The History of Rock Music

Head banging vocalists, the perfect 'punk' feel, high electric guitar music, an ambience that boasts of unmatchable energy levels…brings to mind the perfect picture of rock music. Rock, an extremely popular genre of music, most commonly deploys the electric guitar, bass guitar and drums. This popular music form has come a long way and has several sub genres associated with it.

Over the years rock music has become more and more experimental seeking influence from various music forms and also putting different kinds of instruments to use. Keyboard instruments like organ, piano and synthesizers have been incorporated in various styles of rock music. Some rock music forms have also made use of instruments like saxophone, violin, flute, French horn, and timpani.

Today rock music has become one of the most popular music forms amidst the youth. But the kind of rock music that we get to hear today was not the same always. This music has evolved and over the past few decades and is an amalgam of the various forms of rock music in the past.

The contemporary rock music scene is a result of various influences. One of the biggest influences has been of that of rock and roll and rockabilly, which trace back to the 1940s and 1950s. Blues, country music and other musical forms in turn influenced both of them.

Another trend that became popular with rock music in the 1960s was mixing of rock music with other music forms. A fusion of rock and folk music called folk rock. Blues was mixed rock to form blues-rock, jazz and rock together gave birth to jazz-rock fusion. An amalgam of rock music with the electrical music ambience formed psychedelic rock. Other than these fusions, several other sub genres of rock music came into existence in the 1970s. Some of these were soft rock, glam rock, punk rock and heavy metal.

Though rock music originated in the United States, it spread like fire to rest of the world through early 1940s and 1950s. This popular genre of music originated as a mixture of some music genres that were popular then. This is why rock music even to date has huge influences from music like rhythm and blues, country music, western music and gospel music.

Electric guitar became an essential component of rock music in the 1950s. The era also saw some of the finest exponents of music like Berry, Link Wray and Scotty Moore. Technology also paved its way into this music genre with multi track recording, courtesy- Les Paul. Sound also begun to be treated electronically.

With all this, it wouldn’t be untrue to say that rock music has traversed quite a topsy-turvy lane to reach its contemporary stage.