Portal:Rock music

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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 rock and roll, a style that drew directly from the black musical genres of blues, rhythm and blues, and 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 is typically 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 and utilizing 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 few 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, heavy metal, which emphasized an aggressive thick sound, 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 1Wolfmother, 2007 (from Hard rock)
Image 2The Who on stage in 1975 (from Hard rock)
Image 3Kiss onstage in Boston in 2004 (from Hard rock)
Image 4Aerosmith performing at Quilmes Rock in Buenos Aires, Argentina on April 15, 2007 (from Hard rock)
Image 5Elvis Presley in a promotion shot for Jailhouse Rock in 1957 (from Rock and roll)
Image 6Rush on stage in Milan, Italy, 2004 (from Hard rock)
Image 7Golden Earring receives a gold record in 1970. (from Hard rock)
Image 8Big Joe Turner and Pete Johnson's record "Roll 'Em Pete" is regarded as a precursor to rock and roll. (from Rock and roll)
Image 9Ritchie Valens best known for his 1958 hit "La Bamba," which blended traditional Mexican music with rock and roll. (from Rock and roll)
Image 10Chuck Berry in 1957 (from Rock and roll)
Image 11Led Zeppelin live at Chicago Stadium, January 1975 (from Hard rock)
Image 12Cliff Richard became an early British rock and roll star with his 1958 hit "Move It." (from Rock and roll)
Image 13Bill Haley and his Comets performing in the 1954 Universal International film Round Up of Rhythm (from Rock and roll)
Image 14Drum notation for a backbeat (from Hard rock)
Image 15LaVern Baker was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991. “Jim Dandy” and “Tweedlee Dee” helped shape the sound of the 1950s rock scene. (from Rock and roll)
Image 16Tommy Steele, one of the first British rock and rollers, performing in Stockholm in 1957 (from Rock and roll)
Image 17Poison, seen here in 2008, were among the most successful acts of the 1980s glam metal era. (from Hard rock)
Image 18Original member Izzy Stradlin' on stage with Guns N' Roses in 2006 (from Hard rock)
Image 19Johnny Rivers was a key 1960s rock artist known for hits like "Memphis" and his "Go-go" style. (from Rock and roll)
Image 20Alan Freed disc jockey who is credited with popularizing the term "rock and roll" in the 1950s, helping break down racial barriers. (from Rock and roll)
Image 21Nirvana were at the forefront of the 1990s grunge era. (from Hard rock)
Image 22Baker, Bruce and Clapton of Cream, whose blues rock improvisation was a major factor in the development of the genre (from Hard rock)
Image 23Little Richard in 1957 (from Rock and roll)
Image 24Buddy Holly and his band, the Crickets (from Rock and roll)
Image 25"There's No Romance in Rock and Roll" made the cover of True Life Romance in 1956. (from Rock and roll)
Image 26Sign commemorating the role of Alan Freed and Cleveland, Ohio, in the origins of rock and roll (from Rock and roll)
Image 27Foo Fighters performing an acoustic show in 2007 (from Hard rock)

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Wilco is an American rock band based in Chicago. The band was formed in 1994 by the remaining members of alternative country group Uncle Tupelo after singer Jay Farrar's departure. Wilco's lineup changed frequently during its first decade, with only singer Jeff Tweedy and bassist John Stirratt remaining from the original incarnation. Since early 2004 the lineup has been unchanged, consisting of Tweedy, Stirratt, guitarist Nels Cline, multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone, keyboard player Mikael Jorgensen, and drummer Glenn Kotche. Wilco has released thirteen studio albums, a live double album, and four collaborations: three with Billy Bragg and one with the Minus 5.

Wilco's music has been inspired by a wide variety of artists and styles including Bill Fay, the Beatles, and Television; in turn the band has influenced music by many modern alternative rock acts. The band continued in the alternative country style of Uncle Tupelo on its debut album A.M. (1995), but has since introduced more experimental aspects to their music, including elements of alternative rock and classic pop. Wilco's musical style has evolved from a 1990s country rock sound to a current "eclectic indie rock collective that touches on many eras and genres".

Wilco received media attention for their fourth album, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2001), and the controversy surrounding it. After the recording sessions were complete, Reprise Records rejected the album and dismissed Wilco from the label. As part of a buy-out deal, Reprise gave Wilco the rights to the album for free. After streaming Foxtrot on its website, Wilco sold the album to Nonesuch Records in 2002. Both record labels are subsidiaries of Warner Music Group, leading a critic to say the album showed "how screwed up the music business is in the early twenty-first century." The event was immortalized in the documentary I Am Trying to Break Your Heart; director Sam Jones followed the band as they wrote and produced the record. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is Wilco's most successful release to date, selling over 670,000 copies. Wilco won two Grammy Awards for their fifth studio album, 2004's A Ghost Is Born, including Best Alternative Music Album. Wilco released their thirteenth studio album, Cousin, in September 2023. (Full article...)

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Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943) is an English musician, songwriter, singer and record producer who is an original member, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-principal songwriter of the Rolling Stones. His songwriting partnership with the band's lead vocalist Mick Jagger is one of the most successful in history. His career spans over six decades, and his guitar playing style has been a trademark of the Rolling Stones throughout the band's career. Richards gained press notoriety for his romantic involvements and illicit drug use, and he was often portrayed as a countercultural figure. First professionally known as Keith Richard, by the early 1970s he had fully asserted his family name.

Richards was born in and grew up in Dartford, Kent. He studied at the Dartford Technical School and Sidcup Art College. After graduating, Richards befriended Jagger, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts, Ian Stewart and Brian Jones and joined the Rolling Stones. As a member of the Rolling Stones, Richards also sings lead on some Stones songs. Richards typically sings lead on at least one song a concert, including "Happy", "Before They Make Me Run", and "Connection". Outside of his career with the Rolling Stones, Richards has also played with his own side-project, The X-Pensive Winos. He also appeared in two Pirates of the Caribbean films as Captain Teague, father of Jack Sparrow, whose look and characterisation was inspired by Richards himself.

In 1989, Richards was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and in 2004 into the UK Music Hall of Fame with the Rolling Stones. Rolling Stone magazine ranked him fourth on its list of 100 best guitarists in 2011. In 2023, Rolling Stone's ranking was 15th. The magazine lists fourteen songs that Richards wrote with Jagger on its "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list. (Full article...)

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Duke is the tenth studio album by English rock band Genesis, released on 28 March 1980 on Charisma Records. The album followed a period of inactivity for the band in early 1979. Phil Collins moved to Vancouver, Canada, in an effort to salvage his failing first marriage, while Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford recorded solo albums. Collins returned to the UK after his marriage ended and wrote a significant amount of material, some of which was used for Duke and some was later reworked for his first solo album, Face Value. Duke contained a mix of individually written songs and tracks that evolved from jam sessions in mid-1979, while recording took place at the end of the year. The break in activity rejuvenated the band, and they found the album an easy one to work on.

Duke was positively received by music critics, who praised the album for bridging the band's progressive rock-oriented past, such as the closing ten-minute "Duke's Travels"/"Duke's End" suite, with their more pop rock-oriented, commercially accessible direction, as displayed on the hit singles "Turn It On Again", "Duchess", and "Misunderstanding". It reached No. 11 in the US, and became their first album to reach No. 1 in the UK. It has since been certified Platinum in both countries. (Full article...)

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"Free as a Bird" is a single released in December 1995 by English rock band the Beatles. The song was originally written and recorded in 1977 as a home demo by John Lennon. In 1995, 25 years after their break-up and 15 years after Lennon's murder, his then surviving bandmates Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr released a studio version incorporating the demo.

The single was released as part of the promotion for The Beatles Anthology video documentary and the Anthology 1 compilation album. For the Anthology project, McCartney asked Lennon's widow Yoko Ono for unreleased material by Lennon to which the three remaining ex-Beatles could contribute. "Free as a Bird" was one of three such songs (along with "Real Love" and, decades later, "Now and Then") for which McCartney, Harrison, and Starr contributed additional instrumentation, vocals, and arrangements. Jeff Lynne, who had worked with Harrison on Harrison's album Cloud Nine and as part of the Traveling Wilburys, co-produced.

The song peaked at No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart and No. 6 on the US Billboard Hot 100. It also became a top-ten hit in at least 10 other countries, including Australia, Canada, Hungary and Sweden. It won the 1997 Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal and was the Beatles' 34th top-ten single in the United States, giving the group at least one Top 40 hit in four different decades.

The accompanying music video was produced by Vincent Joliet and directed by Joe Pytka. Shot from the point of view of a bird in flight, it includes allusions to numerous Beatles songs. (Full article...)

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Credit: William Jans

Nardwuar (John Ruskin) of The Evaporators a Canadian garage rock band.

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Did you know (auto-generated)

... that heavy metal band Judas Priest took their name from Bob Dylan's song "The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest"?
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... that raw material waste from the West influenced a generation of rock music in China?
... that heavy metal led Ossian D'Ambrosio to druidism?
... that Rolling Stone listed Ácido Argentino as the most essential album of Argentine heavy metal?

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Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard rock music was produced by the Kinks, the Who, the Rolling Stones, Cream, Vanilla Fudge, and the Jimi Hendrix Experience. In the late 1960s, bands such as Blue Cheer, the Jeff Beck Group, Iron Butterfly, Led Zeppelin, Golden Earring, Steppenwolf, Grand Funk, Free, and Deep Purple also produced hard rock.

The genre developed into a major form of popular music in the 1970s, with the Who, Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple being joined by Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper, Aerosmith, Kiss, Queen, AC/DC, Thin Lizzy and Van Halen. During the 1980s, some hard rock bands moved away from their hard rock roots and more towards pop rock. Established bands made a comeback in the mid-1980s and hard rock reached a commercial peak in the 1980s with glam metal bands such as Mötley Crüe, Bon Jovi and Def Leppard as well as the rawer sounds of Guns N' Roses which followed with great success in the later part of that decade. (Full article...)