Difficult Listening 4 - Noise Music

In 1913, Italian artist Luigi Russolo wrote a manifesto entitled "The Art of Noises". This treatise entertained the idea that the industrial revolution had created a new vocabulary of sound that could, and should, be incorporated into the sounds of modern music. To this end, Russolo built his own "instruments" and staged a concert. The audience responded with vegetables, rocks, and bottles.

This was possibly the beginning of what I call "difficult listening". Russolo's performance may not have achieved its desired result but his theory was not unnoticed. Noise began to appear in the works of composers like Stockhausen and Varese. In the 1940s, John Cage emerged as the leading theoretician of noise and spontaneity. He felt that all sound could, and should, be used creatively. To this end, he directed "happenings" and wrote pieces for silence. Cage is still viewed as a rebel but noise and spontaneity have become more and more prevalent in the music of today.

Moving forward to 1966, two items that brought this musical change into my life.

Spontaneous Sound was the name given to live presentations given by Christopher Tree. Tree had an array of gongs, chimes, bells, and shawms that he would use to create an exciting atmosphere for his often psychedelicized audience. It is not difficult to listen to - it appeals on a primitive genetic level - but it is difficult to musically describe. This record was sold at his performances.

Around the same time, Contact High by The Godz was released from the Lower East Side of New York City by Esperanto Records. Esperanto had a history of spoken word poetry and avant-garde jazz, and was the label of The Fugs ( a group with marginal musical capabilities), but this record was a stretch even for them. The Godz made celebratory noise that sounded sort of like music.

There have been several contenders to be the first to bring noise to rock 'n' roll - for me, it was The Godz.

Since I no longer own a copy of "Contact High" and have copied the images from https://www.discogs.com/search/ - let me put in a plug for their excellent research site and hope my usage is educational enough they won't complain.