Portal:Rock music

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The Rock Music Portal

Rock is a broad genre of popular music that originated as "rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles from the mid-1960s, particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, a style that drew directly from the blues and rhythm and blues genres of African-American music and from country music. Rock also drew strongly from genres such as electric blues and folk, and incorporated influences from jazz and other musical styles. For instrumentation, rock has 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 using a verse–chorus form, but 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 1950s 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 number of 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, 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.

From the 1990s, alternative rock began to dominate rock music and break into the mainstream in the form of grunge, Britpop, and indie rock. Further fusion subgenres have since emerged, including pop-punk, electronic rock, rap rock, and rap metal. Some movements were conscious attempts to revisit rock's history, including the garage rock/post-punk revival in the 2000s. Since the 2010s, rock has lost its position as the pre-eminent popular music genre in world culture, but remains commercially successful. The increased influence of hip-hop and electronic dance music can be seen in rock music, notably in the techno-pop scene of the early 2010s and the pop-punk-hip-hop revival of the 2020s. (Full article...)

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The following are images from various rock music-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Drum notation for a backbeat (from Hard rock)
Image 2Led Zeppelin live at Chicago Stadium, January 1975 (from Hard rock)
Image 3Poison, seen here in 2008, were among the most successful acts of the 1980s glam metal era. (from Hard rock)
Image 4Elvis Presley in a promotion shot for Jailhouse Rock in 1957 (from Rock and roll)
Image 5Rush on stage in Milan, Italy, 2004 (from Hard rock)
Image 6"There's No Romance in Rock and Roll" made the cover of True Life Romance in 1956. (from Rock and roll)
Image 7Tommy Steele, one of the first British rock and rollers, performing in Stockholm in 1957 (from Rock and roll)
Image 8Bill Haley and his Comets performing in the 1954 Universal International film Round Up of Rhythm (from Rock and roll)
Image 9Original member Izzy Stradlin' on stage with Guns N' Roses in 2006 (from Hard rock)
Image 10Baker, Bruce and Clapton of Cream, whose blues rock improvisation was a major factor in the development of the genre (from Hard rock)
Image 11Foo Fighters performing an acoustic show in 2007 (from Hard rock)
Image 12Nirvana were at the forefront of the 1990s grunge era. (from Hard rock)
Image 13Big Joe Turner and Pete Johnson's record "Roll 'Em Pete" is regarded as a precursor to rock and roll. (from Rock and roll)
Image 14Aerosmith performing at Quilmes Rock in Buenos Aires, Argentina on April 15, 2007 (from Hard rock)
Image 15Little Richard in 1957 (from Rock and roll)
Image 16Buddy Holly and his band, the Crickets (from Rock and roll)
Image 17Kiss onstage in Boston in 2004 (from Hard rock)
Image 18Wolfmother, 2007 (from Hard rock)
Image 19The Who on stage in 1975 (from Hard rock)
Image 20Golden Earring receives a gold record in 1970. (from Hard rock)
Image 21Sign commemorating the role of Alan Freed and Cleveland, Ohio, in the origins of rock and roll (from Rock and roll)
Image 22Chuck Berry in 1957 (from Rock and roll)

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Maroon 5 is an American pop rock band from Los Angeles, California. It consists of lead vocalist Adam Levine, rhythm guitarist and keyboardist Jesse Carmichael, lead guitarist James Valentine, drummer Matt Flynn, keyboardist PJ Morton and multi-instrumentalist and bassist Sam Farrar. Original members Levine, Carmichael, bassist Mickey Madden, and drummer Ryan Dusick first came together as Kara's Flowers in 1994, while they were in high school.

After self-releasing their independent album We Like Digging?, the band signed to Reprise Records and released the album The Fourth World in 1997. The album garnered a tepid response, after which the record label dropped the band and the members focused on college. In 2001, the band re-emerged as Maroon 5, pursuing a different direction and adding guitarist Valentine. The band signed with Octone Records, an independent record label with a separate joint venture relationship with J Records and released their debut album Songs About Jane in June 2002. Aided by the hit singles "Harder to Breathe", "This Love" and "She Will Be Loved", the album peaked at number six on the Billboard 200 chart and went quadruple platinum in 2005. In the same year, the band won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist. In 2006, Dusick left the band after suffering from serious wrist and shoulder injuries and was replaced by Matt Flynn.

The band's second album It Won't Be Soon Before Long was released in May 2007. It debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart and the lead single "Makes Me Wonder", became the band's first number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2010, the band released the third album Hands All Over, to favorable reviews, re-releasing a year later to include the single "Moves like Jagger", which topped the Billboard Hot 100. In 2012, Carmichael left the group and was replaced by musician PJ Morton, as the band released the fourth album Overexposed, with the song "One More Night", topping the Billboard Hot 100 chart for nine consecutive weeks.

In 2014, Carmichael rejoined the band alongside Morton to record the fifth album V (roman numeral pronounced "five"), with the band signed to Interscope Records and Levine's own label 222 Records. Following the release of V, it reached number one on the Billboard 200. In 2016, Maroon 5 recruited their long-time collaborator Sam Farrar, as the band continued for the sixth studio album Red Pill Blues, which was released in November 2017. With the addition of Morton and Farrar, the band's lineup increased to seven members. The successful singles of both albums "Sugar" and "Girls Like You" peaked at numbers two and one on the Hot 100 chart respectively. The band's seventh album Jordi, was released in June 2021. Maroon 5 has sold more than 135 million records, making them one of the world's best-selling music artists. In January 2023, it was announced "Moves like Jagger" is the second most downloaded song of all time. (Full article...)

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Catherine Bush (born 30 July 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer and dancer. Bush began writing songs at age 11. She was signed to EMI Records after Pink Floyd's David Gilmour helped produce a demo tape. In 1978, at the age of 19, she topped the UK Singles Chart for four weeks with her debut single "Wuthering Heights", becoming the first female artist to achieve a UK number one with a solely self-written song. Her debut album, The Kick Inside, was released that same year.

Bush slowly gained artistic independence in album production and has produced all her studio albums by herself since The Dreaming (1982). Bush has released 25 UK Top 40 singles, including the Top 10 hits "The Man with the Child in His Eyes", "Babooshka", "Running Up That Hill", "Don't Give Up" (a duet with Peter Gabriel), and "King of the Mountain". All nine of her studio albums reached the UK Top 10, with all but one reaching the top five, including the number one albums Never for Ever (1980), Hounds of Love (1985) and the greatest hits compilation The Whole Story (1986). She took a hiatus between her seventh and eighth albums, The Red Shoes (1993) and Aerial (2005). In 2011, Bush released the albums Director's Cut and 50 Words for Snow. She drew attention again in 2014 with her concert residency Before the Dawn, her first shows since 1979's The Tour of Life.

Bush was the first British solo female artist to top the UK Albums Chart and the first female artist to enter it at number one. Her eclectic musical style, unconventional lyrics, performances and literary themes have influenced a diverse range of artists. In 2022, "Running Up That Hill" received renewed attention after it appeared in the Netflix series Stranger Things, becoming Bush's second UK number one and reaching the top of several other charts. It peaked at number three on the US Billboard Hot 100, and its parent album, Hounds of Love, became Bush's first album to reach the top of a Billboard albums chart.

Bush has received 14 Brit Awards nominations, winning for Best British Female Artist in 1987, and has been nominated for three Grammy Awards. In 2002, Bush was recognised with an Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music. She was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to music. She became a Fellow of The Ivors Academy in the UK in 2020. Bush was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2023. (Full article...)

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Hybrid Theory is the debut studio album by American rock band Linkin Park, released on October 24, 2000, by Warner Bros. Records. Recorded at NRG Recordings in North Hollywood, California, and produced by Don Gilmore, the album's lyrical themes deal with problems lead vocalist Chester Bennington experienced during his adolescence, including drug abuse and the constant fighting and eventual divorce of his parents. Hybrid Theory takes its title from the previous name of the band as well as the concept of music theory and combining different styles. It is also the band's only album on which bassist Dave "Phoenix" Farrell does not play.

Four singles were released from Hybrid Theory: "One Step Closer", "In the End", "Crawling" and "Papercut", all of them being responsible for launching Linkin Park into mainstream popularity. While "In the End" was the most successful of the four, all of the singles in the album remain some of the band's most successful songs to date. Although "Runaway", "Points of Authority", and "My December" from the special edition bonus disc album were not released as singles, they were minor hits on alternative rock radio stations thanks to the success of all of the band's singles and the album; "Runaway" has also made several appearances on radio stations.

Generally receiving positive reviews from critics upon its release, Hybrid Theory became a strong commercial success. Peaking at number two on the US Billboard 200, it is certified 12× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It also reached the top 10 in 15 other countries and has sold 32 million copies worldwide, making it the best-selling debut album since Guns N' Roses's Appetite for Destruction (1987). At the 44th Grammy Awards, it won Best Hard Rock Performance for "Crawling".

On August 13, 2020, Warner Records announced a re-release of Hybrid Theory for its 20th anniversary. A previously unreleased demo song, "She Couldn't", was released at the same time. (Full article...)

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"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...)

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Credit: Rowland Scherman

Joan Baez and Bob Dylan at a civil rights march on Washington, D.C., 28 August 1963.

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Did you know (auto-generated)

... that the Diaspora Yeshiva Band infused rock and bluegrass with Jewish lyrics, creating a music style it called "Hasidic rock" or "Country and Eastern"?
... that raw material waste from the West influenced a generation of rock music in China?
... that Shin Hae-chul, who previously made hard rock and heavy metal albums, was inspired by big band music when he made The Songs for the One?
... that Greg Cooper based the character of suffragist Kate Sheppard in punk-rock musical That Bloody Woman on Bette Midler in concert in Cleveland?
... that Desulfovibrio vulgaris can remove toxic heavy metals from the environment?
... that the heavy metal musician Leah has sometimes been called "the metal Enya"?

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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 seen 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...)