Rock Music

Rock Music: Rock, a shortened term for "rock and roll", is a form of popular music characterized by a pronounced, amplified beat. Electric guitars are the main instrumental sound source; today electronic synthesizers are increasingly used.

Rock comes out of five traditions in American music: rhythm and blues, country and western music, folk music, white popular music, and jazz. Elements of these forms of music in rock distinguish its five variations—soul rock, country rock, folk rock, pop rock, and jazz rock. Rock can also be generally divided into hard rock and soft rock—the former being hard driving and played with a regular beat, and the latter, a low keyed, rhythmically free, sophisticated form of rock.

The first white superstar of rock and roll was the late Elvis Presley. The period from 1956 to 1958 was the "age of Elvis".

In the 1960's, the most influential superstars were the Beatles and Bob Dylan. The Beatles were a quartet of English performers, who became popular in England in 1962, in the United States the following year, and remained popular until they dissolved their group in 1970. They reached one of rock's highest artistic summits in June 1967 when their "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" was released. They influenced a wide range of rock groups. Bob Dylan was noted for his lyrics which covered a wide range of social issues in the 1960's. He introduced folk rock in 1965.

The period from 1964 to 1978 is said to be the "golden age" of rock-and-roll. Since the late 1970's, disco has become popular, but rock music has remained popular with the young.