The Best Rock Music Infographics

The best rock music infographics on the web.

Classic Rock

Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as “rock and roll” in the United States in the early 1950s, and developed into a range of different styles in the 1960s and later. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by blues, rhythm and blues and country music. Rock music also drew influence from jazz, folk, and classical music.

The sound of rock is traditionally centered on the electric guitar, bass guitar, drums, and vocals. Often, rock incorporates elements of pop music, psychedelic music, heavy metal, easy listening.

There are subgenres of rock including classic rock, hard rock, glam rock, punk rock, progressive rock whilst some artists have been associated with more than one subgenre.

Hard Rock

Hard rock is a form of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It is typified by a heavy use of aggressive vocals, distorted electric guitars, bass guitar, drums, and often accompanied with keyboards.

The hard rock genre began with groups like the Who, Cream, the Jimi Hendrix Experience, and Led Zeppelin. Hard rock eventually developed into a more commercially oriented style in the 1970s with bands such as Kiss, Boston, Cheap Trick, and Van Halen. In the 1980s, hard rock reached its peak popularity with bands such as Mötley Crüe, Bon Jovi, and Def Leppard. Hard rock would continue to be popular in the 1990s and 2000s with bands such as Alice in Chains, Metallica, Nickelback, Creed, and Godsmack.

Progressive Rock

Progressive rock is a music genre that emerged in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a “back to basics” movement reacting against psychedelic and avant-garde music. It attempted to return rock music to its original goals of energy and rebellion while simultaneously incorporating classical and other forms of art into the music.

Psychedelic Rock

Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It often uses new recording techniques and effects and draws on non-Western sources such as the ragas and drones of Indian music.

Psychedelic rock reached its peak in popularity during the late 1960s, when it was adopted by a number of mainstream acts such as the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Grateful Dead; however, most bands were only able to sustain their popularity for a few years due to the style’s declining popularity.

Punk Rock

Punk rock is a music genre that developed in the mid-1970s in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock. They produced short, fast-paced songs with hard-edged melodies and singing styles, stripped-down instrumentation, and often political, anti-establishment lyrics. Punk embraces a DIY ethic; many bands self-produce recordings and distribute them through independent record labels.

The punk subculture includes a diverse array of ideologies, fashions and forms of expression, including visual art, dance, literature and film. The music subgenres of punk have their roots in different scenes and timelines. Early punk bands that laid the groundwork for punk rock were the Stooges, MC5and the New York Dolls; proto-punk artists such as Televisionand Lou Reed; andPub rock bands such as Brinsley Schwarzand Ducks Deluxe.

Punk-related art movements that emerged in the late 1970s and early 1980s include British punk artor Lemmings by Vivienne Westwoodand Malcolm McLaren;eregarding McLaren’s clothing line SEX), American Punk à la mode by Patti Smithand Richard Hell; Japanese punksor Bosozoku[citation needed] fashion; minimal wave; No Wave Cinema; Stuckismart movement (founded 1999);Pop Art movement (1950s); Nouveau Réalisme(1960s) by Yves Kleinand Pierre Restany; Art Brutmovement (1948) by Jean Dubuffet; Situationist Internationalmovement (1957) by Guy Debord; Fluxusart movement (1960) by George Maciunas.”[86][87] These works are sometimes generally classified as Punk Art.

In 1978 David Bowie collaborated with Brian Eno to produce “Heroes”, which has been cited as an important transitional album between glam rock and what would become post-punk. Iggy Pop’s albums The Idiotand Lust for Lifewith Bowie as producer were also major influences on what would become post-punk.[88] Tony Wilsonof Factory Records was an important early figure in the development of post-punk music in England.[89]

Alternative Rock

Alternative rock is a genre of rock music that emerged from the underground music scene of the 1980s and became widely popular in the 1990s. The term “alternative” was used to describe punk rock bands such as The Clash, Sex Pistols, and The Damned.Alternative rock is a broad umbrella term consisting of music that differs greatly in terms of its sound, its social context, and its regional roots. Punk rock, art rock, gothic rock, post-punk, college rock, and hard rock have all been used to describe alternative rock at one point or another.

Grunge

When it comes to rock music, there are a lot of different subgenres out there. One of the most popular subgenres is grunge. Grunge is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged in the mid-1980s and became mainstream in the early 1990s. The sound of grunge is characterized by heavy guitar distortion, strong rhythms, and often nihilistic lyrics. Some of the most popular grunge bands include Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Alice in Chains.

If you’re a fan of grunge music, then you’ll definitely want to check out these infographics. They include everything from a history of grunge music to a list of the best grunge albums of all time. So whether you’re looking for some new information on your favorite genre or just want to take a trip down memory lane, these infographics have you covered.

Indie Rock

Indie rock is a genre of rock music that is typically characterized by a DIY ethic, independent record label status, and disdain for mainstream rock music and culture. Indie rock has been associated with alternative and underground cultures, as well as with creativity, exploration, and ideals of independent thinking.

The term “indie rock” was originally used to describe songs and bands that were released on independent record labels. Over time, the term has come to describe a distinctively subversive and nonconformist type of rock music.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, “indie” was used to describe punk-influenced bands signed to independent record labels such as Stiff Records and Factory Records. These bands were often associated with left-wing politics, particularly anarchism. In the UK, they were also sometimes known as “post-punk”. By the mid-1980s, however, most indie bands had moved away from these roots and adopted a more commercial sound.

In North America, indie rock began to take hold in the 1990s with the rise of musicians such as Pavement, Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr., Nirvana, and Weezer. All of these bands released records on independent labels such as Matador Records, DGC Records, SST Records, Epitaph Records, and Touch and Go Records. In addition to being signed to independent labels, many of these bands were also associated with the DIY ethic typical of indie rock. They recorded their own albums in home studios using inexpensive equipment, and they organized their own tours without the aid of major record companies or booking agents.

The success of Nirvana’s 1991 album Nevermind heralded the mainstream breakthrough of indie rock in North America. In the wake of Nevermind’s success, many other indie rock bands achieved commercial success in the 1990s, including Pearl Jam, Blink-182 , Green Day , Foo Fighters , Nine Inch Nails , Beck , Weezer , Elastica , Oasis , Blur , Garbage , No Doubt , Radiohead , Pulp , Supergrass , Spoon , Cake , Queens Of The Stone Age and Modest Mouse .

New Wave

New Wave is a subgenre of rock music popular in the late 1970s and the 1980s with ties to mid-1970s punk rock. New wave moved away from traditional blues and rock and roll sounds to create pop music that incorporated electronic and experimental music, mod, disco, and 1960s pop.

Experimental Rock

Many people consider experimental rock to be music that falls outside of the mainstream. This type of music often incorporates elements from other genres, such as punk, jazz, electronic, and even classical. Experimental rock is sometimes called avant-garde, which is a French term meaning “advance guard.”