ROCK MUSIC

By Freya Downs

DEFINITION OF ROCK MUSIC

noun
noun: rock music
1.
a form of popular music which evolved from rock and roll and pop music during the mid and late 1960s. Harsher and often selfconsciously more serious than its predecessors, it was initially characterized by musical experimentation and drug-related or antiestablishment lyrics.
2.
another term for Rock and Roll
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It is often categorized by its heavy use of the instruments: Guitar, Drums and Bass
along with a powerful singing voice. It typically has a 4/4 beat and has a heavy
emphasis on the culture of live music and alternative lifestyles such as Punk and
Goth.

1950s

In 1953 Elvis Presley, aged 18, is discovered for his

musical talent and releases Thats alright Mama
which is considered to be one of the first ever pieces
of Rock and Roll. In 1955 he sells his contract with
Sun Records for $286,000 making him incredibly rich
and is considered the first real rock star and is often
known as the King of Rock and Roll.
During the 50s, James Hendrix first learns to play the
guitar, his father bought it him for $5. He would later
become known as Jimi Hendrix, the worlds most
iconic guitarist.

1960s

Often known as the Golden Age, the 60s were a very

crucial time for rock music.
Bands from the UK such as The Who and The Rolling Stones
gain popularity overseas. In 1963 the Beatles release I want
to hold your hand which becomes a first of manly US
number 1s for them.
In 1968 Jimmy Page forms Led Zeppelin, Ozzy Osborne forms
Black Sabbath and going onto 1969 Woodstock Music
festival is held, 400,000 young people came for 3 days of
Peace and Music and is considered a crucial moment in the
history of music altogether.

1970s

After the success of the Golden 60s, many bands such as

Queen and ACDC are formed and create fame in the Classic
Rock genre. Pink Floyd bring out their hit album Dark Side
of the Moon stays in the charts for 741 weeks (only
remaining at the number 1 spot for 1 week) and sells over
50,000,000 copies.
Meanwhile a new subgenre is created that strays away from
the clean guitar sound and puts more emphasis on a
crunchy sounding guitar and a rougher singing voice,
sometimes using screaming, this is the birth of Heavy Metal
and bands such as Motorhead, Iron Maiden and Metallica
remain popular today.

1980s/1990s

Faith no More brought out their single epic, the

combination of rap music and heavy metal creates a new
genre known as nu metal, popular artists of this genre
include Rage against the Machine, System of a Down,
Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Slipknot.
In Seattle the genre of grunge is formed, staying very
local throughout the 80's but the success of Nirvana's
Nevermind becomes an international hit and sends other
grunge bands such as Alice in Chains and Pearl Jam into
international fame.

2000s/NOW

At the turn of the century the idea of a rockstar is changed

to be much more accsesable to the target audience with
British bands such as Radiohead and the verve portraying
the image of a rockstar as an ordinary person in simple attire
and self produced music which later becomes known as
indie.
The early 2000's bring us bands such as My Chemical
Romance and Falloutboy who are young and appeal to
teenage girls. The image they have created brought fourth
the emo genre which is only now coming out of fashion,
making way for the new most popular rock genre metal
core or screamo, combining the emo image with a sound
much closer to metal. Bands such as Bring me the Horizon
and Sleeping with Sirens are popular acts within these new
genres.