Rock is a form of popular music that emerged in the 1950s and that by the end of the 20th century was the world’s dominant form of popular music. It originated in the United States and spread to other English-speaking countries and across Europe in the 1960s.
Rock - Pioneers, Genres, Legends: For lexicographers and legislators alike, the purpose of definition is to grasp a meaning, to hold it in place, so that people can use a word correctly—for example, to assign a track to its proper radio outlet (rock, pop, country, jazz). The trouble is that the term rock describes an evolving musical practice informed by a variety of nonmusical arguments ...
Rock, in geology, naturally occurring and coherent aggregate of one or more minerals. Such aggregates constitute the basic unit of which the solid Earth is composed and typically form recognizable and mappable volumes. The three major classes of rock are igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rock.
Rock became the most inclusive of musical genres; if other kinds of music—e.g., classical, jazz, easy listening, country, folk, etc.—are marketed as minority interests, rock defines the musical mainstream. Rock's origins lie in rock and roll, a new form of American popular music in the 1950s that was personified early on by Elvis Presley.
Rock - 1960s, British Invasion, Psychedelic: Whatever the commercial forces at play (and despite the continuing industry belief that this was pop music as transitory novelty), it became clear that the most successful writers and producers of teenage music were themselves young and intrigued by musical hybridity and the technological possibilities of the recording studio. In the early 1960s ...
Rock - Social Change, Cultural Evolution, Music Revolution: How, then, should rock’s contribution to music history be judged? One way to answer this is to trace rock’s influences on other musics. Another is to attempt a kind of cultural audit. (What is the ratio of rock masterworks to rock dross?) But such approaches come up against the problem of definition. Rock does not so much ...
Rock Island, city, seat (1833) of Rock Island county, northwestern Illinois, U.S. It lies on the Mississippi River (bridged to Iowa) at the mouth of the Rock River and opposite the island for which it was named. With Moline and East Moline, Illinois, and Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa, Rock Island forms the Quad Cities complex.
Rock - 80s, 90s, Pop: The music industry was rescued from its economic crisis by the development in the 1980s of a new technology, digital recording. Vinyl records were replaced by the compact disc (CD), a technological revolution that immediately had a conservative effect. By this point the most affluent record buyers had grown up on rock; they were encouraged to replace their records, to ...
Rock music is a form of popular music that emerged in the 1950s and can be defined as “a form of music with a strong beat”—it is difficult to be much more precise. It is also called rock and roll. Rock originated in the United States in the 1950s and then spread to other English-speaking countries and across Europe in the ’60s; by the ’90s its impact was evident globally.
Uluru/Ayers Rock, giant monolith, one of the tors (isolated masses of weathered rock) in southwestern Northern Territory, central Australia. It has long been revered by a variety of Australian Aboriginal peoples of the region, who call it Uluru. It is oval in shape and rises 1,142 feet above the surrounding desert.
Ann Wilson, the frontwoman of legendary rock group Heart, is going on tour in 2026—with a twist. The 75-year-old musician has announced that she'll be touring the U.S. and Canada to promote her ...
Rock is a form of popular music that emerged in the 1950s and that by the end of the 20th century was the world’s dominant form of popular music. It originated in the United States and spread to other English …
Rock - Pioneers, Genres, Legends: For lexicographers and legislators alike, the purpose of definition is to grasp a meaning, to hold it in place, so that people can use a word correctly—for example, to assign a …
Rock became the most inclusive of musical genres; if other kinds of music—e.g., classical, jazz, easy listening, country, folk, etc.—are marketed as minority interests, rock defines the musical mainstream. …
Rock, in geology, naturally occurring and coherent aggregate of one or more minerals. Such aggregates constitute the basic unit of which the solid Earth is composed and typically form …
Rock - Social Change, Cultural Evolution, Music Revolution: How, then, should rock’s contribution to music history be judged? One way to answer this is to trace rock’s influences on other musics. Another is to …
Rock music is a form of popular music that emerged in the 1950s and can be defined as “a form of music with a strong beat”—it is difficult to be much more precise. It is also called rock and roll. Rock …
Rock - 1960s, British Invasion, Psychedelic: Whatever the commercial forces at play (and despite the continuing industry belief that this was pop music as transitory novelty), it became clear that the most …
Rock - Authenticity, Commercialism, Genres: Madonna can be described as a rock star (and not just a disco performer or teen idol) because she articulated rock culture’s defining paradox: the belief that …
Rock - 80s, 90s, Pop: The music industry was rescued from its economic crisis by the development in the 1980s of a new technology, digital recording. Vinyl records were replaced by the compact disc (CD), a …
Surf Rock As surfing became popular in the United States in the early 1960s, a new genre of rock emerged to represent the West Coast lifestyle. Surf rock’s characteristic cascading electric-guitar playing was …
Rock - Authenticity, Commercialism, Genres: Madonna can be described as a rock star (and not just a disco performer or teen idol) because she articulated rock culture’s defining paradox: the belief that this music—produced, promoted, and sold by extremely successful and sophisticated multinational corporations—is nonetheless somehow noncommercial. It is noncommercial not in its processes ...