Eastern influence in rock music

[secrets]

I guess the Beatles were the first to fuse the influence of Eastern music with rock music with the use of sitar, Indian percussion, ragas etc.

They also used the harmonic minor minor scale in vocal melodies.

Obviously, there's Led Zepellin and 'Kashmir' which is a classic.

On the other hand, I saw Eric Clapton hopelessly trying to improvise to Indian music on the George Harrison tribute concert, man that made me cringe.

Leave that stuff to guys like John Mclaughlin Eric, i.e people who know more than pentatonic and blues scales.

I guess it's one of those things that are done really well or really badly.

[secrets]

BTW this is not a trick question.

In fact I'm not sure it is a question, more of a concept.

[Soul Reaper]

Mahavishnu Orchestra. Although, that was more jazz than rock.

[Mr Badguy]

Rainbow on "Stargazer".

That song rocks.

[Mr Badguy]

On the shit side: "Taste of India" by Aerosmith.

It makes me think of a takeaway or restaraunt.

And it sucks.

[secrets]

Originally posted by Mr Badguy
On the shit side: "Taste of India" by Aerosmith.

It makes me think of a takeaway or restaraunt.

And it sucks.

Haven't heard that one, thanks for the warning.

Which album is it on?

[Soul Reaper]

I can't think of many rock bands who used Eastern influences except for Led Zeppelin and The Beatles.

I know prog rock bands would use eastern influences. I'll try and check some out.

[secrets]

Originally posted by Soul Reaper
Mahavishnu Orchestra. Although, that was more jazz than rock.

You're right, but Mclaughlin is an amazing guitar player and his acoustic guitar solos with Shakti are just mind blowing.

[Soul Reaper]

Prog rock bands are too diverse. I don't know where to start to look for eastern influenced bands. Google isn't helping either.

[secrets]

Originally posted by Soul Reaper
I can't think of many rock bands who used Eastern influences except for Led Zeppelin and The Beatles.

I know prog rock bands would use eastern influences. I'll try and check some out.

Listen to Smaller and Smaller by Faith No More. Very Eastern even the vocals.

The harmonic minor scale is used a fair bit in metal and can sound very Eastern. Especially the 5th mode.

Satriani on the song 'War' is a good example I think.

Alex Lifeson's solo on YYZ sounds to me like some bizarre Middle Eastern instrument.

As far as prog goes The Ozrics of course, especially on the album Strangeitude.

[nosuchluck]

"Home" by Dream Theater (its on Scenes from a memory) has a very eastern sounding outro..

[Mr Badguy]

Originally posted by secrets
Haven't heard that one, thanks for the warning.

Which album is it on?

"Nine lives".

There ain`t much else on that album worth hearing either.

[nosuchluck]

Jonas Hellborg and Shawn Lane had a lot of Indian influences in their music...

[secrets]

Originally posted by secrets
Satriani on the song 'War' is a good example I think.

Actually, it isn't really, apart from the very end of the song.

But I think 'Mystical Potato Head Groove Thing' by Satriani has some quite Eastern-sounding parts to it, though I haven't heard it in ages.

[secrets]

Originally posted by Mr Badguy
"Nine lives".

There ain`t much else on that album worth hearing either.

After Pump, which is a really good album, I think Aerosmith went way down hill and opted for love ballads over quality songs.