When trying to envision rock, what comes to mind is a band that consists of a lead singer or frontman, guitarist, bassist, and drummer. But because rock has been around for so long, there have been new subgroups of the genre have emerged. Even with all this variation within one genre, there are still a few defining characteristics that can help pick rock apart from other genres such as the song structure following a verse-chorus form and a 4/4-time signature. The songs written for the genre have a broad selection of topics, but the most common themes found are politics, love, and society.
History
During the 1940s the most popular genres of music were the blues and country music, and it was with these two genres that the rise of rock began. Although rock first emerged in the 1940s, it only became popularized in the 1950s, with a more forceful tone, which was extremely jarring for the conservative era of the past. Moving forward, after the initial establishment of rock, the 60s rock artists started offering full-length albums compared to the traditional singles of the time. Controversies about the renowned artists during the era only pushed rock into the spotlight further and caused greater evolution and diversity in the genre.
Types
Rock has continued to change over the last few decades, and with that, there have been a few new sub-genres that have appeared. One example of this is indie rock, where artists prefer to release their music independently and have full creative freedom over their work. Another type of rock is punk rock which is characterized by a fast-paced tempo, strong vocals, and distorted guitars. On the other hand, glam rock puts on a show by putting on act, wearing wigs, and wearing eccentric clothes or costumes. Gothic rock is portrayed to follow a more obscure theme or sound in general, with bass chords that serve as the melody, and blaring guitars.
Evolution
From the roots of rock, the rock of today seems like it did not come from the same genre anymore, however, miraculously, even the new genres of rock have still retained the distinctive sound that it has become so famous for. And although they are different, they are also the same. Rock has left such a large impact on the music industry that the majority of pop songs today have recognizable undertones of rock imbued within them, showing just how deep the influence of rock is.
Since the introduction of rock to the music scene, it has inspired countless generations to play music the way they want to and to be unapologetic for it and even be proud of it. Rock has inspired a revolution and it has lit a fire in the hearts of artists. All of the songs that have hit the charts in the last few years have some kind of influence on rock, revealing the sheer scale that rock has reached. There will always be a place for rock in the industry, and it is safe to say that it isn’t planning on going away any time soon.
Photo Attribution:
1st and featured image by https://www.pexels.com/photo/people-in-concert-1763075/
2nd image by https://www.pexels.com/photo/performing-drummer-surrounded-by-fogs-354304/
