Rock Music 4 ALL

Rock is an exciting and highly admired genre of popular music which mainly appeals to the young generation. This extremely famous form has attained great recognition and adulation amongst the music lovers for several decades. The most admirable aspect of this genre is its variety and unique style. This form uses several high tech instruments which give an attractive and interesting appeal to it. The instruments like synthesizers, mouth organ and piano etc are used while playing the melodies. Rock is the modern and advanced form of music that is comparatively faster and louder than the conventional genres like classic and folk. It gives the artists a liberty to experiment with variety of styles and express themselves with freedom. The soul of rock is the rock band or the group of musicians and singers who collectively play the songs.

The youth is simply crazy for this form of music; they are ardent fans of the various rock stars. The rock albums take you through the various aspects and emotions of life. The words of the songs simply enthrall the senses and thrill the listeners. In this kind of music the prominent vocal melody is accompanied with hard instruments like drums, brass and guitar etc, along with the mellotrans and other keyboard instruments.

Some rock bands also use the conventional instruments like harmonica, melodica, banjo etc. Some highly creative artists have experimented a lot with the less known instruments like sitar and mandolin. This gave their songs a completely different appeal.

Rock music evolved around 1940’s and 1950’s. This genre is highly influenced by the country music and blues which were very popular around that time. This style was basically a blue-based song with fast and peppy dance tracks. One can find the classic albums on various online music stores. You can search top rock music albums on the internet.

The rock reached great heights with several amazing rock stars that awed the audiences with amazing performances. Elvis Presley is the most admired and popular artist in the world of rock; his astounding style, classic dance movements and incredible songs entertained the music lovers. The Beetles is the most famous and highly applauded rock band. They had the most numbers of the chart topping hits.

Eventually by the late 1960’s the various rock bands emerged which were famous amongst the music lovers at that time. The bands from United States and Britain gained immense popularity. Some of the most famous bands were Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper, Queen and Judas Priest.

By the 1980 the glam metal genre made waves in the rock music world. Bon Jovi, New York Dolls, Sweet, Guns and Roses, Twisted Sister and Kiss were the several most popular artistes of the 1980’s. In the 1990’s Rock soared new heights with emergence of some highly commendable forms like Grunge. This popular genre was associated with the fusion of various elements like hardcore punk and heavy metal sound to give amazingly enthralling melodies. The lyrics of the songs focused on the themes of social concern like entrapment and alienation. The Grudge had heavy and loud tunes with extensive use of guitar and fuzz. Several famous bands like Alice in Chains, Candlebox and Soundgarden, gained a wide audience applause and appreciation.

The Britpop and Indie Pop were few forms that gained immense adulation in the 1990’s. In the 2000 several new styles of pop gained recognition and flourished with great adulation. Garage rock, Emo and Metal core are the most admired sub genres of rock. Various rock bands like the White Stripes, The Vines and The Strokes came with some thrilling and happening albums. These are very famous CD rock music hits.

With the emergence of MTV rock gained immense hype and recognition. Internet further enhanced the growth of this unique genre. The highly popular rock music CDs are available on the internet, you can easily find your favourite DVD for rock music on various websites.

I’m a big fan of the site RateYourMusic.com (I’m also a huge fan of the site http://www.MusicByDay.com by the way!) and one thing I really like to look at is the overall charts to see which albums have been the top rated of all time. If you don’t know what RateYourMusic.com is, it’s a site where music lovers (like myself) rate all of the albums they’ve listened to. Some raters also write their own reviews which can be very interesting to read.

This article is a review of the top 10 rock albums listed (removing the jazz albums that are listed in the top 10 because while I do enjoy jazz I don’t feel I know enough about it to really review it.)

#1 The Beatles – Revolver

As a huge Beatles fan I’m definitely glad they have the #1 spot although personally I feel that Revolver has become a bit overrated in the backlash to Sgt Pepper’s supposed overrated-ness! As great as Revolver is (and it is really great) I don’t feel it should rank above either Sgt Pepper or The White Album. That being said the songs on Revolver are truly timeless and beautiful. The album was also extremely groundbreaking and has been almost incalculable in it’s influence.

#2 The Beatles – Abbey Road

I’d personally probably rank Abbey Road as the fourth best Beatles album so I think it’s slightly overrated as well here. It’s still a great album but for my tastes it’s not quite “far out” enough in comparison to some of the other great Beatles albums. The second side is quite glorious though.

#3 Bob Dylan – Highway 61 Revisited

I’m not sure you could go wrong with about 5 different Dylan albums here. “Ballad of a Thin Man” is my personal favorite track on this album.

#4 Bob Dylan – Blood on the Tracks

I don’t quite enjoy this Dylan period as much as his 60s stuff. I think I may even prefer his recent trilogy (at least Time Out of Mind & Modern Times) over Blood on the Tracks, not sure why. This is still a great album, don’t get me wrong.

#5 The Velvet Underground – The Velvet Underground & Nico

I’m a fan of The Velvet Underground yet I do think this album is probably a little overrated here.

#6 Radiohead – OK Computer

This album is now nearly 10 years old and it is the most recent album on the list. I certainly believe it belongs on the list, although I think Kid A should be ranked just as high, if not higher!

#7 The Beatles – The Beatles (The White Album)

This is my #1! I would rank this as the greatest album of all time because of it’s expansiveness and how many times I can replay it without ever getting tired of it. It’s not as cohesive as most (any?) of the albums on the top 10 and it has a few tracks that aren’t that great by Beatles standards yet somehow it all just works perfectly together for me.

#8 Bob Dylan – Blonde on Blonde

I’d rank this one over Blood on the Tracks for sure. Not sure vs. Highway 61 Revisited.

#9 Bob Dylan – Bringing it all Back Home

This is the fourth Dylan album on the top 10 to go along with the 3 Beatles albums. It’s no surprise really. There’s really no competition when it comes to who are the two most important acts in rock music history. It’s Dylan and the Beatles.

#10 Pink Floyd – The Dark Side of the Moon

I actually feel this album should probably rank even higher. It’s a timeless psychedelic classic. This album is just about as close to perfection as you can find.

During the 1960s, Britain had an active folk rock scene, which was influenced by contemporary American folk rock as well as by traditional British Isles folk music. The influence was rather mutual. While the British folk rock scene absorbed influences from the likes of Bob Dylan and The Byrds, Dylan was hanging out with the Irish traditional band the Clancy Brothers.

Here you can read about the top 10 British folk rock albums in random order. The definition of British folk rock is elusive. Some of the albums listed below are more British folk than British folk rock, while others have nothing British about them, except being recorded by residents of the United Kingdom.

1. Fairport Convention: Liege and Lief

In their fourth album from 1969, the Fairport Convention with Sandy Denny as a lead singer had transformed from a rock band who influenced by folk to the first and most significant British folk rock band in the history. Liege and Lief contains 8 songs, only one of them is original and the others are interpretations on traditional folk music including a medley of British folk classics with a stirring electric guitar adaptation.

2. Shirley Collins and Davy Graham: Folk Roots, New Routes

This 1964 folk album has been a major influence on the British folk rock scene. Folk Roots, New Routes got together two of two unique voices of the British folk: the veteran folk singer Shirley Collins and the acoustic guitarists Davy Graham. Collins unique voice and Graham rhythmic guitar adds unique interpretation to traditional British Isles folk songs. The influences of both Collins and Graham are evident on the most notable representatives of the late 60s early 70s folk rock scene.

3. Bill Fay: Time of the Last Persecution

Bill Fay is one of the most enigmatic figures of the 1970s British folk rock scene. Fays songs are characterized by dark, apocalyptic lyrics background by downbeat melodies. Fay released two albums, Time of the Last Persecution is his second album, and disappeared. Although the lack of commercial success drew his record company to end their relationship shortly after Time of the Last Persecution was released, Fay became a cult figure among musicians. In 2005, Fay had experienced sort of a comeback when Time of the Last Persecution was re released and a re mastered collection of his demos came out.

Nick Drake: Five Leaves Left; Bryter Layter; Pink Moon

Nick Drake was anonymous in his life and his records sold less than 5,000 copies each. Only after his death at the age of 26 from an overdose of anti depression drugs, he had gained recognition and became a popular cult figure. His list of followers is endless and includes musicians and singer songwriters from both sides of the Atlantic.

In short:

Richard and Linda Thompson: Shoot out the Lights: former Fairport Convention guitarist and his wife in a bittersweet folk rock masterpiece.

Bert Jancsh: Bert Jancsh: debut solo album of one of the British folk rock most notable guitarists

Sandy Denny: Sandy: the best solo album of Fairport Convention former lead singer.