What kind of music do you like?

Tick (P) the types of music you listen to:

classical …………..	techno ……………
opera …………..	rock and pop ……………
jazz …………..	heavy metal ……………
soul ………….	country ……………
blues ………….	folk ……………
house …………	reggae …………..
rap ………….	world music ………….

A rock band

Match these words with this picture of a rock band:

lead singer	guitarist	keyboard player
bass player	drummer	backing singers

 

 

Talking about bands

Complete the sentences below with these words:

gig	tour	chorus
verse	lyrics	venues

1. Have you heard that Radiohead are going on …. later this year? They’re going to be playing at …. all round the country. I hope they do a …. somewhere near here. I’d love to see them.

2. Do you like Blur?

Well, I quite like the music but the …. are really silly. I don’t know what they’re singing about.

3. Why don’t you like Oasis?

Their songs all sound the same. They sing one … and then repeat the …. fifteen times.

Talking about recordings

Complete the sentences with these words:

track	album	songs
tune	solo	number one
charts	single	cover version

1. Have you heard Massive Attack’s new ….? It’s fantastic.

Yes, the first …….. is my favourite. I keep playing it over and over again.

2. I’ve just bought REM’s latest album.

Yes, I’ve got that. It’s great. There’s a superb guitar …. right at the beginning. You’ll love it.

3. Have you heard Billie’s new single yet?

Yes, I don’t like it much, but it’s got such a catchy …. I can’t get it out of my head.

4. Paul Weller normally writes all his own …. but on his new album he’s done a … of an old Bob Dylan number. It’s absolutely brilliant – better than the original!

5. Britney Spears is releasing a new … this week. I’m sure it’ll go straight to … in the … like all her others.

Pop – music.

Complete the words below.

album	beat	disc-jockey	hit	juke-box	tune
LP	lyric	single	sleeves	tempo

1. A … plays records in discotheques.

2. A small record is called a ….

3. A large record is called a(n) …….

4. Records are kept in … to preserve them from dust.

5. A long-playing record by a pop group is a (n) …..

6. In a pub records are played on a ….

7. The rhythm of the music is called the ….

8. The words of a song is the ….

9. The melody of the song is the …..

10. The speed of the music is the ….

11. A song which is a great success is a ….

6. Read the text:

Kurt Cobain

Kurt Cobain was one of the most well-known international music stars of the early 1990s, even though he once said, ‘famous is the last thing I wanted to be’. Despite his success he suffered from depression and drug addiction, and in 1994 his psychological problems caused him to kill himself. He was only 27 when he died.

Cobain was the lead singer and songwriter of a famous American group called Nirvana, the leaders of a musical movement called ‘grunge’. The north-western American city of Seattle became the capital of the grunge scene in the early 1990s. Cobain, who grew up not far from Seattle, was a very musical child and knew he wanted to be in a band from the age of twelve. As a teenager he was interested in art as well as music, and started showing his rebellious side – for example he hated sport, even though he was good at it, and whenever he had to play baseball he deliberately played badly in the hope that the coach would not select him again.

He formed Nirvana in 1987 with Krist Novoselic, a bass guitarist, and Dave Grohl, a drummer. By 1990 the band was already famous, and in 1991 they produced their most successful album, Nevermind, which sold 24 million copies worldwide.

People talked about Cobain as the ‘voice of a generation’ because his music was so popular with teenagers and young people who felt society did not understand them.

Indeed, grunge music generally expressed feelings of anger or unhappiness: it was powerful and original, but few people would say it was cheerful.

Cobain had a famously difficult relationship with the American singer and actress Courtney Love, who he married in 1991. The couple had a daughter, Frances Bean, whose unusual second name comes from the fact that Cobain thought she looked like a bean when he first saw an ultrasound image of her during Love’s pregnancy.