Portal:Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that originated in the United States as "rock and roll" in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of styles from the mid-1960s, primarily in the United States and United Kingdom. It has its roots in rock and roll, a style that drew from the black musical genres of blues and rhythm and blues, as well as from country music. Rock also drew strongly from genres such as electric blues and folk, and incorporated influences from jazz and other styles. Rock is typically centered on the electric guitar, usually as part of a rock group with electric bass guitar, drums, and one or more singers.

Usually, rock is song-based music with a ⁴
₄ time signature and using a verse–chorus form; however, the genre has become extremely diverse. Like pop music, lyrics often stress romantic love but also address a wide variety of other themes that are frequently social or political. Rock was the most popular genre of music in the U.S. and much of the western world from the 1960s up to the 2010s.

Rock musicians in the mid-1960s began to advance the album ahead of the single as the dominant form of recorded music expression and consumption, with the Beatles at the forefront of this development. Their contributions lent the genre a cultural legitimacy in the mainstream and initiated a rock-informed album era in the music industry for the next several decades. By the late 1960s "classic rock" period, a few distinct rock music subgenres had emerged, including hybrids like blues rock, folk rock, country rock, southern rock, raga rock, and jazz rock, which contributed to the development of psychedelic rock, influenced by the countercultural psychedelic and hippie scene. New genres that emerged included progressive rock, which extended artistic elements, heavy metal, which emphasized an aggressive thick sound, and glam rock, which highlighted showmanship and visual style. In the second half of the 1970s, punk rock reacted by producing stripped-down, energetic social and political critiques. Punk was an influence in the 1980s on new wave, post-punk and eventually alternative rock. (Full article...)

Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965 by Syd Barrett (guitar, vocals), Nick Mason (drums), Roger Waters (bass guitar, vocals) and Richard Wright (keyboards, vocals), with David Gilmour (guitar, vocals) joining at the end of 1967. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experiments, philosophical lyrics, and elaborate live performances, and became a leading progressive rock band.

With Barrett as their main songwriter, they released two hit singles, "Arnold Layne" and "See Emily Play", and the successful debut studio album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (all 1967). Barrett left in 1968 due to deteriorating mental health. All four remaining members contributed compositions, though Waters became the primary lyricist and thematic leader, devising the concepts behind Pink Floyd's most successful studio albums, The Dark Side of the Moon (1973), Wish You Were Here (1975), Animals (1977) and The Wall (1979). The musical film based on The Wall, Pink Floyd – The Wall (1982), won two BAFTAs. Pink Floyd also composed several film scores.

Personal tensions led to Wright leaving the band in 1981, followed by Waters in 1985. Gilmour and Mason continued as Pink Floyd, rejoined later by Wright. They produced the studio albums A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987) and The Division Bell (1994), both backed by major tours. In 2005, Gilmour, Mason and Wright reunited with Waters for a performance at the global awareness event Live 8. Barrett died in 2006, and Wright in 2008. The last Pink Floyd studio album, The Endless River (2014), was based on unreleased material from the Division Bell recording sessions. In 2022, Pink Floyd released the song "Hey, Hey, Rise Up!" in protest of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Pink Floyd are one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with sales exceeding 250 million records worldwide. The Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, and are among the best-selling albums of all time. Four Pink Floyd albums topped the US Billboard 200 and five topped the UK Albums Chart. Although an album-orientated band, they did achieve several hit singles, including "Arnold Layne", "See Emily Play" (both 1967), "Money" (1973), "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)" (1979), "Not Now John" (1983), "On the Turning Away" (1987) and "High Hopes" (1994). Pink Floyd were inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005. In 2008, they were awarded the Polar Music Prize for "their monumental contribution over the decades to the fusion of art and music in the development of popular culture". (Full article...)

W. Axl Rose (/ˈæksəl/ AK-səl; born William Bruce Rose Jr., February 6, 1962) is an American singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and lyricist of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses. He has been the band's only constant member since its formation in 1985. Renowned for his wide-ranging, powerful voice, Rose has been ranked among the greatest singers of all time by outlets such as Rolling Stone, NME and Billboard.

Born in Lafayette, Indiana, Rose moved to Los Angeles in the early 1980s, joining bands like Hollywood Rose and L.A. Guns before co-founding Guns N' Roses. The band's debut album, Appetite for Destruction (1987), sold over 30 million copies worldwide and remains the best-selling U.S. debut. Rose's relationships with Erin Everly and Stephanie Seymour inspired multiple songs, including the chart-topping "Sweet Child o' Mine", though allegations of abuse, and controversial lyrics on the band's next release G N' R Lies (1988) drew criticism.

The twin albums Use Your Illusion I and II (1991), debuted at No. 2 and No. 1 on the Billboard 200, selling 35 million copies combined. Rose's volatile behavior during the Use Your Illusion Tour, with riots (including his arrest for inciting the Riverport Riot), media rants, and feuds with Metallica and Nirvana, fueled further controversy. The follow-up, "The Spaghetti Incident?" (1993), was less successful and drew backlash for including a Charles Manson cover.

After the tour, Rose disappeared from the public eye while Guns N' Roses stalled on making a new album. Rose reemerged in 2001 with a new version of Guns N' Roses, eventually releasing Chinese Democracy (2008), the most expensive rock album ever produced. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012, Rose declined to attend. In 2016, he reconciled with Slash and Duff McKagan for the record-breaking Not in This Lifetime... Tour, and also toured with AC/DC as a fill-in vocalist for two dozen shows. The band continued touring and releasing singles into the 2020s. (Full article...)

By Your Side is the fifth studio album by American rock band The Black Crowes. It was released on January 12, 1999 (1999-01-12) on Columbia Records, following the band's move from American Recordings, after second guitarist Marc Ford and bassist Johnny Colt had left the band in 1997. It is the only album to be released on that label. Audley Freed and Sven Pipien were hired as the new guitarist and bassist, respectively, although Rich Robinson played all the guitar parts on the album. By Your Side was recorded in New York City during the second quarter of 1998 and produced by Kevin Shirley. It comprised songs written in the studio, revised songs from pre-production and re-recorded songs from the abandoned 1997 album Band.

The Black Crowes promoted By Your Side by performing on numerous television programs in North America and Europe. The album debuted at its peak position of number 26 on the Billboard 200 and generally received positive reviews. While some critics depreciated By Your Side for its similarity to albums by Rod Stewart and The Rolling Stones, most reviewers lauded The Black Crowes' return to the straightforward approach of their debut album, Shake Your Money Maker (1990). Chris Robinson's singing and Rich's guitar playing also won praise from critics, though reviews of the lyrics were mixed.

Beginning in February 1999, the band toured North American theaters for two months in support of the album. Setlists from the tour, known as the "Souled Out Tour", typically included more than half the album's songs. The concerts were followed by a short co-headlining tour of US amphitheaters with Lenny Kravitz. The band spent the remainder of the summer opening for Aerosmith's European tour. (Full article...)

"Call Me When You're Sober" is a song by American rock band Evanescence from their second studio album, The Open Door. It was released as the album's lead single on September 4, 2006. The track was written by Amy Lee and guitarist Terry Balsamo, and produced by Dave Fortman. A musical fusion of alternative metal, symphonic rock, and electropop, the song was inspired by the end of Lee's relationship with singer Shaun Morgan as well as Lee's other experiences at the time.

"Call Me When You're Sober" peaked at number ten on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number four on the Alternative Songs chart, and entered the top ten of several Billboard component charts. It also peaked within the top ten on multiple international charts, including the UK, Australia, Italy, Canada, and New Zealand. It was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America and gold by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The song received generally positive reception from music critics. Its music video was directed by Marc Webb, and depicts a metaphorical visual, drawing inspiration from the fairy tale "Little Red Riding Hood". (Full article...)

Juliette Lewis of Juliette and the Licks at the Eurockéennes of 2007.

• ... that Rolling Stone listed Ácido Argentino as the most essential album of Argentine heavy metal?
• ... that the British rock musician Hannah Grae went viral online with an anti-sexual harassment parody of Aqua's "Barbie Girl"?
• ... that raw material waste from the West influenced a generation of rock music in China?
• ... that the heavy metal band Cradle of Filth released a T-shirt that was so offensive that several people were arrested for wearing it?
• ... that during his tenure as Governor of Central Java, Muhammad Ismail banned rock music concerts and car rallies?
• ... that before charting on the UK Albums Chart with Are We There Yet?, the indie rock musician James Marriott had made a career of mocking other YouTubers' music?

Viking metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by a lyrical and thematic focus on Norse mythology, Norse paganism, and the Viking Age. Viking metal is quite diverse as a musical style, to the point where some consider it more a cross-genre term than a genre, but it is typically heard as black metal with influences from Nordic folk music. Common traits include a slow-paced and heavy riffing style, anthemic choruses, use of both sung and harsh vocals, a reliance on folk instrumentation, and often the use of keyboards for atmospheric effect. (Full article...)

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