Hard Rock Music

Hard Rock's roots.

Hard rock's origins are more evident in underground US garage and psych bands of the sixties than their more popular UK counterparts, until The Who brought the distorted noise to a wider audience, and later Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin's amplified repetitive riffs gained worldwide appeal. These guitar trademarks mixed with heavy drums and rasping vocals is what epitomises the sound of hard rock.

During the first decade of its use, hard rock was considered to be a desirable music type, and its fans developed a noticeable style of long hair and skinny trousers. However, from the late 1970s and through the 1980s, the genre became derisory. Whilst using similar methods, the arrival of punk was seen to dismiss the validity of existing rock acts such as Pink Floyd. Despite this, hard rock continued to grow in popularity amongst the public in America and Europe, with AC/DC, Aerosmith, Guns N' Roses and Bon Jovi achieving huge chart success and stadium appeal.

New wave of hard rock from Seattle.

In the 1990s, the rise of grunge music in America, spearheaded by Nirvana, brought its own new version of hard rock that overtook its unfashionable predecessors. Subsequent movements in electronic music and technological advancements meant that hard rock as a genre has since been considered traditional and old fashioned, yet it has remained a constant attraction throughout the music world, whether mixing with dance and hip hop, or sticking with its roots, or developing exciting new bands like The White Stripes and Arctic Monkeys.

Bright future for hard rock.

Now, what constitutes hard rock can cross many boundaries, from stadium pop to experimental metal and every crossover in between, but ultimately it stays happily homed in its traditions of rhythmic drums, pounding bass, riffing guitars, and screaming vocals. For this, hard rock's popularity will live long into the future.