60's musicians and bands: A short list.
The Rolling Stones; Roy Orbison; Ray Charles; Bob Dylan;The Beach Boys; Aretha Franklin; Jimmi Hendrix; James Brown; The Isley Brothers; Marvin Gaye; Dionne Warwick; Peter, Paul, and Mary; Stevie Wonder; Eric Clapton; Little Richard; The Bee Gees; Rod Stewart; The Supremes; Sonny & Cher; The Mamas & The Papas; Simon and Garfunkel; Joan Baez; The Kinks; David Bowie; B. B. King; Otis Redding; The Who; The Righteous Brothers; The Animals; The Moody Blues; The Lovin' Spoonful; Country Joe & The Fish; The Mothers of Invention; Neil Diamond; The Velvet Underground; Percy Sledge; Donovan; Jefferson Airplane; Antonio Carlos Jobim; Frank Sinatra; Smokey Robinson; Mahalia Jackson; The Monkees; Pink Floyd; Buffalo Springfield; Cream; Procol Harum; Stevie Wonder; Tony Bennett; Neil Young; The Kingsmen; Eric Clapton; Bobby Vinton; Rod Stewart; Sonny & Cher; Chuck Berry; Connie Francis; Dionne Warwick; The Four Tops; The shangri-Las; Tom Jones; Gary Lewis & The Playboys; Otis Redding;  Nat King Cole; Blood, Sweat & Tears, Genesis; Van Morrison; Fleetwood Mac; Elton John; Creedence Clearwater revival; Woody Guthrie; Genesis; Herb Alpert; The Jackson Five; The Byrds; Janis Joplin; Glen Campbell; Led Zeppelin; Johnny Cash; The Grateful Dead;Frank Zappa.
                                                A bit of the 70's:
Some bands adopt a costumed look and put on an exhibition in their staged shows. New technology gives bands more choices for the kind of sounds they produce.

1. Pink Floyd. British electronic rock band that introduced synthesized sounds in a blend of pop, rock, progressive jazz, blues and electronic music. Their 1973 album, "Dark side of the Moon," is one of the best selling and most popular albums in rock history, remaining in the Billboard list for over 700 weeks. From this album:
'Money,' their first real hit.

2. Kiss. USA heavy metal, the band used adolescent fantasies and played off the violence suggested by their logo with the Nazi style double s's (SS). Their flamboyant act on stage was grounded in superhero comics, outrageors makeup, explosions, smoke clouds, giant dolls, flying men.
'Rock and Roll all Night.' from the album Double Platinum ('78)

3. Led Zeppelin. British hard rock band with guitar hero Jimmy Page smoothed out Hendrix's thick sound into simpler rhythms and a steady blues-like beat. the first guitarist to try and play the guitar with a violin bow, he made the double-necked guitar famous. Pages' masterly guitar solos are offset by the screaming vocals of Robert Plant. Their theme song, "Stairway to Heaven" became an anthem for the 70's generation.
                                  Listening outline for Stairway to Heaven.
First: A delicate ballad with Page on acoustic guitar , wood recorders (flutes), and Plant singing sweetly. The words are clear and the music is not distorted.
Second: A psychedelic instrumental journey with Page on electric guitar building the intensity, gradually adding instruments, thumping drum beat.
Third: An epic hard rocker with Plant's distorted screaming over a volley of raw guitar. The section is loud, distorded, bombastic.
Fourth: Ends with a fade-out on ballad line: 'and she's buying the stairway to heaven.'
                                                          
Postscript to this course.

We began music in the Middle Ages with Plainchant, prayers set to simple music to focus attention on inner spiritual work. During the pious Middle Ages it was thought that a Christian could get to heaven by being pious, praying, and by supporting the church with tithes.

We end with a rock song about a lady who is buying a stairway to heaven.
Maybe the times haven't changed much after all.
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