Foundations of ‘Rock’ Music

Rock and CultureRock has vastly influenced the culture of the Western World, especially during the 1960s through to the 1980s, when subcultures began to emerge within society – specifically within youth.

Groups such as Mods, Rockers, and Teddy Boys developed during the 1960s in the UK, following specific music and designing their own unique ‘image’ to individual each subgroup. In the US, Hippies emerged in places such as San Francisco and the group quickly spread across seas to the UK. These groups protested values sometimes preached within the music of their rock bands as ‘protest songs’, demonstrating over things such as drugs, war, sex and politics.

The Rock Genre‘Rock’/’Rock n’ Roll’ is a genre of music originating in the USA in the 1950s prior to being quickly popular and vastly developing in the UK during the 1960s.

Rock music has roots in other genres e.g. Jazz, Blues and Country, and utilises drums and the electric guitar to provide a distinctive ‘Rock N’ Roll’ sound.

During the ‘Golden Age’ of the 1960s, subgenres emerged, combining other genres with rock such as folk and raga. This fast led to the creation of the new genres such as psychedelic rock and glam rock as artists began to experiment more and more with their instruments and classic genres.

A lull was reached sometime during the 1960s as the rock genre was forced to contend with new music and genres such as Brit Pop which had quickly swept through the USA (known as the ‘British Invasion’).

Contending with the subcultures which has grown from rock and roll, were new groups such as Goths, Punks, Emos and Skinheads.

Rock Artists Pink Floyd Elvis Presley AC/DC Guns N’ Roses Led Zeppelin The Rolling Stones David Bowie Queen Black Sabbath