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The Birth of Rock and Roll
Rock & Roll music is born in the 1950's from a fusion of electric blues, country and gospel music. Confined to the Rhythm & Blues charts early in the decade, rock crosses over to the Pop charts from 1955 onward. -
Expanding The Boundaries of Rock
In the sixties rock music comes of age and dominates the popular music charts. Rock diversifies with new styles such as soul, surf, folk rock, the British Invasion, psychedelic and hard rock. Television becomes a factor as prime time variety shows feature rock music. -
Rock Becomes Big Business
The early seventies are marked by the deaths of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison. Pyschedelic music declines, but morphs into hard rock, progressive rock and heavy metal. Touring bands move from playing clubs and theaters, to playing sports arenas and large crowds -
The Influence of TV and Technology
MTV (Music Television) is launched on 300 cable TV systems in 1981. By 1983 MTV is available on 2,000 cable systems. The prevalance of music videos as a 24/7 marketing tool is influential in bringing numerous new bands and music styles to the mainstream media. -
The Internet and Digital Music
The internet and sound compression allow for digital distribution of music both legally and through peer to peer file sharing, threatening the dominance of major record labels. Heavy metal morphs into new sub-genres such as rap metal or rapcore, nu metal and industrial metal. -
Today's Scene
Unfortunately today rock music is scares. It's most popular subgenres being alternative and pop-punk music arethe most releant examples of rock music in today's relevant music scene.
