Evolution Of Rock

“Evolution of Rock”

Rock music has evolved into many different styles throughout time, some styles are very similar and some are extremely different, but all have their own unique sound. The point of my research is to educate other students on some of the main styles of rock and rock legends and how they came to be.

Folk Rock
Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of both folk and rock music. It is very similar in content as folk music but incorporated with a few touches of rock music such as a stronger beat and more electric instruments.
The term “folk rock” was first heard of in the U.S music press to describe The Byrds’ music in June 1965. From there, in the United States folk rock arose mainly from three elements: the urban vocal groups of the folk-revival, folk-protest singer-songwriters and the revival of North American rock and roll after the British invasion.
Bob Dylan was one of the most influential of all the urban folk-protest songwriters. There are many other urban folk rock bands such as The Mamas & The Papas and Buffalo Springfield, and solo artists like Barry McGuire and Scott McKenzie. Then you have more recent folk rock bands such as Mumford & Sons.

Alternative Rock
Alternative rock, also known as atl rock or just alternative, was at one point called college rock because it was mainly played on college radio stations because it was something new and fresh without steering too far away from the original sound of heavy rock.

By the end of the 1980’s magazines, radio and just by word of mouth increased, and highlighted the diversity of alternative rock. But yet alternative rock was still more of an underground phenomenon. Occasionally one or two songs would become a commercial hit, or an album would receive a critical praise in mainstream publications like the Rolling Stones magazine. Alternative rock was mainly subdued to independent record labels, college radio stations and underground concerts.

Alternative rock was never a type of music that was played all the time until the 1090’s when it became very popular. Discovering bands such as Jane’s Addiction, Firehose and Nirvana. Nirvana was one of the more popular bands with their biggest hit “Smells Like Teen Spirit” which kids still listen to today.

Hard Rock
Hard rock is a form of loud, aggressive rock music. The electric guitar is often exaggerated followed by the bass guitar and drums. These instruments are often joined by the piano and keyboard, the vocals are often growling and raspy or involve screaming and wailing. In the late 1960’s the term heavy metal was often used to describe hard rock, but gradually began to be used for even louder music and more intense, while hard rock kept a bluesy rock and roll identity.
In the mid 1960’s British rock bands began to modify rock and roll adding harder sounds, heavier guitar riffs, and extreme drumming. From the late 1960’s it was normal to divide mainstream rock music into hard and soft rock, soft rock was often derived from folk rock, using acoustic instruments and putting more emphasis on melodies. Hard rock was a more intense and louder sound.

Hard rock developed into a major form of popular music in the 1970’s, with bands such as Led Zeppelin, The Who, Deep Purple, Aerosmith, AC/DC, and Van Halen, and reached its commercial peak in the mid to late 1980’s. Bands like Bon Jovi and Def Leppard and the more intense sound of Gun N’ Roses followed behind with great success in the later part of that decade. But they quickly lost commercial fame when grunge and Britpop came out.

Classic Rock
In the United States, the classic rock format features music generally from the late 1960’s to the late 1980’s, mostly focusing on the hard rock genre that reached its peak of being most popular in the 1970’s. Classic rock generally attracts the older generation rather than teenagers, but is continuously gaining new fans of all ages. Classic rock stations don’t play new releases, which keeps them consistent with the style of music they are trying to achieve. The classic rock format started with AOR radio stations that were trying to gain the interest of an older audience by including familiar songs from the past with current songs. In 1980, AOR radio station M105 in Cleveland, Ohio began calling itself “Cleveland’s Classic Rock”, which played a mix of rock music from the mid 1960’s to the present. By 1986, the success of classic rock resulted in 60-80% of the music played on album rock stations. Although it began as a format spin off from AOR, by 2001 classic rock had passed album rock in market.

Most of classic rock songs and singers are still famous today. Today’s generation still knows songs like “Stairway to Heaven” and “Here Comes the Sun” as being great classic rock hits, and are listened to by thousands. Also, certain bands and singers from the classic rock era are still on teenagers top 25 list. The classic rock era produced some of the most known and best songs in the world, songs that will never be forgotten.

In conclusion, you can see how the different styles of rock music have evolved over time, having similarities and differences to one another but still keeping their own unique style.