The history of rock music is a rich and complex thing. Even the origins of the rock genre are not entirely clear-cut, and the number of sub-genres (and sub-genres of sub-genres) that have developed since the 1950s “Rock and Roll” era deserve a whole series of encyclopedias.

One uncontested fact is that rock and roll evolved in the late 1940s in America, and that it has roots in blues, gospel music, country music, and African American culture. The genre seems to have developed as a result of white and black communities living in closer proximity to each other, which meant they were hearing each others music. This sparked the fermentation period of rock and roll, as it drew influences from older American genres of music to form a new, original, and immediate musical expression for the America of the 1950s.

Some of the first rock and roll records include Bill Haley’s “Rock Around The Clock” in 1954, and Elvis’ “That’s All Right (Mama)” the same year. And while the piano was the central and most important instrument in early rock songs, with the invention of the electric guitar and amplifier, the guitar soon became the most essential instrument for rock bands. Guitarists such as Chuck Berry, Link Wray, and Scotty Moore were especially important early rock and roll guitarists who developed the rock guitar style.

The rock and roll genre hit Britain hard in the late 50s and early 60s, which resulted in the formation of important British bands such as The Rolling Stones and The Beatles, who both broke into the American mainstream soon afterwards.

The arrival of Beatlemania in turn influenced what is often called the “Golden Age of Rock Music”, as important pop, folk, psychedelic, and glam rock bands emerged during the mid-60s to mid-70s.  Led Zeppelin, Neil Young, Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, and David Bowie all changed the face of rock music forever. During this period, rock music was becoming more and more varied, and rock genres continued to develop into more complex and intense forms of music. Most importantly, there was a continued focus on playing the electric guitar in innovative and exciting ways.

During the 1970s, bands like Aerosmith, AC/DC, and Led Zeppelin continued to create increasingly aggressive and guitar-focused music with the development of hard rock and heavy metal. These types of rock bands started to sell out the largest venues, which lead to the coining of the term “Arena Rock”.

Punk rock hit in the mid- to late-70s with bands such as the Sex Pistols and The Clash, while the 80s brought us more heavy metal bands (such as Iron Maiden and Motorhead), glam metal acts (Motley Crue, Queen), and alternative rock (REM, The Smiths, The Cure).

Grunge was perhaps the most significant development of 90s rock, with bands such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden topping the charts. Later in the decade genre-mixing bands such as Green Day and The Offspring (pop-punk), Silverchair and Bush (post-grunge), and Rage Against the Machine and Korn (nu-metal/rap-rock) developed the rock genre in their own unique ways.

The 2000s have seen the revival of rock genres such as garage rock (The White Stripes, The Vines), post-punk (The Killers, Franz Ferdinand), and the development of metal genres with bands such as Trivium and Wolfmother.

The future of rock music will likely see many more genre revivals and genre-mixing, but we can only hope that rock bands of the future can equal the creative genius of earlier rock acts such as Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and other original groups which changed the course of rock music forever.

- Axel

What happened to the good old music? Yeah, you know what I’m talking about: blues rock. Blues rock was and still is the greatest form of modern music. If you understand anything about the history of modern music, you know it all came from blues. All different rock genres like metal, punk and even grunge all have the same the blues DNA; the 12-bar blues, the three chord progression and pentatonic scale solos.

Today, modern rock bands rarely play in the blues style; in fact, more modern bands are playing in the pop structure of: verse, chorus, verse chorus, bridge, chorus, chorus and more bloody choruses. When people say that rock is dead, they aren’t wrong! Only a handful of bands these days really blow your mind away with ever-lasting riffs and hypnotic lyrics. And when was the last time you heard a finger shredding solo on the radio?

Speaking about the radio, it’s hardly worth listening to these days. When I tune in to listen to some rocking music and all I hear is absolute garbage. Bands like Nickelback just don’t cut it for me. They are a bunch of pop bands, wanna be rockers, that play pop tunes with guitars and drums. Just because they use distortion pedals and strut around in tight leather pants on stage doesn’t mean they are rock stars.

Blues is the forefather of all rock genres. Blues originated in the early 20th century from southern sharecroppers working in the fields and using their songs to cope with the pain and sufferings. When you hear Robert Johnson’s most famous tune “Crossroads”, you can feel his pain as a young black man trying to a hitch a ride home and fearing for his life. But aside from the lyrics, rock bands incorporated the blues structure and basically played it fast and loud still maintaining the same attitude. Rock legends like, Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Eric Clapton, The Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin, The Who, Black Sabbath and even AC/DC all played blues rock. Hell, the Stones are really just a blues band. This genre of rock is our version of classics and will be listened to and appreciated hundreds of years from now, just like people these days still listen to Beethoven.

There are a few modern bands like Jet, Wolfmother and even the White Stripes that I admire for trying to bring back blues rock. But still there are no soul-defying, finger shredding guitar solos in their songs. Back in my day when the music industry allowed for creativity bands recorded 15 minute guitar solos. Nowadays, you’re lucky to hear a few notes of a solo because they are no longer in fashion. That’s right folks, fashion. And isn’t that what pop music is: fashion. Pop is short for popular which means the fashion of the time.

So bands go in and out of fashion. Bands are popular one day and not the next. Their popularity depends on how much money they can make for the record industry, which makes and breaks bands everyday. But some of these blues rock bands are classics and regardless of your musical choice you cannot deny their songwriting talent. It is precisely why bands like Led Zeppelin song remains the same.

-Axel