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Rock

Rock

Rock may refer to:

Geology


- Rock (geology), a substance composed of minerals.
- An islet, specifically, one that is small and with minimal soil
- A gemstone (slang), usually understood to be a diamond
- Rock salt, an unrefined form of sodium chloride

Culture and entertainment


- Rock (music), the super-genre of styles of popular music evolved from rock and roll
- Rock and roll, a genre of popular music, most prominent in 1950s and '60s, from which all rock music evolved
- Rocks (album), an album by Aerosmith
- Mega Man (character), the main character of a video game before his transformation into "Mega Man".
- Rock (manga), a dark young boy who is a recurrent character of Osamu Tezuka's mangas.
- Cocaine, a slang term for the drug.
- Rock (dance), a term to describe 'having a dance' in rave communities, (i.e. Melbourne Shuffle)

Food


- Ice, commonly referred to as "rocks" when used with alcoholic beverages
- Rock (confectionery), a confectionery made and sold in many of the UK's seaside holiday resorts
- Rock candy, a type of confectionery composed of large sugar crystalls.
- Rock (chicken), a breed of chicken. Roque: Also known has Jose Roque who is in Love with Gajedo

Software


- ROCK Linux, a Linux distribution build kit
- Rocks Cluster Distribution, Open Source High Performance Linux Cluster Solution

The Rock

The Rock may refer to:
- Newfoundland, a slang name for the place.
- Alcatraz Island, slang name for the federal prison in San Francisco Bay
- The Rock (movie), a 1996 motion picture about the prison
- Gibraltar, is nicknamed "The Rock".
- Dwayne Johnson, a professional wrestler and actor known as "The Rock".
- Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad, The Rock is this railroad's nickname.
- Jesus

Places


- Rock, Wisconsin, USA
  - Rock, Rock County, Wisconsin, USA
  - Rock, Wood County, Wisconsin, USA
- Rock, Kansas, USA
- Ayers Rock or Uluru, Australia
- Rock, Cornwall, UK
- Rock, Worcestershire, UK
- Rock River (disambiguation)
- The Rocks, New South Wales, Australia

People


- Chris Rock, (1965-), African-American comedian
- Joseph Rock (1884-1962), Austrian-American explorer, geographer and botanist

Rock (geology)

, plutonic, metamorphic rock types of North America. ]] Rock is a naturally occurring aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids. Rocks are classified by mineral and chemical composition; the texture of the constituent particles; and also by the processes that formed them. These indicators separate rocks into igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic. Igneous rocks are formed from molten magma, and are divided into two main categories: Plutonic rock and Volcanic rock. Plutonic rocks result when the magma cools and crystallises slowly within the Earth's crust, while Volcanic rocks result from the magma reaching the surface either as lava or fragmental ejecta. Sedimentary rocks are formed by deposition of either detrital or organic matter, or chemical precipitates (evaporites), followed by compaction of the particulate matter and cementation. The latter can occur at or near the earth's surface, especially in the case of carbonate-rich sediments. Metamorphic rocks are formed by subjecting any rock type (including previously-formed metamorphic rock) to different temperature and pressure conditions than those in which the original rock was formed. These temperatures and pressures are always higher than those at the earth's surface, and must be sufficiently high so as to change the original minerals into other mineral types or else into other forms of the same minerals (e.g. by recrystallisation). The transformation of one rock type to another is described by the geological model called the rock cycle. The Earth's crust (including the lithosphere) and mantle are formed of rock.

See also


- Geology
- Petrology
- List of minerals
- List of rocks
- List of stone
- Quarrying
- Rock formations
- Megalith
- Riprap

External links


- [http://www.geol.lsu.edu/henry/Geology3041/2IgneousClassify/IgneousClassFlow.htm Classification of Igneous Rocks] Category:Geology Category:Rocks ja:岩石 ms:Batu th:หิน

Gemstone

:This article is about gemstones as jewelry or decorative art. For other uses of the word see (Gemstone (disambiguation)). A gemstone is a mineral, rock (as in lapis lazuli) or petrified material that when cut or faceted and polished is collectible or can be used in jewellery. Others are organic, such as amber (fossilised tree resin) and jet (a form of coal). Some beautiful gemstones are too soft or too fragile to be used in jewelry, for example, single-crystal rhodochrosite, but are exhibited in museums and are sought by collectors of mineral or crystal specimens. rhodochrosite

Characteristics and classification

Gemstones are described and differentiated by gemologists by certain technical specifications. First, what is it made of, its chemical composition. Diamonds for example are made of carbon (C), rubies of aluminium oxide (Al2O3). Next, many gems are crystals which are classified by crystal system such as cubic or trigonal or monoclinic. Another term used is habit, the form the gem is usually found in, for example diamonds which have a cubic crystal system are often found as octahedrons. Gems are classified into different groups, species and varieties. For example, ruby is the red variety of the species corundum that belongs to the spinel or hematite group. Emerald (green), aquamarine (blue), bixbite (red), goshenite (colorless), heliodor (yellow), and morganite (pink) are all varieties of the mineral species beryl. Gems have a certain refractive index, a certain dispersion, a certain specific gravity, a certain hardness, a certain cleavage, a certain fracture, a certain luster. They may exhibit pleochroism of a sort, or double refraction to a degree and have an optic sign. They may have a certain luminescence and a distinctive absorption spectrum. Certain material or flaws within a stone may be present as characteristic inclusions. And the gem may occur in certain locations, "occurrence." Gems from different locations may display different characteristics which may aid in identification.

Value

A gemstone is prized especially for great beauty or perfection. Hence, appearance is almost the most important attribute of gemstones. Characteristics that make a stone beautiful or desirable are colour, unusual optical phenomena within the stone, an interesting inclusion such as a fossil, rarity, and sometimes the form of the natural crystal. In terms of beauty, it is unsurprising that diamond is prized highly as a gemstone, since it is the hardest substance known and is able to reflect light with fire and sparkle when faceted. However, it is important to understand that diamonds are far from rare with millions of carats mined each year. Traditionally, common gemstones were classified into precious stones (cardinal gems) and semi-precious stones. The former category was largely determined by a history of ecclesiastical, devotional or ceremonial use and rarity imposed by the limits of known deposits and available collection methods. Only five types of gemstones were considered precious: diamond, ruby, sapphire, emerald, and amethyst. In current usage by gemologists, all gems are considered precious, although four of the five original "cardinal gems" are usually—but not always—the most valuable. Another category of gemstones which is still in use is that of rare or unusual gemstones, generally meant to include those gemstones which occur so infrequently in gem quality that they are scarcely known except to connoisseurs. Here are included andalusite, axinite, cassiterite, clinohumite, iolite, among others all of which are durable, rare, and in better examples quite attractive.

Factors Influencing Esteem

The factors influencing the esteem in which gems are held are few in number but extremely important because they so directly affect value. These are attractiveness, durability, rarity, fashion, and size. They are not fixed in scope by any means and the predominance of one factor may compensate for shortcomings in another.

Synthetic and artificial gemstones

Some gemstones are manufactured to imitate other gemstones. For example, cubic zirconia is a synthetic diamond simulant composed of zirconium oxide. The imitations copy the look and colour of the real stone but possess neither their chemical nor physical characteristics. However, true synthetic gemstones are not necessarily imitation. For example, diamonds, ruby, sapphires and emeralds have been manufactured in labs, which possess very nearly identical chemical and physical characteristics to the genuine article. Synthetic corundums, including ruby and sapphire, are very common and they cost only a fraction of the natural stones. Smaller synthetic diamonds have been manufactured in large quantities as industrial abrasives for many years. Only recently, larger synthetic diamonds of gemstone quality, especially of the coloured variety, have been manufactured.

Gemstone list

There are over 130 species of minerals that have been cut into gems with 50 species in common use. These include:
- Agate
- Alexandrite and other varieties of chrysoberyl
- Amethyst (originally a "cardinal gem", but now no longer so, since huge quantities were discovered in Brazil and the price plummeted)
- Aquamarine and other varieties of beryl
- Chrysocolla
- Chrysoprase
- Diamond
- Emerald
- Feldspar (moonstone)
- Garnet
- Hematite
- Jade - jadeite and nephrite
- Jasper
- Kunzite
- Lapis lazuli
- Malachite
- Obsidian
- Olivine (Peridot)
- Opal (Girasol)
- Pyrite
- Quartz and its varieties, such as tiger's-eye, citrine, agate, and amethyst
- Ruby
- Sapphire
- Spinel
- Sugilite
- Tanzanite and other varieties of zoisite
- Topaz
- Turquoise
- Tourmaline
- Zircon Minerals that infrequently occur in gem quality form:
- Andalusite
- Axinite
- Benitoite
- Cassiterite
- Clinohumite
- Iolite
- Kornerupine
- Zeolite (Thomsonite) Artificial or synthetic materials used as gems include:
- High-lead glass
- Synthetic cubic zirconia
- Synthetic corundum
- Synthetic spinel
- Synthetic moissanite There are a number of organic materials used as gems, including:
- Amber
- Bone
- Coral
- Ivory
- Jet (lignite)
- Mother of pearl
- Ammolite - from fossils formed from the shells of extinct ammonites.
- Pearl
- Tortoiseshell

See also


- List of minerals
- Lapidary
- Jewelry
- Precious metal

References


- Weinstein, Michael, 1958, The World of Jewel Stones, Sheridan House, New York
- The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Rocks and Minerals, 1978, New York, Alfred A. Knopf ISBN 0394502698
- Hurlbut, Cornelius S.; Klein, Cornelis, 1985, Manual of Mineralogy, 20th ed., John Wiley and Sons, New York ISBN 0471805807

External links


- [http://www.gemscape.com/html/misnomer.htm Misleading Gem Names] Category:Gemstones ja:宝石 simple:Gemstone

Rock salt

Halite is the mineral of sodium chloride, NaCl, commonly known as rock salt. Halite forms isometric crystals. The mineral is colorless to white, light blue, dark blue, and pink. It commonly occurs with other evaporite deposit minerals such as several of the sulfates, halides and borates. Halite occurs in vast beds of sedimentary evaporite minerals that result from the drying up of enclosed lakes, playas, and seas. Salt beds may be up to 350 m thick and underlie broad areas. In the United States and Canada extensive underground beds extend from the Appalacian basin of western New York through parts of Ontario and under much of the Michigan basin. Other deposits are in Ohio, Kansas, New Mexico, Nova Scotia, and Saskatchewan. Salt domes are vertical diapirs or pipe-like masses of salt that have been essentially "squeezed up" from underlying salt beds by mobilization due to the weight of overlying rock. Salt domes contain anhydrite, gypsum, and native sulfur, in addition to halite and sylvite. They are common along the Gulf coasts of Texas and Louisiana and are often associated with petroleum deposits. Germany, Spain, Romania, and Iran also have salt domes. Salt glaciers exist in arid Iran where the salt has broken through the surface at high elevation and flows downhill. In all of these cases, halite is said to be behaving in the manner of a rheid. Unusual, purple, fibrous vein filling halite is found in France and a few other localities. Halite crystals termed hopper crystals appear to be "skeletons" of the typical cubes, with the edges present and stairstep depressions on, or rather in, each crystal face. In a rapidly crystallizing environment the edges of the cubes simply grow faster than the centers. Halite crystals form quite rapidly in some fast evaporating lakes resulting in modern artefacts with a coating or encrustation of halite crystals. Halite flowers are rare stalactites of curling fibers of halite that are found in certain arid caves of Australia's Nullarbor Plain. Halite stalactites and encrustations are also reported in the Quincy native copper mine of Hancock, Michigan.

References


- Hurlbut, Cornelius S.; Klein, Cornelis, 1985, Manual of Mineralogy, 20th ed., John Wiley and Sons, New York ISBN 0471805807
- [http://mineral.galleries.com/minerals/halides/halite/halite.htm Mineral Galleries]
- [http://webmineral.com/data/Halite.shtml WebMineral]
- [http://www.minerals.net/mineral/halides/halite/halite.htm Minerals.net]
- [http://www.desertusa.com/mag99/jan/papr/geo_halite.html Desert USA]
- [http://www.minsocam.org/MSA/collectors_corner/arc/mihalite.htm Halite stalactites] Category:Halide minerals ko:암염 ja:岩塩

Rock music

Rock is a form of popular music, usually featuring vocals (often with vocal harmony), electric guitars, and a strong back beat; other instruments, such as the saxophone, are common in some styles. The genre of rock is broad, and its boundaries loosely-defined, with distantly related genres such as soul and heavy metal sometimes being included. A major formative influence was rock and roll, and the terms are sometimes used interchangeably. In the early 1960s rock 'n' roll was seen as being out of fashion, and at the outset of 60s British rock there was an insistence on using the term rock music. With the "British Invasion" this reinvigorated music spread back to the United States, and became a lasting international cultural phenomenon with considerable social impact on the world. Competing claims have credited it with ending wars and spreading peace and tolerance, as well as corrupting the innocent and spreading moral rot. Rock has become popular across the globe, and has evolved into a multitude of highly-varying styles with widespread popularity in most countries today.

Origins

Main article: Origins of rock and roll Rock and Roll in its various guises came from a fusion of musical cultures, and in turn its influence fed back to these cultures, a process of borrowings, influences and new ideas that continues to develop rock music.

Rock 'n' Roll diversifies

Rock 'n' Roll had runaway success in the U.S. and quickly brought sanitised rhythm and blues influenced music to an international audience. Its success led to a dilution, as promoters were quick to attach the label to other commercial pop, and original stars such as Elvis Presley were diverted into ballads more in keeping with previous ideas of pop. The excitement and drive of the music was not forgotten, and there was a widening diversification of styles. The American rock style began to influence other genres. Vocalized R&B became doo wop, for example, while uptempo, secularized gospel music became soul, and audiences flocked to see Appalachian-style folk bands playing a rock-influenced pop version of their style. Places like Southern California produced their own varieties of pop music, such as surf. Young adults and teenagers across the country were playing in amateur rock bands, laying the roots for local scenes which would pave the way for garage rock and the so-called San Francisco Sound.

Surf music

Main article: surf music The rockabilly sound influenced the West Coast development of a wild, mostly instrumental sound called surf music, though surf culture saw itself as a competing youth culture to Rock and Roll. This style, exemplified by Dick Dale and The Surfaris, featured faster tempos, innovative percussion, and processed electric guitar sounds with a British equivalent at the same time from groups like The Shadows, which would be highly influential upon future rock guitarists. Other West Coast bands, notably The Beach Boys and Jan and Dean, would capitalize on the surf craze, slowing the tempos back down and adding harmony vocals to create the "California Sound."

Australia

Main article: Australian rock After Johnny O'Keefe's last major hit in 1961, Australian popular music was dominated by clean-cut family bands. Bubbling beneath the surface, however, was a group of pioneering bands like the surf band The Atlantics.

British rock

Main article: British rock In the United Kingdom the Trad jazz movement brought visiting blues music artists and Lonnie Donegan's 1955 hit "Rock Island Line" began Skiffle music groups throughout the country, including John Lennon's "The Quarry Men" formed in March 1957 as a precursor to The Beatles. Britain was quick to become a new centre of rock and roll, without the color barriers which kept "race records" or Rhythm and Blues separate in the U.S.. Cliff Richard had the first British rock 'n' roll hit with "Move It", beginning the different sound of British rock. At the start of the 1960s his backing group The Shadows was one of a number of groups having success with Surf music instrumentals. Rock 'n' Roll was fading into lightweight pop and schmaltzy ballads, but at clubs and local dances British rock groups were starting to play with an intensity and drive seldom found in white American acts, heavily influenced by Blues-rock pioneers like Alexis Korner. By the end of 1962 the British rock scene had started, with groups drawing on a wide range of American influences including Soul music, Rhythm and Blues and Surf music, playing for dancers doing the Twist. The music quickly evolved and developed to dominate pop music world-wide. First reinterpreting standard American tunes, these groups then infused their original rock compositions with an industrial-class sensibility and increasingly complex musical ideas. The Beatles rose to the fore, bringing together an appealing mix of image, songwriting, and personality. In late 1963 the Rolling Stones started, as one of a number of groups increasingly showing blues influence such as The Animals and The Yardbirds, and in late 1964 The Kinks, followed by The Who, represented the new Mod style. The increasing musical adventurousness of the groups is exemplified by the Beatles' Rubber Soul of 1965. Drug references increased as music moved towards the birth of Psychedelia.

British invasion

Main article: British Invasion After their initial success in the UK, The Beatles launched a large-scale US tour to ecstatic reaction, a phenomenon quickly dubbed Beatlemania. Although they were not the first British band to come to America, The Beatles spearheaded the Invasion, triumphing in the US on their first visit in 1964 (including historic appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show). In the wake of Beatlemania other British bands headed to the U.S., notably the Rolling Stones (who disdained the Beatles' clean-cut image and presented a darker, more aggressive image), and other acts like The Animals and The Yardbirds. Throughout the early and mid-60s Americans seemed to have an insatiable appetite for British rock. Other British bands, including The Who, had some success during this period but saved their peak of popularity for the second wave of British invasion in the late 1960s.

1960s garage rock

Main article: Garage rock The British Invasion spawned a wave of imitators in the U.S. and across the globe. Many of these bands were cruder than the bands they tried to emulate. Playing mainly to local audiences and recording cheaply, very few of these bands broke through to a higher level of success. This movement, later known as Punk rock or Garage Rock, latergained a new audience when record labels started re-issuing compilations of the original singles; the best known of these is a series called Nuggets. Some of the better known band of this genre include The Sonics, ? & the Mysterians, and The Standells.

Development of a counterculture (1963-1974)

Main article: Counterculture In the late 1950s the U.S. Beatnik counterculture was associated with the wider anti-war movement building against the threat of the atomic bomb, notably CND in Britain. Both were associated with jazz and with the growing folk song movement, which attracted idealistic communists and left-wingers working for an egalitarian overthrow of race discrimination in the U.S. and of the class structure in Britain. Rock and roll was seen as commercial pop, but subverted the race barriers in the U.S., and with the British invasion the reverence of groups for black Rhythm and blues stars brought these stars a wider public. The Beatles era brought outrage at longer hair styles, with unsmiling or sullen groups on record covers in contrast to the previous standard of clean-cut musicians with cheesy grins. The Rolling Stones took this further and are credited with being the first band to dispense with band uniforms; band members simply wore whatever clothes they wished, and these clothes were often outlandish or controversial. Such seemingly trivial rebelliousness led to bigger shifts.

Bob Dylan and folk-rock

Main articles: Bob Dylan, Folk-rock The folk scene had strong links between Britain and America, and in both countries a puritanical opposition to electric instruments and revival of traditional songs combined with enthusiasm for acoustic blues music and promotion of new songs with a social message, a genre pioneered by Woody Guthrie. Despite his adolescent musical forays into electric rock 'n' roll, Bob Dylan came to the fore in this movement, and his hits with Blowin' in The Wind and Masters of War brought "protest songs" to a wider public. Like others on the folk circuit, he viewed The Beatles at first as tritely commercial bubblegum pop, but just as they drew inspiration from his The Times They Are A-Changin album, he in turn was influenced by them to bring in electric rock instrumentation in his March 1965 album Bringing It All Back Home. Before the album came out, The Byrds beat him to it with a jangling electric hit single version of Mr. Tambourine Man taken from a preview of an acoustic track on the album. This effectively started Folk-rock, as well as setting off Psychedelic rock. Dylan's own contribution continued, with his "Like a Rolling Stone" becoming a U.S. hit single. Among his many disciples Neil Young's lyrical inventiveness and often wailing electric guitar attack presaged grunge, and others including Simon & Garfunkel, The Mamas & the Papas and The Band developed the genre in America. In Britain, Fairport Convention began applying rock techniques to traditional British folk songs, followed by groups such as Steeleye Span, Lindisfarne and Pentangle in an approach which is still going strong today.

Psychedelic rock

Main article: Psychedelic rock Psychedelia began in the folk scene, with the Holy Modal Rounders introducing the term in 1964. With a background including folk and jug band music, The Grateful Dead fell in with Ken Kesey's LSD fuelled Merry Pranksters, playing at their Acid Tests then providing an electric Acid rock soundtrack to their Trips Festival of January 1966 , together with Big Brother & the Holding Company. Within a fortnight the Filmore Auditorium was providing a regular venue for groups like another former jug band, Country Joe and the Fish, and the Jefferson Airplane whose debut album, recorded at the end of 1965, would have widespread influence that year. Elsewhere, The Byrds had a hit with Eight Miles High and the 13th Floor Elevators titled their album The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators. The music increasingly became involved in opposition to the Vietnam War. In Britain, Pink Floyd had been developing psychedelic rock since 1965 in the underground culture scene, and in 1966 the Soft Machine formed. From the folk music side, Donovan had a hit with Sunshine Superman, one of the very first overtly psychedelic pop records. In August 1966 The Beatles joined in the fun with their Revolver featuring psychedelia in Tomorrow Never Knows and in Yellow Submarine which combined these references with appeal to children and nostalgia, a formula which would keep their music widely popular. The Beach Boys responded in the U.S. with Pet Sounds. From a blues rock background, the British supergroup Cream debuted in December, and Jimi Hendrix became popular in Britain before returning to storm America. January 1967 brought the first album from The Doors. As the year went by many other pioneering groups got records out, with Pink Floyd's Arnold Layne in March only hinting at their live sound. The Beatles' groundbreaking album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was released in June, and by the end of the year Pink Floyd's The Piper at the Gates of Dawn and Cream's Disraeli Gears. The culmination of rock and roll as a socially-unifying force was seen in the rock festivals of the late '60s, the most famous of which was Woodstock which began as a three-day arts and music festival and turned into a "happening", as hundreds of thousands of youthful fans converged on the site.

Progressive rock

Main article: Progressive rock The music itself broadened past the guitar-bass-drum format; while some bands had used saxophones and keyboards before, now acts like The Beach Boys and The Beatles (and others following their lead) experimented with new instruments including wind sections, string sections, and full orchestration. Many bands moved well beyond three-minute tunes into new and diverse forms; increasingly sophisticated chord structures, previously limited to jazz and orchestrated pop music, were heard. Dabbling heavily in classical, jazz, electronic, and experimental music resulted in what would be called progressive rock (or, in its German wing, krautrock). Progressive rock could be lush and beautiful or atonal and dissonant, highly complex or minimalistic, sometimes all within the same song. At times it was hardly recognizable as rock at all. Some notable practitioners include King Crimson, Genesis, Gentle Giant, The Nice, Yes, Gong, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Magma, Can, Pink Floyd, Rush, and Faust.

German prog

Main article: Krautrock In the mid-1960s, American and British rock entered Germany, especially British progressive rock bands. At the time, the musical avant-garde in Germany were playing a kind of electronic classical music, and they adapted the then-revolutionary electronic instruments for a progressive-psychedelic rock sound. By the early 1970s, the scene, now known as krautrock, had begun to peak with the incorporation of jazz (Can) and Asian music (Popol Vuh). This sound, and later pioneers like Neu! and Kraftwerk, were to prove enormously influential in the development of techno and other genres later in the century.

Italian prog

In Italy progressive rock had a great success in the 1970s and some bands played prog at the same level of the more famous American groups and went in tour in the States. Some Italian progressive rock bands were Premiata Forneria Marconi, Banco del Mutuo Soccorso and Area International Popular Group.

Birth of heavy metal

Main article: Heavy metal music A second wave of British bands and artists gained great popularity during this period dominant; these bands typically were more directly steeped in American blues music than their more pop-oriented predecessors but their performances took a highly amplified, often spectacular form. These were the bands that were led by the guitar; Cream and Led Zeppelin were early examples of this blues-rock form and were followed by heavier rock bands including Black Sabbath and Deep Purple. This style of rock would come to be known as heavy metal music.

Corporate movements out of the counterculture (the 1970s)

Arena rock

Main article: Arena rock The Beatles and the Rolling Stones had set the table for massive live performances in stadiums and arenas. The growing popularity of metal and progressive rock led to more bands selling out large venues. The corporate world saw the chance for huge profits and began marketing a series of what came to be called arena rock bands. Bands whose roots were in other genres, like Queen, Pink Floyd and Genesis, paved the way by putting on extravagant live shows drawing a large number of fans. Following in their wake, Boston, Styx, Foreigner, Journey, and many other bands began playing similar music, often less progressive and metal-like. This movement became a precursor to the power pop of future decades, and set the mold for live performances by popular artists.

Soft rock/Pop

Main article: Pop music Even rock music would get soft, or at least in between soft and hard. Out of the short-lived "bubble gum pop" era came such groups as The Partridge Family, The Cowsills, The Osmonds, and The Archies (the last "group" was actually one person, Ron Dante, who would go on to help manage the career of Barry Manilow). With the demise of The Beatles as a group, other bands and artists would take this emerging soft rock format and add a touch of orchestration to partially form some of the first "power ballads". Solo artists such as Manilow, Olivia Newton-John, and Eric Carmen, and groups such as Bread, The Carpenters, and England Dan & John Ford Coley would make popular the format we know today as Soft rock. Other well-known artists, not specifically rock stars, from the 1960s such as Neil Diamond and Barbra Streisand were continuing to chart.

Classic rock emerging

Main article: Classic rock Meanwhile, groups such as Queen, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Aerosmith, REO Speedwagon, ZZ Top, Van Halen, and The Rolling Stones as well as such solo artists as Peter Frampton were being heard mainly on AM radio and sharing the charts with their soft rock counterparts. For example, Frampton's 1976 live album Frampton Comes Alive, rapidly becoming the best-selling live album of all time, had spawned a number of singles that hit the Top Ten charts, such as "Show Me The Way" and "Baby, I Love Your Way". Aerosmith's rock anthem "Walk This Way", among others, were becoming popular with junior high and high school students. It was an era where both soft and hard rock mixed together. Extremely popular recordings, such as Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" and Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody," actually put the two together.

Rock crosses the border

In the early 1970's Mexican singer Rigo Tovar took not only the musical elements of rock melody and blues and fused it with cumbia, and tropical music. He was the first to also used the rock and roll image; sporting long black shaggy hair, ray ban aviator glasses, glam outfits, and tattoos. He also started the use electric guitars, synthesizers and electronic effects previously unused in mexican music. In his live performances he would cover songs by Ray Charles and the Beatles. His fame and influence were not limited to Mexico and Latin America but eventually went world wide reaching Europe. Many of today's mexican "rockeros" cite Rigo as an influence.

Disco, punk and New Wave (1973-1981)

Disco

Main article: Disco While Funk music had been part of the rock and roll scene in the early 1970s, it would eventually give way to more accessible songs with a danceable beat. The Disco format was propelled by such groups as K.C. and the Sunshine Band, MFSB, The Three Degrees, The O'Jays, Barry White, Gloria Gaynor, Chic, and The Trammps. Suddenly, many popular hits featured the danceable disco beat, and discotheques -- previously a European phenomenenon -- began to open in the U.S., notably Studio 54 in New York, which became the model for dozens of disco clubs nationwide. The group most associated with the Disco era was The Bee Gees, whose music for the 1977 Paramount film Saturday Night Fever marked the pinnacle of the era. Many mainstream rock acts, including the Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart, Queen and even the Grateful Dead, incorporated disco beats into their releases in attempts to keep up with the trend; many rock radio stations began to adopt all-disco formats. But by the end of the 1970s an anti-disco backlash occurred as, in the rush to capitalize on the popular format, the overall quality of disco music began to fall and as rock fans reacted to the perceived loss of traditional rock outlets in favor of disco. The anti-disco movement culminated in the disco demolition riot in Chicago during the summer of 1979. While much of the cachet of disco as a genre had dissipated by the end of the '70s, danceable sounds persisted; disco, in its own way, would spin off Rap/Hip-Hop music as we know today, when The Sugarhill Gang took portions of Chic's hit "Good Times" and transformed them into "Rapper's Delight", generally considered to be the first popular rap single.

Punk Rock

Main article: Punk rock Punk rock started off as a reaction to the lush, producer-driven sounds of disco, and against the perceived commercialism of progressive rock that had become arena rock. Early punk borrowed heavily from the garage band ethic: played by bands for which expert musicianship was not a requirement, punk was stripped-down, three-chord music that could be played easily. Many of these bands also intended to shock mainstream society, rejecting the "peace and love" image of the prior musical rebellion of the 1960s which had degenerated, punks thought, into mellow disco culture. Punk rose to public awareness nearly simultaneously in Britain with the Sex Pistols and in America with The Ramones. The Sex Pistols chose aggressive stage names (including "Johnny Rotten" and "Sid Vicious") and did their best to live up to them, deliberately rejecting anything that symbolized "hippies": long hair, soft music, loose clothing, and politics, and displaying an anarchic, often confrontational, stage presence; well represented on their first two singles "Anarchy in the U.K." and "God Save the Queen". Despite an airplay ban on the BBC, the record rose to the top chart position in the UK. The Sex Pistols paved the way for The Clash, whose approach was less nihilistic but more overtly political and idealistic. The Ramones exemplified the American side of punk: equally aggressive but mostly apolitical, more alienated, and not above fun for its own sake. The Ramones reigned as the kings of the New York punk scene, which also included Richard Hell and Television, and centered around rough-and-tumble clubs, notably CBGB's. Punk was mostly an East-coast phenomenon in the US until the late 1970s when Los Angeles-based bands such as X and Black Flag broke through. In 1994 Green Day broke through the curse of being punk rockers and not being able to go mainstream, by releasing their third album, Dookie, on record label Reprise. Green Day were cast out of the underground, because they had rose to fame in the mainstream world.

New Wave

Main article: New Wave Punk rock attracted devotees from the art and collegiate world and soon bands sporting a more literate, arty approach, such as the Talking Heads and Devo began to infiltrate the punk scene; in some quarters the description New Wave began to be used to differentiate these less overtly punk bands. If punk rock was a social and musical phenomenon, it garnered little in the way of record sales (small specialty labels such as Stiff Records had released much of the punk music to date) or American radio airplay, as the radio scene continued to be dominated by mainstream formats such as disco and album-oriented rock. Record executives, who had been mostly mystified by the punk movement, recognized the potential of the more accessible New Wave acts and began aggressively signing and marketing any band that could claim a remote connection to punk or New Wave. Many of these bands, such as The Cars and The Go-Go's were essentially pop bands dressed up in New Wave regalia; others, including The Police and The Pretenders managed to parlay the boost of the New Wave movement into long-lived and artistically lauded careers. Punk and post-punk bands would continue to appear sporadically, but as a musical scene, punk had largely self-destructed and been subsumed into mainstream New Wave pop by the mid-1980s, but the influence of punk has been substantial. The grunge movement of the late 1980s owes much to punk, and many current mainstream bands claim punk rock as their stylistic heritage. Punk also bred other genres, including hardcore, industrial music, and goth.

Rock diversifies in the 1980s

Main article: 1980s in music In the 1980s, popular rock diversified. The early part of the decade saw Eddie Van Halen achieve musical innovations in rock guitar, while vocalists David Lee Roth (of Van Halen) and Freddie Mercury (of Queen) raised the role of frontman to near performance art standards. Concurrently, pop-New Wave bands remained popular, while pop-punk performers, like Billy Idol and The Go-Go's, gained fame. American heartland rock gained a strong following, exemplified by Bruce Springsteen, Bob Seger, and others. Led by the American folk singer-songwriter Paul Simon and the British former prog rock star Peter Gabriel, rock and roll fused with a variety of folk music styles from around the world; this fusion came to be known as "world music", and included fusions like Aboriginal rock.

Hard rock and hair metal

Main article: Hair metal (also see Hard rock and Heavy metal.) Heavy metal languished in obscurity until the mid- or late 1970s. A few hard rock bands maintained large followings, like Queen, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith, and there were occasional mainstream hits, like Blue Öyster Cult's "Don't Fear the Reaper". Music critics overwhelmingly hated the genre, and mainstream listeners generally avoided it because of its strangeness. However this changed in 1978 with the release of the hard rock band Van Halen's eponymous debut, which ushered in an era of widely popular, high-energy rock and roll, based out of Los Angeles, California. While bands like Van Halen and Metallica innovated in the genre, and the New Wave of British Heavy Metal found fans, a group of musicians formulated what later became known as hair metal. Taking cues from Van Halen, but without their humor, Mötley Crüe, Bon Jovi, and Ratt are often regarded as the first hair metal bands to gain popularity. They became known for their debauched lifestyles, teased hair, feminized use of make-up, clothing (usually spandex,) and over-the-top posturing. Their songs were bombastic, aggressive, and often defiantly macho, with lyrics focused on sex, drinking, drugs, and the occult. After Def Leppard's wildly popular Pyromania, and Van Halen's seminal 1984, hair metal became ubiquitous. Many hair metal bands became one-hit wonders, or as David Lee Roth once said of them, "here today, gone later today," (for example, Winger and Slaughter.) By the middle of the 1980s, a formula developed in which a hair metal band had two hits -- one a soft ballad, and the other a hard-rocking anthem. The original line-up of Van Halen broke up in 1985, creating something of a quality vacuum in the genre; however, in 1987, Guns n' Roses released Appetite for Destruction, which became phenomenally successful. Until hair metal's demise in the early-1990s, Guns n' Roses were hard rock's standard-bearers, and influenced its sound by incorporating influences from punk rock, and thrash metal.

Birth of Chinese rock

Main article: Chinese rock Beginning about 1986, the Northwest Wind (xibeifeng, 西北风) style of rock began to enter the burgeoning youth culture in China. The first Chinese rock song may be "I Have Nothing" by Cui Jian, now the widely-admired godfather of the Chinese rock scene. Spurred by pro-democracy activism, such as at Tiananmen Square, and by governmental repression, rock flourished in the Chinese counterculture. Of especial popularity later in the decade were melancholy tunes called prison songs. By 1990, Chinese rock had begun to enter the mainstream, but almost immediately incorporated sounds and styles from the Cantopop style. Though alternative bands remained, Chinese rock became subverted, often by bands working in cohesion with the Chinese government and in favor of the status quo; many of rock's fans in China became disillusioned as a result, leading to a general decline in popularity later in the decade.

Alternative music and the indie movement

Main article: Alternative music The term alternative music (also often known as alternative rock) was coined in the early 1980s to describe bands which didn't fit into the mainstream genres of the time. Bands dubbed "alternative" could be most any style not typically heard on the radio, however, most alternative bands were unified by their collective debt to punk. Although these groups never generated spectacular album sales, they exerted a considerable influence on the generation of musicians who came of age in the 80s. Two of the most famous bands to arise from this genre were The Smashing Pumpkins and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers.

Grunge and the anti-corporate rock movement

Main article: Grunge music By the late 1980s rock radio was dominated by aging rock artists, slick commercial pop-rock, and hair metal; MTV had arrived and brought with it a perception that style was more important than substance. Any remaining traces of rock and roll rebelliousness or the punk ethic seemed to have been subsumed into corporate-sponsored and mass-marketed musical product. Disaffected by this trend, some young musicians began to reject the polished, glamor-oriented posturing of hair metal, and created crude, sometimes angry music. The American Pacific Northwest region, especially Seattle, became a hotbed of this style, dubbed grunge. Early grunge bands, particularly Alice in Chains and Soundgarden, took much of their sound from early heavy metal and much of their approach from punk, though they eschewed punk's ambitions towards political and social commentary to proceed in a more nihilistic direction. Grunge remained a mostly local phenomenon until the breakthrough of Nirvana in 1991 with their album Nevermind. A slightly more melodic, more completely produced variation on their predecessors, Nirvana was an instant sensation worldwide and made much of the competing music seem stale and dated by comparison, hair metal faded almost completely from the mainstream. Nirvana whetted the public's appetite for more direct, less polished rock music, leading to the success of bands like Pearl Jam and Soundgarden took a somewhat more traditional rock approach than other grunge bands but shared their passion and rawness. Pearl Jam were a major commercial success from their debut but, beginning with their second album, refused to buy in to the corporate promotion and marketing mechanisms of MTV and Ticketmaster, with whom they famously engaged in legal skirmishes over ticket service fees. While grunge itself can be seen as somewhat limited in range, its influence was felt across many geographic and musical boundaries; many artists who were similarly disaffected with commercial rock music suddenly found record companies and audiences willing to listen, and dozens of disparate acts positioned themselves as alternatives to mainstream music; thus alternative rock emerged from the underground.

Britpop

Main article: Britpop While America was full of grunge, post-grunge, and hip hop, Britain launched a 1960s revival in the mid-90s, often called Britpop, with bands like Oasis, the Verve, Radiohead, Pulp and Blur. These bands drew on myriad styles from the 80s British rock underground, including twee pop, shoegazing and space rock and from the alternative rock. For a time, the Oasis-Blur rivalry was similar to the Beatles-Rolling Stones rivalry. While bands like Blur tended to follow on from the Small Faces and The Kinks, Oasis mixed the attitude of the Rolling Stones with the melody of the Beatles. The Verve and Radiohead took inspiration from performers like Elvis Costello, Pink Floyd and R.E.M. with their progressive rock music, manifested in Radiohead's most famous album, OK Computer. These bands became very successful, and for a time Oasis was given the title "the biggest band in the world" thanks to an album selling some 14 million copies worldwide but slowed down after band breakups, publicity disasters in the United States and slightly less popular support. The Verve disbanded after on-going turmoil in the band, but on the other hand Radiohead threw themselves into electronic experimentation in their latest records and have stood the test of time in both the U.K and the USA as a major act.

Indie rock

Main article: Indie rock Alternative music and the rebellious, DIY ethic it espoused became the inspiration for grunge, the popularity of which, paradoxically, took alternative rock into the mainstream. By the mid-90s, the term "alternative music" had lost much of its original meaning as rock radio and record buyers embraced increasingly slick, commercialized, and highly marketed forms of the genre. At the end of the decade, hip hop music had pushed much of alternative rock out of the mainstream, and most of what was left played pop-punk and highly polished versions of a grunge/rock mishmash. Following the lead of Pearl Jam, many acts who, by choice or fate, remained outside the commercial mainstream, became part of the indie rock movement. Indie rock acts placed a premium on maintaining complete control of their music and careers, often releasing albums on their own independent record labels and relying on touring, word-of-mouth, and airplay on independent or college radio stations for promotion. Linked by an ethos more than a musical approach, the indie rock movement encompasses a wide range of styles, from hard-edged, grunge influenced bands like Superchunk to punk-folk singers such as Ani DiFranco. Currently, many countries have an extensive local Indie scene, flourishing with bands with much less popularity than commercial bands, just enough of it to survive inside the respective country, but virtually unknown outside them.

Alternative Rock and current trends (1995-present)

With the death of Kurt Cobain, rock and roll music searched for a new face, sound, and trend. A second wave of alternative rock bands began to become popular, with grunge declining in the mid-90s. The Foo Fighters, Green Day and Radiohead spearheaded rock radio. In 1995, a Canadian pop star Alanis Morissette arose, and released Jagged Little Pill, a major hit that featured blunt, personally-revealing lyrics. It succeeded in moving the introspection that had become so common in grunge to the mainstream. The success of Jagged Little Pill spawned a wave of popularity in the late 90s of confessional rock releases by female artists including Jewel, Tori Amos, Fiona Apple, and Liz Phair. Many of these artists drew on their own alternative rock heroes from the 1980s and early 90s, including the folksy Tracy Chapman and various Riot Grrl bands. The use of introspective lyrics bled into other styles of rock, including those dubbed alternative. The late 1990s brought about a wave of mergers and consolidations among US media companies and radio stations such as the Clear Channel Communications conglomerate. This has resulted in a homogenization of music available and the creation of artificially-hyped acts. Bands like blink-182 and Green Day defined pop punk at the end of the 90s. At this time, "nu-metal" began to take popular form, it contained a mix of grunge, metal, and hip-hop. Using downtuned 7 string guitars KoRn first created their heavy crushing riffs in 1994 with their first self-titled album. This then spawned a wave of "nu-Metal" bands such as Linkin Park, Slipknot, Static-X, Disturbed, and Limp Bizkit. In the early 2000s the entire music industry was shaken by claims of massive theft of music rights using file-sharing tools such as Napster, resulting in lawsuits against private file-sharers by the recording industry group the RIAA. After existing in the musical underground, garage rock saw a resurgence of popularity in the early 2000s, with bands like The White Stripes, The Strokes, Jet, The Vines, and The Hives all releasing successful singles and albums. This wave is often referred to as back-to-basics rock because of its raw sound. Currently popular rock trends include pop-punk, often times wrongly refered to as emo which draws its style from softer punk and alternative rock styles from the 1980s. Many new bands have become well-known since 2001, including Jimmy Eat World, Hawthorne Heights, Dashboard Confessional and Taking Back Sunday. Additionally, the retro trend has led to the revitalization of dance-rock. Bands like Franz Ferdinand, Hot Hot Heat, and The Killers mix post-punk sensibilities with electronic beats. The most recent pop-rock successes have been Fall Out Boy, Relient K, Simple Plan, and Good Charlotte. The biggest factor that has contributed to the resurgence of rock music is the rise of paid digital downloads in the 2000s. During the 90s, the importance of the buyable music single faded when Billboard allowed singles without buyable, album-separate versions to enter its Hot 100 chart (charting only with radio airplay). The vast majority of songs bought on paid download sites are singles bought from their albums; songs that are bought on a song-by-song (rather than full album) basis off of their albums are considered sales of singles, even though they have no official buyable single. Meanwhile, "Top 40" music today is dependent on either synthesizer orchestration or sampling, prominent in such pop artists like Pink, Gwen Stefani, Ashlee Simpson, Hilary Duff, Lindsay Lohan, Jessica Simpson, and Kelly Clarkson. Rap/Hip-Hop music dominantes the U.S. charts pop charts, with artists like 50 cent, Snoop Dogg, Puff Daddy, Nelly, Eminem and Jay Z selling millions of records since the turn of the millenium. R&B acts like Destiny's Child, Eve and Alicia Keys are very popular on the pop charts. Although none of these acts sell as many albums as rock did, nearly all the best selling albums of all time are still rock. In the last few years rock has seen somewhat of a resurgence in popularity in the U.S. and for a good part of 2005 has been the leader in music sales. In 2004 a rock revolution was started by the bands Modest Mouse, Franz ferdinand and The Killers. Since then The Foo Fighters, Rob Thomas, Seether, Weezer, and many others have kept rock music dominating the charts after many years of rap/hip-hop control. And every year many classic rock acts such as the Beatles continue to sell millions of albums.

Social impacts

Main article: Social impact of rock and roll The influence of rock and roll is far-reaching, and has had significant impact worldwide on fashion, film styles, and attitudes towards sex and sexuality and use of drugs and alcohol. This impact is broad enough that "rock and roll" may also be considered a life style in addition to a form of music.

127 Underground Rock

In an Islamic country like Iran, rock and jazz music is officially forbidden. But thousands of Iranians - especially young Iranians - love Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Metallica and Dire Straits. Many young and talented musicians have formed their own bands and showcase their music at underground concerts. One of the most famous is a band called 127, whose blend of Iranian, rock and jazz styles has attracted a mass following of devoted fans.........

Trivia


- The first gramophone record released in Britain to feature the words Rock and Roll was "Bloodnock's Rock And Roll Call", a 1956 record from The Goon Show.
- There have been many songs with the title "Rock and Roll" from The Treniers in the 1950s to Led Zeppelin, The Velvet Underground, and Gary Glitter in the 1970s. However, Trixie Smith is possibly the first artist to incorporate the words in the 1922 record "My Baby Rocks with One Steady Roll".

External links


- [http://www.adl.at/ ADL.at - Austrian Rock- & Metal Magazine]
- [http://groups-beta.google.com/group/Rock-Talk/ Rock music forum]
- [http://www.everythingrock.com/ Everythingrock.com - Rock music source & community]
- [http://www.myclassiclyrics.com/elvis_presley/elvis_presley_sound_video_3.html Analysis on the True Birth of Rock and Roll] When did rock really begin
- [http://www.history-of-rock.com The History of Rock'n'Roll 1954 - 1963]
- [http://www.rockhallsf.com San Francisco Rock and Roll Hall of Fame]
- [http://

Rock and roll

:For other uses of "rock and roll", see Rock and roll (disambiguation). Rock and roll (also spelled rock 'n' roll, especially in its first decade), is a genre of music that emerged as a defined musical style in American South in the 1950s, and quickly spread to the rest of the country, and the world. From the late 1950s to the mid 1990s rock was perhaps the most popular form in music in the western world. It later evolved into the various different sub-genres of what is now called simply 'rock'. As a result, "rock and roll" now has two distinct meanings: either traditional rock and roll in the 1950s style, or later rock and even pop music which may be very far from traditional rock and roll (rhythm sample).

Precursors and origins

Main article: Origins of rock and roll Rock and roll emerged as a defined musical style in America in the 1950s, though elements of rock and roll can be heard in rhythm and blues records as far back as the 1920s. Early rock and roll combined elements of blues, boogie woogie, jazz and rhythm and blues, and is also influenced by traditional Appalachian folk music, gospel and country and western. Going back even further, rock and roll can trace a foundational lineage to the old Five Points district of mid-19th century New York City, the scene of the first fusion of heavily rhythmic African shuffles and sand dances with melody driven European genres, particularly the Irish jig. Rocking was a term first used by black gospel singers in the American South to mean something akin to spiritual rapture. By the 1940s, however, the term was used as a double entendre, ostensibly referring to dancing, but with the hidden subtextual meaning of sex; an example of this is Roy Brown's "Good Rocking Tonight". This type of song was usually relegated to "race music" (the music industry code name for rhythm and blues) outlets and was rarely heard by mainstream white audiences. In 1951, Cleveland, Ohio disc jockey Alan Freed would begin playing this type of music for his white audience, and it is Freed who is credited with coining the phrase "rock and roll" to describe the rollicking R&B music that he brought to the airwaves. There is much debate as to what should be considered the first rock and roll record. Candidates include the 1951 "Rocket 88" by Jackie Brenston & His Delta Cats, or later and more widely-known hits like Chuck Berry's "Maybellene" "Johnny B. Goode" or Bo Diddley's "Bo Diddley" or Bill Haley & His Comets' "Rock Around the Clock" or, as RollingStone magazine pointed out, to some controversy, in 2005, "That's all right", Elvis Presley's first single for SUN records, in Memphis. Some historians go further back, pointing to musicians like Fats Domino, who were recording in the 40s in styles largely indistinguishable from rock and roll; these include Louis Jordan's "Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby?", Jack Guthrie's "The Oakie Bookie" (1947) and Benny Carter and Paul Vandervoort II's "Rock Me to Sleep" (1950). Main artists starting to score in the main hit charts from 1955 onward included the influencial and pioneering: Bill Haley, Elvis Presley, Fats Domino, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis.

Early North American rock and roll (1953-1963)

Whatever the beginning, it is clear that rock appeared at a time when racial tensions in the United States were coming to the surface. African Americans were protesting segregation of schools and public facilities. The "separate but equal" doctrine was nominally overturned by the Supreme Court in 1954. It can hardly be a coincidence, then, that a musical form combining elements of white and black music should arise, and that this music should provoke strong reactions, of all types, in all Americans. 1954The phrase may possibly first be heard on Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five's version of Tamburitza Boogie recorded on August 18, 1950, in New York City. However, in 1922, Trixie Smith had a song titled "My Man Rocks Me with One Steady Roll". On March 21, 1952 in Cleveland, Alan Freed (also known as Moondog) organized the first rock and roll concert, titled "The Moondog Coronation Ball". The audience and the performers were mixed in race and the evening ended after one song in a near-riot as thousands of fans tried to get into the sold-out venue. The culture industry soon understood that there was a white market for black music that was beyond the stylistic boundaries of rhythm and blues and so social prejudice and racial barriers, could do nothing against the forces of capitalism. Rock and roll was an overnight success in the U.S. making ripples across the atlantic, culminating in 1964 with the British Invasion. By the end of the decade, rock had spread throughout the world. In Australia, for example, Johnny O'Keefe became perhaps the first modern rock star of that country, and beginning a long history of Australian rock.

Rockabilly

Main article: Rockabilly In 1954, Elvis Presley recorded at Sam Phillips' Sun studios in Memphis, the regional hit "That's All Right, Mama." Elvis played a rock and country & western fusion called rockabilly, which was characterized by hiccupping vocals, slapping bass and a spastic guitar style. He became the first superstar rock musician. It was the following year's "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley & His Comets that really set the rock boom in motion, though. The song was one of the biggest hits in history, and frenzied teens flocked to see Haley and the Comets perform it, even causing riots in some places; "Rock Around the Clock" was a breakthrough for both the group and for all of rock and roll music. If everything that came before laid the groundwork, "Clock" certainly set the mold for everything else that came after. With its combined rockabilly and R & B influences, "Clock" topped the U.S. charts for several weeks, and became wildly popular in places like Australia and Germany. The single, released by independent label Festival Records in Australia, was the biggest-selling recording in the country at the time. In 1957, Jerry Lee Lewis and Buddy Holly became the first rock musicians to tour Australia, marking the expansion of the genre into a worldwide phenomenon. That same year, Bill Haley & His Comets toured Europe bringing rock 'n' roll to that continent for the first time.

Covers

Main article: Cover version Through the late 1940s and early 1950s, R&B music had been gaining a stronger beat and a wilder style, with artists such as Fats Domino and Johnny Otis speeding up the tempos and increasing the backbeat to great popularity on the juke-joint circuit. Despite the efforts of Freed and others, black music was still taboo on many white-owned radio outlets. However, savvy artists and producers quickly recognized the potential of rock and raced to cash in with white versions of this black music. Covering was customary in the music industry at the time. One of the first successful rock and roll covers was Wynonie Harris's transformation of Roy Brown's "Good Rocking Tonight" from a jump blues to a showy rocker. The most notable trend, however, was white pop covers of black R&B numbers. Black performers saw their songs recorded by white performers, an important step in the dissemination of the music, but often at the cost of feeling and authenticity. Most famously, Pat Boone recorded sanitized versions of Little Richard songs, though Boone found "Long Tall Sally" so intense that he couldn't cover it. Later, as those songs became popular, the original artists' recordings received radio play as well. Little Richard once called Pat Boone from the audience and introduced him as "the man who made me a millionaire". The cover versions were not necessarily straightforward imitations. For example, Bill Haley's incompletely bowdlerized cover of "Shake, Rattle and Roll" transformed Big Joe Turner's humorous and racy tale of adult love into an energetic teen dance number, while Georgia Gibbs replaced Etta James's tough, sarcastic vocal in "Roll With Me, Henry" (covered as "Dance With Me, Henry") with a perkier vocal more appropriate for an audience unfamiliar with the song to which James's song was an answer, (Hank Ballard's "Work With Me, Annie").

British Rock and Roll

Main article: British rock The Trad jazz movement brought blues artists to Britain, and in 1955 Lonnie Donegan's version of "Rock Island Line" began Skiffle music which inspired many young people to have a go, including John Lennon whose "The Quarry Men" formed in March 1957 would gradually change and develop into The Beatles. This primed the United Kingdom to respond creatively to American rock and roll which had an impact across the globe. In Britain skiffle groups, record collecting and trend-watching were in full bloom among the youth culture prior to the rock era, and color barriers were less of an issue with the idea of separate "race records" seeming almost unimaginable. Countless British youths listened to R&B and rock pioneers and began forming their own bands. Britain quickly became a new centre of rock and roll. In 1958 three British teenagers formed a rock and roll group, Cliff Richard and the Drifters (later renamed Cliff Richard and the Shadows). The group recorded a hit, "Move It", marking not only what is held to be the very first true British rock 'n' roll single, but also the beginning of a different sound — British rock. Richard and his band introduced many important changes, such as using a "lead guitarist" (virtuoso Hank Marvin) and an electric bass. The British scene developed, with others including Tommy Steele and Adam Faith vying to emulate the stars from the U.S.. Some touring acts attracted particular popularity in Britain, an example being Gene Vincent. This inspired many British teens to begin buying records and follow the music scene, thus laying the groundwork for Beatlemania. At the start of the '60s instrumental dance music was very popular, with hits including Apache by the The Shadows and Telstar by The Tornados from a British branch of Surf instrumental music.

Decline and rebirth

Main article: Rock (music). At the end of the 1950s the original Rock 'n' Roll rush faded, as stars like Elvis Presley diverted into the more commercial sound of ballads, and the music went out of fashion. It had influenced other genres which were going strong, and in the United Kingdom it formed a major part of the mix that brought the surge of British rock that reinvigorated Rock music worldwide.

Books


- The Fifties by Pulitzer Prize winning author David Halberstam (1996) Random House (ISBN 0517156075) provides information and analysis on fifites popular culture exploring major social and cultural changes including television, transistor radios, the phenomenon of Elvis Presley and the rise of rock-and-roll.
- The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll : The Definitive History of the Most Important Artists and Their Music by editors James Henke, Holly George-Warren, Anthony Decurtis, Jim Miller. (1992) Random House (ISBN 0679737286)
- The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll by Holly George-Warren, Patricia Romanowski, Jon Pareles (2001) Fireside Press (ISBN 0743201205)

See also


- 100 Greatest Women of Rock and Roll
- List of rock genres
- Cultural appropriation

External links


- [http://www.history-of-rock.com The History of Rock'n'Roll 1954 - 1963]
- [http://www.bandnews.org/genre/Rock/ Rock and Roll News]
- [http://www.rockhallsf.com San Francisco Rock and Roll Hall of Fame]
- [http://www.myclassiclyrics.com/elvis_presley/elvis_presley_sound_video_3.html Analysis on the True Birth of Rock and Roll] When did rock really begin
- [http://www.jerryfielden.com/essays/electromusic.htm The influence of Electronic Music in Rock Music, 1967-76; Keith Emerson, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd and others]
- [http://nomuzak.co.uk/against_pop.html Pop and Rock] An analysis of musical form and technique in popular music.
- [http://www.reasontorock.com/ Reason to Rock - Rock Music as Art Form]
- [http://www.myclassiclyrics.com/ Classic Rock Lyrics Page]
- [http://www.rockforums.net/ Rock Forums]
- [http://www.everythingrock.com/ Everythingrock.com - Rock music source & community]
- [http://groups-beta.google.com/group/Rock-Talk/ Rock music forum]
- [http://www.rantandroll.com/ Rock and Roll Forum]
- [http://www.rockreviews.co.uk/ Rock Reviews] ja:%E3%83%AD%E3%83%83%E3%82%AF%E3%83%B3%E3%83%AD%E3%83%BC%E3%83%AB ko:%EB%9D%BD simple:Rock music Category:American styles of music Category:Radio formats Category:Rock music Category:Musical movements Category:Musical genres Category:Youth culture in the United Kingdom Category:Moral panics

Rocks (album)

Rocks is the fourth album by American hard rock band Aerosmith, released in 1976 (see 1976 in music).

Track listing

#"Back in the Saddle" (Perry, Tyler) - 4:39 #"Last Child" (Tyler, Whitford) - 3:27 #"Rats in the Cellar" (Perry, Tyler) - 4:06 #"Combination" (Perry) - 3:39 #"Sick as a Dog" (Hamilton, Tyler) - 4:12 #"Nobody's Fault" (Tyler, Whitford) - 4:25 #"Get the Lead Out" (Perry, Tyler) - 3:42 #"Lick and a Promise" (Perry, Tyler) - 3:05 #"Home Tonight" (Tyler) - 3:16

Song Information

Back In The Saddle - Written by Joe Perry on a six-string bass, which gives the song it's distinctive "growl". Although written with the simple idea of cowboys and sex, this song took on new meaning after Aerosmith reunited in 1984 and embarked on their Back In The Saddle tour. Brad Whitford plays the lead guitar part. Last Child - Brad Whitford created the riff after listening to the Meters, and the band wrote the rest in the studio. Rats In The Cellar - Written as Tom Hamilton describes it, "taking this thing the Yardbirds created, and making it balls to the wall", it was also conceived as a counterpart to Toys In The Attic. Combination - Joe Perry's first solo effort, (sung by Tyler with Perry on background vocals) this song is about heroin, cocaine, and the dangers of being able to afford your vices. Sick As A Dog - Joe Perry played the electric bass. A guitar part is by bassist Tom Hamilton, who also co-wrote the song. Nobody's Fault - The heaviest song on the album (as "Round and Round" had been on the previous one), this is one of Guns N'Roses guitarist Slash's favorite Aerosmith songs, as well as that of Metallica leader James Hetfield. Testament, the thrash metal band, covered this song on their 1988 album, The New Order. This song is an important contribution to the band's catalogue by Brad Whitford, who cites it as his favourite Aerosmith song. Lick And A Promise - "(This song) is just about going out there and winning an audience." quips Steven Tyler.

Personnel


- Tom Hamilton - guitar, electric bass
- Joey Kramer - percussion, drums, background vocals
- Joe Perry - bass, guitar, percussion, electric bass, steel guitar, vocals, lap steel guitar
- Steven Tyler - bass, harmonica, percussion, electric bass, keyboard, vocals
- Brad Whitford - guitar Additional personnel
- Paul Prestopino - banjo

Production


- Producers: Aerosmith, Jack Douglas
- Engineer: Jay Messina
- Assistant engineers: Sam Ginsberg, Rod O'Brien
- Arrangers: Aerosmith, Jack Douglas, David Hewitt
- Directors: David Krebs, Steve Leber
- Photography: Fin Costello, Scott Enyart, Tom Hamilton, Ron Pownall, Brad Whitford

Charts

Album - Billboard (North America) Singles - Billboard (North America) Category:Aerosmith albums Category:1976 albums

Mega Man (character)

Mega Man is a video game character and the star of the main Mega Man series created by Capcom. He was designed by Keiji Inafune. In Japan, he is known as Rockman.

Origins

In the year 20XX, master designers Dr. Thomas Light and Dr. Albert W. Wily worked together to create a humanoid robot. This robot would demonstrate an advanced artificial intelligence program that would allow it to make decisions based on vague commands and directions. They called the robot project "Robot Master", because the resulting robot would be able to supervise the work of other, less intelligent machines. The first Robot Master created by the two scientists was code-named "Blues", but came to be known as Proto Man. An advanced modification of the police robot Sniper Joe, Proto Man had the ability to lead a small squad of other robots in military applications. However, before testing of his AI was complete, the robot escaped and was thought destroyed. Sniper Joe With the disappearance of Proto Man, Light and Wily decided to create another robot. Fearing that the disappearance of Proto Man was due to the robot not having a peer, the two created a paired unit - twin robots with almost identical designs. These robots were called "Rock" and "Roll". Rock was created as a general-purpose tool user. Simply by studying how a tool was used, he could mimic its use using a Variable Tool System. This made him the ideal lab assistant. His sister, Roll, was designed for nearly the same general pourpose. With the success of these two test-type robots, Light and Wily designed and built six production-type robots, mainly to be used in the construction and maintenance of public works. These robots were Cut Man, a land reclamation robot; Guts Man, a construction robot; Ice Man, an antarctic exploration robot; Bomb Man, designed to work as a pair with Guts Man; Fire Man, designed for waste management; and Elec Man, designed to oversee and control atomic energy power plants. Each of these robots had full use of the Robot Master's intelligence and reasoning potential. When the time came for Dr. Light and Dr. Wily to be recognised by the world for their contributions to science, however, only Dr. Light was credited for the research. Dr. Wily grew jealous, and decided that he could use these new robots to exact revenge. He reprogrammed the six construction robots and tried, but failed, to reprogram Rock and Roll, and then fled the lab. With his new followers, Wily seized control of the city and demanded recognition. Realizing that it would be very difficult for the armies to stop Wily without harming the city, Dr. Light knew something had to be done. Rock volunteered to be converted from his current state as a lab assistant into a fighting robot. Thus, from that day forth, he became known as "Mega Man".

Character

Mega Man's personality and intelligence are equivalent to that of a ten-year-old boy. He is without the capacity for further maturation that some future robots, like Mega Man X, would have (see reploid). However, he is loyal to Dr. Light and always tries to stand up for humanity. Mega Man, like most robots, obeys Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics, particularly the First Law: "A robot may not harm a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm." However, in Mega Man VII, he seemingly attempts to break this law in order to kill Dr. Wily. When Dr. Wily calls him out on this, in the Japanese original, Rockman obediently puts down his Buster and is silent; but in the English version, Mega Man claims to be "more than a robot" and again attempts to kill Wily, but is thwarted by Bass. Mega Man has a twin sister, Roll, and an older brother, Proto Man (called Blues in Japan). He also has robotic pets: a dog Rush, a cat, Tango, and a bird, Beat. Dr. Light's robotic assistants, Auto (called Rightot in Japan) the mechanic and Eddie the walking suitcase. It is not known what happens to the "original" Mega Man, i.e. Rock, prior to the Mega Man X series. Presumbly he is decommisioned, or perhaps "grows old" in a robot fashion, such as his power reserves depleting; or perhaps he is defeated in battle, presumably against Zero. Dr. Light continues his research in robotics, however, and creates Mega Man X, a thinking robot with designs based on the original. Some theories state that X is the original, but Capcom has always been tight-lipped on any continuity between their series. X is sealed in a capsule and remains inactive until 21XX, long after Mega Man and friends are forgotten. One possible explanation of Mega Man's ultimate fate is given in the character history of Quint, who appears in five games in the series. Quint's origins are rather strange: in Mega Man II (GB), Dr. Wily stole the plans for a time machine, went to the future, and kidnapped that time's version of Mega Man, who had been disarmed and was living as Rock. Dr. Wily remodeled the robot and gave him the jackhammer-like Sakugarne as a weapon. Assuming the Novikov self-consistency principle holds, then Dr. Wily went into the future, kidnapped Rock, sent the modified Rock as Quint into the past, then Quint failed to defeat Mega Man and was destroyed. Therefore, Mega Man is locked in a predestination paradox whereby he must travel back in time as Quint in order to be defeated by himself. If, however, the time travel works under the many-worlds interpretation, then Dr. Wily created a parallel universe when he travelled, and Mega Man's fate remains undetermined. Of course, Quint's ultimate fate is also somewhat debatable: his demise occurs in the game Rockman & Forte: Challenger From the Future</