History of Rock Music

1. Brief History of Rock Music
Rock music originated as “Rock and Roll” in America in the 1950s and developed in to
many different styles in the1960s. It is heavily influenced by blues, Rhythmand Blues
and country music; however modern bands often stray from theserootsand incorporate
different sounds and elements. Rock music has branched out and created new genres
such as Punk Rock, Electronic Rock, Indie Rock, Grungeand early forms of Heavy Metal.
The term was first used as “Rock and Roll” in the1940s and was created by fusing the
various music genres together (called “racemusic” at thetime) such as Rhythm and
Blues, Gospel, Country and Western music. Elvis Presley’s “That’s All Right (Mama)”
could be considered thefirst “rock and roll” record. It also popularized theuseof the
electric guitar with distortion by peoplesuch as Chuck Berry and Scotty Moore.
The 1960s is considered by many as “TheGolden Age” of Rock Music. This is when Rock
music skyrocketed into popularityin Britain and America by bands and artists such as
The Beatles, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix and Deep Purple.
The 1970s was named “ThePunk Era”. Thepunk bands at this timecreated short,
stripped down songs with political, anti-establishment lyrics. Thesub cultureof Punk
expressed youthful rebellion, distinctiveclothing styles and Anti-Authoritarian
Ideologies. In thebeginning of the 1980s, punk branched out and evolved into several
sub genres of HardcorePunk such as Grindcore(created by British band Napalm Death),
Anarcho Punk (Crass) and Crust Punk.
The 1990s givebirth to a number of new genres which brokethebarriers between Rock,
Rap, Pop and Metal. Pop Punk, Rap Rock and Nu Metal all blurred thelines between
genres. Pop Punk mixed Power Pop melodies with fast tempos and loud guitars
(Pioneered by bands such as Green Day). Rap Rock mixed Groove, Jazz and Rock guitars
with rapped vocals (Pioneered by bands such as Rage Against TheMachine). Nu Metal
usually mixed GrooveMetal riffs with screamed and rapped vocals and electronics
(Pioneered by bands such as Linkin Park).
The 2000s and 2010s continued to break thebarriers between Rock and Pop music with
several critical acclaimed albums by Rock artists (Sempiternal by Bring MeTheHorizon
and American Idiot by Green Day most notably) the2000s also saw therisein popularity
of Emo (Jimmy Eat World), Post Hardcore(Siverstein), Metalcore(Killswitch Engage) and
Electronic Rock and Electronicore(Enter Shikari).
My Target Audience is young (16-30) Males whohave a disposable income
and like all types of modern rock music.

2. Rock Artists That Could Feature on my Front Cover
Asking Alexandria/Attila/Capture The Crown: these male fronted bands would be
good bands for my front cover their music appeals to more of a male audience. Their
music is characterized by mostly screamed vocals, musical breakdowns and lyrics
about sex and drugs. This type of music doesn’t appeal to females that much as
females mostly prefer sung vocals than screamed
Neck Deep/Knuckle Puck/State Champs: these Male fronted pop punk bands appeal
to both males and females but appeal to the younger market as their music is
designed to be simple, easy to understand and fun to listen to. Pop Punk is the
embodiment of youthfulness and immaturity and would appeal more to the younger
audience as they can relate to the bands’ music and lyrics. The older market do not
enjoy their music as much their music tastes have evolved and changed to liking
more complex, more mature music.