Rock Music: Affecting the Entity of Youth That Subject the Society to Bear the Risk

Thesis Statement:

It is true that a man has dominance over himself and that he has the power to build his own perspectives in spite of thousands of influences, however, it could not be falsified that rock music has taken part over youth’s entity and on society.

Music has its origin as early as the earliest civilization. Of its entire genre, significantly, no one could determine the greatest, however, rock music is said to be the most controversial.

Rock is a genre of music usually played with the accompaniment of guitar, drum and bass. “Its stylistic scope is too broad to be encompassed by any single definition” (Grolier’s Encyclopedia; as cited in Popoff, 2000). The nearest definition suggests a kind of music that represents and speaks for the teenage society. It is often viewed by conservative adults as “a bunch of noise”, it’s very complex. Rock music is commonly characterized by the use of heavy beat, however, bands involve with it have their own style and sound. They have their uniqueness of expressing themselves. One can classify them in what rock sub-genre they are line up with and can classify rock music in specific sub-genre (Popoff, 2000). Sub-genres of rock music are classified according to their elements. It is however grouped into two, the main and the hybridized subgenre respectively.

Main subgenres of rock music are purely original in its nature. Its purest form has three chords, a strong, insistent backbeat, and a catchy melody. Good exemplifications of these are metal, punk and alternative. Metals theme is chaos, such as alienation and despair, whether on individual or in societal level. This made metal a distinction among other subgenre from mainstream rock. Heavy metal addresses traditional countercultural concerns with social problems but deviates from earlier rock music at which it does not offer hope or solution to solve certain problems. This subgenre has grown in popularity among younger males. The bands involve with usually include heavy bass guitar and extreme volume causing the performance very intense and fully alive (In Stack, Gundlach & Reeves; as cited in CMHA, 1999). Punk rock is mainly associated with instruments like electric guitars, an electric bass and a drum kit. Its lyrics often shouted unlike the usual way of singing and its vocals sometime sounds nasal. The composition of the lyrics, typically, exhibit social and political issues in which it is very frank and confrontational. A popular song that significantly exemplifies this is The Clash’s “Career Opportunities” which deals about unemployment. Some punk songs reflected grim realities about urban life. Nonetheless, many punk lyrics deal primarily with courtship, heartbreak and hanging out. Alternative rock achieved its identities not that easy. It has various terms before and only during 1990 when the subgenre formally called “alternative”. Essentially, it is a hypernym for underground music that has emerged in the wake of the punk rock movement since the mid 1980’s.

Hybridized subgenre of rock music is a composite of other genre of music such as rap, pop, folk or etc. with rock as its major highlights. Prominent examples of this are rapcore and pop punk. The former is also known as rap metal. It is fusion of styles of rap and rock where bands under this new genre are more heavy-metal-oriented compared to its parent genres. The latter, meanwhile, is characterized by the presence of the elements of pop music and punk rock. Some familiar bands who are in this hybridized genre are Ramones and Green Day (Lazarus, 2003).

Rock music however, is categorized into two, hard rock and soft rock. “Hard rock music is classified as a style of rock �n roll that contains a harsh, amplified sound and loud electric guitars. Soft rock music is a form of rock �n roll that tends to produce a softer, more pleasing sound. Pianos and synthesizers often accompany the electric guitars, which are typically absent from hard rock” (In Atkin et al; as cited in Hill, 2006).

During the second half of the twentieth century, rock music gained its popularity when certain groups and single performers rocked the era. The genre was born during 1940s; however, it is during the dawn of 1950s when rock created traveling waves when certain Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry mushroomed. On the first hand, Elvis Presley, often known as “The King of Rock n’ Roll”, probably preceded the rock’s fate though certain individuals like Jackie Brentson had been already recorded rock songs ahead of him. He was overwhelmed by the world’s acceptance on his music. On the other hand, Chuck Berry, while no individual can be said to have invented rock and roll, he comes the closest of any single figure to being the one who put all the essential pieces together in the field of rock music.

By the time 1960’s, another sensation of rockers such as Rolling Stones and The Beatles came to concert for the world. The band Rolling Stones is composed of four men whose songs were widely aired in different music videos, to state some are “(I can’t get no) Satisfaction” and “Paint it, Black”. Similarly, The Beatles is also composed of four men whose fame perhaps equaled Jesus’ as John Lennon, one of the members, said. They are one of the most commercially successful recording artists of all time. “Yesterday”, “Let it be”, “In my life” and “Hey Jude” are a few to mention of their greatest songs.

The morn of 1980s marked the beginning of high technology instruments in the fields of music especially rock and that introduction of new rock artists particularly Sex Pistols and Guns n Roses easily manifested by the crowd. Significantly, it was the time when numbers of rebellious bands started to arise and social conflicts relative to rock music have degenerated. The Nineties and New Millennium prove the history of rock, though it changes throughout the decades, will continue to move on as new styles and subgenres of rock started to emerge by the aid of Nirvana, Foo Fighters, My Chemical Romance of the twenty-first century, and the like. The band Nirvana whose lead singer, Kurt Cobain, took his life was indeed one of those said that lubricated the expansion of rock music. Grunge, a subgenre branching from Alternative rock, was originally instigated by Nirvana. Even though the band Nirvana existing no longer, its impacts functioning