Southern rock

Southern rock is a style of rock music that was very popular in the 1970s, and retains a fan base to the present.

1980s and on – Continuing influence

Southern rock gained popularity far beyond the American south, and influenced groups as far flung as Australia's AC/DC and

Related Topics:
Australia - AC/DC

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Britain's Def Leppard. Hard rock fans appreciated the blazing guitar solos, and working class listeners responded to the lack of glamour and rock star pretension in this music.

Related Topics:
Britain's - Def Leppard

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However, by the beginning of the 1980s, with the Allmans and Skynyrd both broken, with Capricorn Records in bankruptcy, and with Jimmy Carter out of office, much of Southern rock had become thoroughly enmeshed into corporate arena rock. With the rise of MTV, New Wave, and hair metal, most surviving Southern rock groups were relegated to secondary or regional venues.

Related Topics:
1980s - Arena rock - MTV - New Wave - Hair metal

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One notable exception was Texas' ZZ Top, who had started in 1970 and were the final band mentioned in "The South's Gonna Do It". In the 1980s they added slick synthesizer production to their boogie blues sound, and skillfully used music videos to achieve great popularity.

Related Topics:
Texas - ZZ Top - Synthesizer - Music videos

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There were occasional hits by groups such as the Georgia Satellites as well.

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During the 1990s the Allman Brothers reunified and became a strong touring and recording presence again, and the jam band scene revived interest in extended improvisory music (although the scene also owed much to the Grateful Dead). Incarnations of Lynyrd Skynyrd also made themselves heard. Hard rock groups with southern rock touches such as Jackyl renewed some interest in Southern rock. Classic rock radio stations played some of the more familiar 1970s works, and Daniels' Volunteer Jam concerts were still going.

Related Topics:
1990s - Jam band - Grateful Dead - Jackyl - Classic rock

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But most rock groups from the South, such as Georgia's R.E.M. Widespread Panic and Black Crowes, and Mississippi's Blind Melon, incorporated Southern musical and lyrical themes without explicitly allying with any Southern rock movement.

Related Topics:
Georgia - R.E.M. - Widespread Panic - Black Crowes - Mississippi - Blind Melon

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In 2005 Southern rock received new exposure from an unlikely source: singer Bo Bice took an explicitly Southern rock sensibility and appearance to a runner-up finish on the massively watched but normally pop-oriented American Idol television program. Fueled by a key early performance of the Allmans' "Whipping Post" and later performing Skynyrd's "Free Bird" and, with Skynyrd on stage with him, "Sweet Home Alabama", Bice demonstrated – and Idol judge Randy Jackson celebrated – that Southern rock still had a place in the American music pantheon.

Related Topics:
2005 - Bo Bice - American Idol - Free Bird - Randy Jackson

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