That would require me to do research, fact-checking and some seriously time consuming Internet surfing. Nah � that�s just not my bag baby! I refused to do homework in school and I refuse to do it now! So, instead, let�s consider this an �interpretive and subjective history of Stoner Rock music from my own personal point of view�. At the end of this feature I will open a discussion thread where others can add their own points-of-view to fill in the gaps and to provide a more objective analysis for the readers of StonerRock.com to contemplate and, in the process, make up their own minds.
For me, Stoner Rock is about personal expression, creativity and experimentation within the loose boundries of the genre known as Rock Music. Thus, it is my opinion that Stoner Rock first manifested itself into reality when Jimi Hendrix started experimenting with the variety of sounds he could make with his guitar and amplifier in the very early sixties. Maybe even 1960 itself from how I understand the Jimi Hendrix lineage. Now it could easily be argued that this electric experimentation had already been going on within The Blues scene at the time and before. That is of course where Jimi Hendrix found most of his influences. My take on that is that Jimi Hendrix was in the formative stages of his Rock career and thus qualifies as the first Rock �n� Roll �creative artist� to experiment with The Blues in an attempt to lead them in a new direction.
To some degree I believe that all creative rock music is somehow derivative and directly decended from Henrix�s inherant need for an original and new way to express himself by way of sound and music. Thus after Jimi nothing can be completely unique and original if it follows the Rock Vibe that Jimi Hendrix invented. If Jimi�s exploration into new musical realms is the zygotic conception of Stoner Rock as an artform then what comes next? I�d have to say that there is no specific next band that can be labelled as the second step in Stoner Rock history. There are a clump of mid-sixties psychedelic pop-rock type bands that could all fit that bill. The most prominent would have to be The Beatles when they dropped their strictly pop approach for some drug drenched rock experimentation with Sgt. Pepper�s Lonely Hearts Club Band in 1965. At least that�s the way I see it, I�m not an authority on The Beatles by any means so I may be off by an album or off by a year or two.
From here on there were multitudes of rock bands forming every day and they were all influenced by Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles and their contemporaries in one form or another. These were the years when there were still many musical roads left untravelled and there was lots of room for aspiring young musicians to expand and add to the �rock sound� that Jimi pioneered. Many became well known and many of the most influential and underground bands probably wallowed in obscurity never to be heard of again. I�m not really that knowledgable about this period of time so I won�t attempt to name all the Stoner Rock bands from the late sixties but some of the more well-known bands include Blue Cheer, The Groundhogs, Grand Funk Railroad and High Tide. Just be confident that there was a lot of change going on during this moment in history and I consider it to be the roots of Stoner Rock. Or the �foetus� if you prefer � carrying on with my previous �zygote� analogy.
And then came the early �70s and Black Sabbath�s debut self-titled album and rock music was again transformed and sent in a new direction. Many people will cite 1970 as the beginning of Stoner Rock and Doom and they will also cite all Stoner/Doom bands as derivative only of Black Sabbath and nothing before. I don�t subscribe to this belief myself for Stoner Rock but for Doom I guess it�s realistic. Except for the fact that there were other bands like High Tide and Pentagram that were around at the same time and doing relatively similar things so it�s hard to say who came first. Black Sabbath is definitely the most popular and influential of the 1970 crop of Heavy Doom Rock (or Heavy Metal as it was known then). Other contributing bands of this era also include Captain Beyond, Cactus, Judas Priest, King Crimson, The Stooges and MC5. The latter three adding even more genre transcending creativity to the mix with strong Jazz and Punk elements while still focusing squarely on �the rock�.
And in the late �70s/early �80s � what was happening then? Fucking arena rock and glam metal mostly � everyone sort of lost the plot during these �dark years�. Punk was strong though, with bands like The Sex Pistols, Black Flag and Dead Kennedys taking �the rock� in altogether different directions while at the same time deconstructing it and attempting to bring it back to it�s roots. Also Death Metal and Speed Metal and Thrash Metal were the �underground rock� of the time. While I consider these years the �dark years� of the Stoner Rock history and while I don�t necessarily consider Punk or Thrash Metal to be �Stoner Rock� I do believe Punk and Metal make up a huge part of the modern Stoner Rock sound. The only band playing Stoner/Doom during these years would have to be The Obsessed but I�m not really sure how active they were in the early 80s. I suppose Blue Oyster Cult and Rush could be considered some form of Stoner Rock for this era, but that�s arguable. More like arena-rock with some artistic substance.
Luckily in �86/�87 things started heading in the right direction again with The Seattle Scene and early �Grunge� start-ups Green River and Melvins. Again some people prefer to consider �Grunge� and �Stoner Rock� to be one-in-the-same and cite �86/�87 as the beginning of �Stoner Rock�. Not me. I consider true-Grunge like Green River, Melvins, Mudhoney, Nirvana and TAD as being the beginning of a re-evolution of Stoner Rock but with a much broader influence base to feed off. Also, still riding hard for Doom in these years was the mighty St. Vitus. The creativity was back, the passion for the music was back and it was all underground, where it was safe! Music was finally being made for the sake of the music and at the grassroots level again and not for image and fame alone. The dark years were essentially over, except, not very many people knew about The Seattle Scene � until �Teen Spirit� � but we won�t talk about that or about Grunge after that. Grunge was just a media-fabricated image anyways, it had nothing to do with the music and poser-rock bands like Bush and Creed prove that with every song and every video they make.
In the early �90s things got even better with the epic �Stoner Rock� bands Monster Magnet and Kyuss reinventing the wheel again but with much more ooomph and raw psychedelic rock �n� roll energy than ever before! Many uninformed people claim that Stoner Rock is a homogonous form of music derived only from the sounds of Kyuss and Monster Magnet. Of course some bands follow this ideology but the majority do not. Also, in the early �90s, enter stage left with hardcore nihilistic sludge rock like �Eyehategod� and Stoner/Doom hybrids �Sleep� � arguably the heaviest, most evil rock music ever! Then enter stage right with the jazzy-soul-core-rap-metal outfit �Clutch� and their unlimited creativity and soulful grooves to throw a wrench in the works once again!
The mid �90s saw a mild lack of interest in the scene because nobody seemed to be doing too much and �Grunge� was such a dirty word that nobody wanted to be associated with it. But the late �90s and early 2000 into the present have brought an unprecidented resurgance of new bands holding up the �Stoner Rock� flag and struggling to find unexplored territory where everything seems likes it�s already been done before. Bands are now taking 40 years of influences and styles and genres and mixing them up like never before in a never ending quest to be original and fresh � which is the essence of what �Stoner Rock� music is all about and which is also the reason that right now is the best time in history to be a Heavy Rock fan! Diversity and creativity and passion thrive in today�s Stoner Rock Scene from the pummeling riffs of High on Fire to the melodic and flowing grooves of Natas to the extreme outlandishness of Fantomas! There is something for everybody�s tastes in today�s Stoner Rock music, especially for those of us who thrive off diversity and love it all!! As long as it�s not shallow and meaningless like most of today�s popular music. Which makes me feel like I should change my statement to �right now is the best time -and also the worst time!- in history to be a Heavy Rock fan!�. Just watch Much Music or MTV for a few hours and you�ll see what I mean by that. Life must truly be dismal for the uniformed herds of sheep out there who don�t know any better than Limp Bizkit, Matchbox 20, Britney Spears and �Nsync! No wonder all of the kids are suicidal and killing each other at school!!
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