Hard Rock Genre Analysis

I am basing my music video on the Rock genre and specifically Hard Rock as the band I have chosen to explore is 'Foo Fighters'.

Hard Rock is a sub-genre of Rock and Hard Rock uses slow and power riffs. Punk Rock is said to be louder than Hard Rock, as the vocals for Punk Rock are very aggressive. Artists often wear black or dark clothing, with a messy hairstyle. They also have tattoos and piercings and many rock artists can also be found wearing make-up, mostly dark eyeliner. Artists will often be in bands, who play instruments (Guitars, drums).

A popular rock genre magazine called 'Kerrang', the magazine is one of the best selling magazines and appeals to a huge audience mainly between 15-30 age bracket.

Bon Jovi (above) Foo Fighters (below)

Hard Rock Origin

Hard rock is a loosely defined sub-genre of rock music that began in the mid-1960s, with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. It is typified by a heavy use of aggressive vocals, distorted electric guitars, bass guitar, drums, and often accompanied with keyboards. Bands such as, 'The Beatles, The Who and The Rolling Stones were extremely popular and even today their music continues to distribute a message to whomever listens to it, which is extremely powerful. Both of their logos are still recognisable today and so this emphasises how much of influence and success both bands were in the 60's till present day.

As the 1980s approached, music was definitely a lot more successful and broad, and appealed to a much wider audience. The 80s were popular for 'Pop' and 'Dance' artists but 'Rock' was also a huge hit with the public. Bands such as: Bon Jovi, Metallica and Guns N' Roses. These bands were known for more of a Glam-Rock approach to 'Rock' itself and so concerts and performances were very much exaggerated, loud and a platform to endorse their merchandise.

During the 1970s, Rock branched out into many different bands such as: Aerosmith, Kiss and AC/DC, which their music is still very much popular in present day. The difference between the 1960's and 1970's was very exaggerated. In the 60's it was a lot calmer looking to the 70's, as they had white faces with contrasting black and red make-up which emphasised their more aggressive nature compared to 'The Beatles' and 'The Rolling Stones' polished, non make-up look. Rock began to be more hostile and so contrasting from a more family friendly 'Pop Rock' ora, KISS and Aerosmith brought a antagonistic approach.

The Beatles

The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones' merchandise from their website is still available to purchase, after 57 years!

1980's Band

1990's Band

KISS

AeroSmith

Bon Jovi

Guns N' Roses

During the 90's many rock bands that arose including 'Nirvana' and 'Foo Fighters' were examples of grunge. Aspects of grunge were slow parts of the song and emotionless parts to display the emotion from the lyrics. Screamo - a sub-genre of Emo, also emerged during the 90's and Foo Fighters display aspects of this by having screamo chorus' in their songs. The music played during this time was a mix of emotionless and aggressive, dependent on the band. More and more bands emerged during the 90's and that produced more and more music genres and sub-genres.