Freakbeat is a loosely defined subgenre of

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...

music developed mainly by harder-driving British groups during the

Swinging London The Swinging Sixties was a youth-driven cultural revolution that took place in the United Kingdom during the mid-to-late 1960s, emphasising modernity and fun-loving hedonism, with Swinging London as its centre. It saw a flourishing in art, mus ...

period of the mid-to late 1960s. The genre bridges British Invasion R&B, beat and psychedelia.

Etymology

The term was coined by English music journalist

Phil Smee Philip Lloyd-Smee is an English music journalist, designer and record collector, most widely known for designing music album covers and his Bam-Caruso music label, best known for the Rubble series of albums. Much of Smee's design work was done f ...

. AllMusic writes that "freakbeat" is loosely defined, but generally describes the more obscure but hard-edged artists of the

British Invasion The British Invasion was a cultural phenomenon of the mid-1960s, when rock and pop music acts from the United Kingdom and other aspects of British culture became popular in the United States and significant to the rising "counterculture" on b ...

era such as the Creation,

the Pretty Things ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

The Smoke The Smoke were an English pop group from York. They consisted of Mick Rowley (lead vocals), Mal Luker (lead guitar), John "Zeke" Lund ( bass) and Geoff Gill (drums and compositor). The band originally performed around Yorkshire as The Moo ...

, or

Denny Laine Denny Laine (born Brian Frederick Hines, 29 October 1944) is an English musician, singer, and songwriter, known as a founder of two major rock bands: the Moody Blues, with whom he played from 1964 to 1966, and Wings, with whom he played from 1 ...

(in his early solo work).

Compilations

Much of the material collected on

Rhino Records A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member of any of the extinct species o ...

's 2001 box-set compilation '' Nuggets II: Original Artyfacts from the British Empire and Beyond, 1964–1969'' can be classified as freakbeat. The '' English Freakbeat'' series is a group of five

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

s, released in the late 1980s, that were issued by AIP Records. The LPs featured recordings that were released in the mid-1960s by

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

bands in R&B and beat genres. The series served as a follow-up to the '' Pebbles, Volume 6'' LP, itself subtitled ''The Roots of Mod'', which was the only album in the '' Pebbles'' series that was devoted to English music. When the ''English Freakbeat'' series was reissued as CDs in the 1990s, the ''Pebbles, Volume 6'' LP was adapted into the ''English Freakbeat, Volume 6'' CD.

References

External links

Freakbeat information"Looking Back 80 Mod, Freakbeat & Swinging London Nuggets" compilation
British rock music genres British styles of music Psychedelic music Mod (subculture) Garage rock Beat music {{rock-music-stub