Rock Music I INTRODUCTION Carlos Santana Mexican-born guitarist Carlos Santana became a superstar in the late 1960s with a string of hits and an appearance at the famous Woodstock rock festival in 1969.

Rock Music I INTRODUCTION Carlos Santana Mexican-born guitarist Carlos Santana became a superstar in the late 1960s with a string of hits and an appearance at the famous Woodstock rock festival in 1969. Then, after several quiet decades, he experienced a huge popular renaissance. Santana's 1999 album Supernatural, featuring collaborations with current rock and pop stars such as Lauryn Hill, captured a record-tying eight Grammy Awards and sold millions of copies. Daniel Aguilar/REUTERS/Archive Photos Rock Music, group of related music styles that have dominated popular music in the West since about 1955. Rock music began in the United States, but it has influenced and in turn been shaped by a broad field of cultures and musical traditions, including gospel music, the blues, country-and-western music, classical music (see Music, Western), folk music, electronic music, and the popular music of Asia, Africa, and Latin America (see Worldbeat). In addition to its use as a broad designation, the term rock music commonly refers to music styles after 1959 predominantly influenced by white musicians. Other major rock-music styles include rock and roll (also known as rock 'n' roll), the first genre of the music; and rhythm-and-blues music (R&B), influenced mainly by black American musicians (see African American Music). Each of these major genres encompasses a variety of substyles, such as heavy metal, punk, alternative, and grunge. While innovations in rock music have often occurred in regional centers--such as New York City; Kingston, Jamaica; and Liverpool, England--the influence of rock music is now felt worldwide. II MUSICAL ELEMENTS Solid-Body Electric Guitar This solid-body electric guitar is a Stratocaster, made by the Fender company. Unlike acoustic guitars, the electric versions create sound by converting the vibrations from the strings into electronic impulses. The Stratocaster was first made in the mid-1950s and has changed little since that time. It is very popular with rock-and-roll musicians. Dorling Kindersley The central musical instrument in most kinds of rock music is the electric guitar. Important figures in the history of this instrument include jazz musician Charlie Christian, who in the late 1930s was one of the first to play the amplified guitar as a solo instrument; Aaron Thibeaux "T-Bone" Walker, the first blues musician to record with an amplified guitar (1942); Leo Fender, who in 1948 introduced the first mass-produced solid-body electric guitar; and Les Paul, who popularized the instrument in the early 1950s with a series of technologically innovative recordings. Rock-and-roll guitarist Chuck Berry established a style of playing in the late 1950s that remains a great influence on rock music. Beginning in the late 1960s a new generation of rock guitarists, including Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and Carlos Santana, experimented with amplification, feedback (a type of electronic sound distortion), and various electronic devices, extending the musical potential of the instrument. Other instruments commonly used in rock music include the electric bass guitar (introduced by Fender in 1951); keyboard instruments such as the electric piano, organ, and synthesizer; and the drum set, an African American innovation that came into rock music from jazz and R&B music. Instruments that play important roles in certain rock-music genres include the saxophone--prominent in jazz-rock and soul music--and a wide assortment of traditional instruments used in worldbeat music. The microphone also functions as a musical instrument for many rock singers, who rely upon the amplification and various effects (such as echo) obtainable through electronic means. Rock music also shares more complex technical aspects. Most rock music is based on the same harmonies as Western music, especially the chords known as tonic, subdominant, and dominant (see Harmony: Functional Chord Names). The chord progression (series of chords) known as the 12-bar blues is based on these chords and has figured prominently in certain styles, especially rock and roll, soul music, and southern rock. Other common harmonic devices include the use of a drone, or pedal point (a single pitch sustained through a progression of chords), and the parallel movement of chords, derived from a technique on the electric guitar known as barchording. Many elements of African American music have been a continuing source of influence on rock music. These characteristics include riffs (repeated patterns), backbeats (emphasizing the second and fourth beats of each measure; see Musical Rhythm: Pulse and Meter), call-and-response patterns, blue notes (the use of certain bent-sounding pitches, especially those related to the third and fifth degrees of a musical scale), and dense buzzy-sounding timbres, or tone colors. Neil Young Canadian rock-music star Neil Young is known for helping pioneer a variety of popular music styles. In the late 1960s he helped create country rock as a member of the band Buffalo Springfield. After playing folk rock in the early 1970s with the group Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, he turned toward hard rock, foreshadowing the grunge-rock movement of the 1990s. Neal Preston/Corbis The musical form of rock music varies. Rock and roll of the late 1950s relied heavily upon 12-bar blues and 32-bar song forms. Some rock bands of the late 1960s experimented with more flexible, open-ended forms, and some rock bands of the 1970s developed suite forms derived from classical music. Another important formal development in rock music has been the so-called concept album, a succession of musical pieces tied together by a loose narrative theme. Jimi Hendrix Jimi Hendrix burst onto the American scene at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, capturing the crowd with the force of both his music and his stage presence. A true genius and innovator on the rock guitar, Hendrix expanded rock's horizons with his blazing electric guitar pyrotechnics and erotic performance style. 1992 Joel Axelrad/Michael Ochs Archives Much rock music is performed at high volume levels, so the music has been closely tied to developments in electronic technology. Rock musicians have pioneered new studio recording techniques, such as multi-tracking--a process of recording different song segments at different times and layering them on top of one another--and digital sampling, the reproduction by a computer of the patterns of a particular sound. Rock concerts, typically huge events involving thousands of audience members, often feature high-tech theatrical stage effects, including synchronized lighting. III HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT A Rock and Roll Elvis Presley Elvis Presley's song "Heartbreak Hotel" was released on January 27, 1956, and rapidly became one of the most popular songs in the United States. The song is a classic example of the early rock-and-roll style called "rockabilly," which combines elements of country and western music with rhythm and blues. Key features of this style include twangy electric guitars, strong backbeats, and vocal inflections such as yelps, hiccups, and stuttering. The Everett Collection, Inc./"Heartbreak Hotel" performed by Elvis Presley, from The King of Rock and Roll (Cat.# RCA 07863) (c) Tree Publishing Company (p)1992 BMG Music. All rights reserved. The first type of rock music, rock and roll, originated in the United States in the 1950s, and was largely derived from music of the American South. In the United States, the affluence that followed the end of World War II in 1945 and the emergence of a youth culture--based in part upon the rejection of older styles of popular culture--helped rock and roll to displace the New York City-based Tin Pan Alley songwriting tradition that had dominated the mainstream of American popular taste since the late 19th century (see Popular Music: Early 20th Century). Rock and roll was a combination of the R&B (rhythm-and-blues music) style known as jump blues, the gospel-influenced vocal-group style known as doo wop, the piano-blues style known as boogie-woogie (or barrelhouse), and the country-music style known as honky tonk. During the 1950s the term rock and roll was actually a synonym for black R&B. Rock and roll was first released by small, independent record companies and promoted by radio disc jockeys (DJs) like Alan Freed, who used the term rock 'n' roll to help attract white audiences unfamiliar with black R&B. Indeed, the appeal of rock and roll to white middle-class teenagers was immediate and caught the major record companies by surprise. As these companies moved to capitalize on the popularity of the style, the market was fueled by cover versions (performances of previously recorded songs) of R&B songs that were edited for suggestive lyrics and expressions and performed in the singing style known as crooning, by white vocalists such as Pat Boone. The most successful rock-and-roll artists wrote and performed songs about love, sexuality, identity crises, personal freedom, and other issues that were of particular interest to teenagers. Popular rock-and-roll artists and groups emerged from diverse backgrounds. The group Bill Haley and the Comets, which had the first big rock-and-roll hit with the song "Rock Around the Clock" (1955), was a country-music band from Pennsylvania that adopted aspects of the R&B jump-blues style of saxophonist and singer Louis Jordan. The unique style of Chuck Berry came from his experience playing a mixture of R&B and country music in the Midwest. The rock-and-roll piano style of Fats Domino grew out of the distinctive sound of New Orleans R&B, which also influenced singer and songwriter Little Richard. Rockabilly, a blend of rock-and-roll and country-and-western music, was pioneered by Memphis producer Sam Phillips, who first recorded artists Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins on his Sun Records label. The earthy style of guitarist Bo Diddley derived from the blues of the Mississippi Delta region. The standard four-piece instrumentation of rock bands (drum set and lead, rhythm, and bass guitars) was developed by Texas musician Buddy Holly, who produced his own studio recordings. From the urban North came the vocal style of doo wop, which influenced such vocal groups as the Chords, the Penguins, and the Platters. The golden age of rock and roll, which lasted only five years, from 1955 to 1959, is exemplified by the recordings of Berry, Presley, Little Richard, and Holly. By the early 1960s, the popular music industry was assembling professional songwriters, hired studio musicians, and teenage crooners to mass-produce songs that imitated late-1950s rock and roll. In the early 1960s professional songwriters in Manhattan, New York, such as Carole King and Neil Sedaka, produced numerous hit songs, many of which were recorded by female ensembles known as girl groups, such as the Ronettes and the Shirelles. Also during this period, the role of the record producer was expanded by Phil Spector, a producer who created hits by using elaborate studio techniques in a dense orchestral approach known as the wall of sound. Everly Brothers The American rock-and-roll duo The Everly Brothers had their first big hit in 1957 with "Bye Bye Love." Don, right, and Phil Everly recorded numerous hit singles, influencing many of the rock artists that followed them. The Everett Collection, Inc. Beginning about 1962, producer Berry Gordy expanded the crossover market (music by black performers purchased by white youth) with a number of hits for his Motown record company, based in Detroit, Michigan. Popular Motown groups included the Supremes (see Diana Ross), the Temptations, and Smokey Robinson and the Miracles (see Smokey Robinson). Other distinctive regional styles also developed during this period, such as the surf sound of the southern California band the Beach Boys and the urban folk music of the Greenwich Village movement--based in that neighborhood in New York City--which included singer and lyricist Bob Dylan. B The 1960s Beatlemania BBC Worldwide Americas, Inc. In 1964 the Beatles traveled to New York City to appear on a television broadcast (The Ed Sullivan Show, 1948 to 1971) and launched the so-called British Invasion. Influenced by American recordings, British pop bands of the period invigorated the popular music mainstream and confirmed the international stature of rock music. Soon, several British groups had developed individual distinctive styles: The Beatles combined the guitar-based rock and roll of Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly with the artistry of the Tin Pan Alley style; the Animals blended blues and R&B influences; and the Rolling Stones joined aspects of Chicago blues to their intense, forceful music. As with early rock and roll, the major American record companies did not take the British bands seriously at first--the Beatles' first hit singles in the United States were released through small, independent record companies. Soon, however, the success of the British bands became too difficult to ignore, and some American musicians reacted by developing their own styles. In 1965 Bob Dylan performed live and in-studio with a band that played electric instruments, alienating many folk-music purists in the process. The folk-rock style was further pioneered the same year by the American band the Byrds, who had a number-one hit on the Billboard magazine music charts with a version of Dylan's song "Mr. Tambourine Man." The short-lived group Buffalo Springfield, formed in 1966, blended aspects of rock and country-andwestern music to create country rock. The Beatles One of the most famous ensembles of the rock-and-roll era, the Beatles greatly influenced the culture and music of the 1960s and beyond. The band began to take shape in Liverpool, England, in 1957, when John Lennon invited Paul McCartney to join his band the Quarry Men. Within a year George Harrison had been added to the group. In 1960 the band took the name the Beatles, and Ringo Starr signed on as the drummer in 1962. The Beatles stayed together until 1970, creating a sophisticated and varied sound that fans continue to enjoy. This picture was taken in 1963. Rex Features, Ltd. During the late 1960s, rock music diversified further into new styles while consolidating its position in the mainstream of American popular music. The Beatles' 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, the first rock concept album, established new standards for studio recording and helped to establish the notion of the rock musician as a creative artist. Once again, American musicians responded to the British musical stimulus by experimenting with new forms, technologies, and stylistic influences. An influential rock style emerged during the mid-to-late 1960s in San Francisco, California. Sometimes called psychedelic rock, this form of rock was closely associated with the use of hallucinogenic drugs, such as Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD); psychedelic art and light shows; and an emphasis on spontaneity and communitarian values, epitomized by free-form events known as be-ins. The San Francisco scene reached its high point with the so-called Summer of Love in 1967, when thousands of young people--often referred to at the time as hippies--flocked to the city to experience the culture. Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones have maintained a hard-edged, irreverent style during a career of more than 40 years. The Stones' direct, raunchy music was influenced largely by American rhythm and blues. This image from early in the group's career shows, from left to right: Brian Jones, Charlie Watts, Mick Jagger, Bill Wyman, and Keith Richards. Jones died in 1969, and Wyman left the band in 1992. Michael Ochs Archives Perhaps the most representative group of musicians to come out of San Francisco during this period was the Grateful Dead featuring vocalist and lead guitarist Jerry Garcia. The Dead experimented with long, improvised stretches of music called jams. Despite the antiestablishment orientation of the youth culture at the time, a number of the musicians and groups that were prominent on the scene--including the Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, and Santana (a group led by Carlos Santana)--eventually signed lucrative contracts with major recording companies. Santana, Jefferson Airplane (later renamed Jefferson Starship), and the Grateful Dead went on to have successful music careers in the ensuing decades, but Joplin died of a drug overdose in 1970--one of the events that for many people signified the end of the San Francisco scene. Frank Zappa Guitarist and composer Frank Zappa was primarily a rock musician, though certainly one of the most eclectic figures in the history of the genre. Influenced by modern classical music and American rhythm and blues, he experimented with electronic sounds and recording techniques, fusing jazz improvisation with rock music backing and classical music structure. Much of Zappa's music is intended as social commentary; he is known for his biting musical satires of classic rock-and-roll songs. Star File Another important center of rock music in the 1960s was Los Angeles, where film student Jim Morrison formed the group the Doors and guitarist and composer Frank Zappa developed a unique blend of risqué humor and complex jazz-influenced compositional forms with his group the Mothers of Invention. In the late 1960s hard rock emerged, focusing on thick layers of sound, loud volume levels, and virtuoso guitar solos. In London, American Jimi Hendrix developed a highly influential electric-guitar style. His fiery technique gained exposure at the first large-scale rock festivals in the United States, Monterey Pop (1967) and Woodstock (1969). In 1966 the first socalled power trio was formed in London--the band Cream, which showcased the virtuosity of guitarist Eric Clapton, bassist Jack Bruce, and drummer Ginger Baker. In the late 1960s additional styles emerged in the United States, including southern rock, pioneered by the Allman Brothers Band; jazz rock, proponents of which included the band Blood, Sweat & Tears; and Latin rock (a blend of Latin American music, jazz and rock influences, and R&B styles), exemplified by the music of Santana. C The 1970s The Doors Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger, Jim Morrison, and John Densmore formed the rock group the Doors in 1965. The band's first album, entitled The Doors (1967), included the hit song "Light My Fire." Lead singer Morrison became known as the Lizard King for his outlandish performances and radical lifestyle. Although the band's performing career lasted only a few years, its music of sensual tones mixed with powerful, hard-hitting sound greatly influenced contemporary rock. The Everett Collection, Inc. In the early 1970s the popular mainstream was dominated by superstar rock groups, such as the Rolling Stones, the Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, and Chicago, and by individual superstars, such as Stevie Wonder and Elton John. Each of these groups and individual artists produced multiple albums, each of which sold millions of copies, pushing the industry to operate at a new scale. Also highly popular was the singer-songwriter genre, an outgrowth of urban folk music led by artists Carole King, James Taylor, and Jackson Browne. At the other end of the stylistic spectrum, the heavy-metal style was pioneered by bands Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Deep Purple, all of which featured aggressive guitar-laden songs. Art rock, represented by bands such as Emerson, Lake and Palmer, combined influences from classical music and displays of technical skill with spectacular stage shows. Glitter rock, or glam rock, cultivated a decadent image complete with such musicians as David Bowie and Marc Bolan wearing heavy makeup and sequined costumes and presenting themselves as sexually androgynous. David Bowie Born David Jones in London in 1947, David Bowie became a multitalented artist and performer who has recorded more than 24 albums in his career. "Changes," from the album Hunky Dory, was released in 1972, the year Bowie first toured the United States. Musically, he synthesized elements of 1960s rock with the evolving genre of art-rock. His theatrical performances featured unconventional images and avant-garde staging, which gained him tremendous popularity throughout the 1970s and established him as one of the world's premiere rock stars. Bowie's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, released in 1972, was one of the first concept albums (a format in which each song contributes to a central theme). "Changes" performed by David Bowie, from Changesbowie (Cat.# Rykodisc RCD 20171) (p)1990 Rykodisc. Used by permission of Screen Gems-EMI Music Inc. and Chrysalis Songs. All rights reserved./UPI/THE BETTMANN ARCHIVE The most popular dance music of the 1970s was disco. Initially associated with the gay subculture of New York City, disco drew upon black popular music and simplified rhythms by adding steady bass-drum beats. Although much despised by aficionados of heavy metal, disco had a substantial impact on rock music, especially after the release of the motion picture Saturday Night Fever (1977) and its hugely successful disco soundtrack featuring the group the Bee Gees. George Clinton Musician George Clinton was one of the early pioneers of funk music, leading to the nickname Dr. Funkenstein. Clinton's music contains elements of several different styles, including rock, psychedelic music, and rhythm and blues. Many rap artists of the 1990s borrowed snippets of Clinton's music for their own songs, cementing his status as a musical icon. Henry McGee/Globe Photos, Inc. The 1970s also saw the development of funk, a variant of soul music that was influenced by rock. Influential funk musicians included singer Sly Stone with his San Francisco band Sly and the Family Stone, and vocalist George Clinton, whose groups Parliament and Funkadelic blended social satire and science-fiction imagery with African-derived rhythms, jazz-influenced horn music, long improvised jams, and vocal group harmonies. About 1976 punk rock originated in New York City and London as a reaction against the commercialism of mainstream rock and the pretentiousness of art rock. Punkrock music was raw, abrasive, and fast. London punk groups included the Sex Pistols, the Clash, and the Police (see Sting), while New York punk and new wave (a style similar to punk) music included the bands the Ramones, Blondie, and Talking Heads, and vocalist Patti Smith. The Sex Pistols British punk rock group the Sex Pistols was hugely influential even though the band lasted less than three years in the late 1970s. Key members included, left to right, Sid Vicious (John Ritchie), Steve Jones, and Johnny Rotten (John Lydon). James D. Wilson/Liaison Agency Also in the mid-1970s, reggae music--developed by musicians in the shantytowns of Kingston, Jamaica--began to attract attention among youth in Great Britain and the United States. The style, associated with political protest and the Rastafarian religion, combined elements of Jamaican folk music with American R&B influences. Reggae's popularity among American college students was stimulated by the 1973 film The Harder They Come, which starred reggae singer Jimmy Cliff in the role of an underclass gangster. The superstar of the style was Bob Marley, who by the time of his death in 1981 had become one of the most popular musicians in the world. Stevie Nicks In 1974 American singer Stevie Nicks became one of the lead vocalists for the popular rock group Fleetwood Mac. Here, Nicks sings during a concert in 1977. Neal Preston/Corbis Despite these diverse stylistic developments, the music business in the United States had actually become more centralized in the 1970s. Spontaneous mass gatherings, epitomized by Woodstock, had been replaced by carefully managed stadium concerts. The individualistic local radio programming of the late 1960s was substituted with national radio formatting, in which music tailored to sell products to certain audiences was distributed nationally on tape to be broadcast from local stations. Economic factors encouraged major record companies to pursue almost exclusively artists with the potential to sell millions of copies of albums. While potential profits from hit albums had risen greatly, the financial risks involved in producing such music had also increased considerably. From 1978 to 1982 the American rock-music industry experienced financial difficulties as sales of recorded music dropped by almost $1 billion and receipts from live concerts experienced a similar decline. D The 1980s Sting in Concert British singer and songwriter Sting first gained notoriety as the bass player and lead singer for the Police, a popular rock group of the late 1970s and early 1980s. The Police, a trio that included drummer Stewart Copeland and guitarist Andy Summers, influenced numerous rock musicians with its reggae-influenced sound and sparse musical textures. Getty Images Technological advances led to a revival of the music industry during the 1980s. The market for popular music expanded with new media formats, including music video, introduced by the Music Television (MTV) network in 1981, and the digitally recorded compact disc (CD), introduced in 1983. In 1982 entertainer Michael Jackson released Thriller, which became the biggest-selling album in history, and established a trend in which record companies relied upon a few massive hits to generate profits. Jackson's success contributed greatly to proving the promotional value of music videos. It thereafter became very difficult for record companies to achieve hit records without having the music receive intensive airplay on music-video networks. Other mainstream rock hits of the 1980s came from a group of charismatic artists, each of whom attracted mass-audience followings extending across traditional social boundaries. Singer Bruce Springsteen appealed to many as a working-class hero. Other superstars followed Jackson's lead by integrating dance and video presentations into their work, including Prince, whose 1984 single "When Doves Cry" was the first song in more than 20 years to top both the pop and R&B charts in Billboard magazine; and Madonna, who came to symbolize female sexual liberation through her controversial videos and lyrics. Also during the 1980s the audience for heavy metal expanded from its original white-male, working-class core to include more middle-class fans, both male and female. By the end of the decade, heavy-metal bands, such as Van Halen, AC/DC, Guns N' Roses, and Metallica, accounted for as much as 40 percent of all sound recordings sold in the United States. Public Enemy American rap group Public Enemy, formed in 1987, became known for its controversial lyrics and creative backing tracks. Focusing on political and social commentary, the members of Public Enemy attempted to avoid the commercialism into which they claimed other rap groups had fallen. Pictured in the bottom row, from left, are Flavor Flav, Chuck D, and Professor Griff. DJ Terminator X is in the center of the top row. Ray/Retna, Ltd Another genre of rock music, labeled alternative rock, rejected the heavy marketing and video-driven culture of the 1980s. In general, alternative-rock bands recorded for independent labels, played in small clubs, and maintained a defiant stance toward the conformity and commercialism of the music industry. They were committed to songwriting that explored taboo issues (drug use, depression, incest, suicide) and were interested in social issues such as environmentalism, abortion rights, and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) activism. During the 1980s groups such as R.E.M., the Replacements, Hüsker Dü, and the Pixies attracted a cult following, primarily through airplay on college radio stations and word of mouth. Anticipated by reggae in the 1970s, worldbeat music (also called ethnopop) began to emerge during the early 1980s, with the success of the album Juju Music (1982) by Nigerian musician King Sunny Ade. Ade's music, which blended traditional African drums with electric guitars and synthesizers, helped to stimulate an interest in nonWestern music in the United States and the United Kingdom, and opened the way for artists such as Youssou N'Dour, from Senegal; Papa Wemba, from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, formerly Zaire); Ladysmith Black Mambazo, from South Africa; Ofra Haza, from Israel; Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, from Pakistan; and the Gipsy Kings, from France. Rock superstars, such as Peter Gabriel, David Byrne, and Paul Simon--whose 1985 hit album Graceland featured musicians from Africa and Latin America--played an important role in exposing worldbeat musicians to audiences in the United States and Europe, and reaffirmed the worldwide appeal of rock music. Annie Lennox British musician Annie Lennox formed the band the Eurythmics with Dave Stewart in the early 1980s. The band's hits included "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" (1983) and "Here Comes the Rain Again" (1984). After the Eurythmics broke up, Lennox began a successful solo career. Mike Laye/Corbis Perhaps the most significant rock-music development of the 1980s was the rise of rap, a genre in which vocalists perform rhythmic speech, usually accompanied by music snippets, or samples, from prerecorded material or from music created by synthesizers. Rap originated in the mid-1970s in the South Bronx community of New York City and was initially associated with a cultural movement called hip-hop, which included acrobatic dancing (known as break dancing) and graffiti art. DJs such as Kool Herc and Afrika Bambaataa experimented with innovative turntable techniques, including switching between multiple discs; back-spinning, or rotating the disc by hand in order to repeat particular phrases; and scratching, moving the phonograph needle across vinyl record grooves to create rhythmic sound effects. The first rap records were made in 1979 by small, independent record companies. Although artists such as the Sugarhill Gang had national hits during the early 1980s, rap music did not enter the popular music mainstream until 1986, when rappers Run-DMC and the hard-rock band Aerosmith collaborated on a version of the song "Walk This Way," creating a new audience for rap among white, suburban, middle-class rock fans. By the end of the 1980s, MTV had established a program dedicated solely to rap, and artists such as MC Hammer (Stanley Kirk Burrell) and the Beastie Boys had achieved multi-platinum record sales to broad interracial audiences. IV THE 1990S Nirvana Nirvana popularized Seattle's "grunge" music scene and sparked a revival among the smaller, independent-label record companies in the music industry. Nirvana's album Nevermind (1991) expressed an antiestablishment attitude that resonated with so-called Generation X and paved the way for other alternative rock bands. The group broke up after front man Kurt Cobain's suicide in 1994. Nirvana was comprised of, left to right, Cobain, Dave Grohl, and Krist Novoselic. The Everett Collection, Inc. During the 1990s, trends that had been established during the 1980s continued, including growth in the popularity of genres such as rap, heavy metal, and worldbeat and the introduction of new technologies for the digital generation, transmission, and reproduction of sound. The 1990s also saw the further splintering of rock music into a variety of specialized subgenres. Eric Clapton During the 1960s British guitarist Eric Clapton first gained acclaim for his musicianship as a blues and rock guitarist with a number of musical groups, including the Yardbirds and Cream. During the 1970s his solo albums were praised for the strength and lyricism of his playing style and Clapton also became known as a songwriter and singer. In 1993 he won three Grammy Awards, including one for the album of the year, MTV Unplugged (1992), which contains live, acoustic versions of his work. REUTERS/THE BETTMANN ARCHIVE The 1990s were a significant decade for bringing rap music into the commercial mainstream. MC Hammer (later known simply as Hammer) went to the top of the charts in 1990 with Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em, which sold 13 million copies in its first year and became the best-selling rap album of all time. A broader phenomenon was the harder-edged style known as gangsta rap, which emerged on the West Coast beginning in the late 1980s. The multimillion-selling recordings of gangsta rap artists such as the group N.W.A. (Niggaz With Attitude), Dr. Dre (Andre Young), Snoop Doggy Dogg (Calvin Broadus), Tupac (2Pac) Shakur, and The Notorious B.I.G. (Christopher Wallace) combined grim stories of urban street life with gleeful celebration of the "gangsta" lifestyle. Gangsta rap became incredibly successful in the 1990s by attracting a predominantly white middle-class audience eager to experience gritty street culture from a safe distance. Lauryn Hill After the release of her debut album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998), American singer Lauryn Hill won five Grammy Awards, including album of the year. Sam Mircovich /REUTERS Electronic dance music, or techno, also became more widely popular during the 1990s. The genre first emerged in the 1970s. Some forms of techno were influenced by punk rock; others by experimental art music, jazz, and world music; and still others by black popular music, including funk and rap. Although techno produced few commercial hits during the decade, the recordings of musical groups such as the Prodigy, Orbital, and Moby did make inroads into the charts during the late 1990s, and techno recordings were increasingly licensed as the soundtracks for technology-oriented television commercials and films. Elvis Costello British singer-songwriter Elvis Costello deals with the classic themes of personal relationships and social issues with a controlled venom. His many albums include All This Useless Beauty (1996) and When I Was Cruel (2002). Anthony Suau/Liaison Agency The popularity of alternative rock exploded during the 1990s, featuring bands as diverse as R.E.M., Nine Inch Nails, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against the Machine, and the Dave Matthews Band. The genre spawned a number of substyles, such as the grunge rock of Seattle-based groups Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Pearl Jam. More than any other group, Nirvana was responsible for the commercial breakthrough of alternative rock in the early 1990s. Between 1991 and 1994 Nirvana--a group made up of singer and guitarist Kurt Cobain, bassist Krist Novoselic, and drummer Dave Grohl--released two multiplatinum albums (Nevermind and In Utero) and moved alternative rock's blend of hard-core punk and heavy metal out of specialty record stores and into the commercial mainstream. Cobain's stunning 1994 suicide was widely viewed as at least partly attributable to the pressures faced by alternative-rock musicians who achieve commercial success and then face accusations of "selling out." V CURRENT TRENDS R.E.M. American rock-music band R.E.M. formed in 1980 with (pictured left to right) guitarist Peter Buck, singer Michael Stipe, bassist Mike Mills, and drummer Bill Berry. R.E.M. first gained attention by attracting college audiences exposed to the music through independent radio stations, which played noncommercial songs. Credited with helping to invent the socalled alternative style of rock during the 1980s, R.E.M. has been hailed by many critics as one of the most innovative bands in the history of rock music. Michael Ferguson/Globe Photos, Inc. One of the most striking features of rock music in the first years of the 21st century was its sheer stylistic diversity. The most influential recordings of the year 2000 include retro-rocker Carlos Santana's Supernatural, which won the Grammy Award for best album; a re-release of the Beatles' number-one hits of the 1960s; the hardedged rap-metal fusion of Limp Bizkit; gangsta rap stars Dr. Dre and Eminem (Marshall Mathers); techno musician Moby's album Play (tracks from which were used on dozens of television commercials); and the teen-oriented pop-rock of Britney Spears and *NSYNC. Technological innovation continues to drive changes in the way rock music is produced, heard, and sold. The development of low-cost digital technology has allowed musicians to make professional-quality recordings in their homes. The emergence of Internet services such as MP3.com and Napster, which allow fans to download their favorite music in the form of compressed files, has raised thorny legal questions about copyright laws while at the same time making the music of unsigned and alternative musicians much more widely available. The development of home compact disc recorders has enabled rock fans to create their own digital compilations, mixing genres, artists, and musical epochs to suit their own taste. Rock music in the 21st century is increasingly influenced by the global marketplace. Of the five major transnational corporations now responsible for as much as 90 percent of music sales worldwide, only one is officially headquartered in the United States. Along with the expansion of the global audience for North American and European rock music, there is increasing influence by musicians from Asia, Africa, Latin America, and other parts of the world. VI SOCIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE Since its inception in the 1950s, rock music has moved from the margins of American popular music to become the center of a multi-billion-dollar global industry. Closely connected with youth culture, rock music and musicians have helped to establish new fashions, forms of language, attitudes, and political views. However, rock music is no longer limited to an audience of teenagers, since many current listeners formed their musical tastes during the golden age of rock and roll. Similarly, while rock has historically encouraged new creative expressions, the innovations of Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, the Beatles, and Jimi Hendrix have defined a tradition to which successive generations of musicians have repeatedly turned for inspiration. From its origins, rock music has been shaped by a complex relationship between freedom--symbolized by the image of the rebellious rock musician--and corporate control. Originally a mixture of styles outside the mainstream of white middle-class popular taste, rock and roll soon became a mass-produced commodity. This tension between individuality and commercialism still looms large in rock music and is reflected in fan distaste for musicians who compromise, or sell out, their musical values in order to secure multi-million-dollar recording contracts. Shaped by technology, the growth of the mass media, and the social identities of its artists and audiences, rock music continues to play a central role in the popular culture of the United States and, increasingly, the world. Contributed By: Chris Waterman Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.