Rock music in Belgium

Belgian rock refers to rock music produced in Belgium or written and performed by Belgian musicians. It was originally inspired by rock and roll music from America and the United Kingdom in the 1960s, but later evolved to be influenced by other genres including alternative rock and electronic music. Because Belgium is a federal state with strong cultural identities - a French-speaking area in the southern region of Wallonia as well as a Dutch-speaking population in the north region of Flanders - Belgian rock music uses these two national languages, as well as the English language.

The history of Belgian rock echoes that of European rock: after the 1950's, during which rock pioneers introduced the new genre, rock evolved further under the influences of beat music and pop music. During the 1970s, hard rock and progressive rock expressed new forms of rock, and punk rock signalled a return to the simplicity of rock and roll with Belgian bands like The Kids, Red Zebra, and Hubble Bubble. During the 1980s and 90s, indie rock and alternative rock developed with an important scene in Antwerp; Deus was a particularly successful band from the Antwerp alternative scene.

History

1955-1963: The introduction of rock and roll to Belgium

Burt Blanca in 1978.

In Belgium, as in Europe in general, rock and roll began to spread at the end of the 1950s, in part due to the presence of American troops stationed in Europe in the post-war period. Among the first rock and roll songs to arrive in Belgium was Rock Around the Clock (Decca, 1954) by Bill Haley & His Comets. In 1956 the film of the same name was released in Belgium, which kicked off a rock and roll craze. Among the new pioneers of rock in Belgium there were Rocking Harry and Shorty Lee Smith and the Wildcats who began playing between 1956 and 1957. In issue 25 of the newly formed music magazine Juke Box the first concert of Bill Haley & His Comets at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels was announced on October 30, 1958. In 1959, Burt Blanca and the King Creoles released their "Oh, Carol! / I Love You So" (Hebra Records). Big Brown & The Gamblers followed this hit with "My Testament" (Palette, 1961). Clark Richard and his Tropical Stars released "Queen Of Love / Hot Rock Beat" (His Master's Voice, 1961) and Les Frangins released "Ye Youpi / Changhai" (Barclay, 1961).

Wallace Collection (1969)

Also in these years came the sounds of surf music and instrumental rock influenced by UK bands like The Shadows. In 1957 the band The Jokers published their first 7" entitled "Drie Dagen En Drie Nachten" (CID).. This was followed by the remake of the Belgian folk song Ik zag Cecilia komen with the new title Cecilia Rock (Philips, 1960). Of the many songs that later achieved popular success in Belgium were Ronny Boy (Discostar, 1963), Tabou (Discostar, 1964), and Gemini Boogie (Arcade Records, 1965). Another instrumental rock band, The Cousins, released a new rock version of the folk song Kili Watch (Palette,1960). Other important released of this period include the Shakespears ("Shake it over", 1965), the Pebbles ("Seven horses in the sky", 1968), and the Wallace Collection ("Daydream", 1969). Other noticeable artists evolved from previously well established musical genres, including blues and folk like the Antwerps protest singer Ferre Grignard ("Ring Ring", "Drunken Sailor", 1966).

Post-British Invasion developments in the 1960s

Between Rhythm & Blues, Beat, and Garage rock

In the mid 1960s, as a result of the British invasion, Belgian bands began to create a homegrown version of garage rock. The beat band The Pebbles were one of the most iconic bands of this movement. They released a series of 7" singles in 1965 with Let's Say Goodbye / Love Me Again (CBS), Love Me Again / It's Alright With Me Now (Dot Records), It's Allright With Me / Forever More (CBS), and Huma - La La La La (Président) which were also acclaimed in Spain, France, and Italy. The Pebbles also perform on the Dutch TV show Fenklup on June 7, 1968.

In 1965 Les Godasses Verte released the 7" La Salade / Le Panier A Salade (CBS). Les Night Rockers released En Public Du Golf Drouot (Golf Drouot) I Can Tell (Barclay, 1965), and Dance To The Rock (Golf Drouot, 1966). The band Sylvester's Team released It Reminds Me (Louis XVI) (Roover Records, 1965) and Beautiful Day / Hurt Me No More (Roover Records, 1966). In 1968 they changed their name to Bird and the Bees and released their 7" Tiger Dans (Disques Vogue).

Born from the offshoot of the Belgian rock band Les Ombres, a band named The Klan released a series of singles and an album entitled Join Us (Palette, 1967); The Klan opened for the Rolling Stones at their Paris concert on April 10, 1967.

Psychedelic rock

For Belgium, 1967 was also the year in which the new psychedelic rock developed, as evidenced by The Pebbles the 7" I Got To Sing / You're Better Believe It (Barclay, 1967), their single Seven Horses In The Sky (Barclay, 1968), and their self-titled album (1969). The band shared the stage with Jimi Hendrix and with the Small Faces in a concert in Paris. In 1967 The Shakes began to develop a blues sound with strong psychedelic influences, clearly seen in Come On-A My House / Dust My Blues (Voom) and Shoot Me Baby / You've Got To Hide Your Love Away (Ronnex Records, 1968). Waterloo released the 7" Meet Again (Disques Vogue) in 1969 and Plastic Mind (Disques Vogue) in 1970. The same year, Paul's Collection released Man / Music Is My Life (RCA, 1970) followed by four 7" singles.

The new subgenres of the 70s

Progressive rock

Indie rock bands like TC Matic and De Kreuners, and many punk rock-dark wave bands like Nacht und Nebel, the Paranoiacs and Siglo XX, began to draw a significant audience, and started to release songs in their mother language. Some, like the eurorock band Machiavel and the pop/punk singer Plastic Bertrand, were also managed in a more commercial approach.

Among the notable bands with a strong jazz rock influences are the Cos and the Kandahar. The Cos debuted in 1973 with the album Postaeolian Train Robbery (Plus Records, 1974). The Kandahar debuted with the 7" single Survivin' Boogie / The Dark Hole Rag (Dwarf, 1974) and then released their first album In The Court Of Catherina Squeezer (Dwarf, 1975). The Esperanto Rock Orchestra achieved international fame with a self-titled album released by A&M Records. Other notable bands include Tideline, Magenta, Machiavel, the Isopoda, the Nessie, the Phylter, the Flyte, and the Dragon.. The symphonic prog rock band, Banzai released Hora Nata in 1974 on the Dutch label Delta.

Hard & heavy

At the end of the 1960s, a hard rock / heavy Metal style of rock emerged that was characterized by a dense and powerful sound, with rhythmic bass lines in the foreground, highly amplified distortion, guitar solos, emphatic rhythms, and an overall high volume. Among the pioneer bands of this genre are Jenghiz Khan who released the seminal album Well Cut (Barclay). In 1971, the Irish Coffee released a single entitled Carry On / Child (Triangle) and then a self-titled album in the same year, characterized by a dark and powerful sound.

Proto-punk, punk and new wave

Punk rock

The Belgian rock scene has spawned many proto-punk and glam rock bands including Vacation who released the singles I Can't Bear Pain (Sandro, 1975) and Whatch What You Do (Sandro, 1977). Another example is the band Blast who released the 7" Damned Flame / Hope (Majestic, 1974). Beginning in 1976-77 a national punk rock scene began in Belgium. One of the first punk bands in Belgium were The Kids, who were founded in 1976, and released the single 7" No Monarchy / Rock Over Belgium / The City Is Dead in 1978; later that year they released the albums The Kids (Fontana, 1978) and Naughty kids (Fontana, 1978). Other bands of the first Belgian punk rock wave were Red Zebra, Hubble Bubble, Plastic Bertrand, The Employees, and Perverted by Desire.

New wave

Patrick Nebel of Nacht und Nebel in 1985

Among the new wave bands that emerged following the first wave of punk were pop bands like TC Matic of the singer Arno, De Kreuners, The Bowling Balls, Nacht und Nebel and Walter Verdin. New wave also included electronic rock bands with numerous exponents like Telex, as well as bands inspired by songwriting such as Rick Tubbax And The Taxi's, and Bubblegum pop artists like Lio. This period also included funk wave bands like Allez Allez and 2 Belgen.

Post-punk

Following the first wave of punk, more politically motivated post-punk bands emerged. These bands tended to have a harder sound than new wave bands, or adopted darker formulas and often linked to countercultures. Examples of post-punk in Belgium included Lavvi Ebbel, De Brassers, Siglo XX, A Noh Rodeo, Der Polizei, Yum, Company of State, Minimal Compact, Mensen Blaffen, The Names, Jo Lemaire + Flouze, The Breath of Life, and Poésie Noire.

The electronic rock of the 80s

In 1981, The pioneer noise band Club Moral formed in Antwerp. As in most northern Europe countries, the hard rock-metal scene was emerging, with its first icons in Belgium being Kleptomania and Irish Coffee.

Vive la Fête

In the nineties, Belgium (and especially Flanders) was deeply experiencing the electronic music breakthrough, with the emergence of huge night clubs and a local scene called New Beat. As a reaction, a strong alternative rock scene, relayed by a growing number of rock festivals (every single local youth organization in the country has its own, following the emergence of major events like Rock Werchter, public radio station Studio Brussel and music contest Humo's Rock Rally) in various rock subgenres (mainly hard rock, pop rock, experimental-rock, punk-rock and progressive-rock). Many bands finally started to achieve larger international acclaim and success.

A lively indie rock scene sprouts in Antwerp, where dEUS is probably the most famous, next to other people and groups like Zita Swoon (formerly Moondog Jr), Evil Superstars, Kiss My Jazz, Dead Man Ray, K's Choice, Admiral Freebee, A Brand and Die Anarchistische Abendunterhaltung. Mauro Pawlowski as well as Rudy Trouvé are key figures in the Antwerp scene besides playing or have played in dEUS, they also play solo as well as in lesser known bands and as improvisers in jam sessions and experimental concerts. Pawlowski played in numerous bands, including Mitsoobishy Jacson, Kiss my Jazz, Monguito, Shadowgraphic City, dEUS, The Love Substitutes, Othin Spake, The Parallels, Club Moral, Archetypes of the Multisabanas and I Hate Camera. Pawlowski has released solo work under various aliases: Mauro Pawlowski, and Somnabula. Trouvé played in Dead Man Ray, dEUS, Gore Slut, I Hate Camera, Kiss My Jazz, The Love Substitutes, Rudy Trouvé Sextet/Septet, POX, and Rudy and the Unforgettable Wally's.

The electronic band Soulwax performing at Rock en Seine in August 2007.

This evolution spread through the whole country, from Limburg (Noordkaap, Evil Superstars) to Brussels (Venus, Sharko, Channel Zero) via Ghent (Gorki, Millionaire, Soulwax, An Pierlé). Other noticeable artists are Ozark Henry, Hooverphonic or K's Choice.

Although "Radio 21" was created in 1981 (two years prior to its Flemish counterpart "Studio Brussel"), the Dour Festival has only turned into a resolutely indie festival in the middle of the nineties, and groups like Ghinzu found international success in the late nineties.

dEUS, an alternative band from Antwerp, playing at Cafe Du Nord in San Francisco in March 2006

An Pierlé

In the 2000s, the Belgian rock scene can be considered mature, with a consistent and extended network of venues, producers, tour managers, media, festival and public support for both indie and more commercial artists.

Although the hip-hop and electronic scenes have also grown in popularity, groups like Girls in Hawaii, Arid, Vive la Fête, Triggerfinger or Absynthe Minded.

Belgian bands and artists

• List of Belgian bands and artists

External links

• Music in Belgium
• The Belgian Pop and Rock Archives
• Memoire 60-70
• Belgian Metal History