Rock & Roll Through The Ages
Rock & Roll, the genre responsible for Elvis, the Beatles, head banging, leather pants, Stairway to Heaven, and a lot of smashed up hotel rooms, has been rolling along for decades. What started in the 1950s when black and white culture collided in the United States, quickly boiled over and spread throughout the world. After the British returned Elvis’ favour in the 1960s, the rock and roll movement gained even more momentum, and with it some of the most iconic musical and cultural moments in the history. Rock & Roll has changed a lot since its inception, and like any great genre has spawned countless sub-genres and cultures.
A lot can be said of Rock & Roll, so much in fact that there’s no way we could possibly fit it all into a few pages, so we boiled down each decade to a few key points, artists and moments.
Listen to the ‘Rock Out’ Playlist on emanate while you read
1950 — In The Beginning
While there is still a bit of debate among Rock & Roll scholars as to who exactly kicked the whole thing off, there’s no denying that the ’50s is where it all began. The ‘big bang’ moment came when black and white culture in the United States collided, creating the exciting new genre. The melting pot of different sounds within America allowed a multitude of sounds to come together, to ultimately create what we know as early rock & roll. Rhythm and blues, jazz, bluegrass, rockabilly, gospel and country all played their part in shaping that early sound.
It was also during the 50s that the transistor radio came into production, making it easier and more affordable to listen to music at home. Kids living in metropolitan areas got pretty tired of listening to their parents music, so they’d switch on their new radios to find something different. What they found was rhythm and blues music, considered at the time to be ‘black’ music — and it scared their parents senseless. Radio station executives at ‘white’ radio stations tried to win back audiences by playing rhythm as well, opening the door for artists like Bill Hailey and Elvis Presley, while appeasing some parents’. This made early rock & roll more popular still.
These early rock & rollers started leaning into electrified guitars, added lengthy guitar solos and sped up their music, winning over young audiences across the nation, while simultaneously exporting their new sound to the world.
Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Bill Hailey and of course Elvis Presley would become the giants of the decade, each carving out different avenues for future rock and rollers to walk down.
1960 — The British Invasion
During the fifties, Britain was perfectly placed to be the biggest consumer of rock & roll outside of the USA. They shared a number of similarities with America, and with all the rock records coming into British cities, it was now Britains turn to start experimenting with rock & roll. By now, the Beach Boys were one of the biggest bands in the world, and their sound is obvious on a lot of early British rock records.
After the Brits tried their best to copy the American sound, new bands started experimenting with their own flavor of rock through skiffle and trad jazz. Then came along Cliff Richard, the first unique British rocker, who set the scene for the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, both of whom would dominate the 60s. Later that decade, Beatle-Mania swept the world and Britain was the biggest exporter of rock & roll.
Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham and London all became rock & roll hubs in the United Kingdom and the world lapped it up.
The 60s also marked the beginning of ‘The Twist’, the latest dance craze that involved…twisting. This was seen by many as an attempt to ‘water down’ rock & roll, making it safe and acceptable for kids to listen to.
Back in the USA, ‘Surf Rock’ was taking off and Elvis Presley was discharged from the US Army — releasing a series of #1 hits almost immediately.
1970 — Post Invasion Psychedelia
As the waves of the British Invasion crashed on shores the world over, a number of prominent bands of the previous decade began to disband and hang up their guitars. The typical sounds that had become popular thanks to bands like the Beatles, who disbanded in 1970, began to fall out of favour and a new, experimental sound took over. This was due to all sorts of cultural and political factors that were shaping not just rock & roll but the entire world.
To keep things simple, we’ll put it down largely to drugs.
The world was starting to experiment, and rock & roll was not immune. The 70s saw the rise of disco, punk rock and glam rock, as the horizons of rock & roll expanded further and further into new territory. Rock & roll was turning bands into gods, who started flying in private jets on world tours, playing to arenas of adoring fans.
Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, Kiss, Elton John, Abba and The Beegees were just some of the biggest groups of the decade, each shaping new sounds and styles for audiences around the world.
1980 — Glam Rock
By the 1980s, Rock & Roll was entering its mid-life crisis and the genre was unrecognisable from it’s early roots. A lot of the great bands of years passed had become relegated to ‘your parents music’, and kids started gravitating to new genres. Commercially speaking, rock and roll was in decline.
By this stage, vinyl had also fallen out of favor and CDs had become the mainstream.
In classic Rock & Roll style, a number of new genres entered the fold and were mixed into the pot, with reggae and hip-hop music each influencing the new sound. At the same time, classic rock went glam, with big hair and bigger solos becoming the norm.
Guns ’n’ Roses, Def Leppard, Queen and Prince each became giants in the rock & roll world, taking the throne from the bands that had come before. During the 80s, Rock & Roll became best friends with sex and drugs, as it continued to polarise audiences and scare the crap out of parents all over the world.
1990 — The New Alternative
By the 90s, Rock & Roll was fading out of the mainstream as hip-hop and RnB dominated commercial radio and MTV. The synth pop movement that had run parallel to glam rock throughout the 80s drowned out the heavy guitar sounds that audiences had become used to, as more artists experimented with new techniques and technology.
For rock & roll, this was a turbulent time, as the genre had largely been sidelined and labelled as ‘alternative music’. Punk Rock was still simmering in the shadows, but the world needed a new icon.
Enter grunge.
What started as an underground sound in Seattle spread like wildfire through the United States and across the world as bands like Pearl Jam and Nirvana dominated the airwaves. In contrast to this heavily distorted sound, bands like REM, Beck, Oasis and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers also made a name for themselves by incorporating new styles and sounds.
Rock & Roll wasn’t dead, but it sure was different.
2000 — The Dark Times
By the turn of the century, rock & roll was entering old age, and audiences were turning off guitar music and turning up rap, dance and pop music instead. There were rumblings that rock & roll might actually be dead, contrary to what a lot of long haired musos were doing at the time.
During the early 2000s, most prominent rock bands were releasing their Best Of albums or anniversary editions rather than creating anything new or exciting. That’s not to say that rock & roll stopped altogether. Bands like The Darkness, Blink 182 and Foo Fighters kept the flame alive and a number of great rock records still made their way onto the charts.
Kings of Leon, the Arctic Monkeys and Muse were just some of the bands making waves in the 2000s — setting themselves up to become giants of the new rock & roll.
2010 — Rock Reinventions
During the 2010s, rock & roll was becoming a different beast entirely, with new sounds and styles helping to shape its sounds.
The bands that made their first records in the previous decade were by now experienced veterans, as 30 Seconds to Mars, Coldplay, Imagine Dragons, Tame Impala, Twenty One Pilots and Fall Out Boy each started their meteoric rise to fame as the new faces of rock and roll.
By now, rock and rollers who came before wouldn’t recognise their modern day contemporaries, who sounded wildly different to the classic rock & roll sound. For audiences, rock & roll was basically ‘anything with a guitar’, and while there was the occasional charting rock & roll song — the genre had fallen further from its mainstream glory that it enjoyed decades earlier.
2020 — Current Era
Present day rock & roll is now an amalgamation of everything that came before. Punk rock, classic rock and disco are all swirling around in some form or another, sometimes very subtly.
Old school rockers that are now grandparents have released new work, most notably Bruce Springsteen and Elvis Costello. But for the next generation, their safely in the hands of YUNGBLUD and Machine Gun Kelly, just to name a few.
Where rock & roll goes next is anyones guess! Some argue the genre died decades ago, while others are certain it’s alive and well.
One things for sure is that rock & roll has given us too many gifts to count, and shaped our culture in more ways than we can imagine. So for that, we say thank you to the rockers that came before.
We know we couldn’t fit everything into one article, so tell us:
