Portal:Rock music

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 genres of blues, rhythm and blues, 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...)

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 their 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. Madden announced his departure from the band in 2020 following his arrest on domestic violence charges, with Farrar becoming their new bassist. 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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McKernan grew up heavily influenced by African-American music, particularly the blues, and enjoyed listening to his father's collection of records and taught himself how to play harmonica and piano. He began socializing around the San Francisco Bay Area, becoming friends with Jerry Garcia. After the pair had played in various folk and jug bands, McKernan suggested they form an electric group, which became the Grateful Dead. He was the band's original frontman and played harmonica and electric organ, but Garcia and bassist Phil Lesh's influences on the band became increasingly stronger as they embraced psychedelic rock. McKernan struggled to keep up with the changing music, causing the group to hire keyboardist Tom Constanten, with McKernan's contributions essentially limited to vocals, harmonica, and percussion from November 1968 to January 1970. He continued to be a frontman in concert for some numbers, including his interpretations of Bobby Bland's "Turn On Your Love Light" and the Rascals' "Good Lovin'".

Unlike the other members of the Grateful Dead, McKernan avoided psychedelic drugs, preferring to drink alcohol (namely whiskey and flavored fortified wine). By 1971, his health had been affected by alcoholism and liver damage and doctors advised him to stop touring. Following a hiatus, he resumed touring with the group in December 1971 but was forced to retire from touring altogether in June 1972. McKernan was found dead of a gastrointestinal hemorrhage on March 8, 1973, aged 27, and is buried at Alta Mesa Memorial Park in Palo Alto. (Full article...)

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American Tragedy is the second studio album by American rap rock band Hollywood Undead. Production for the album began following the induction of Daniel Murillo into the band in early 2010 and lasted until December. Don Gilmore and Ben Grosse, who helped produce the band's debut album, Swan Songs (2008), also returned to produce the album along with several other producers including Kevin Rudolf, Sam Hollander, Dave Katz, Griffin Boice, Jeff Halavacs, and Jacob Kasher. The album is musically heavier and features darker lyrical content than the band's previous effort. Originally set to release in March, American Tragedy was released on April 5, 2011 in the United States and was released on various other dates that month in other countries. A remix of the album, American Tragedy Redux, was released on November 21, 2011.

The album debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200, selling approximately 67,000 copies in its first week in the United States, and ended up becoming the 142nd best selling album of 2011 in the US. It also charted in a few other countries, including Canada and the UK, a first for the band. The album also had five singles: "Hear Me Now", "Been to Hell", "Coming Back Down", "Comin' in Hot", and "My Town", with music videos being made for all of them except "Coming Back Down" as it was released on the same day as "Been to Hell". The band participated in three headlining tours: the Revolt Tour, the Endless Summer Tour, and the World War III Tour, as well as other supporting tours throughout 2011 to promote the album. Upon release, American Tragedy received mixed reviews. Critics consistently noted the darker and more serious tone of the album, but to mixed reception. Lyrics were widely criticized while the energy and instruments were praised in most reviews. (Full article...)

"Won't Get Fooled Again" is a song by the English rock band the Who, written by guitarist and primary songwriter Pete Townshend. It was released as a single in June 1971, reaching the top 10 in the UK, while the full eight-and-a-half-minute version appears as the final track on the band's 1971 album Who's Next, released that August. In the US, the single entered Billboard on 17 July, reaching No. 15.

Townshend wrote the song as a closing number of the Lifehouse project, and the lyrics criticise revolution and power. The track is known for a staccato keyboard figure, played on a simple home organ with a "rhythm" feature that produced a synth-like effect. The Who tried recording the song in New York in March 1971, but re-recorded a superior take at Stargroves the next month using the organ from Townshend's original demo. Ultimately, Lifehouse as a project was abandoned in favour of Who's Next, a straightforward album, where it also became the closing track. It has been performed as a staple of the band's setlist since 1971, often as the set closer, and was the last song drummer Keith Moon played live with the band.

As well as being a hit, the song has achieved critical praise, appearing as one of Rolling Stone's The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. It has been covered by several artists, such as Van Halen, who took their version to No. 1 on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart. It has been used for several TV shows and films and in some political campaigns. (Full article...)

Henrik Freischlader performing in Saarbrücken, Germany in 2009.

• ... that the Liverpool Echo described British rock and roll star Tommy Steele as "quite unable to sing and play the guitar at the same time" when reviewing his first album?
• ... that the heavy metal musician Leah has sometimes been called "the metal Enya"?
• ... 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 when rock musician Warren Zevon received a terminal diagnosis of lung cancer, he learned to "enjoy every sandwich"?
• ... that the neofolk album The Lone Furrow features several guest vocalists from heavy metal bands, and critics thought it might appeal to fans of that genre?
• ... that Dutch radio and TV presenter Hanneke Kappen presented the second Dutch radio show dedicated to heavy metal music?

Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s with the likes of the grunge, shoegaze, and Britpop subgenres in the United States and United Kingdom, respectively. During this period, many record labels were looking for "alternatives", as many corporate rock, hard rock, and glam metal acts from the 1980s were beginning to grow stale throughout the music industry. The emergence of Generation X as a cultural force in the 1990s also contributed greatly to the rise of alternative rock. (Full article...)

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• WikiProject Rock music (Main rock project)
• WikiProject Metal
• WikiProject Black Metal
• WikiProject Alternative music
• WikiProject Punk music
• WikiProject Progressive Rock
• WikiProject Music Directory

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