🎸Rock & Pop
Rock music’s history stretches all the way back to the 1940s in America, and since then the genre has been constantly redefined and reinvented. However, despite its unpredictable evolution, rock music can be generally described as aggressive and energetic music, performed with electric guitars, bass, drums and accompanied by lyrics performed by a vocalist.
Rock music’s roots came from rhythm and blues, gospel and country music, it was the introduction of electric guitars and a constant drum beat to these styles that gave birth to the genre of rock ‘n roll.
The 1950s brought with it the pioneering rock stars, such as Chuck Berry, who had a natural flair for entertainment and went on to inspire rock performance for decades to come. Rock music felt rebellious compared to the safe sound of pop music at the time, and its sex positiive attitude was a shock to the conservative era which made it all the more appealing to the younger generation.
By the early 1960s rock’s influence had reached the British ears and bands such as the Rolling Stones, the Kinks, and the Dave Clark Five brought a new edge and wave of popularity to the genre. Rock music embraced sex, rage and rebellion, which caused controversy but in turn elevated it to new heights.
The 70s was when Rock was at its peak as the most popular form of music, and new bands emerged on the scene bringing a variety of styles and sounds to the genre. Led Zeppelin was one of the most well-known bands of the decade and gave rock a darker and heavier tone that paved the way for hard rock and heavy metal. The arrival of Pink Floyd and their psychedelic approach to rock also opened new avenues for the genre, with albums such as ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ receiving credit for sparking the progressive rock movement.
In the late 70s, old school style rock groups such as the Sex Pistols and the Clash gained huge popularity. These artists stripped rock back to its rawest form of loud guitars, angry vocals and a bad boy attitude, and with this Punk was born.
Mainstream rock began to fizzle out at the start of the 80s with its sound becoming oversaturated, but this stagnation just triggered rock music to evolve once again. The post-punk era brought about a more electronic rock sound from the likes of British band, Depeche Mode and in the U.S. a sub genre that would come to be known as alternative rock was gaining traction. Alternative rock, also referred to as Indie Rock, was dominating the scene by the end of the 80s and in 1988 Billboard created a new chart for the subgenre, dubbing it modern rock.
Alternative rock’s popularity continued to climb in the 90s, with the release of Nirvana’s “Nevermind” in ‘91 being credited as bringing the genre into the mainstream and to this day, remaining as one of the best selling albums of all time. However, alternative rock began to run out of steam around the mid 90s and mainstream rock was being recognised again, with bands bringing their own flair to the sound.
Groups including Limp Bizkit, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, and Foo Fighters were huge during the 90s and brought a variety of different styles to rock. As rock music entered the 21st century bands such as Linkin Park, Slip Knot, Green Day, Nickelback and more arrived and further diversified the genre.
The rock scene today encompasses a vast array of sub genres, including indie rock, ska, rap rock, glam rock, punk rock, progressive rock and more. Pop punk has made a particular resurgence over the last few years with acts like Machine Gun Kelly, Halsey, Yung Blud and Olivia Rodrigo receiving recognition and climbing the charts.
You can find tickets for every kind of rock artist on Zenseats. Whether you’re looking to see one of the rock veterans on the stage or you want to catch some of the up and coming rock stars of today, check out the Zenseats platform to experience rock music in the best way possible. If you want to make your night extra memorable and do it the way only a rock star would, then contact us regarding group bookings and executive boxes.
