NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Grebo

Grebo (occasionally spelled Greebo, although that has somewhat different connotations) was a major United Kingdom subculture of the late 1980s and early 1990s, largely based in the English Midlands. The name Grebo is used to refer to a language group or subgroup within the larger Kru language group of Niger-Congo languages in West Africa, or to certain of its constituent speech varieties, and spoken by members of the Grebo ethnic group or its various subgroups. ... In sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, a subculture is a set of people with a set of behaviors and beliefs, culture, which could be distinct or hidden, that differentiate them from the larger culture to which they belong. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Influential bands in the scene were Pop Will Eat Itself (who had songs titled, "Oh Grebo I Think I Love You" and "Grebo Guru"), Ned's Atomic Dustbin, Carter USM, The Wonder Stuff, The Levellers and Zodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction. Leicester bands Crazyhead, the Bomb Party, Scum Pups and Gaye Bykers on Acid, as well as New Model Army, are also sometimes associated with Grebo. The musical styles of the bands was more or less a blend of the more alternative forms of rock, pop, hip-hop, and electronica (although in the case of Zodiac Mindwarp it tended more towards hard rock/heavy metal). The music was in general harder than the Madchester sound and bands such as Carter USM tended strongly to the political left in lyrical content. The musical genre found favour with adherents of the earlier Post Punk roots of Gothic rock such as Mick Mercer which by the late 1980s had changed character significantly. Pop Will Eat Itself (also known as PWEI or the Poppies) were an English band formed in Stourbridge, with band members from Birmingham, Coventry and the Black Country. ... Neds Atomic Dustbin is a British Grebo rock band that formed in Stourbridge in West Midlands, England in November 1987. ... Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine (frequently shortened to Carter USM) was a British indie band formed in 1987 by singer Jim Jim Bob Morrison and guitarist Les Fruitbat Carter. ... The Wonder Stuff are a band originally based in Stourbridge, West Midlands, in the Black Country, England. ... The Levellers are a popular English band that plays Folk-rock or Indie rock influenced by Punk and traditional English music. ... Zodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction are a British hard rock group. ... Leicester city centre, looking towards the Clock Tower Leicester (pronounced ) is the largest city and unitary authority in the English East Midlands. ... Crazyhead are an English punk rock band from Leicester. ... Scum Pups were a grunge, post-punk rock band that formed in Leicester, England in November 1989. ... The Gaye Bykers On Acid, formed in Leicester, England in 1985, were one of the founding fathers of the Grebo music scene in the midlands of England. ... New Model Army are an English rock band. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Electronic music. ... Hard rock is a variation of rock and roll music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage and psychedelic rock. ... Heavy metal (sometimes referred to simply as metal) is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s. ... An NME Originals issue covering the Madchester movement. ... Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine (frequently shortened to Carter USM) was a British indie band formed in 1987 by singer Jim Jim Bob Morrison and guitarist Les Fruitbat Carter. ... Post-punk was a popular musical movement beginning at the end of the 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid 1970s. ... Gothic rock (sometimes called goth rock or simply goth) is a genre of rock music that originated during the late 1970s. ... Mick Mercer is an author who best known for his reviews of goth and punk music. ...

The grebo visual style often included dreadlocks, partially shaved heads and high ponytails, undercut or shaved long hair, baggy clothing, boots, lumberjack shirts, army surplus clothing, and eccentric hats. In addition to being called 'grebos', those in the Grebo scene were also sometimes called 'moshers', although the style of dancing was frequently closer to pogoing. Dreadlocks, sometimes called simply locks or dreads, are matted ropes of hair which will form by themselves if the hair is allowed to grow naturally without the use of brushes, combs, razors or scissors for a long period of time. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The pogo is a dance where the dancers jump up and down to an eight-count rhythm, similar to the dances of the Pentecostal faith and various African tribes. ...

The movement, although short-lived, was a reasonable success at the time, and influenced a number of later bands. To a certain extent it was a music press invention, much like positive punk, a scene and style named by British indie magazines, specifically NME and the Melody Maker. The scene occupied the period in the late 1980s and early 1990s before Grunge music, Britpop and other forms of Anglo-American Alternative rock took over. It was labelled "The Scene that Celebrates Itself" by the Melody Maker alongside the then popular shoegazing. Positive Punk is a term used to describe a branch of the punk subculture that emerged around Londons Batcave club in the early 1980s which was a precursor to the goth subculture. ... Not to be confused with the Canadian music magazine Music Express The New Musical Express (better known as the NME) is a Popular music magazine in the United Kingdom which has been published weekly since March 1952. ... Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was (until its closure) the worlds oldest weekly music newspaper. ... Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle Sound) is a subgenre of alternative rock that was created in the mid-1980s by bands from the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. ... Britpop was a British alternative rock genre and movement that was at its most popular in Great Britain in the mid 1990s. ... Alternative rock (also called alternative music or simply alternative; known primarily in the UK as indie) is a genre of rock music that emerged in the 1980s and became widely popular in the 1990s. ... Shoegazing (also known as shoegaze or shoegazer; practitioners referred to as shoegazers) is a style of Independent (or Indie) music that emerged from the U.K. in the late 1980s, lasting until the mid 1990s, with peaking circa 1990 to 1991. ...

Origin of the term

In relation to the 1980s musical genre Grebo is considered an abbreviation of Greasy Bastard first coined after an incident in a cinema in Stourbridge when Clint Mansell of Pop Will Eat Itself was told to "sit down you greasy bastard". In the midlands, where the term was originated, the term is now often associated with people whose music interests vary much from the original genre, and 'Greebo' is an often used insulting term used mainly by 'Chavs'[1], against youths with any kind of long hair, or listen to any genre of rock music. It is often said loudly in front of, or shouted at, these people. , Stourbridge is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the West Midlands of England. ... Pop Will Eat Itself (also known as PWEI or the Poppies) were an English band formed in Stourbridge, with band members from Birmingham, Coventry and the Black Country. ...

The term "Greebo" appears in Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, as the name of a cat. Pratchett's definition of a greebo is "Someone who wants to be a Hells Angel, but doesn't have the style." Terence David John Pratchett OBE (born April 28, 1948, in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England[1]) is an English fantasy author, best known for his Discworld series. ... Cover of an early edition of The Colour of Magic; art by Josh Kirby Discworld is a comedic fantasy book series by the British author Terry Pratchett set on the Discworld, a flat world balanced on the backs of four elephants which are in turn standing on the back of... Hells Angels logo (Smithsonian Institution) The Hells Angels (without an apostrophe), was formed in 1948 in Fontana, California (where the local chapter remains active), taking the name of the movie Hells Angels based on the Royal Flying Corps directed by Howard Hughes. ...

See also

Category: Rock music genres This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Post punk generally refers to the particularly fertile and creative period following the initial punk rock explosion. During the first wave of punk, roughly spanning 1976-1983, bands such as The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Ramones and The Damned began to challenge the current styles and conventions of rock... Riot grrl (also frequently spelled riot grrrl) is a form of hardcore punk rock music, known for its militant feminist stance. ... Britpop was a British alternative rock genre and movement that was at its most popular in Great Britain in the mid 1990s. ... It has been suggested that Properties and uses of metals be merged into this article or section. ... Alternative rock (also called alternative music or simply alternative; known primarily in the UK as indie) is a genre of rock music that emerged in the 1980s and became widely popular in the 1990s. ... Alternative metal is an eclectic form of music that gained popularity in the early 1990s alongside grunge. ... Britpop was a British alternative rock genre and movement that was at its most popular in Great Britain in the mid 1990s. ... C86 is the name of a celebrated cassette compilation released by the British music magazine New Musical Express (NME) in 1986, featuring new bands licenced from independent labels of the time. ... College rock was a term used in the USA to describe 1980s alternative rock before the term alternative came into common usage. ... Dream pop is a type of alternative rock that originated in the early 1980s when bands like Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance, and A.R. Kane (to whom the term has been attributed) began twisting New Wave melodies into sonic, echoing textures and mumbled vocals. ... Dunedin is a southern New Zealand University Town that spawned The Dunedin Sound. Similar in many ways to the traditional indie pop sound, the Dunedin Sound uses jingly jangly guitaring, minimal bass lines and loose drumming. ... John Flansburgh and John Linnell of They Might Be Giants, geek rock icons Geek Rock (also known as nerd rock, but distinguishable from the hip hop genre Nerdcore) is a musical subgenre of alternative rock, although unlike many genres, the term is somewhat loosely applied as far as the style... Gothic rock (sometimes called goth rock or simply goth) is a genre of rock music that originated during the late 1970s. ... Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle Sound) is a subgenre of alternative rock that was created in the mid-1980s by bands from the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. ... Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music often used to refer to bands that are on small independent record labels or that arent on labels at all. ... Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music often used to refer to bands that are on small independent record labels or that arent on labels at all. ... Industrial rock is a musical genre which is a fusion of industrial music and rock music. ... Lo-fi is a subgenre of indie rock which uses lo-fi recording practices. ... An NME Originals issue covering the Madchester movement. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Noise pop is a term used to loosely describe a number of alternative rock bands that fuse punk rocks attitude and anger with the atonal noise, feedback, and free song structures of noise music, presented in a decidedly pop context. ... Paisley Underground is a term used to describe a genre of rock music, based primarily in Los Angeles, California, which was at its most popular in the mid-1980s. ... Information in this article or section has not been verified against sources and may not be reliable. ... The post-punk revival is a movement in modern rock music consisting of Indie Rock, Punk Rock, Goth Rock, and Electronic bands that draw from the conventions of the original Post-Punk sound of the early 1980s, as well as the early 90s Britpop, 80s New Wave and... The term post-rock was coined by Simon Reynolds in issue 123 of The Wire (May 1994) to describe a sort of music using rock instrumentation for non-rock purposes, using guitars as facilitators of timbres and textures rather than riffs and powerchords. ... Riot grrrl (or riot grrl) is an indie-punk feminist movement that reached its height in the 1990s but continues to exert influence over alternative cultures. ... Shoegazing (also known as shoegaze or shoegazer; practitioners referred to as shoegazers) is a style of Independent (or Indie) music that emerged from the U.K. in the late 1980s, lasting until the mid 1990s, with peaking circa 1990 to 1991. ... Sadcore/Slowcore is a subgenre of alternative rock that developed from the downbeat melodies and slower tempos of late 1980s indie rock. ... For space rocks, see asteroid. ... This article is about the genre of music. ... This is a list of alternative rock artists. ... Campus radio (also known as college radio, university radio or student radio) is a type of radio station that is run by the students of a college, university or other educational institution. ... This is a timeline of alternative rock, from its beginnings in the 1970s to the present. ... in music that is characterized by its perceived independence from mainstream or pop culture as a whole. ... Lollapalooza is an American music festival featuring rock, alternative rock, hip hop, and punk rock bands, dance and comedy performances, and craft booths. ...

Encyclopedia > Grebo

Origin of the term

See also