Rock music has been popular in Iran since 1960s, with the emergence of singers such as Kourosh Yaghmaei, Farhad Mehrad, Fereydoon Foroughi and Habib Mohebian, but was largely forgotten after the Iranian Revolution.
[6] Iranian rock was banned after the Islamic revolution of 1979, and apart from a small number of artists, this style of music still has many problems in Iran.
[7] Iranian rock music was developed by the emergence of artists such as Farhad Mehrad,[8] Kourosh Yaghmaei,[4] Black Cats,[9] The Dangers[10] and Scorpio[11][12](not to be confused with the German Scorpions).
[13] The origin of many Iranian rock artists, including Farhad and the Black Cats, is Couchini Restaurant.
"Without Couchini Restaurant, rock music would never have grown in Iran, and we would never hear singers like Ebi and Farhad.
Based on international standards, the flower of ice quickly penetrated beyond the borders of Iran, and thereafter various performances in other countries of the world continued to this day.
[20][21][22] According to Ebrahim Nabavi (author of the book Basement music): "Kourosh Yaghmaei has had a profound impact on Psychedelic Rock in Iran.
In 1987, he released his fourth solo instrumental album Diar which was recorded without bass, guitar and drums, as dictated by the Iranian government.
[17][18] After 12 years of trying to obtain the required permit from the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, the authority denied to release this album in Iran.
Latter in 2016, since two years of restriction not to use types of equipment such as acoustic system, sound engineering, professional microphones, amplifiers, Roland keyboard, electric guitar, 8 track recorder and other necessary equipment[17][9] the album was released by Now-Again in United States and the album was banned by the Iranian government.
[21] In 2018 Nas sampled an Old Persian Song called " Gole Yakh " by @kourosh.yaghmaei for Adam and Eve [28] Fereydoon Foroughi began his work a year after Farhad Mehrad.
One of the last artists to call themselves a member of Tehran Sound was Faramarz Aslani, who blended flamenco with rock.
Martik and Mehdi Khashe, along with Firouz Sarkarde, Behrouz Lari, Mohammad Moradi and Hossein Hosseini formed the Son Soul Brothers band.
[72] Rock music started after the revolution and before the presence of internet activities in the era of President Rafsanjani with the performance of Kaveh Yaghmaei and Babak Amini in Tehran.
Kaveh Yaghmai performed rock music and sold tickets for the first time in Tehran, which met with a great reception from the people became.
He is also the son of an Iranian famous musician, Kourosh Yaghmaei, the godfather of psychedelic rock music.
At this stage, Kaveh began to learn progressive rock, a style of music that was not taught anywhere in the country at the time.
Some of the many influences of his musical development include Baroque and classical music, as well as such classic rock bands such as Deep Purple, Rush, Supermax, Jethro Tull, Jeff Beck, AC/DC, Camel, The Ventures, Dire Straits, Elton John, Pink Floyd, Alan Parson and Eric Clapton.
Their lyrics tend to speak of their own cultural and personal experiences, and reflect on the loneliness, hope and despair of the world at large.
[85] The inspiration for many of Iran's hard rock songs of the 1970s were bands like Cream,[86] The Who[87] and above all The Jimi Hendrix Experience.
It was at this time that some Iranian youths, led by Farshid Arabi, were playing unauthorized heavy metal.
[89] Over time, Farshid Arabi formed a group called Silent Death and continued to operate underground.
[92][93] Many bands formed during this period in Iran such as Baramant,[94] Kahtmayan, Angband, Mordab,[95] Arsames[96] and Master of Persia.
[101] Hamed Babaei explains that Baramant's concept has evolved through different periods, reflecting religious, intellectual, and emotional meanings.
The band blends rock with oriental musical influences, emphasizing instrumental tracks centered around themes of death.
[102] Baramant was invited to a meeting held at Hanooz Publication to discuss rock music and the challenges and issues facing the genre in Iran.
[119][120] Mohsen Namjoo has introduced a lot of innovations in this style since 1993 when he entered Iranian rock music.
[123] In fall 2014, Namjoo taught “Revolution and Poets: Content and Form in Iranian Poetry.” Organized by Middle East Studies, Brown, he took part in a panel discussion on Protest Music/ Music Performance and Social Change on Thursday, November 13, as well as taking the lead on assembling a couple of Iranian bands, banned from playing in their own country, who came together for the first time in an Iranian Music Festival titled “Iran Underground” on November 15 at RISD Auditorium.
Some websites reported Namjoo's conviction by the Tehran General Court to five years in prison for insulting the sacred, mockery of the Qur'anic verses (Shams' song) and defaming the Muslim Bible.
In an interview with the BBC, he did not rule out a reporter's possibility of linking the conviction to his recent work, including a desert clip (which he presented to protesters during the 2009 presidential election).