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 genres of blues, rhythm and blues, 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. 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, which extended artistic elements, and glam rock, which highlighted 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

The following are images from various rock music-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Elvis Presley in a promotion shot for Jailhouse Rock in 1957 (from Rock and roll)
Image 2Golden Earring receives a gold record in 1970. (from Hard rock)
Image 3Wolfmother, 2007 (from Hard rock)
Image 4Tommy Steele, one of the first British rock and rollers, performing in Stockholm in 1957 (from Rock and roll)
Image 5Buddy Holly and his band, the Crickets (from Rock and roll)
Image 6Led Zeppelin live at Chicago Stadium, January 1975 (from Hard rock)
Image 7Poison, seen here in 2008, were among the most successful acts of the 1980s glam metal era. (from Hard rock)
Image 8Nirvana were at the forefront of the 1990s grunge era. (from Hard rock)
Image 9Rush on stage in Milan, Italy, 2004 (from Hard rock)
Image 10Big Joe Turner and Pete Johnson's record "Roll 'Em Pete" is regarded as a precursor to rock and roll. (from Rock and roll)
Image 11Bill Haley and his Comets performing in the 1954 Universal International film Round Up of Rhythm (from Rock and roll)
Image 12Little Richard in 1957 (from Rock and roll)
Image 13Original member Izzy Stradlin' on stage with Guns N' Roses in 2006 (from Hard rock)
Image 14Sign commemorating the role of Alan Freed and Cleveland, Ohio, in the origins of rock and roll (from Rock and roll)
Image 15Baker, Bruce and Clapton of Cream, whose blues rock improvisation was a major factor in the development of the genre (from Hard rock)
Image 16Aerosmith performing at Quilmes Rock in Buenos Aires, Argentina on April 15, 2007 (from Hard rock)
Image 17Foo Fighters performing an acoustic show in 2007 (from Hard rock)
Image 18Chuck Berry in 1957 (from Rock and roll)
Image 19Drum notation for a backbeat (from Hard rock)
Image 20Kiss onstage in Boston in 2004 (from Hard rock)
Image 21"There's No Romance in Rock and Roll" made the cover of True Life Romance in 1956. (from Rock and roll)
Image 22The Who on stage in 1975 (from Hard rock)

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The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup (1964–1978) consisted of lead vocalist Roger Daltrey, guitarist Pete Townshend, bassist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered one of the most influential rock bands of the 20th century. Their contributions to rock music include the development of the Marshall stack, large public address systems, the use of synthesizers, Entwistle's and Moon's influential playing styles, Townshend's feedback and power chord guitar technique, and the development of the rock opera. They are cited as an influence by many hard rock, punk, power pop and mod bands. The Who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.

The Who evolved from an earlier group, the Detours, and established themselves as part of the pop art and mod movements, featuring auto-destructive art by destroying guitars and drums on stage. Their first single as the Who, "I Can't Explain" (1965), reached the UK top ten, and was followed by a string of hit singles including "My Generation" (1965), "Substitute" and "Happy Jack" (both 1966). In 1967, they performed at the Monterey Pop Festival and released "I Can See for Miles", their only US top-ten single. The group's 1969 concept album Tommy included the single "Pinball Wizard" and was a critical and commercial success.

Further festival appearances at Woodstock and the Isle of Wight, along with the concert album Live at Leeds (1970), established their reputation as a respected rock act. The success put pressure on lead songwriter Townshend, and the follow-up to Tommy, Lifehouse, was abandoned. Songs from the project made up the album Who's Next (1971), including the hits "Won't Get Fooled Again", "Baba O'Riley", and "Behind Blue Eyes". The group released another concept album, Quadrophenia (1973), as a celebration of their mod roots, and oversaw the film adaptation of Tommy (1975). They continued to tour to large audiences before semi-retiring from live performances at the end of 1976. The release of Who Are You (1978) was overshadowed by Moon's death shortly after.

Kenney Jones replaced Moon and the group resumed touring, and released a film adaptation of Quadrophenia and the retrospective documentary The Kids Are Alright (both 1979). After Townshend became weary of the group, they split in 1983. The Who occasionally re-formed for live appearances such as Live Aid in 1985, a 25th-anniversary tour in 1989 and a tour of Quadrophenia in 1996–1997. A full reunion began in 1999, with drummer Zak Starkey. After Entwistle's death in 2002, plans for a new album were delayed until 2006, with Endless Wire. Since Entwistle's death, the Who have continued to perform and tour, most commonly with Starkey on drums, Pino Palladino on bass, and Pete's brother Simon Townshend on second guitar and backing vocals. In 2019, the group released the album Who and toured with a symphony orchestra. (Full article...)

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Lydia Canaan is a Lebanese singer-songwriter, poet, humanitarian activist, and diplomat. She is noted for her four-octave vocal range, unique vocal stylings, songwriting, and for being the first Lebanese artist in music history to achieve global success. Widely regarded as the first "rock star" of the Middle East, she is cataloged in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum's Library and Archives.

Canaan is also credited as the first artist in the Middle Eastern region to release English-language music only, and the first to have music videos featured on MTV Global, MTV Russia, MTV Southeast Asia, and MTV Middle East.

Canaan rose to fame in the mid-1980s as an adolescent rock singer performing amid enemy attacks during the Lebanese Civil War, holding concerts in vicinities of Lebanon as they were being bombed. "In a small country that was ripped by war," Society writes, "there was this young girl making a difference".

Canaan's career is described as having defied tradition, challenged convention, and transcended millennia-old gender barriers. Arabian Woman reports, "as a girl who grew up in the midst of a bloody civil war, Canaan was breaking down seemingly insurmountable barriers. She rocked the establishment". (Full article...)

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Closing Time is the debut album by American singer-songwriter Tom Waits, released on March 6, 1973, on Asylum Records. Produced and arranged by former Lovin' Spoonful member Jerry Yester, Closing Time was the first of seven of Waits' major releases by Asylum.

The album is noted for being predominantly folk influenced although Waits intended Closing Time to be "a jazz, piano-led album." Upon release, the album was mildly successful in the United States, although it did not chart and received little attention from music press in the United Kingdom and elsewhere internationally. Critical reaction to Closing Time was positive. The album's only single, "Ol' '55", attracted attention due to a cover version by Waits's more popular label mates, the Eagles. Other songs from the album were covered by Tim Buckley and Bette Midler. The album was certified Gold in the UK and has gained a contemporary cult following among rock fans. Since its release, the album has been reissued on LP in 1976, on CD in 1992 and 1999, and 180 gram LP in 2010. (Full article...)

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"D.S." is a song by Michael Jackson, released on his 1995 album HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I. It is a rock song that conveys themes such as bitterness, mistrust and corruption within law enforcement. It was written, composed and produced by Jackson and includes an instrumental accompaniment and guitar solo by Slash.

The lyrics are interpreted as an attack on Santa Barbara County District Attorney Tom Sneddon, whose name is similar to the subject of the song, Dom Sheldon. Sneddon controlled the investigation into Jackson following the 1993 accusations of child sexual abuse against him. Jackson was angered by the allegations, his perception of people of color constantly being mistreated by the police and media, and the negative effect on his health. (Full article...)

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Credit: Rowland Scherman

Joan Baez and Bob Dylan at a civil rights march on Washington, D.C., 28 August 1963.

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Did you know (auto-generated)

... that before charting on the UK Albums Chart with Are We There Yet?, the indie rock musician James Marriott had made a career of mocking other YouTubers' music?
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... that the British rock musician Hannah Grae went viral online with an anti-sexual harassment parody of Aqua's "Barbie Girl"?
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Garage rock (sometimes called garage punk or '60s punk) is a raw and energetic style of rock and roll that flourished in the mid-1960s, most notably in the United States and Canada, and has experienced a series of subsequent revivals. The style is characterized by basic chord structures played on electric guitars and other instruments, sometimes distorted through a fuzzbox, as well as often unsophisticated and occasionally aggressive lyrics and delivery. Its name derives from the perception that groups were often made up of young amateurs who rehearsed in the family garage, although many were professional. (Full article...)