The Beatles’ experimentation and creative freedom led other bands to experiment in various ways as well. British bands like Pink Floyd and Cream began improvising on stage

Hard Rock to Heavy Metal and Glam

They mixed hard-rock guitar riffs and power chords with rolling drumbeats and a heavy bass sound. Singer Ozzy Osbourne’s vocals, often about dark topics like war and death, were screamed over the music’s thick wall of sound.he avant-garde music of German bands like Can, Neu! and Kraftwerk was also exciting, especially to fans of prog rock and glam, but most of the music on mainstream radio was neither interesting nor exciting.

Punk changed everything. Anyone could form a band, and you could do whatever you like and still get the chance to perform. This led to an explosion of young bands making exciting new music. By the late 70s the best of these bands were being supported by punk fanzines and small record labels all over the world. Most of them no longer sounded like the first punk bands, however. They were expanding punk’s sound by adding elements of rockabilly, reggae music, 60s avant-garde, or whatever else they wanted to try. Bands as varied as the Cure, Gang of Four, Devo, the Cramps, the Fall and Joy Division were all part of this post-punk explosion.