Portal:Rock music
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The Rock Music Portal
Rock is a broad genre of popular music that originated as "rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles from the mid-1960s, particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, a style that drew directly from the blues and rhythm and blues genres of African-American music and from country music. Rock also drew strongly from genres such as electric blues and folk, and incorporated influences from jazz and other musical styles. For instrumentation, rock has centered on the electric guitar, usually as part of a rock group with electric bass guitar, drums, and one or more singers. Usually, rock is song-based music with a 4
4 time signature using a verse–chorus form, but the genre has become extremely diverse. Like pop music, lyrics often stress romantic love but also address a wide variety of other themes that are frequently social or political. Rock was the most popular genre of music in the U.S. and much of the Western world from the 1950s to the 2010s.
Rock musicians in the mid-1960s began to advance the album ahead of the single as the dominant form of recorded music expression and consumption, with the Beatles at the forefront of this development. Their contributions lent the genre a cultural legitimacy in the mainstream and initiated a rock-informed album era in the music industry for the next several decades. By the late 1960s "classic rock" period, a number of distinct rock music subgenres had emerged, including hybrids like blues rock, folk rock, country rock, southern rock, raga rock, and jazz rock, which contributed to the development of psychedelic rock, influenced by the countercultural psychedelic and hippie scene. New genres that emerged included progressive rock with extended artistic elements, glam rock, highlighting showmanship and visual style. In the second half of the 1970s, punk rock reacted by producing stripped-down, energetic social and political critiques. Punk was an influence in the 1980s on new wave, post-punk and eventually alternative rock.
From the 1990s, alternative rock began to dominate rock music and break into the mainstream in the form of grunge, Britpop, and indie rock. Further fusion subgenres have since emerged, including pop-punk, electronic rock, rap rock, and rap metal. Some movements were conscious attempts to revisit rock's history, including the garage rock/post-punk revival in the 2000s. Since the 2010s, rock has lost its position as the pre-eminent popular music genre in world culture, but remains commercially successful. The increased influence of hip-hop and electronic dance music can be seen in rock music, notably in the techno-pop scene of the early 2010s and the pop-punk-hip-hop revival of the 2020s. (Full article...)
General images - load new batch
- Image 1Sign commemorating the role of Alan Freed and Cleveland, Ohio, in the origins of rock and roll (from Rock and roll)
- Image 4"There's No Romance in Rock and Roll" made the cover of True Life Romance in 1956. (from Rock and roll)
- Image 11Aerosmith performing at Quilmes Rock in Buenos Aires, Argentina on April 15, 2007 (from Hard rock)
- Image 17Big Joe Turner and Pete Johnson's record "Roll 'Em Pete" is regarded as a precursor to rock and roll. (from Rock and roll)
- Image 20Tommy Steele, one of the first British rock and rollers, performing in Stockholm in 1957 (from Rock and roll)
- Image 22Bill Haley and his Comets performing in the 1954 Universal International film Round Up of Rhythm (from Rock and roll)
Selected article
Originally formed in 1993 by three members of the band L.A.P.D., Korn's current lineup features founding members James "Munky" Shaffer (guitar); Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu (bass); Brian "Head" Welch (guitar, backing vocals); and Jonathan Davis (lead vocals, bagpipes), with the addition of Ray Luzier (drums) in 2007, replacing the band's first drummer David Silveria.
Korn made a demo tape, Neidermayer's Mind, in 1993, which was distributed free to record companies and on request to members of the public. Their debut album Korn was released in 1994, followed by their commercial breakthrough, Life Is Peachy, in 1996. The band first experienced mainstream success with Follow the Leader (1998) and Issues (1999), both of which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. The band's mainstream success continued with Untouchables (2002); Take a Look in the Mirror (2003); and See You on the Other Side (2005).
A compilation album, Greatest Hits Vol. 1, was released in 2004, spanning a decade of singles and concluding the band's recording contract with Immortal Records and Epic Records. They signed to Virgin Records, releasing See You on the Other Side in 2005, and an untitled album in 2007. The band's other recent albums, Korn III: Remember Who You Are (2010) and The Path of Totality (2011), were released via Roadrunner Records, with The Paradigm Shift (2013) being released via Prospect Park and Caroline Records. The Serenity of Suffering saw their return to Roadrunner Records, through which The Nothing was released on September 13, 2019. Their latest album, Requiem, was released via Loma Vista Recordings on February 4, 2022. (Full article...)
Selected biography
Born in 1946 in Zanzibar to Parsi-Indian parents, Mercury attended English boarding schools in India from the age of eight and returned to Zanzibar after secondary school. In 1964, his family fled the Zanzibar Revolution, moving to Middlesex, England. Having studied and written music for years, he formed Queen in 1970 with guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor. Mercury wrote numerous hits for Queen, including "Killer Queen", "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Somebody to Love", "We Are the Champions", "Don't Stop Me Now" and "Crazy Little Thing Called Love". His charismatic stage performances often saw him interact with the audience, as displayed at the 1985 Live Aid concert. He also led a solo career and was a producer and guest musician for other artists.
Mercury was diagnosed with AIDS in 1987. He continued to record with Queen, and was posthumously featured on their final album, Made in Heaven (1995). In 1991, the day after announcing his diagnosis, he died from complications of the disease at the age of 45. In 1992, a concert in tribute to him was held at Wembley Stadium, in benefit of AIDS awareness. His career with Queen was dramatised in the 2018 biopic Bohemian Rhapsody.
As a member of Queen, Mercury was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001, the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2003, and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2004. In 1990, he and the other Queen members received the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music. One year after his death, Mercury received the same award individually. In 2005, Queen were awarded an Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Song Collection from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers, and Authors. In 2002, Mercury was voted number 58 in the BBC's poll of the 100 Greatest Britons. (Full article...)
Selected album
By Your Side is the fifth studio album by American rock band The Black Crowes. It was released in early 1999 on Columbia Records, following the band's move from American Recordings, after second guitarist Marc Ford and bassist Johnny Colt had left the band in 1997. Audley Freed and Sven Pipien were hired as the new guitarist and bassist, respectively, although Rich Robinson played all the guitar parts on the album. By Your Side was recorded in New York City during the second quarter of 1998 and produced by Kevin Shirley. It comprised songs written in the studio, revised songs from pre-production and re-recorded songs from the abandoned 1997 album Band.
The Black Crowes promoted By Your Side by performing on numerous television programs in North America and Europe. The album debuted at its peak position of number 26 on the Billboard 200 and generally received positive reviews. While some critics depreciated By Your Side for its similarity to albums by Rod Stewart and The Rolling Stones, most reviewers lauded The Black Crowes' return to the straightforward approach of their debut album, Shake Your Money Maker (1990). Chris Robinson's singing and Rich's guitar playing also won praise from critics, though reviews of the lyrics were mixed.
Beginning in February 1999, the band toured North American theaters for two months in support of the album. Setlists from the tour, known as the "Souled Out Tour", typically included more than half the album's songs. The concerts were followed by a short co-headlining tour of US amphitheaters with Lenny Kravitz. The band spent the remainder of the summer opening for Aerosmith's European tour. (Full article...)
Selected song
"Objects in the Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are" is a song composed and written by Jim Steinman, and recorded by Meat Loaf. The song was released in 1994 as the third single from the album Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell and it reached number 38 on US's Billboard Hot 100, and number 26 in the UK Top 40. With its chart success, this song became the hit with the longest un-bracketed title at fifty-two characters . The title is derived from the safety warning on car side mirrors in the US, "Objects in mirror are closer than they appear".
Parts of the melody were adapted from Steinman's earlier tune "Surf's Up", which appears on Steinman's solo album Bad for Good. Steinman later reused the melody, with new lyrics by Michael Kunze, for "Die Unstillbare Gier", a song in the Tanz der Vampire productions, and for "Confession of a Vampire" in the ill-fated US version (Dance of the Vampires). (Full article...)
Selected picture
Credit: Sven-Sebastian Sajak |
Billie Joe Armstrong, singer and guitarist of Green Day, stands on the Center Stage of Rock im Park Festival 2013.
Did you know (auto-generated)
- ... that the Liverpool Echo described British rock and roll star Tommy Steele as "quite unable to sing and play the guitar at the same time" when reviewing his first album?
- ... that the Diaspora Yeshiva Band infused rock and bluegrass with Jewish lyrics, creating a music style it called "Hasidic rock" or "Country and Eastern"?
- ... that heavy metal band Judas Priest took their name from Bob Dylan's song "The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest"?
- ... that the heavy metal musician Leah has sometimes been called "the metal Enya"?
- ... that the British rock musician Hannah Grae went viral online with an anti-sexual harassment parody of Aqua's "Barbie Girl"?
- ... that when rock musician Warren Zevon received a terminal diagnosis of lung cancer, he learned to "enjoy every sandwich"?
Selected genre
Post-Britpop is an alternative rock subgenre and is the period in the late 1990s and early 2000s, following Britpop, when the media were identifying a "new generation" or "second wave" of guitar bands influenced by acts like Oasis and Blur, but with less overt British concerns in their lyrics and making more use of American rock and indie influences, as well as experimental music. Bands in the post-Britpop era that had been established acts, but gained greater prominence after the decline of Britpop, such as Radiohead and the Verve, and new acts such as Travis, Keane, Snow Patrol, Stereophonics, Feeder, and particularly Coldplay, achieved much wider international success than most of the Britpop groups that had preceded them, and were some of the most commercially successful acts of the late 1990s and early 2000s. (Full article...)
Selected audio
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Green Day is an American rock band formed in the East Bay of California in 1987 by lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong and bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, with drummer Tré Cool joining in 1990. In 1994, their major-label debut Dookie, released through Reprise Records, became a breakout success and eventually shipped over 10 million copies in the U.S. Alongside fellow California punk bands Bad Religion, the Offspring, Rancid, NOFX, Pennywise and Social Distortion, Green Day is credited with popularizing mainstream interest in punk rock in the U.S.
Before taking its current name in 1989, the band was named Blood Rage, then Sweet Children. They were part of the late 1980s/early 1990s Bay Area punk scene that emerged from the 924 Gilman Street club in Berkeley, California. The band's early releases were with the independent record label Lookout! Records. For most of the band's career, they have been a power trio with Cool, who replaced John Kiffmeyer in 1990 before the recording of the band's second studio album, Kerplunk (1991). Though the albums Insomniac (1995), Nimrod (1997) and Warning (2000) did not match the success of Dookie, they were still successful, with Insomniac and Nimrod reaching double platinum status, while Warning achieved gold. Green Day's seventh album, a rock opera called American Idiot (2004), found popularity with a younger generation, selling six million copies in the U.S. Their next album, 21st Century Breakdown, was released in 2009 and achieved the band's best chart performance. It was followed by a trilogy of albums, ¡Uno!, ¡Dos!, and ¡Tré!, released in September, November, and December 2012, respectively. The trilogy did not perform as well as expected commercially, in comparison to their previous albums, largely due to a lack of promotion and Armstrong entering rehab. They were followed by Revolution Radio (2016), which became their third to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, Father of All Motherfuckers (2020) and Saviors (2024). (Full article...)More did you know...
- ... that David Bowie's first gig as lead singer was at the Green Man, Blackheath?
- ... that Carlton le Willows Academy alumni include cricketer Mark Footitt, Air Supply singer/guitarist Graham Russell, and balloonist Janet Folkes?
- ... that the video for Marilyn Manson's soft-rock ballad "Running to the Edge of the World" was widely condemned for its depiction of violence against women?
- ... that Susan Beschta was a punk rocker and federal judge?
- ... that the FM Non-Duplication Rule adopted by the FCC 59 years ago led to the creation of the album-oriented and classic rock radio formats?
- ... that The Elvis Dead, a retelling of Evil Dead II in the style of Elvis Presley, features songs such as "Standing in a State of Shock", "I've Been Possessed", and "Wrapped Up in Vines"?
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