Hard rock
:
Hard Rock redirects here. For the restaurant, please see
Hard Rock Cafe.
Hard rock is a form of
rock and roll music which finds its closest roots in early-
1960s garage rock and
psychedelic rock. It is typified by a heavy use of distorted
electric guitar,
bass guitar and
drums. The term "hard rock" is often used as an
umbrella term for genres such as
punk,
grunge,
alternative metal and
heavy metal, in order to distinguish them from softer, more radio friendly
pop rock music.
Characteristics
Hard rock is a variation of rock and roll and is strongly influenced by blues music; in fact, the most frequently used scale in hard rock is the pentatonic, which is a typical blues scale. However, unlike traditional rock and roll, which takes elements of the "old" blues, hard rock borrows elements of the so-called British blues, a style of blues played with more modern instruments such as electric guitars, drums and electric bass.
The term hard rock is often applied to many styles of rock, their only common feature being that they deviate from pop rock, though this is generally incorrect. Two such examples are punk rock and grunge. Punk rock uses a faster tempo and fewer riffs (often using as power chords, pioneered by
Link Wray). Grunge can be classified as being much more extreme than hard rock.
The predominant instrument in hard rock is the electric guitar. Virtuoso guitarists are very prevalent in hard rock, examples of which include
Jimmy Page of
Led Zeppelin,
Ritchie Blackmore of
Deep Purple and
Rainbow, and
Eddie Van Halen of
Van Halen. Drums are also a basis of hard rock because they sustain the rhythm of the music, and create an energetic drive that keeps the music flowing. Some famous hard rock drummers include
John Bonham of Led Zeppelin,
Keith Moon of
The Who,
Neil Peart of Rush,
Cesar Zuiderwijk of
Golden Earring and
Lars Ulrich of
Metallica.
Hard rock or heavy metal?
During the
1970s hard rock spawned a new genre of music, known as
heavy metal. This genre has created a controversial topic that appears when discussing
1970s hard rock groups. The debates are often centred around whether the bands are "hard rock or heavy metal groups". As with any art form, music has many examples of genre mixes, crossovers, or works which may as easily classified into one category or another, however the distinctions between hard rock and heavy metal are often particularly porous. It is often as a result as a band's image rather than their music whether they will be classified as hard rock or heavy metal.
The two genres have some crossover for example; the pioneers of
heavy metal, such as
Black Sabbath,
Deep Purple and
Led Zeppelin are often considered both "Heavy Metal" and "Hard Rock"... whereas, bands such as
AC/DC,
Aerosmith and
Kiss, are normally referred to as just "Hard Rock" and not "Heavy Metal".
To further the confusion, the most popular heavy metal subgenre of the
1980s;
Glam metal, was known to take influence from both the pioneering
heavy metal acts and other Hard rock groups, such as
Alice Cooper,
Kiss, and
Aerosmith amongst other things. Both
Kiss and
Aerosmith subsequently went on to dabble in
Glam metal stylings.
Early days (1960s)
One of the major influences in hard rock is undoubtedly
Blues music, especially that brand of blues that met
rock and roll in the 1960s: it is often called British blues, because this meeting happened in
United Kingdom.
British rockers like
The Rolling Stones,
The Yardbirds,
The Who and
The Kinks modified rock and roll; adding to the standard genre harder sounds, heavy guitar
riffs, often bombastic drumming and harder vocals: they created the basis for hard rock.
At the same time,
guitarist Jimi Hendrix produced a particular kind of
blues known as
Psychedelic rock, which combined elements of
jazz,
blues and
rock and roll creating a unique genre. Also, he was one of the first guitarists to experiment new guitar effects like
phasing,
feedback and
distortion.Another important group in the
Blues-rock is
Cream (especially the guitarist,
Eric Clapton).
Hard rock came into existence when British groups of late 1960s like
Black Sabbath,
Led Zeppelin mixed the music of early British rockers with a particular kind of
Blues-rock, typified by an aggressive approach to the blues. Led Zeppelin's eponymous first album, released in
1969, is a good example of heavy blues-rock which represents the true beginning of the hard rock genre.
Also
Deep Purple showed up in the hard rock scene with the albums
Shades of Deep Purple, The Book of Taliesyn, Deep Purple. Together with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, Deep Purple is considered to be "masters" of hard rock.
In 1969
Golden Earring made scream audiences for more during their first US tour, when they performed their 45 minute version of
Eight Miles High, a hard rock experiment inspired by the much softer original title by
The Byrds. In the same year Golden Earring released the LP
Eight Miles High,however the title-track was shortened to 19 minutes, filled with improvisations and solo's that still capture the atmosphere of the experimental live-version.
The First Era (1970s)
|
Machine Head, one of the quintessential hard rock/heavy metal albums |
In the
1970s, hard rock finally got a true identity. Led Zeppelin's third album,
Led Zeppelin III was more
progressive rock-oriented than the second, but the heavy connotations of their music still remained. So, they received several critics from detractors of hard rock, who considered it a senseless music. Anyway, this did not stop the expansion of hard rock: young boys liked it a lot, seeing it as a form of rebellion against the fair and quiet music of their fathers.
In 1970 another important group from UK,
Black Sabbath, published what is considered the first
heavy metal album, titled
Black Sabbath. Black Sabbath's music was revolutionary even in hard rock: it was typified by the darkest lyrics ever written, hard
riffs and a heavy atmosphere. Black Sabbath transformed the current hard rock into a heavier genre, creating a primordial kind of heavy metal.
In 1972
Alice Cooper made the first shock-rock album, called
School's Out. Deep Purple published their most famous album titled
Machine Head which contains their most famous song, "
Smoke on the Water".
1973 saw the rise of
Golden Earring who catapulted themselves into Hard Rock history with their classic
Radar Love. .
Machine Head continued Deep Purple's transformation of hard rock, and it is considered along with
Black Sabbath one of the first
proto-metal albums. In particular, the song "
Highway Star" is considered the first
speed metal song in the history (Speed metal is the progenitor of the more extreme thrash metal). However, Deep Purple's music is very different from Black Sabbath's, so Deep Purple are still considered a hard rock group, not a metal group.
From
1973, hard rock evolved to another stadium. New artists such as
Queen,
Status Quo,
KISS and
Aerosmith introduced heavier elements in the genre, to become more heavy metal-oriented. Aerosmith and Queen published their respective eponymous debut albums, which showed the new evolution of hard rock. Even Led Zeppelin took this direction with the album
Houses of the Holy. Also in 1974
Bad Company released the frist of many album giving us the term
Guitar Rock Queen used layered vocals and guitars and mixed hard rock with
arena rock,
glam rock,
heavy metal,
progressive rock,and even
opera.
|
Highway to Hell, one of the most popular hard rock albums |
Judas Priest introduced a new element in the genre, the dual rhythm, where two guitarists (instead of the usual single guitarist) play the rhythmic
riffs; this element would become common in heavy metal. Judas Priest would go to become one of the major influences on
hard rock and
power metal.
Rainbow, formed by the former guitarist of Deep Purple,
Ritchie Blackmore, created the basis for power metal together with Judas Priest, especially thanks to Ritchie Blackmore's great technique. Meanwhile, Black Sabbath took off the darkness of the beginning with albums such as
Technical Ecstasy, following the heavy metal direction of Judas Priest and Rainbow.
Another important group in the hard rock scene,
Van Halen, showed up in 1978. Van Halen's music, different from KISS, Aerosmith and Queen, was based mostly on the guitar skills of
Eddie Van Halen, the lead guitarist. The song "
Eruption" from the album
Van Halen demonstrated Eddie Van Halen's technique and was very influential.
In 1979, the differences between the classical hard rock movement and the rising heavy metal movement was highlighted when the
Australian band
AC/DC, after four Australian only albums, three international versions, published their first international-only album, Powerage and a live album. But their best effort yet titled
Highway to Hell. Despite the current heavy metal direction, AC/DC's music is based mostly on the
rhythm & blues and the early
1970s hard rock.On the other side, the British band
Motörhead put on the basis for the rise of
thrash metal with the album
Overkill. The year closed with
Ozzy Osbourne's firing from
Black Sabbath due to his alcohol and drugs problems.
Ronnie James Dio, vocalist of
Rainbow, came to replace him.
The Second Era (1980s)
|
Back in Black by AC/DC is the biggest selling album in the world by a band |
In the
1980s, a new wave of rockers pushed the envelope of the old frontier. Heavy metal got a separate identity from hard rock.
In
1980 Led Zeppelin disbanded after the sudden death of
drummer John Bonham, who choked on his own vomit after a binge of heavy drinking.
Bon Scott, the lead singer of
AC/DC had also died from acute alcohol poisoning earlier that year. With this and the disbanding of Zeppelin, the first wave of "classic" rock bands ended. AC/DC still remained on the scene, and published the album
Back in Black, which is the second biggest selling album of all time: this album is probably the most influential one of the 1980s for later rockers.By selling so much, AC/DC proved to the public that hard rock could sell and made possible the rise of a radio-friendly hard rock and heavy metal. Van Halen too released successful albums such as
Van Halen II and
Women and Children First, which opened the road for what later became
glam metal.
On the other side,
Iron Maiden,
Diamond Head,
Angel Witch,
Motörhead and a now solo
Ozzy Osbourne kick-started a surge of interest in heavy metal. Iron Maiden and Angel Witch's music took great influences from Black Sabbath's legendary album
Paranoid: dark sounds, heavy riffs and dark lyrics. Their style also featured fantasy-based elements, which differenced them from Black Sabbath's
classic metal: together with
Judas Priest, they are considered to be the mainstays of
New Wave of British Heavy Metal.
In
1981, the
American band
Mötley Crüe released a massively influential album called
Too Fast For Love, which set the basis for the rising genre
Glam Metal. A year later the genre exploded, especially thanks to
Twisted Sister and
Quiet Riot: Twisted Sister's
Under The Blade is considered one of the best
Classic metal albums, and Quiet Riot's
Metal Health is the first album ever which reached #1 in the
Billboard United States chart.On the other side of the ocean, Iron Maiden's
The Number of the Beast reached #1 in
United Kingdom charts.
Def Leppard, a Sheffield-based post-punk band showed up in the scene with the album
Pyromania, which reached #2 in the American charts: Their music was a mix of glam rock, heavy metal, classic rock and
Album Oriented Rock, which influenced many 80s hard rock and glam rock bands.
In
1983 Mötley Crüe released their most famous album,
Shout at the Devil, which became a huge hit; for this reason the album is often considered to be "The Breakthrough Metal album".
Van Halen's album
1984 became a huge success, hitting #2 on Billboard album charts; in particular, the song "
Jump" hit #1 in the single chart and is considered one of the most popular rock songs ever written.
1984 was a key year.
KISS returned on the scene unmasked with the album
Animalize: with their unmasking, they officially entered in the glam metal movement. Judas Priest's
Defenders of the Faith achieved
RIAA Gold and Platinum certifications. Other important acts in 1984's glam scene were
Ratt and
W.A.S.P..
At the same time,
Yngwie J. Malmsteen and
Steve Vai, two
virtuoso guitarists, released their respective debut albums,
Rising Force and
Flex-Able. Their unique style didn't feature vocals, with both albums showcasing the guitar-playing talents of the artists instead; this was the birth of
Instrumental Rock. There were differences between Malmsteen and Vai; while Malmsteen's music was greatly influenced by classical music, Vai was more of a hard rock purist whose hero was
Frank Zappa.
In
1986, 1980s hard rock finally went
mainstream. The
Swedish band
Europe released
The Final Countdown, maybe the most popular and radio-friendly album together with
Van Halen's
1984. In particular, the title track "
The Final Countdown" became a huge success, hitting number 1 in 26 countries.
In the same year the
virtuoso guitarist
Joe Satriani, teacher and great friend of
Steve Vai, released his first full album,
Not of This Earth. True success for him arrived a year later, with the release of
Surfing with the Alien, a milestone in the history of
Instrumental Rock.
1987 was another big year. The most notable successes in the charts were
Appetite For Destruction by
Guns N' Roses,
Hysteria by
Def Leppard, which hit #1 in Billboard album chart,
Mötley Crüe's
Girls, Girls, Girls and
Whitesnake's
1987. In
1988, a band mixing hard rock and some metal and influenced by such artists as
Bon Jovi appeared:
Skid Row. Their first album was called the same way
Skid Row and was released in
1989. Next
Skid Row's albums appeared during the
1990s. Thrash metal was strongly transformed into something called
groove metal, which would later evolve, together with
Korn's music, into the
nu metal genre. In the same year, the
Seattle band
Soundgarden showed up with the EP
Screaming Life, giving rise to yet another sub-genre,
Grunge.
The Third Era (1990s)
The 1990s was an eventful and often puzzling era for hard rock. In 1991
Freddie Mercury of
Queen announced he had
AIDS and died a day later. The early 1990s were marked by the rise of
Grunge bands in Seattle, who provided one of the earliest scenes of
Alternative Rock. Some of these bands met with much commercial success, such as
Nirvana,
Pearl Jam,
Soundgarden, and
Alice in Chains. While their success was often pitched in the media as a
Punk Rock reaction to
Arena rock and
Glam Metal, the bands were hardly
antagonistic towards the
heavy metal genre in general; Soundgarden and Nirvana were influenced by much 1970s and 1980s metal, while Alice in Chains was arguably a metal band themselves. Several other notable bands included
The Screaming Trees,
Mother Love Bone,
Mudhoney, and a few non-Seattle bands such as
Stone Temple Pilots (who were very popular with fans but not with critics).
As the popularity of artists such as
Metallica continued from the 1980s into the 1990s (
Metallica's albums
Load and
ReLoad could also be partly described as Hard Rock), some other bands had begun to fuse metal with a range of eclectic influences. These bands came to be known as
alternative metal artists, another subset of alternative rock. Some, such as
Primus and
Red Hot Chili Peppers fused
Funk with metal styles.
Tool was a popular band, drawing from early progressive acts such as
King Crimson for influence.
Jane's Addiction adopted a somewhat bohemian aesthetic, while
Faith No More referenced many genres ranging from
Rap to
Soul.
The Deftones and
Helmet were also popular, especially among
skateboarders.
The Smashing Pumpkins was another band of the mid-1990s, whose albums
Siamese Dream and
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness sold many millions of copies.
*
List of hard rock musicians*
Timeline of hard rock/heavy metal
