History of Rock

What I wanted to learn is where did Rock and Roll originated and the people and bands that made some of the biggest impacts to it making it one of the most popular genres ever with hundreds of different sub genres. It came from a combination of different kind of styles and cultures. Through years and years of changes we now have a defined sound that is now known as Rock and Roll. Let's start with the early fifties

During the 1950’s a new kind of music was invented by Chuck Berry. He was playing rhythm and blues and it was considered black music at the time. They called it rock music. White teens started listening to rhythm and blues and the music industry saw there was a market for black music. Rock became huge, and was promoted by idols like Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly. 1950s Soon even folksingers started signing about the problems of the system which was considered a rock and roll or rebel thing to do at the time. Artists like Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan sang songs about the Vietnam War and Civil rights. Bob Dylan is now considered one of the most influential musicians of the era. When rock hit California it took a turn. The Beach boys invented surf music, it was like rock with a little bit of doo-wop in it.

In the early 1960’s bands like The Rolling Stones and The Beatles went on to achieve world wide success. Now rock as a major business was born. Some other important bands were The Kinks and The Who. They both recorded concept albums and “rock operas”. The Kinks was a softer rock and The Who amplified guitars and were leading towards harder rock. Cream and Led Zeppelin started playing very loud blues. Creams long solos and Led Zeppelins fast riffs created hard rock. Psychedelic rock was becoming very popular with bands like The Doors and England’s Pink Floyd. They are very big influences on artist today. Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin became huge stars and so did the blues. Blues musicians flooded the clubs of Chicago and San Francisco. Meanwhile in the south bands like the Allman Brothers and Lanyard Skynyrd became very popular creating Southern rock.

During the 1970’s a slower and more peaceful rock came back. Country music and Country rock became one of the fads of the 70’s with bands like The Eagles. Reggae became a mainstream genre from Bob Marley. Hard rock lead to heavy metal, and it became a genre of its own. Blue Oyster Cult, Kiss, Aero smith, Van Halen, AC/DC and many more were considered heavy metal. Near the end of the decade a new generation of singer songwriters came like Leonard Conen, Tim Buckley, Neil Young, and Bruce Springsteen. New musicians like Kate Bush and Mike Oldfield pushed the limits of rock and helped open the doors for more abstract music. Brian Eno was a