Hard rock
:Hard Rock redirects here. For the restaurant, please see Hard Rock Cafe.
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Hard rock is a form of rock and roll music which finds its closest roots in early 1960s garage rock. Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, The Stooges, MC5, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Thin Lizzy, Aerosmith, Def Leppard and Guns N' Roses are renowned examples of hard rock. AC/DC's music perhaps best exemplifies the energy of the genre. Hard rock achieved maximum popularity between 1969 and 1985, and soon thereafter gave way to heavy metal.
Related Topics:
Rock and roll - Garage rock - Black Sabbath - Deep Purple - Led Zeppelin - Van Halen - The Stooges - MC5 - Jimi Hendrix - The Who - Thin Lizzy - Aerosmith - Def Leppard - Guns N' Roses - AC/DC - 1969 - Heavy metal
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Hard Rock is often loosely defined, and is primarily of use in describing radio station formats. There is often significant crossover with heavy metal music, but a few distinctions are worth noting: Hard Rock typically features major key song construction, as opposed to heavy metal, which is often minor key oriented. There is a heavy reliance on the pentatonic scale for most elements of song construction, and fifths (power chords) are often substituted for traditional chords. Chord progressions are commonly associated to 1-4-5 degrees of the scale, as in rock and roll.
Related Topics:
Radio - Heavy metal music - Pentatonic scale - Power chord
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Hard Rock's lyrics are often not nearly as dark as they are in heavy metal as well.
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Hard Rock is typified by a bright, trebly overdrive distortion effect on the guitars, lending to its overall sound. Drums can range from 100-150 Beats Per Minute, with 120 BPM being typical. Bass is usually warm sounding.
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The guitar solo is very important part of a hard rock song, and leads to the credibility of the song just as much as the lyrics and vocal melodies do. Songs are generally hook laden, and consist of:
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- an intro
- verse
- chorus
- verse
- chorus
- solo
- chorus
- an ending
There is much room for variation, and repetition of verses and choruses.
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Jazz, Blues, and rock & roll were the roots of hard rock.
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Punk rock, Gothic rock, industrial music, heavy metal, funk, and fusion also claim these roots, but branch off at different points, eliminating elements that are considered unnecessary, and adding elements to typify their genre. Interestingly, death metal and industrial music also incorporate a march rhythm.
Related Topics:
Punk rock - Gothic rock - Industrial music - Funk - Death metal
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The term "hard rock" is also used as an umbrella term for genres such as Punk, Gothic rock, Industrial, and Metal, in order to distinguish them from softer, more radio friendly Pop music. Obviously, the double use of "hard rock" has led to confusion in the past.
Related Topics:
Punk - Gothic rock - Industrial - Metal - Pop music
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Latest news on hard rock
Fleet Foxes' coup signals folk revival
It has been said that 2008 belongs to hard rock. After AC/DC's chart coup in October, the long-awaited comeback album from Guns n' Roses, Chinese Democracy, will be released later this month, while Journey's 1981 hit Don't Stop Believing became the highest-selling catalogue song on iTunes. But there has been another musical force quietly gathering pace: folk music. The inaugural Uncut Music Award has gone to Seattle's Fleet Foxes for a debut album which the editor of Uncut magazine, Allan Jones, describes as a "unanimous choice" among the judges. He told the Guardian: "There was a general consensus that there was no other album like Fleet Foxes this year. It showed impeccable musicianship, and though you could trace its antecedents, it sounded totally unique. Fleet Foxes was just a glorious debut."The band - virtually unheard of in the US, but selling close to 200,000 albums in Europe - beat the likes of Radiohead and Elbow to win the prize, prompting its frontman Robin Pecknold to say: "It's awesome. It's crazy, I never expected to be in contention for this kind of thing."Also on the shortlist was For Emma, Forever Ago, the debut album from Bon Iver. Both bands have gone from being unheard-of acts at the start of 2008 to performing sold-out UK shows. Laura Marling, an 18-year-old British newcomer, earned a Mercury Music Prize nomination for her debut album Alas, I Cannot Swim, a collection of songs which belie her youth. Noah and the Whale's blend of folk made the UK top 10 with the single Five Years' Time and the album from which it is taken, Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down, is expected to go gold by Christmas.So why has 2008 yielded so many lauded and successful folk albums? Pat Long, curator of the monthly In the Pines folk night in London, says that the simplicity of folk appeals to people because "you don't need to know how to use Pro Tools or some other computer program to make it, you just need a guitar or ukulele".The phenomenon may be down to the cyclical nature of music. Last year, the winners of the Mercury Music Prize, the Klaxons, brought the dance sub-genre new-rave to the public's attention, and the previous year belonged to realist pop and rock stars such as Lily Allen and the Arctic Monkeys. In contrast, the music of the Fleet Foxes is reminiscent of Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young and speaks of mountains and meadow larks. Perhaps during these uncertain economic times, a soothing balm is what the British public needs.Top tracksNew Romantic by Laura Marling, from Alas I Cannot Swim. An alarmingly mature approach to the false nature of young love. Skinny Love by Bon Iver, from For Emma, Forever Ago. Iver's bitterness over the end of a relationship becomes a moving paean to lost love.Five Years Time by Noah and the Whale, from Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down: A top 10 hit which ponders where we'll be in, yes, five years time.Folk musicguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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