Hard Rock

Hard rock is a genre of rock music characterized by the heavy usage of aggressive vocals, distorted electric guitars, bass guitar, drums, and often accompanied with piano and keyboards. Hard rock emerged in the 1960s, was completely formed in the late 60s, reached its peak in the late 60s and early 70s with groups like AC/DC, Black Sabbath, and Deep Purple. The term «hard rock» sometimes is used to define heavy genres like heavy metal, grunge, etc.

Birth: 1966 Bloom: 1975 Death: 1987

Music was made harder in the mid-60s by The Kinks, Cream, The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, The Who, The Beatles, and Jimi Hendrix. Hard rock elements can be noticed in compositions like «You Really Got Me» (The Kinks), «White Room» (Cream), «Helter Skelter» (The Beatles). The song «You Really Got Me» is considered to be the first with riffs technics that`s the main characteristic feature of the hard rock sound.

By the early 70s a distinct genre of hard rock was emerging with bands which are considered founders of this style, among them the most notable are Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, and Black Sabbath. After them there were artists who worked on making music harder, among them Status Quo, Nazareth, AC/DC, Uriah Heep, UFO, Grand Funk Railroad, Scorpions, and many others.

In the 1980s a new commercially successful movement emerged at the junction of hard rock and heavy metal – hard n heavy. That time new hard rock groups (Guns N` Roses, Mötley Crüe, Def Leppard) were popular alongside representatives of classic hard rock of the 1970s (ex-soloist of Black Sabbath Ozzy Osbourne, the Whitesnake band by ex-soloist of Deep Purple David Coverdale), and bands emerged in the mid-70s (Aerosmith, AC/DC, Judas Priest). Lots of hard metal styles have been developed alongside hard rock, such as trash metal, speed metal, and others.

Umbrellate style: Rock

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