Pinoy rock, or Filipino rock, is the brand of rock music produced in the Philippines or by Filipinos. It has become as diverse as the rock music genre itself, and bands adopting this style are now further classified under more specific genres or combinations of genres like alternative rock, post-grunge, ethnic, New Wave, pop rock, punk rock, funk, reggae, heavy metal and ska. Because these genres are generally considered to fall under the broad rock music category, pinoy rock may be more specifically defined as rock music with Filipino cultural sensibilities. It is very easy to identify a Pinoy rock song because the lyrics are often in Filipino, Tagalog, or any other language native to the Philippines.

One of the first popular Filipino rock stars was Bobby Gonzales, whose major hit was "Hahabul-Habol." Eddie Mesa, another teen idol from the period, became known as the "Elvis Presley of the Philippines." Back then, many Filipinos referred to Rock bands as "combos," many of which used nontraditional instruments like floor-bass bongos, maracas, and gas tanks.

Pinoy is an informal demonym referring to the Filipino people in the Philippines and overseas Filipinos around the world. Filipinos usually refer to themselves as Pinoy or sometimes the feminine Pinay. The word is formed by taking the last four letters of Filipino and adding the diminutive suffix -y in the Tagalog language (the suffix is commonly used in Filipino nicknames: "Ninoy" or "Noynoy" for Benigno, "Totoy" for Augusto, etc.). Pinoy was used for self-identification by the first wave of Filipinos going to the continental United States before World War II and has been used both in a pejorative sense as well as a term of endearment similar to Chicano. Both Pinoy and Pinay are still regarded as derogatory by some Filipinos though they are widely used and gaining mainstream usage.

Pinoy was created to differentiate the experiences of those immigrating to the United States but is now a slang term used to refer to all people of Filipino descent. Mainstream usages tend to center on entertainment (Pinoy Big Brother) and music (Pinoy Idol) which has played a significant role in developing national and cultural identity. Pinoy music impacted the socio-political climate of the 1970s and was employed by both Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos and the People Power Revolution that overthrew his regime.

Arnel Pineda (born September 5, 1967) is a Filipino singer-songwriter who has served as the lead singer of the American rock band Journey since 2007. Pineda has had a successful musical career in the Philippines for the last 25 years.

Arnel Pineda was born in Sampaloc, Marikina Sampaloc, Manila, in the Philippines. His mother instilled his love for singing at an early age, encouraging him to sing along to songs from his favorite singers like Karen Carpenter and Barbra Streisand. Growing up, his parents entered him in many singing contests.

His mother, who had been suffering from heart disease, died when he was thirteen. Her illness had left their family deep in debt. Being 6 months or one year behind on their rented apartment and unable to sufficiently provide for the family, his father decided to move out and ask relatives to take in Pineda's siblings. To ease his father's burden, Pineda quit school and volunteered to strike out on his own.

About two years of his life were spent out on the streets, sleeping wherever he could: in public parks, or on a narrow bench outside a friend's crowded house. He earned meager money by collecting glass bottles, newspapers, and scrap metal and selling them to recyclers. He would also go to the pier with his friends and take on odd jobs like cleaning scrap metal and docked ships. He didn't have much to eat, sometimes rationing a small package of Marie biscuit as his meal for two days.

Rico Blanco is a Filipino singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur.

Rico was one of the founding members of Filipino rock band Rivermaya, in varying roles as vocalist, keyboardist, guitarist, and main songwriter from 1993 to 2007.

Aside from his songwriter credits in his solo album and in Rivermaya, Blanco also arranged and wrote music for various side projects such as the United Nations MDG theme "Tayo Tayo Rin", The Philippine Department of Tourism theme "Biyahe Tayo" (both of which were performed by veteran Filipino musicians, such as Freddie Aguilar, The Apo Hiking Society, Lea Salonga, and Sharon Cuneta). He also co-wrote a theme song for the Southeast Asian Games, "Posible".

Rico Blanco was also a stage and film actor. He starred alongside Noel Cabangon and Joey Ayala in the Music Museum and 1970s Bistro production of Jesus Christ Superstar and also starred alongside Epy Quizon and Christopher de Leon in the independent film Nasaan si Francis?. He is also the voice behind Ryusuke (Ray) Minami in the Philippine edition of BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad. [4] He also directed several music videos, won an award for his work as musical scorer/arranger for HIT Productions. Blanco also dabbles in oil painting and photography.