Portal:Rock music

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The Rock Music Portal

Rock is a broad genre of popular music that originated as "rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles from the mid-1960s, particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, a style that drew directly from the genres of blues, rhythm and blues, and from country music. Rock also drew strongly from genres such as electric blues and folk, and incorporated influences from jazz and other musical styles. For instrumentation, rock is centered on the electric guitar, usually as part of a rock group with electric bass guitar, drums, and one or more singers. Usually, rock is song-based music with a ⁴
₄ time signature using a verse–chorus form, but the genre has become extremely diverse. Like pop music, lyrics often stress romantic love but also address a wide variety of other themes that are frequently social or political. Rock was the most popular genre of music in the U.S. and much of the Western world from the 1950s to the 2010s.

Rock musicians in the mid-1960s began to advance the album ahead of the single as the dominant form of recorded music expression and consumption, with the Beatles at the forefront of this development. Their contributions lent the genre a cultural legitimacy in the mainstream and initiated a rock-informed album era in the music industry for the next several decades. By the late 1960s "classic rock" period, a few distinct rock music subgenres had emerged, including hybrids like blues rock, folk rock, country rock, Southern rock, raga rock, and jazz rock, which contributed to the development of psychedelic rock, influenced by the countercultural psychedelic and hippie scene. New genres that emerged included progressive rock, which extended artistic elements, and glam rock, which highlighted showmanship and visual style. In the second half of the 1970s, punk rock reacted by producing stripped-down, energetic social and political critiques. Punk was an influence in the 1980s on new wave, post-punk and eventually alternative rock.

From the 1990s, alternative rock began to dominate rock music and break into the mainstream in the form of grunge, Britpop, and indie rock. Further fusion subgenres have since emerged, including pop-punk, electronic rock, rap rock, and rap metal. Some movements were conscious attempts to revisit rock's history, including the garage rock/post-punk revival in the 2000s. Since the 2010s, rock has lost its position as the pre-eminent popular music genre in world culture, but remains commercially successful. The increased influence of hip-hop and electronic dance music can be seen in rock music, notably in the techno-pop scene of the early 2010s and the pop-punk-hip-hop revival of the 2020s. (Full article...)

General images - load new batch

The following are images from various rock music-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1"There's No Romance in Rock and Roll" made the cover of True Life Romance in 1956. (from Rock and roll)
Image 2Baker, Bruce and Clapton of Cream, whose blues rock improvisation was a major factor in the development of the genre (from Hard rock)
Image 3Sign commemorating the role of Alan Freed and Cleveland, Ohio, in the origins of rock and roll (from Rock and roll)
Image 4Poison, seen here in 2008, were among the most successful acts of the 1980s glam metal era. (from Hard rock)
Image 5Aerosmith performing at Quilmes Rock in Buenos Aires, Argentina on April 15, 2007 (from Hard rock)
Image 6Bill Haley and his Comets performing in the 1954 Universal International film Round Up of Rhythm (from Rock and roll)
Image 7Tommy Steele, one of the first British rock and rollers, performing in Stockholm in 1957 (from Rock and roll)
Image 8Big Joe Turner and Pete Johnson's record "Roll 'Em Pete" is regarded as a precursor to rock and roll. (from Rock and roll)
Image 9Original member Izzy Stradlin' on stage with Guns N' Roses in 2006 (from Hard rock)
Image 10Rush on stage in Milan, Italy, 2004 (from Hard rock)
Image 11Kiss onstage in Boston in 2004 (from Hard rock)
Image 12Buddy Holly and his band, the Crickets (from Rock and roll)
Image 13Nirvana were at the forefront of the 1990s grunge era. (from Hard rock)
Image 14Drum notation for a backbeat (from Hard rock)
Image 15Chuck Berry in 1957 (from Rock and roll)
Image 16The Who on stage in 1975 (from Hard rock)
Image 17Led Zeppelin live at Chicago Stadium, January 1975 (from Hard rock)
Image 18Foo Fighters performing an acoustic show in 2007 (from Hard rock)
Image 19Golden Earring receives a gold record in 1970. (from Hard rock)
Image 20Wolfmother, 2007 (from Hard rock)
Image 21Elvis Presley in a promotion shot for Jailhouse Rock in 1957 (from Rock and roll)
Image 22Little Richard in 1957 (from Rock and roll)

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Korn (stylized as KoЯn) is an American nu metal band from Bakersfield, California, originally formed in 1993 by James "Munky" Shaffer, Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu and David Silveria, who were members of the band L.A.P.D. Their current lineup features Shaffer (guitar); Arvizu (bass); Brian "Head" Welch (guitar); Jonathan Davis (vocals), and Ray Luzier (drums), who replaced Silveria in 2007. The band is notable for pioneering the nu metal genre and bringing it into the mainstream.

Korn made a demo tape, Neidermayer's Mind, in 1993, which was distributed free to record companies and on request to members of the public. Their debut album Korn was released in 1994, followed by their commercial breakthrough, Life Is Peachy, in 1996. The band first experienced mainstream success with Follow the Leader (1998) and Issues (1999), both of which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. The band's mainstream success continued with Untouchables (2002); Take a Look in the Mirror (2003); and See You on the Other Side (2005).

A compilation album, Greatest Hits Vol. 1, was released in 2004, spanning a decade of singles and concluding the band's recording contract with Immortal Records and Epic Records. They signed to Virgin Records, releasing See You on the Other Side in 2005, and an untitled album in 2007. The band's other recent albums, Korn III: Remember Who You Are (2010) and The Path of Totality (2011), were released via Roadrunner Records, with The Paradigm Shift (2013) being released via Prospect Park and Caroline Records. The Serenity of Suffering (2016) saw their return to Roadrunner Records, through which The Nothing was released on September 13, 2019. Their latest album, Requiem, was released via Loma Vista Recordings on February 4, 2022.

As of 2021, Korn had sold more than 40 million records worldwide. Several of their releases have been certified gold, platinum or multi-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Fourteen of the band's official releases have peaked in the top ten of the Billboard 200, eight of which have peaked in the top five. Korn has earned two Grammy Awards out of eight nominations and two MTV Video Music Awards out of 11 nominations. Several of their music videos received substantial play on MTV's Total Request Live, and were among the first to get retired from the show, including "Got the Life" and "Freak on a Leash". (Full article...)

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Noel Thomas David Gallagher (born 29 May 1967) is an English musician, singer and songwriter. Gallagher is the primary songwriter, lead guitarist and a co-lead vocalist of the rock band Oasis. After leaving Oasis, he formed Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds.

Gallagher is one of the most successful songwriters in British music history. He is the sole writer of eight UK number-one singles and co-writer of a ninth, as well as the sole or primary writer of ten UK number-one studio albums. Gallagher is widely considered to be one of the most influential songwriters in the history of British rock music, and is cited by numerous major subsequent artists as an influence.

Gallagher began playing the guitar at the age of twelve, and became a roadie and technician for Inspiral Carpets when he was 21. He learnt that his younger brother Liam had joined a band called the Rain, which eventually became Oasis; Liam invited him to join the group as manager. After rejecting the offer, Gallagher agreed to join the band, on the condition that he would take creative control of the group and become its sole songwriter and lead guitarist.

The band's debut album, Definitely Maybe (1994), was a widespread critical and commercial success. Their second album, (What's the Story) Morning Glory? (1995), reached the top of the album charts in many countries, and their third studio album, Be Here Now (1997), became the fastest-selling album in UK chart history. Britpop eventually declined in popularity, and Oasis failed to revive it, though their final two albums, Don't Believe the Truth (2005) and Dig Out Your Soul (2008), were hailed as their best efforts in over a decade. In August 2009, following an altercation with his brother, Gallagher announced his departure from Oasis. He went on to form Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, with whom he has released four studio albums. (Full article...)

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Live and Dangerous is a live double album by the Irish rock band Thin Lizzy, released in June 1978. It was recorded in London in 1976, and Philadelphia and Toronto in 1977, with further production in Paris. It was also the last Thin Lizzy album to feature guitarist Brian Robertson, who left the band shortly after its release.

The band decided to release a live album after their producer Tony Visconti did not have enough time to work on a full studio session. They listened through various archive recordings from earlier tours and compiled the album from the best versions. Various studio overdubs were made to the live recordings during early 1978 in Paris; exactly how much of the album is overdubbed has been a contentious topic since its release. The album reached No. 2 in the UK Albums Chart, ultimately selling over half a million copies in the UK. It has continued to attract critical acclaim and it has appeared in several lists of the greatest live albums of all time. (Full article...)

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"Lola" is a song by the English rock band the Kinks, written by frontman Ray Davies for their 1970 album Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One. The song details a romantic encounter in a Soho bar between a young man and the eponymous Lola, who is possibly a trans woman or cross-dresser. In the song, the narrator describes his confusion towards Lola, who "walked like a woman but talked like a man", yet he remains infatuated with her.

The song was released as a single in the United Kingdom on 12 June 1970, while in the United States it was released on 28 June 1970. Commercially, "Lola" reached number two on the UK Singles Chart and number nine on the Billboard Hot 100. The track has since become one of the Kinks' most popular songs and was ranked number 386 on Rolling Stone's 2021 edition of its "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list. "Lola" was also ranked number 473 on NME's own "The 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time" list.

Since its release, "Lola" has appeared on multiple compilation and live albums. In 1980, a live version of the song from the album One for the Road was released as a single in the US and some European countries, becoming a minor hit. In the Netherlands it reached number 1, just as in 1970 with the studio version. Other versions include an instrumental on the band's 1971 movie soundtrack album Percy and live renditions from 1972's Everybody's in Show-Biz and 1996's To the Bone. The Lola character also appears in the lyrics of the band's 1981 song "Destroyer". (Full article...)

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Credit: Achim Raschka

Simon Neil of Biffy Clyro performing at Rock am Ring 2013.

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Did you know (auto-generated)

... that before charting on the UK Albums Chart with Are We There Yet?, the indie rock musician James Marriott had made a career of mocking other YouTubers' music?
... that Skálmöld & Sinfóníuhljómsveit Íslands documents a symphony orchestra playing heavy metal music?
... that Desulfovibrio vulgaris can remove toxic heavy metals from the environment?
... that the Liverpool Echo described British rock and roll star Tommy Steele as "quite unable to sing and play the guitar at the same time" when reviewing his first album?
... that the heavy metal band Cradle of Filth released a T-shirt that was so offensive that several people were arrested for wearing it?
... that the British rock musician Hannah Grae went viral online with an anti-sexual harassment parody of Aqua's "Barbie Girl"?

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Chamber pop (also called baroque pop and sometimes conflated with orchestral pop or symphonic pop) is a music genre that combines rock music with the intricate use of strings, horns, piano, and vocal harmonies, and other components drawn from the orchestral and lounge pop of the 1960s, with an emphasis on melody and texture. (Full article...)