French rock

French rock is a form of rock music produced in France, primarily with lyrics in the French language.

French rock was born as early as mid-1950s, when writer, songwriter and jazz player Boris Vian wrote parody rock songs for Magali Noël or Henri Salvador. Although Vian despised rock and wrote this songs as attacks, they are highly acclaimed by French critics today and considered precursors.

The first real French rock acts emerged at the end of the decade and in the beginning of the 1960s, with Johnny Hallyday achieving the most long-lasting success, while other acts like Les Chaussettes noires, led by other French rock star Eddy Mitchell, and Les Chats sauvages (led by Dick Rivers) contributed to the emergence of the genre, the last band writing the first real classic French rock song, Twist à Saint-Tropez. The emergence of the yé-yé movement slowed the commercial success of French rock, although some names like Antoine, Jacques Dutronc, Nino Ferrer and Michel Polnareff emerged in the middle of the 1960s and did have success, while others like Ronnie Bird or Les Variations achieved cult status.

In the 1970s, France saw the arrival of Alan Stivell's Breton folk-rock as well as a wave of progressive rock bands like Ange, Magma, Gong (whether they are actually a French band is debatable), Triangle, Dynastie Crisis, Shylock, Eskaton, Atoll and Pulsar. There was also some glam rock acts, like The Frenchies or the controversial and cult artist Alain Kan. Jacques Higelin's album BBH 75, which doesn't fit in these categories and is more of a transitional album between the classic era rock sound (à la Rolling Stones) and punk rock, is considered a seminal milestone by French critics, while ex-yé-yé star Christophe became a successful pop-rock artist, especially with his seminal albums Les Paradis perdus and Les Mots bleus (which title song is considered a major classic). French punk rock also appeared, including bands like Starshooter, Stinky Toys,* Electric Callas, Oberkampf and Métal Urbain. It was during this period that a few other variety music artists - Catherine Ribeiro, Bernard Lavilliers and others - flirted with rock, but without completely changing over. However, French singer Serge Gainsbourg's 70s output, which included the classic Histoire de Melody Nelson, the less accessible L'Homme à tête de chou and the reggae Aux armes et cætera, transitioned completely from chanson to rock (a move he started earlier in the 1960s) and offered French-language rock new classics. Another name to know is that of Gérard Manset, a cult artist who deliberately live in maintained obscurity, but whose ballad Il voyage en solitaire is a major song and progressive album La Mort d'Orion is a reference, and who has continued to collaborate with high-profile artists up to this day.

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