Ain't Superstitious The Jeff Beck Group (1968) YouTube · Spotify
  5. Spoonful Cream (1966) YouTube · Spotify · Amazon

Passed on

British beat style · 1963–1966

A wing of British beat keeps London blues-club guitar and harp inside the 45.

Influence
Hard rock style · 1968–

Hard rock’s British wing keeps blues-club guitar as the lead voice and turns the volume and the riff into the product.

Influence
Psychedelic rock style · 1966–1969

A British psych wing keeps club-blues soloing and stretches it with studio color.

Influence

Blues → British blues

harmonymelodyphrase and lickinstrumentationstrength: highscholarly consensus1962–1968recordingoral

Mechanism

British blues learns the American book from records: Chess and related 12-bar songs, amplified guitar, harp, and a club band that treats blues as the set, not as a rock original. Strength high. Beat and later hard-rock hops sit on other files.

Evidence

Mayall’s Bluesbreakers; Korner/Barber as the older hinge; Fleetwood Mac’s early blues 45s; covers of Wolf, Waters, and King.

Debate

Whether this is only R&B. The beat groups have a separate rhythm and blues british beat hop. This file is the named blues scene.

Mediators

artist: John Mayall; artist: Alexis Korner

Skiffle → British blues

function and contextperformance practiceinstrumentationstrength: highwell documented1960–1964oralrecording

Mechanism

British blues keeps skiffle’s American Black-song job and youth-club band and plugs in. Strength high. Korner/Barber are the usual hinge. Chess records are the other school.

Evidence

Mayall and early Stones personnel from skiffle; Gillett on that succession.

Debate

Whether Barber’s jazz band is the real door. Skiffle is the youth mass; Barber is the older hinge named on the british-blues node.

Mediators

artist: Alexis Korner; artist: Lonnie Donegan

British blues → British beat

phrase and lickinstrumentationperformance practicestrength: mediumwell documented1963–1966oralrecording

Mechanism

A wing of British beat keeps London blues-club guitar and harp inside the 45. Strength medium. R&B and rock and roll remain the other beat parents; this hop is the club-blues share.

Evidence

Stones and Yardbirds blues covers; Gillett on the club-to-chart path.

Debate

Whether beat is only R&B. The London blues room is a distinct school beside the r&b 45.

Mediators

artist: The Rolling Stones; artist: The Yardbirds

British blues → Hard rock

phrase and lickinstrumentationperformance practicestrength: highscholarly consensus1966–1970oralrecording

Mechanism

Hard rock’s British wing keeps blues-club guitar as the lead voice and turns the volume and the riff into the product. Strength high. Cream and Zeppelin are the usual hinge.

Evidence

Bluesbreakers alumni in Cream; Zeppelin’s blues recasts; Starr and Grove on that wing.

Debate

Whether this is already psychedelic rock. Psych is the studio/color hop; this file is the guitar-volume hop.

Mediators

artist: Cream; artist: Led Zeppelin

British blues → Psychedelic rock

phrase and lickperformance practicetimbre and productionstrength: mediumwell documented1966–1968oralrecording

Mechanism

A British psych wing keeps club-blues soloing and stretches it with studio color. Strength medium. Cream and late Yardbirds are the hinge. Hindustani and folk-rock hops sit on the psych node.

Evidence

Cream and Yardbirds 1966–68 dates; Starr on the blues-to-psych personnel.

Debate

Whether this is already hard rock. Hard rock is the volume product; this hop is the colored, extended solo.

Mediators

artist: Cream; artist: The Yardbirds