Rock (music)

:For other uses of "Rock", see Rock.

Alternative Rock and Current Trends (1995-present)

With the death of Kurt Cobain, rock and roll music searched for a new face, sound, and trend. A second wave of alternative rock bands began to become popular, with grunge declining in the mid-90s. The Foo Fighters, Green Day and Radiohead spearheaded rock radio. In 1995, a Canadian pop star Alanis Morissette arose, and released Jagged Little Pill, a major hit that featured blunt, personally-revealing lyrics. It succeeded in moving the introspection that had become so common in grunge to the mainstream. The success of Jagged Little Pill spawned a wave of popularity in the late 90s of confessional rock releases by female artists including Jewel, Tori Amos, Fiona Apple, and Liz Phair. Many of these artists drew on their own alternative rock heroes from the 1980s and early 90s, including the folksy Tracy Chapman and various Riot Grrl bands. The use of introspective lyrics bled into other styles of rock, including those dubbed alternative.

Related Topics:
Kurt Cobain - Foo Fighters - Green Day - Radiohead - Alanis Morissette - Jagged Little Pill - Jewel - Tori Amos - Fiona Apple - Liz Phair - Tracy Chapman - Riot Grrl

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The late 1990s brought about a wave of mergers and consolidations among US media companies and radio stations such as the Clear Channel Communications conglomerate. This has resulted in a homogenization of music available and the creation of artificially-hyped acts. Bands like blink-182 and Green Day defined pop punk at the end of the 90s. At this time, "nu-metal" began to take popular form, it contained a mix of grunge, metal, and hip-hop. Using downtuned 7 string guitars KoRn first created their heavy crushing riffs in 1994 with their first self-titled album. This then spawned a wave of "nu-Metal" bands such as Korn, Linkin Park, Slipknot, Static-X, Creed, Disturbed, and Limp Bizkit.

Related Topics:
Clear Channel Communications - Blink-182 - Green Day - Nu-Metal - Korn - Linkin Park - Slipknot - Static-X - Creed - Disturbed - Limp Bizkit

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In the early 2000s the entire music industry was shaken by claims of massive theft of music rights using file-sharing tools such as Napster, resulting in lawsuits against private file-sharers by the recording industry group the RIAA.

Related Topics:
File-sharing - Napster - RIAA

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After existing in the musical underground, garage rock saw a resurgence of popularity in the early 2000s, with bands like The White Stripes, The Strokes, Jet, The Vines, and The Hives all releasing successful singles and albums. This wave is often referred to as back-to-basics rock because of its raw sound. Currently popular rock trends include pop-punk, often times wrongly refered to as emo which draws its style from softer punk and alternative rock styles from the 1980s. Many new bands have become well-known since 2001, including Jimmy Eat World, Hawthorne Heights, Dashboard Confessional and Taking Back Sunday. Additionally, the retro trend has led to the revitalization of dance-rock. Bands like Franz Ferdinand, Hot Hot Heat, and The Killers mix post-punk sensibilities with electronic beats. The most recent pop-rock successes have been Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance.

Related Topics:
2000 - The White Stripes - The Strokes - Jet - The Vines - The Hives - Pop-punk - Emo - Jimmy Eat World - Hawthorne Heights - Dashboard Confessional - Taking Back Sunday - Franz Ferdinand - Hot Hot Heat - The Killers - Fall Out Boy - My Chemical Romance

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The biggest factor that has contributed to the resurgence of rock music is the rise of paid digital downloads. During the 90s, the importance of the buyable music single faded when Billboard allowed singles without buyable, album-separate versions to enter its Hot 100 chart (charting only with radio airplay). The vast majority of songs bought on paid download sites are singles bought from their albums; songs that are bought on a song-by-song (rather than full album) basis off of their albums are considered sales of singles, even though they have no official buyable single.

Related Topics:
Digital downloads - Music single - Billboard - Hot 100 chart

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Meanwhile, "Top 40" music today is dependent on either synthesizer orchestration or sampling, prominent in such pop artists like Pink, Gwen Stefani, Ashlee Simpson, Hilary Duff, Lindsay Lohan, Jessica Simpson, and Kelly Clarkson.

Related Topics:
Gwen Stefani - Ashlee Simpson - Hilary Duff - Lindsay Lohan - Jessica Simpson - Kelly Clarkson

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Rap/Hip-Hop music dominantes the U.S. charts pop charts, with artists like 50 cent, Snoop Dogg, Puff Daddy, Nelly, Eminem and Jay Z selling millions of records. R&B acts like Destiny's Child, Eve and Alicia Keys are very popular on the pop charts. Although none of these acts sell as many albums as rock did, nearly all the best selling albums of all time are still rock.

Related Topics:
50 cent - Snoop Dogg - Puff Daddy - Nelly - Eminem - Jay Z - Destiny's Child - Alicia Keys

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In the last few years rock has seen somewhat of a resurgence in popularity in the U.S. and for a good part of 2005 has been the leader in music sales, and many classic rock acts such as the Beatles continue to sell millions of albums each year.

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