Rock N’ Roll, we all love it right? My parents like older stuff, and I am definitely listening to a lot of older rock these days, but my favorite is heavy rock. 

According to BoySetsFire: “Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as “rock and roll” in the United States in the 1950s, and developed into a range of different styles in the 1960s and later. It typically consists of a distorted electric guitar, a bass guitar, drums, and often with vocals. ”

“Heavy rock” is a variation of rock music that is heavier and often contains distorted guitars, solos, and lyrics about dark or controversial topics. The first heavy rock band is typically considered to be Blue Cheer, who released their debut album Vincebus Eruptum in 1968.”

Early heavy rock musicians included: Led Zeppelin: Black Sabbath: and Deep Purple. 

Check out Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song.”

In the 1990s, we saw a rise of grunge and alternative rock, this included bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Alice in Chains. In this century, we have bands like: Foo Fighters; Queens of the Stone Age; and Tool.

Unfortunately, Foo Fighters drummer, Taylor Hawkins, died in 2022. Born in 1972, when he died he had multiple substances in his body. He was 50 years old. 

Check out Foo Fighters “Everlong” 

The history of heavy rock

According to Audio Network: It’s been almost 80 years since it burst into life in the United States, but “the jury’s still out on who actually invented it. The truth is, rock ’n’ roll is a mash-up of genres that aligned at the perfect time, just as people emerged from the trauma of the Second World War craving a complete break from the recent past, and with money to spend.”

Continuing, “during the late 1940s to early 1950s elements of the major genres of the time aligned – sparked largely by black musicians – to include raunchier lyrics and performance styles. The term rock ’n’ roll supposedly derived from an African-American slang for sex, and the musical term stuck.”

This is a great short video, if you want to quickly understand the heritage of the African contribution to our music today:

The bands I’m featuring on my site

Click on the image to get to the page.

Who’s your favourite heavy rock band?

Lex