Terminology of Rock-Pop--Categories , all u want 2 know about!!!

Rock music is a form of popular music with a prominent vocal melody, accompanied by guitar, drums, and bass. Many styles of rock music also use keyboard instruments such as organ, piano, mellotron, and synthesizers. Other instruments sometimes utilized in rock include harmonica, violin, flute, banjo, melodica, and timpani. Also, less common stringed instruments such as mandolin and sitar are used. Rock music usually has a strong back beat, and often revolves around the guitar, either solid electric, hollow electric, or acoustic.

Rock music has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll and rockabilly, which evolved from blues, country music and other influences. According to the All Music Guide, "In its purest form, Rock & Roll has three chords, a strong, insistent back beat, and a catchy melody. Early rock & roll drew from a variety of sources, primarily blues, R&B, and country, but also gospel, traditional pop, jazz, and folk. All of these influences combined in a simple, blues-based song structure that was fast, danceable, and catchy.

In the late 1960s, rock music was blended with folk music to create folk rock, blues to create blues-rock and with jazz, to create jazz-rock fusion, and without a time signature to create psychedelic rock. In the 1970s, rock incorporated influences from soul, funk, and latin music. Also in the 1970s, rock developed a number of subgenres, such as soft rock, heavy metal, hard rock, progressive rock, and punk rock. Rock subgenres that emerged in the 1980s included synth-rock, hardcore punk and alternative rock. In the 1990s, rock subgenres included grunge, Britpop, indie rock, and nu metal.

Categories

What Is Adult Alternative Pop/Rock?

Not all alternative artists are focused on employing loud, aggressive sounds or are determined to remain on the cutting-edge of pop music. They may be a long way from Mariah Carey, but still, a large faction of bands are, frankly, far less threatening and more adult-oriented than the likes of Nirvana and even U2. For audiences who want their alternative rock mid-tempo and angst-free, artists such as John Mayer and Matchbox Twenty are pretty safe bets.

Notable Artists: The Wallflowers, Marcy's Playground, Counting Crows.

What Is Adult Contemporary?

The singer-songwriter movement of the 1970s never really died; it just got better production values. Artists such as James Taylor, Elton John, and Chicago tamed their rock demons and laid the groundwork for Phil Collins, Sting, and Eric Clapton to do the same. Adult contemporary is bereft of production grit; clean, sanitized tracks are a necessity, as is virtuosic performance, evidenced by the rise of vocal gymnasts like Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, and Mariah Carey. Mellowed rocker Bryan Adams and grown-up pop icon George Michael enjoyed lucrative careers as post-teen idols on adult-contemporary stations, while user-friendly jam acts like the Dave Matthews Band built strong followings among the format's thirtysomething demographic. Meanwhile, a new demographic began emerging: the Hot AC crowd. Hot AC is a radio format for younger, slightly edgier bands, a new breed of lite rockers who appear "alternative" while eschewing the vitriol of the alternative set. Witness the multiplatinum success of artists like Matchbox 20, 3 Doors Down, and Maroon 5.

Notable Artists: John Mayer, Lionel Ritchie, Christopher Cross

What Is Boogie Rock?

In its original form, rock 'n' roll is ground zero for modern music. An amalgam of blues-based yearning and rockabilly fury, the progenitors of the sound were wild-eyed showmen like Little Richard, Chuck Berry, and Elvis Presley. An electric guitar and a driving beat are the only constants in the world of rock, but these rules have been stretched over the years as the genre has mutated to encompass everything from the soft singer-songwriter musings of Jackson Browne to the frenzied, rap-rock fusion of Rage Against the Machine. Styles as disparate as progressive, surf, punk, rock en espanol, and heavy metal are all branches of the original family tree, while at the same time many R&B artists remain close to the original formula, creating rock and soul hybrids. Rock and pop are somewhat interchangeable terms, though pop (a.k.a. 'popular') music appears to have traded rock's rebellious attitude in exchange for more mainstream success.

Notable Artists: Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Presley, Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Beatles

What Is Europop?

Since the 1970s, Europe has spawned a wellspring of sugar-coated pop music. At the top of the heap is Sweden's ABBA, a massive, universally loved musical phenomenon whose popularity shows no signs of abating. The 1990s success of groups like Ace of Base added fuel to the Europop fire, though it was England's Spice Girls who gained international attention and paved the way for countless imitators. Europop may not be the most cerebral of musical styles, but it's undeniably catchy.

Notable Artists: ABBA, Spice Girls, Kylie Minogue

What Is Experimental Rock?

This is the blanket term for any left-of-center dabbling within the rock context. Artists like Brian Eno and Frank Zappa, inspired by the Krautrock movement of the early '70s, were among the first to impose intellectual concepts on their music without sacrificing their western rock tendencies. Captain Beefheart and Tom Waits used bizarre production techniques to create their own imaginary version of postwar American blues, while Sonic Youth applied the industrial grinding of Einsturzende Neubauten and the complex dissonance of composers like Glenn Branca to the punk rock of the Ramones. Even the early-'60s oddball-production techniques of Joe Meek can be categorized as 'experimental' for its time. And with the advent of computerized recording, musicians can now manipulate sound in ways not previously possible, whether it's the miniature pop symphonies of the Flaming Lips or the relentless white-noise recordings of Merzbow.

Notable Artists: Pere Ubu, Meredith Monk, Jim O'Rourke

What Is Glam Rock?

A product of the British art-rock explosion of the late 1960s, glam rock took the idea of rock music as entertainment to new heights. Musically, glam married the catchy melodicism of pop and the energetic guitar crunch of rock, while indulging in a campy, grandiose sense of theatricality and far-out lyrical sensibilities often shaded by the influences of fantasy and science fiction. Extravagant, flamboyant, androgynous costuming and makeup were also essential elements of the glam formula, and by the early '70s, working-class English teens were bedecking themselves in the feather boas and glittery platform boots popularized by the likes of David Bowie, Roxy Music, and T-Rex--glam's holy trinity. While those artists were sophisticated and challenging, a subset of glam emerged called glitter rock that was simply about good times and cheeky nods to the past; Slade and Gary Glitter gained widespread success in the U.K. by slapping a little sci-fi lipstick on the pioneering rock 'n' roll sounds of Little Richard and Chuck Berry. Glam was almost exclusively an English phenomenon; Lou Reed and Iggy Pop flirted with it, but the New York Dolls were the only true stateside glam group. Glam would fall by the mid-'70s, but its sound and aesthetic resurfaced in arena rock and some punk later that decade, as well as in '80s hair metal and early '90s Brit-pop.

Notable Artists: David Bowie, Roxy Music, T-Rex, Mott the Hoople, New York Dolls

What Is Hard Rock/Metal?

During the 1960s, volume was explored to greater degrees than ever before. Bands such as the Who played at ear shattering levels; the Velvet Underground recorded way into the red; and Jimi Hendrix turned the blues upside-down with his feedback-laden solos and astonishing musicianship. Rock 'n' roll had discovered its bombastic side, and hard rock was the result. Quintessential hard-rock acts Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath gave the music a dark and ominous edge, while the equally quintessential Thin Lizzy and Cheap Trick kept it fun. Heavy metal was introduced in the '70s, taking the bombast of hard rock even further while stripping the music of most of its swing. With pummeling rhythms and rapid-fire riffs, heavy metal is more menacing than its blues-oriented cousin. Despite being a rigid style, however, heavy metal has evolved into a surprisingly wide range of subgenres, including the rap metal of Rage Against the Machine and the death metal of Norway's Dimmu Borgir.

Notable Artists: Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Motorhead, Metallica, AC/DC

What Is Instrumental Rock?

The immediate novelty of the rock 'n' roll beat was such that many singles didn't even need vocals to get airplay. These instrumental tracks were made for dancing and frequently highlighted the newfound power of the electric guitar. Duane Eddy and Chet Atkins were two axe slingers who ignited the teenage guitar craze with their deft picking and solid backbeat. Eventually, the heavily reverberated twang of the Ventures and Dick Dale spearheaded an instrumental surf-music craze, and the tropical exotica of Les Baxter and Esquivel hinted at the imminent jet-age future. When the shimmering vocal harmonies of the Beatles ignited the British Invasion, instrumentals fell out of favor with the rock crowd but continued onto the dance floor of R&B. Booker T. & the MG's scored huge hits with classics like "Green Onions" and "Time Is Tight" while inspiring scores of instrumental combos to keep the form alive. During the '70s, disco singles frequently omitted a lead vocalist and relied solely on the groove; and by the 1990s, the post-rock movement was exchanging a lyrical thrust for instrumental texture.

Notable Artists: The Shadows, Link Wray, Duane Eddy, Godspeed You Black Emperor!

What Is Prog/Art Rock?

The progressive-rock movement came to life during the late 1960s, when the symphonic pop of Procol Harum and the Moody Blues came into contact with the jazz fusion of Canterbury's Soft Machine and the spacey Krautrock of Can. Classically trained virtuoso performers in groups such as Yes and King Crimson sought to elevate or "progress" the state of blues-based rock music with longer, more literate, and more technically challenging pieces. In Los Angeles, Frank Zappa was concocting a similar brew with an emphasis on album-length concepts and a wry sense of irony, initiating what some alternately called 'art rock.' The odd time signatures, lofty lyrical concerns, and elaborate stage shows were annihilated by punk's nihilism in the late '70s; however, many of prog's top outfits like Genesis and Pink Floyd tamed their intellectual excesses and went on to massive mainstream success. While rarely a critical favorite (especially on this side of 1977), progressive rock has maintained a dedicated fan base, and contemporary bands like Porcupine Tree and Spock's Beard are part of a third-wave prog revival.

Notable Artists: Yes, Rush, Jethro Tull, Emerson, Lake & Palmer

What Is Soft Rock?

In its original form, rock 'n' roll is ground zero for modern music. An amalgam of blues-based yearning and rockabilly fury, the progenitors of the sound were wild-eyed showmen like Little Richard, Chuck Berry, and Elvis Presley. An electric guitar and a driving beat are the only constants in the world of rock, but these rules have been stretched over the years as the genre has mutated to encompass everything from the soft singer-songwriter musings of Jackson Browne to the frenzied, rap-rock fusion of Rage Against the Machine. Styles as disparate as progressive, surf, punk, rock en espanol, and heavy metal are all branches of the original family tree, while at the same time many R&B artists remain close to the original formula, creating rock and soul hybrids. Rock and pop are somewhat interchangeable terms, though pop (a.k.a. 'popular') music appears to have traded rock's rebellious attitude in exchange for more mainstream success.

Notable Artists: Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Presley, Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Beatles

These are just the 10 categories , there are many more such as British Invasion, Comedy rock,arena rock, Death rock,Power metal,sludge,Doom metal, Heavy metal,Industrial,Punk metal,Trash,Jam metal,Roots etc etc.....

SOURCE:cnet

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