Vitoria S.
Hard Rock
Rock music is a genre of popular music that originated as "rock and roll" in the United States in the 1950s. This later developed into combinations of music genres, especially in the UK and the USA. It has its roots in 1940s' and 1950s' rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by blues, rhythm and blues and country music. Hard Rock also has influences from many other music genres, such as jazz and electronic. It really became a widely popular music genre that focused more on musicianship and live performances.
Hard rock music videos are usually what you would expect from the music. Since this genre is quite old most of the early hard rock music videos are performance based, often filmed in concert. The editing is fast like the pace of the music and the images can be schocking and very eye cathcing.
This is a performance video where playing the instrument is emphasised. The start is a camera stuck on the drummer's arm and we can see his fast rhythm hitting the symbol.
Then the image changes to a soft split screen between adoring fans and a guitar being played.
Pans are used to give us an overview of the band members and this establishes the music video.
A reoccurring motif for this band is Angus Young's costume, a simple schoolboy outfit complete with hat and tie. This is highly emphasised in the video since he is an icon for fans worldwide.
The flashing lights and sudden camera movement towards the headbanging crowd also keeps the viewer on the edge since everything happens so fast in this video.
Voyeurism of the female body is also used in this video, even though more obvious than Welcome to the Junge.
Alice Cooper is a Glam Rock band and therefore, they focus more on performance and shocking values.
there are very obvious links between lyrics and visuals, such as 'chains'. this is such a classic glam rock video. It is very stereotypical with rain, flashing images, emphasised colours such as red and a focus on performance.
There is also the clear representation of the woman being the poison and that is perhaps the strongest link between visuals and lyrics in this music video.
Welcome to the Jungle - Guns N' Roses
AC/DC Thunderstuck
In the End - Black Veil Brides
Poison - Alice Cooper
Inspired by Kiss' and Mötley Crüe's stage personas and also Glam Metal, Black Veil Brides (BVB) also focused on performance and shocking values, perhaps a bit more than Alice Cooper! These include their face paints and dark colours contrasting with the fast editing and flashing lights.
Their use of black studded clothes and black body paint is a motif throughout their careers. This influences the audience to subconsciously associate BVB with these motifs. Also, these help create an eerie and dark image through their videos even though their lyrics are quite positive and uplifting.
This combination video between performance and a politically influenced narrative is also typical for hard rock bands. They are often affiliated with political issues and here Guns N' Roses emphasises that our world is a jungle.
the video is mostly focused on the musicianship, and the fast-paced editing and often changing camera angles keeps the viewer interested. The use of pre-filmed footage for the narrative also makes the narrative more authentic and realistic to their story.
There are many Goodwin theories in this video. The voyeuristic treatment of the female body is shown in this video, somewhat discreetly, but still it occurs. There is also the use of visual and lyrical links "Welcome to the jungle" which emphasises the police brutality and the jungle which is our world.
The extreme close-ups and still cameras on the band help feed record demands and therefore, sell the band. This again is Goodwin theory. Although there is a focus on the playing band, it is the lead singer Alice Copper that is the main attention of the music video. This is because lead singer always gets the most screen time as they are considered more popular with the fans, this is true not only in hard rock but also most other genres.
Filming in this in a typical abandoned dessert and a dark crowded room they perform and there is a large focus on their instruments and the lead singer which
sustains record label demands.
Their narrative also links in very well with their lyrics. 'Building an army' and the marching army with a hopeful high shining sun as their backdrop. Normally it is untypical for a hard rock band to tell such a strong narrative throughout the entirety of the music video, but BVB do that and in some sense it subverts the expectation of traditional videos.
