By Sarah10/07/2021
Rock 'n Roll has been around for as long as we can remember - in fact, it's hard to picture life without it! Today in honor of #ThrowbackThursday, we wanted to deep dive into the history of this super cool genre and the awesome rock artists that changed so many lives and like all music, also made a huge impact on our day to day culture in general.
Let's start at the beginning.
Britannica argues that by the end of the 20th century, rock was the world's most dominant form of popular music; and for good reason! The genre first emerged as early as the late 1940s when country and blues began to combine into a new sound, aided by electric guitars and a steady drumbeat. Live About Dot Com states that pioneering rock artists such as Chuck Berry (pictured below) 'leaned heavily on classic blues structures while demonstrating a flair as natural-born entertainers'! This new genre was a stark contrast to the widely considered 'safe' pop music of this era, and suggested a sense of freedom that no one had ever felt before.
The evolution.
As we all know by now, music evolves drastically from decade to decade even while being considered under the same genre. In the 1960s, we started to see that unique styles had blossomed from the original rock and roll style; including pop rock, beat, psychedelic rock as well as blues rock! From the 1960s came the 70s, where darker tones emerged (enter Led Zeppelin) and helped to shape a heavier style known today as heavy metal. Before you know it we were in the 80s, where even more sounds stemmed from the original style - picture all the punk you could possibly imagine!
Back to the Future...
At the very beginning of the 1990s when Nirvana released their debut album 'Nevermind', it was clear that rock was quickly becoming a dominant form of music. From there, like all the subgenres before, more and more bands started to emerge with new sounds including the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Foo Fighters, and Linkin Park!
To conclude we had to include 15 of the songs that Timeout has put on their list of what are, in their opinion, the 28 Greatest Classic Rock Songs of All Time. To quote their article, "Even as the '60s and '70s fade further into history, classic rock's greatest contributions still have the power to ger your fist pumping and your feet stomping"! As always, click on each song to record your own version here on SingSnap.
- Purple Haze by Jimi Hendrix
- Whole Lotta Love by Led Zeppelin
- Sympathy For The Devil by The Rolling Stones
- Under Pressure by Queen and David Bowie
- Baba O'Riley by The Who
- Rockin' In The Free World by Neil Young
- Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd
- The Boys Are Back in Town by Thin Lizzy
- Iron Man by Black Sabbath
- Roadhouse Blues by The Doors
- Smoke On The Water by Deep Purple
- Barracuda by Heart
- La Grange by ZZ Top
- American Girl by Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers
- You Really Got Me by The Kinks
What's your favorite genre?
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