AC/DC - Hard As A Rock
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- Duration: 4:36
- Published: 2007-10-23
- Uploaded: 2011-01-09
- Author: RocknRollAddicts
Hard As A Rock off the Ballbreaker album.
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| Name | Hard rock |
|---|---|
| Bgcolor | crimson |
| Color | white |
| Stylistic origins | Blues-rock, garage rock, psychedelic rock, rock and roll, rock, rhythm and blues |
| Cultural origins | Mid 1960s, United Kingdom and United States |
| Instruments | Electric guitar – bass guitar – vocals – drums – sometimes pianos and keyboards |
| Popularity | High since the late 1960s |
| Derivatives | Heavy metal |
| Subgenrelist | List of rock genres |
| Other topics | Back beat – rock opera – rock band – performers – progressive rock – Hall of Fame – social impact |
Hard rock (or heavy rock) is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock. It is typified by a heavy use of distorted electric guitars, bass guitar, drums, and often accompanied with pianos, and keyboards.
Hard rock developed into a major form of popular music in the 1970s, with bands like Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Aerosmith, AC/DC and Van Halen, and reached a commercial peak in the mid 1980s. The glam metal of bands like Bon Jovi and Def Leppard and the rawer sounds of Guns N' Roses followed up with great success in the later part of that decade, before losing popularity in the face of grunge. Despite this, many post-grunge bands adopted a hard rock sound and in the 2000s there came a renewed interest in established bands, attempts at a revival, and new hard rock bands that emerged from the garage rock and post punk revival.
Groups that emerged from the American psychedelic scene about the same time included Iron Butterfly, MC5, Blue Cheer and Vanilla Fudge. The San Francisco band Blue Cheer released a crude and distorted cover of Eddie Cochran's classic "Summertime Blues", from their debut album Vincebus Eruptum (1968), that outlined much of the later hard rock and heavy metal sound. All three of these bands have been seen as pivotal in the development of heavy metal, but where metal further accentuated the intensity of the music, with bands like Judas Priest following Sabbath's lead into territory that was often "darker and more menacing", hard rock tended to continue to remain the more exuberant, good-time music. They continued to pursue the riff-heavy sound on albums including It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (1974) and Black and Blue (1976). Led Zeppelin began to mix elements of world and folk music into their hard rock from Led Zeppelin III (1970) and Led Zeppelin IV (1971). The latter included the track "Stairway to Heaven", which would become the most played song in the history of album-oriented radio. Deep Purple continued to define hard rock, particularly with their album Machine Head (1972), which included the tracks "Highway Star" and "Smoke on the Water". In 1975 guitarist Ritchie Blackmore left, going on to form Rainbow and after the break-up of the band the next year, vocalist David Coverdale formed Whitesnake. 1970 saw The Who release Live at Leeds, often seen as the archetypal hard rock live album, and the following year they released their highly-acclaimed album Who's Next, which mixed heavy rock with extensive use of synthesizers. Subsequent albums, including Quadrophenia (1973), built on this sound before Who Are You (1978), their last album before the death of pioneering rock drummer Keith Moon later that year.
Emerging British acts included Free, who released their signature song "All Right Now" (1970), which has received extensive radio airplay in both the UK and US. After the breakup of the band in 1973, vocalist Paul Rodgers joined supergroup Bad Company, whose eponymous first album (1974) was an international hit. Scottish band Nazareth released their self-titled début album in 1970, producing a blend of hard rock and pop that would culminate in their best selling, Hair of the Dog (1975), which contained the proto-power ballad "Love Hurts". The mixture of hard rock and progressive rock, evident in the works of Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple, was pursued more directly by bands like Uriah Heep and Argent. Having enjoyed some national success in the early 1970s, Queen, after the release of Sheer Heart Attack (1974) and A Night at the Opera (1975), gained international recognition with a sound that used layered vocals and guitars and mixed hard rock with glam rock, heavy metal, progressive rock, and even opera. The latter featured the single "Bohemian Rhapsody", which stayed at number 1 in the UK charts for nine weeks.
onstage in Boston in 2004.]] In the United States, macabre-rock pioneer Alice Cooper achieved mainstream success with the top ten album School's Out (1972). In the following year blues rockers ZZ Top released their classic album Tres Hombres and Aerosmith produced their eponymous début, as did Southern rockers Lynyrd Skynyrd and proto-punk outfit New York Dolls, demonstrating the diverse directions being pursued in the genre. Montrose, including the instrumental talent of Ronnie Montrose and vocals of Sammy Hagar and arguably the first all American hard rock band to challenge the British dominance of the genre, released their first album in 1973. Kiss built on the theatrics of Alice Cooper and the look of the New York Dolls to produce a unique band persona, achieving their commercial breakthrough with the double live album Alive! in 1975 and helping to take hard rock into the stadium rock era. In the mid-1970s Aerosmith achieved their commercial and artistic breakthrough with Toys in the Attic (1975), which reached number 11 in the American album chart and Rocks (1976) which peaked at number 3. Blue Öyster Cult, formed in the late 60s, picked up on some of the elements introduced by Black Sabbath with their breakthrough live gold album On Your Feet or on Your Knees (1975), followed by their first platinum album, Agents of Fortune (1976), containing the hit single "(Don't Fear) The Reaper", which reached number 12 on the Billboard charts. Journey released their eponymous debut in 1975 and the next year Boston released their highly successful début album. In the same year, hard rock bands featuring women saw commercial success as Heart released Dreamboat Annie and The Runaways débuted with their self-titled album. While Heart had a more folk-oriented hard rock sound, the Runaways leaned more towards a mix of punk-influenced music and hard rock. The Amboy Dukes, having emerged from the Detroit garage rock scene and most famous for their Top 20 psychedelic hit "Journey to the Centre of the Mind" (1968), were dissolved by their guitarist Ted Nugent, who embarked on a solo career that resulted in four successive multi-platinum albums between Ted Nugent (1975) and his best selling Double Live Gonzo (1978).
on stage in 2004.]] From outside of Britain and the United States, the Canadian trio Rush released three distinctively hard rock albums in 1974–75 (Rush, Fly by Night, and Caress of Steel) before moving toward a more progressive sound. The Irish band Thin Lizzy, which had formed in the late 1960s, made their most substantial commercial breakthrough in 1976 with the hard rock album Jailbreak and their worldwide hit "The Boys Are Back in Town" which reached number 8 in the UK, and number 12 in the US. Their style, consisting of two duelling guitarists often playing leads in harmony, proved itself to be a large influence on later bands. They reached their commercial, and arguably their artistic peak with (1979). The arrival of Scorpions from Germany marked the geographical expansion of the sub-genre. Australian-formed AC/DC, with a stripped back, riff heavy and abrasive style that also appealed to the punk generation, began to gain international attention from 1976, culminating in the release of their multi-platinum albums Let There Be Rock (1977) and Highway to Hell (1979). Also influenced by a punk ethos were heavy metal bands like Motörhead, while Judas Priest abandoned the remaining elements of the blues in their music, further differentiating the hard rock and heavy metal styles and helping to create the New Wave of British Heavy Metal which was pursued by bands like Iron Maiden, Saxon and Venom.
With the rise of disco in the U.S. and punk rock in the UK, hard rock's mainstream dominance was rivalled toward the later part of the decade. Disco appealed to a more diverse group of people and punk seemed to take over the rebellious role that hard rock once held. Early punk bands like The Ramones explicitly rebelled against the drum solos and extended guitar solos that characterised stadium rock, with almost all of their songs clocking in around two minutes with no guitar solos. However, new rock acts continued to emerge and record sales remained high into the 1980s. 1977 saw the début and rise to stardom of Foreigner, who went on to release several platinum albums through to the mid 1980's. Midwestern groups like Kansas, REO Speedwagon and Styx helped further cement heavy rock in the Midwest as a form of stadium rock. In 1978, Van Halen emerged from the Los Angeles music scene with a sound based around the skills of lead guitarist Eddie Van Halen. He popularised a guitar‐playing technique of two‐handed hammer‐ons and pull‐offs called tapping, showcased on the song "Eruption" from the album Van Halen, which was highly influential in re‐establishing hard rock as a popular genre after the punk and disco explosion, while also redefining and elevating the role of electric guitar.
Often categorised with the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, in 1981 Def Leppard released their second album High 'n' Dry, mixing glam-rock with heavy metal, and helping to define the sound of hard rock for the decade. The follow up Pyromania (1983), reached number 2 on the American charts and the singles "Photograph", "Rock of Ages", and "Foolin'", helped by the emergence of MTV, all reached the Top 40. White Lion, Twisted Sister and Quiet Riot. Quiet Riot's album Metal Health (1983) was the first glam metal album, and arguably the first heavy metal album, to reach number 1 in the Billboard music charts and helped open the doors for mainstream success by subsequent bands.
performing "Jump" in 2007]] Established bands made something of a comeback in the mid-1980s. After an 8-year separation, Deep Purple returned with the classic Machine Head line-up to produce Perfect Strangers (1984), which reached number 5 in the UK, number 2 in Norway, and number 17 on the Billboard 200 in the US. After disappointing sales of its fourth album, Fair Warning, Van Halen rebounded with the Top 5 album Diver Down in 1982, then reached their commercial pinnacle with 1984. It reached number 2 on the Billboard album chart and provided the track "Jump", which reached number 1 on the singles chart and remained there for several weeks. Others found renewed success in the singles charts with power ballads, including REO Speedwagon with "Keep on Loving You" (1980) and "Can't Fight This Feeling" (1984), Journey with "Don't Stop Believin'" (1981) and "Open Arms" (1982), Scorpions "Still Loving You", (both from 1984), Heart’s "What About Love" (1985) and "These Dreams" (1986), and Boston's "Amanda" (1986).
Bon Jovi's third album, Slippery When Wet (1986), mixed hard rock with a pop sensitivity and spent a total of 8 weeks at the top of the Billboard 200 album chart, selling 12 million copies while becoming the first hard rock album to spawn three top 10 singles -— two of which reached number 1. The album has been credited with widening the audiences for the genre, particularly by appealing to women as well as the traditional male dominated audience, and opening the door to MTV and commercial success for other bands at the end of the decade. The anthemic The Final Countdown (1986) by Swedish group Europe was an international hit, reaching number 8 on the U.S. charts while hitting the top 10 in nine other countries. This era also saw more glam-infused American hard rock bands come to the forefront, with both Poison and Cinderella releasing their multi-platinum début albums in 1986. Van Halen released 5150 (1986), their first album with Sammy Hagar on lead vocals, which was number 1 in the U.S. for three weeks and sold over 6 million copies.
in 2006.]] Established acts benefited from the new commercial climate, with Whitesnake's self-titled album (1987) selling over 17 million copies, outperforming anything in Coverdale's or Deep Purple's catalogue before or since. It featured the rock anthem "Here I Go Again '87" as one of 4 UK top 20 singles. The follow up Slip of the Tongue (1989) went platinum, but according to critics Steve Erlwine and Greg Prato, "it was a considerable disappointment after the across-the-board success of Whitesnake". Aerosmith's comeback album Permanent Vacation (1987) would begin a decade long revival of their popularity. Mötley Crüe with Girls, Girls, Girls (1987) continued their commercial success and Def Leppard with Hysteria (1987) hit their commercial peak, the latter producing seven hit singles (a record for a hard rock act). In the last years of the decade the most notable successes were New Jersey (1988) by Bon Jovi, OU812 (1988) by Van Halen,
, one of the more hard rock-influenced grunge bands of the 1990s, shown here in 2007.]] While these few hard rock bands managed to maintain success and popularity in the early part of the decade, alternatives to hard rock achieved mainstream success in the form of grunge in the US and Britpop in the UK. This was particularly evident after the success of Nirvana's Nevermind (1991), which combined elements of hardcore punk and heavy metal into a "dirty" sound that made use of heavy guitar distortion, fuzz and feedback, along with darker lyrical themes than their "hair band" predecessors. Alice in Chains, Mother Love Bone, and Soundgarden, were more strongly influenced by 1970s and 1980s rock and metal, while Stone Temple Pilots managed to turn alternative rock into a form of stadium rock. However, all grunge bands shunned the macho, anthemic and fashion-focused aesthetics particularly associated with glam metal. Other bands such as Mötley Crüe,
performing an acoustic show in 2007.]] Some established acts continued to enjoy commercial success, such as Aerosmith, with their number 1 multi-platinum albums: Get a Grip (1993), which produced four Top 40 singles and became the band's best-selling album worldwide (going on to sell over 20 million copies), and Nine Lives (1997). In 1998, Aerosmith released the number 1 hit "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing", which remains the only single by a hard rock band to debut at number 1. AC/DC produced the double platinum Ballbreaker (1995). Bon Jovi appealed to their hard rock audience with songs like "Keep the Faith" (1992), but also achieved success in the adult contemporary genre, with the Top 10 ballads "Bed of Roses" (1993) and "Always" (1994). Among the most successful acts were the Foo Fighters, Candlebox, Live, Collective Soul, Australia's Silverchair and England's Bush, who all cemented post-grunge as one of the most commercially viable sub-genres by the late 1990s. Similarly, some post-Britpop bands that followed in the wake of Oasis, including Feeder and Stereophonics, adopted a hard rock or "pop-metal" sound.
Although Foo Fighters continued to be one of the most successful rock acts, with albums like In Your Honor (2005) reaching number 2 in the US and UK, many of the first wave of post-grunge bands began to fade in popularity. Acts like Creed, Staind, Puddle of Mudd and Nickelback took the genre into the 21st century with considerable commercial success, abandoning most of the angst and anger of the original movement for more conventional anthems, narratives and romantic songs. They were followed in this vein by new acts including Shinedown and Seether. Acts with more conventional hard rock sounds included Andrew W.K., Beautiful Creatures, and Buckcherry, whose breakthrough album 15 (2006) went platinum and spawned the single "Sorry" (2007), which made the Top 10 of the Billboard 100. These were joined by bands with hard rock leanings that emerged in the mid-2000s from the garage rock or post punk revival, including Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Kings of Leon and Queens of the Stone Age from the US, Three Days Grace from Canada, Jet from Australia and The Datsuns from New Zealand. In 2009 Them Crooked Vultures, a supergroup that brings together Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl, Queens of the Stone Age's Josh Homme and Led Zeppelin bass player John Paul Jones have attached attention as a live act and whose self-titled debut album reached the top 20 in the US and UK and the top ten in several other countries.
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