History of the Rock Genre

Joe Strong
 1940s to 1950s
The foundations of rock originated from rock and roll which started in the United Sates and
quickly spread to the rest of the world
Early rock tracks include Goree Carters Rock Awhile, Jimmy Prestons Rock the Joint and
Elvis Presleys Thats All Right (Mama)
The era also saw the growth in popularity of the electric guitar, and the development of a
specifically rock and roll style of playing through such exponents as Chuck Berry, Link Wray,
and Scotty Moore. The use of power chords, pioneered by Willie Johnson and Pat Hare in the
early 1950s, was popularized by Link Wray in the late 1950s.
In the United Kingdom, the trad jazz and folk movements brought visiting blues music artists
to Britain. Lonnie Donegan's 1955 hit "Rock Island Line" was a major influence and helped to
develop the trend of skiffle music groups throughout the country, many of which, including
John Lennon's Quarrymen, moved on to play rock and roll.
Commentators have traditionally perceived a decline of rock and roll in the late 1950s and
early 1960s
 1960s
The term pop has been used since the early 20th century to refer to popular music in general,
but from the mid-1950s it began to be used for a distinct genre, aimed at a youth market, often
characterized as a softer alternative to rock and roll.
Early rock and roll, particularly through the advent of rockabilly, saw the greatest commercial
success for male and white performers, in this era the genre was dominated by black and
female artists. Rock and roll had not disappeared at the end of the 1950s and some of its
energy can be seen in the Twist dance craze of the early 1960s.
Cliff Richard had the first British rock and roll hit with "Move It", effectively ushering in the
sound of British rock.
While rock 'n' roll was fading into lightweight pop and ballads, British rock groups at clubs and
local dances, heavily influenced by blues-rock pioneers like Alexis Korner, were starting to play
with an intensity and drive seldom found in white American acts.
 Surf Music
Dick Dale produced the regional hit "Let's Go Trippin'" in 1961 and launched the surf music
craze, following up with songs like "Misirlou" (1962). Like Dale and his Del-Tones, most early
surf bands were formed in Southern California, including the Bel-Airs, the Challengers, and
Eddie & the Showmen.
The best known surf tune was 1963's "Wipe Out", by the Surfaris, which hit number 2 and
number 10 on the Billboard charts in 1965.
Surf music achieved its greatest commercial success as vocal music, particularly the work of the
Beach Boys, formed in 1961 in Southern California. Their early albums included both
instrumental surf rock and vocal songs, drawing on rock and roll and doo wop and the close
harmonies of vocal pop acts like the Four Freshmen.
The surf music craze and the careers of almost all surf acts was effectively ended by the arrival
of the British Invasion from 1964.
 British Invasion
By the end of 1962, what would become the British rock scene had started with beat groups like the Beatles,
Gerry & the Pacemakers and the Searchers from Liverpool and Freddie and the Dreamers, Herman's Hermits and
the Hollies from Manchester.
Bands like the Animals from Newcastle and Them from Belfast, and particularly those from London like the Rolling
Stones and the Yardbirds, were much more directly influenced by rhythm and blues and later blues music.
Soon these groups were composing their own material, combining US forms of music and infusing it with a high
energy beat.
Beat bands tended towards "bouncy, irresistible melodies", while early British blues acts tended towards less
sexually innocent, more aggressive songs, often adopting an anti-establishment stance. There was, however,
particularly in the early stages, considerable musical crossover between the two tendencies.
By 1963, led by the Beatles, beat groups had begun to achieve national success in Britain, soon to be followed into
the charts by the more rhythm and blues focused acts.
The British Invasion helped internationalize the production of rock and roll, opening the door for subsequent
British performers to achieve international success. In America it arguably spelled the end of instrumental surf
music, vocal girl groups and (for a time) the teen idols, that had dominated the American charts in the late 1950s
and 1960s.
The British Invasion also played a major part in the rise of a distinct genre of rock music, and cemented the
primacy of the rock group, based on guitars and drums and producing their own material as singer-songwriters.
 Garage Rock
Garage rock was a raw form of rock music, particularly prevalent in North America in the mid-
1960s and so called because of the perception that it was rehearsed in the suburban family
garage.
The style had been evolving from regional scenes as early as 1958. "Tall Cool One" (1959) by
The Wailers and "Louie Louie" by the Kingsmen (1963) are mainstream examples of the genre
in its formative stages.
The British Invasion greatly influenced garage bands, providing them with a national audience,
leading many (often surf or hot rod groups) to adopt a British influence, and encouraging many
more groups to form. Thousands of garage bands were extant in the US and Canada during the
era and hundreds produced regional hits.
It is generally agreed that garage rock peaked both commercially and artistically around 1966.
 Blues Rock
Although the first impact of the British Invasion on American popular music was through beat and R&B
based acts, the impetus was soon taken up by a second wave of bands that drew their inspiration more
directly from American blues, including the Rolling Stones and the Yardbirds. British blues musicians of
the late 1950s and early 1960s had been inspired by the acoustic playing of figures such as Lead Belly,
who was a major influence on the Skiffle craze.
The band involved and inspired many of the figures of the subsequent British blues boom, including
members of the Rolling Stones and Cream, combining blues standards and forms with rock
instrumentation and emphasis.
In America, blues rock had been pioneered in the early 1960s by guitarist Lonnie Mack, but the genre
began to take off in the mid-1960s as acts developed a sound similar to British blues musicians.
Early blues rock bands often emulated jazz, playing long, involved improvisations, which would later be
a major element of progressive rock. From about 1967 bands like Cream and the Jimi Hendrix
Experience had moved away from purely blues-based music into psychedelia.
By the 1970s, blues rock had become heavier and more riff-based, exemplified by the work of Led
Zeppelin and Deep Purple, and the lines between blues rock and hard rock "were barely visible", as
bands began recording rock-style albums. The genre was continued in the 1970s by figures such as
George Thorogood and Pat Travers, but, particularly on the British scene, bands became focused on
heavy metal innovation, and blues rock began to slip out of the mainstream.
 Folk Rock
By the 1960s, the scene that had developed out of the American folk music revival had grown
to a major movement, utilising traditional music and new compositions in a traditional style,
usually on acoustic instruments
In the early sixties figures such as Joan Baez and Bob Dylan had come to the fore in this
movement as singer-songwriters. Dylan had begun to reach a mainstream audience with hits
including "Blowin' in the Wind" (1963) and "Masters of War" (1963), which brought "protest
songs" to a wider public.
Animals' "House of the Rising Sun" (1964), which was the first commercially successful folk
song to be recorded with rock and roll instrumentation.
Folk rock reached its peak of commercial popularity in the period 196768, before many acts
moved off in a variety of directions, including Dylan and the Byrds, who began to develop
country rock.
 Grunge
Grunge is a subgenre of alternative rock and a subculture that emerged during the mid-1980s in the Pacific
Northwest U.S. state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns.
By the early 1990s its popularity had spread, with grunge bands appearing in California, then emerging in other
parts of the United States and in Australia, building strong followings and signing major record deals.
Grunge became commercially successful in the early 1990s, due to releases such as Nirvana's Nevermind
The songs often had light (or clean) guitar sounds in the verses, and the high energy boost of distorted (or dirty)
guitars in the choruses. The line-up for these bands was the typical rock band of guitars, bass, drums and vocal
A number of factors contributed to grunge's decline in prominence. During the mid-to-late 1990s, many grunge
bands broke up or became less visible. Nirvana's Kurt Cobain, labeled by Time as "the John Lennon of the swinging
Northwest", appeared unusually tortured by success and struggled with an addiction to heroin before he died by
suicide at the age of 27 in 1994.