Rock is popular music of the 20th century. From the early 1950s to the early 2000s. this direction set the tone for the global music industry. For half a century, rock has undergone many transformations. It includes different styles that differ significantly from each other.
Forerunner of rock and roll
Despite the fact that Elvis Presley is considered the "king of rock and roll", he was not at all the pioneer of this genre. The first person to make an electric guitar emit strange, distorted, but incredibly incendiary sounds was Chuck Berry. Actually, it is this African American who released the first single in 1955, who is the ancestor of rock and roll.
It is also worth noting a musician named Jerry Lee Lewis, whose main instrument, although the piano was, but his wild stage behavior became the basis for all future rock and roll players.
Rock'n'roll
In the early 1960s. a new genre of music, rooted in black rhythm and blues, rockabilly and country music, has made its way to the UK. It was there that the two most popular and commercially successful rock bands in the world emerged - The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.
In the wake of the success of the "Beatles" and "Rollings" in the USA, England and other countries, hundreds of amateur bands began to appear, trying to play fashionable youth music. However, due to the lack of proper professionalism, high-quality equipment and recording capabilities, all these ensembles were called "garage rock", because they were often forced to play and sing in places that were not suitable for this activity. The most famous bands of this subgenre are The Monkees, The Mamas & The Papas, The Sonics, The Troggs.
In 1967, the American band Velvet Underground released their debut album, which revolutionized the genre. Before the Velvet, rock was all about love, parties and other optimistic things, and then this music began to talk about the "dark sides of life." In fact, VU has come up with all the world's "alternative" music.
Their own creativity had modest merit from a musical point of view, so groups quickly arose that were able to more effectively develop and submit the ideas of the founders. The most influential rock bands of the late 1960s are The Doors, Iggy & The Stooges and Jimi Henrdix Experience. It is they who stand at the origins of psychedelic and hard rock.
Hard rock
In the early 1970s. such groups as AC / DC, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Black Sabbath gained worldwide fame. All of them had one thing in common - they played hard rock or hard rock. New technologies in the field of sound shaping and recording made it possible for these guys to play the most powerful and heavy music at that time. The emphasis in hard rock was on the sound, and only secondarily on the content of the songs.
It should be noted that in the 2000s. classic hard rock has morphed into stoner rock - an even lower frequency, stringy and louder form of music than ever before. The main stoner stars are Electric Wizard, Queens of The Stone Age and Acid King.
Art rock
Tired of "blockhead" rock, some intelligent and educated musicians decided to take electric guitars and show everyone what real art is. Thus, in the mid-1970s, art rock, aka progressive rock, gained popularity.
The main difference between art rock and all previous forms of this music is the desire to move away from the root African American blues to the traditions of European academic music. Therefore, the abundant use of synthesizers, violins and other uncharacteristic instruments in art rock was considered natural. The most important bands of this style are Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, Yes and Genesis, as well as David Bowie.
Punk
Punk rock emerged because the audience was tired of highbrow art rock and demanded something simple and fun. So in the late 1970s punk rock emerged, which was essentially the same as the garage rock of the 1960s: fast, primitive, dirty-sounding music about the delights of a riotous lifestyle. The most popular punk band is the Sex Pistols, but Exploited and The Dead Kennedys also had success. All of them are from Great Britain, and in the USA the main punks were The Ramones and Dead Boys.
Post-punk
The founder of the post-punk style is the Joy Division, which existed from 1978 to 1980. and has recorded only two full-length albums. Nevertheless, the work of this group laid the foundation for a whole gothic subculture, since all their songs were dedicated to the themes of death, chaos, decay and oblivion. On the wave of the new style, such cult bands as The Cure, Bauhaus, Siouxsie and the Banshees and others emerged. Musically, post-punk differs from other rock styles by a strong emphasis on the rhythm section and a more "ghostly" sound.
Metal
Metal, which was very popular throughout the 1980s, is a natural development of the ideas of hard rock. The characteristic features of metal rock are extremely harsh, heavy and aggressive sound, as well as the exploitation of themes such as war, violence, mysticism, religion, etc.
There are a large number of subgenres - heavy metal, black metal, speed metal, symphonic metal, industrial metal, etc. The differences between them lie in the methods of sound and composition formation (somewhere harder and faster, somewhere more melodic and slower), as well as technicality. The vast majority of metal compositions are endowed with complex and lengthy guitar solos.
Most popular metal bands: Metallica, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Megadeth, Motorhead, Burzum, Cannibal Corpse, Rammstein, Ministry.
Nu metal
The first ever nu metal album was released in 1994 by the band Korn, successfully combining hard rock, hip-hop and post-punk.
Thus, the last to date style of rock music was born, which had unique techniques. Characteristic features of nu metal are syncopated rhythm, frequent absence of guitar solos, recitative instead of traditional singing, and song structure borrowed from pop music. The general mood of songs in this style is angry, aggressive.
The most popular nu metal bands besides Korn are Limp Bizkit, Deftones, Linkin Park, Rage Against The Machine, Static X, Coal Chamber.
Rock is an extremely diverse musical genre in which every music lover can find something to their liking. Unfortunately, for the last 15 years this direction has been in a state of stagnation. However, it is quite possible that in the future new ways of shaping the guitar sound will be invented, which will help rock again become the most demanded music in the world.
