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Learn about the origins, development, and diversity of rock music, a broad genre of popular music that emerged from rock and roll in the 1950s. Explore the subgenres, regional scenes, and social movements that rock music has influenced and reflected over the decades.
- Rock Music (Disambiguation)
Rock music is a form of popular music that normally includes...
- Genre
A music genre is a conventional category that identifies...
- List of Rock Genres
This is a list of rock music genres consisting of subgenres...
- Rock and Roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll,...
- Rock Music (Disambiguation)
Learn about the origins, history, and influence of rock and roll, a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States in the 1950s. Find out how the term "rock and roll" was coined, popularized, and used by various artists and genres.
- Overview
- The difficulty of definition
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Rock music is a form of popular music that emerged in the 1950s and can be defined as “a form of music with a strong beat”—it is difficult to be much more precise. It is also called rock and roll. Rock originated in the United States in the 1950s and then spread to other English-speaking countries and across Europe in the ’60s; by the ’90s its impact was evident globally.
How did rock music influence the emergence of folk rock?
Folk rock is a hybrid musical style of rock music and folk music that emerged in the United States and Britain in the mid-1960s. Folk musicians, led by Bob Dylan, went electric, amplified their instruments, and sharpened their beat. Dylan, particularly, showed that pop songs could be both a means of social commentary (protest) and a form of self-expression (poetry).
Who are some famous early rock music artists?
Some famous early rock music artists include Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, and Jimi Hendrix.
rock, form of popular music that emerged in the 1950s.
Dictionary definitions of rock are problematic, not least because the term has different resonance in its British and American usages (the latter is broader in compass). There is basic agreement that rock “is a form of music with a strong beat,” but it is difficult to be much more explicit. The Collins Cobuild English Dictionary, based on a vast database of British usage, suggests that “rock is a kind of music with simple tunes and a very strong beat that is played and sung, usually loudly, by a small group of people with electric guitars and drums,” but there are so many exceptions to this description that it is practically useless.
Legislators seeking to define rock for regulatory purposes have not done much better. The Canadian government defined “rock and rock-oriented music” as “characterized by a strong beat, the use of blues forms and the presence of rock instruments such as electric guitar, electric bass, electric organ or electric piano.” This assumes that rock can be marked off from other sorts of music formally, according to its sounds. In practice, though, the distinctions that matter for rock fans and musicians have been ideological. Rock was developed as a term to distinguish certain music-making and listening practices from those associated with pop; what was at issue was less a sound than an attitude. In 1990 British legislators defined pop music as “all kinds of music characterized by a strong rhythmic element and a reliance on electronic amplification for their performance.” This led to strong objections from the music industry that such a definition failed to appreciate the clear sociological difference between pop (“instant singles-based music aimed at teenagers”) and rock (“album-based music for adults”). In pursuit of definitional clarity, the lawmakers misunderstood what made rock music matter.
Britannica Quiz
Pop Culture Quiz
Rock is a form of popular music that emerged in the 1950s and became the world's dominant musical genre. Learn about rock's origins, influences, styles, and cultural significance from Britannica's experts.
Learn about the history, genres, and subcultures of rock music, a genre of popular music that developed in the 1960s in the US. Find out how rock music influences and reflects social and political movements, and how it is related to other music genres.
A comprehensive list of rock music subgenres and their characteristics, from acid rock to wonky pop. Learn about the history, development, and influences of rock music from 1940s to present.
Learn about the history and styles of rock and roll music, a form of music that developed in the 1950s and 1960s in the United States. Find out how rock and roll combined many kinds of music from the US, such as country, folk, gospel, blues and jazz.
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Sep 13, 2024 · Learn about the early style of rock music that originated in the United States in the mid-1950s and evolved into rock and roll. Explore the key people, songs, and facts of this genre that merged country and rhythm and blues.
