GENRE RESEARCH

Rock music is a genre of popular music that originated as "rock and roll" in the United States in the 1950s, and developed into a range of different styles in the 1960s and later, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States.

It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s. Rock and roll itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music. Rock music also drew strongly on a number of other genres such as blues and folk, and incorporated influences from jazz, classical and other musical sources.

Musically, rock has centred on the electric guitar, usually as part of a rock group with electric bass guitar and drums. Like pop music, lyrics often stress romantic love but also address a wide variety of other themes that are frequently social or political in emphasis. the dominance of rock by white, male musicians has been seen as one of the key factors shaping the themes explored in rock music. Rock places a higher degree of emphasis on live performance, and an ideology of authenticity than pop music.

By the late 1960s, referred to as the "golden age" or "classic rock" period, a number of distinct rock music sub-genres had emerged, including hybrids like blues rock, folk rock, county rock, and jazz-rock fusion, many of which contributed to the development of psychedelic scene.

Rock music has been associated with political activism as well as changes in social attitudes to race, sex, and drug use, and is often seen as an expression of youth revolt against adult consumerism and conformity.