The Amazing Steve Vai

Adam Lambert can sing it!
American Idol Contestant Who Can Rock!

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Music critic Piero Scaruffi claims that "the "emigration" of rock music from the USA to Britain [in the 1960s] was not only beneficial but even pivotal for the development and propagation of the new genre." He argues that when UK musicians such as The Beatles and The Rolling Stones toured the US in the so-called "British Invasion," the rock music that they played was "a completely mutated species. The original "grass-roots" phenomenon [of US rock music], raised in thousands of garages by illiterate kids, graduated to an intellectual discipline practiced by university alumni who belonged to artistic schools and movements." Scaruffi argues that "[i]n other words," the British rock bands had converted rock music into a " 'high' art."[9]

Music critic George Graham argues that "... the so-called Art Rock scene arose" in the 1960s, "when many artists were attempting to broaden the boundaries of rock." He claims that art rock "was inspired by the classically-influenced arrangements and the elaborate production of the Beatles Sgt. Peppers period" and states that the "style had its heyday in the 1970s with huge commercial success by Yes, and Emerson, Lake & Palmer, and later Genesis."

However, Graham notes that art rock "quickly faded when punk rock and then so-called alternative rock arose at the end of that decade, exactly as a reaction to the sophistication, and in many cases, pretense of big, elaborate rock productions, be they art rock or slickly-produced pop singers." Graham claims that since the late 1970s, "art rock has remained at the fringes and become one of many venerable styles...that attracts small numbers of avid fans, and continues to be perpetuated by a combination of some of the original artists and new generations of players."[10]

It could also be said the rise of Disco music had a major impact in the decline of rock music across all genres in the late 70's, especially after Saturday Night Fever was released.Many rock groups absorbed influences by this new genre of music such as Queen & the Electric Light Orchestra. Punk music gained noterity, however, being the only new reactionary alternative at that period in time.

In the US, a number of late-1960s bands experimented with "long compositions", with each band "trying to out-psychedelic the other" with unusual sonic experiments. The Golden Age Of Art Rock lectures state that the "piece that caused the explosion of Art Rock more than any other, starting in 1968" was Iron Butterfly's In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida. In response, many other bands tried to emulate this art rock style, such as "Jefferson Airplane, The Steve Miller Band, The Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, H.P. Lovecraft and It's A Beautiful Day." The Steve Miller Band "had quite a lot of Art Rock in the early albums. The lecture argues that the "two main long pieces" by The Doors ("The End" and "When The Music's Over") are "good examples of Art Rock."[2]

Similarly, The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds album could be included in Art Rock. However, in the 1970s, US rock music "moved away from Art Rock", as southern rock bands became popular. Art rock reached its commercial height with the popularity of the aforementioned progressive rock bands, such as King Crimson, Yes, Rush, Genesis, and especially Pink Floyd. After the punk rock revolution of the late 1970s put DIY simplicity back in style, and as openly 'progressive' bands drifted toward the mainstream with hit singles and more commercial productions, their 'art rock' designation fell away. Brian Eno has been called the "experimental end of the [art rock] spectrum" for his early 1970s recordings.[2]

The concept of "art rock" has also sometimes been used to refer to the "progressive rock" bands which became popular in the 1970s. Allmusic states that "Progressive rock and art rock are two almost interchangeable terms describing a mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility."[1] Progressive rock eventually stuck as a label for a specific genre of rock music, while "art rock" was used to refer to a wider, more subjective and harder-to-categorize collection of bands.

Larry Starr and Christopher Waterman's American Popular Music defines it as a "Form of rock music that blended elements of rock and European classical music. It included bands such as King Crimson; Emerson, Lake & Palmer; and Pink Floyd."[3] Bruce Eder's essay The Early History of Art-Rock/Prog Rock states that "'progressive rock,' also sometimes known as 'art rock,' or 'classical rock'" is music in which the "bands [are] playing suites, not songs; borrowing riffs from Bach, Beethoven, and Wagner instead of Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley; and using language closer to William Blake or T. S. Eliot than to Carl Perkins or Willie Dixon."[4]

The Guide to the Progressive Rock Genres lists "art rock" under the subheading "Forms Tangential and Peripheral to Symphonic Rock/Progressive Rock." The guide states that "art rock" is "another term often used interchangeably with progressive rock, [which] implies rock with an exploratory tendency." The guide also gives another definition of "art rock", which "describes music of a more mainstream compositional nature, tending to experimentation within this framework", such as "Early Roxy Music, David Bowie, Brian Eno's 70s rock music, and Be Bop Deluxe.[5]

Connolly and Company argue that the "creation of the 'art rock' sub-genre, whose members were identified by music played with artistic ideals (e.g., Roxy Music, 10cc)... was in many ways a response to prog rock’s long-winded concepts, an attempt to condense progressive rock’s ideas into shorter, self-standing songs." He argues that "Art rock’s lifespan was brief, generally contained to the ‘70s."[6]

Art rock may be considered "arty" through imitation of classical "art" music or literature, or simply through eclecticism. Examples of the former include Queen, The Moody Blues, The Who,[7][8] Pink Floyd, The Nice, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, David Bowie, The Velvet Underground, Kate Bush, The Beatles, and Love (Forever Changes) and examples of the latter include Peter Hammill, Roxy Music, Genesis and Yes.

Most radio formats are based on a select, tight rotation of hit singles. The best example is Top 40, though other formats Country, Smooth Jazz, and Urban, all utilize the same basic principles, with the most popular songs repeating every 2 to 6 hours, depending on their rank in rotation. Generally there is a strict order or list to be followed and the DJ does not make decisions about what selections are played.

AOR, while still based on the rotation concept, focused on the album as a whole (rather than singles). In the early 1970s many DJs had the freedom to chose what track(s) to play off a given album – as well as latitude to decide what order to play the records in.

Later in the 1970s AOR formats became tighter and song selection shifted to the Program Director or Music Director, rather than the DJ. Still, when an AOR station added an album to rotation they would often focus on numerous tracks at once, rather than playing the singles as they were individually released.

These short lists represent only a sampling of what became staples of American radio through a long history of airplay on Album-oriented rock stations. As AOR stopped playing new music and died out in the late 1980s the core repertoire of AOR became that of the Classic Rock format.

Aviator - Back on the street

Great song

Balance - Breakin Away

Red Rocks Colorado

The roots of the Album Oriented Rock (AOR) radio format began with programming concepts rooted in 1960s idealism. The Freeform or Progressive formats developed the repertoire and set the tone that would dominate AOR playlists for much of its heyday.

In the mid to late 1960s, the FCC enacted a non-duplication rule prohibiting FM radio stations from merely running a Simulcast of the programming from their AM counterparts. Owners of AM/FM combo stations fought these new regulations vigorously, delaying the new rules for eighteen months. When finally enacted, station owners were pressed to come up with alternate programming options quickly.

The Freeform format in commercial radio was born out of this desperate need to program the FM airwaves, inexpensively. Programmers like Tom Donahue at KMPX developed stations where DJs had freedom to play long sets of music, often covering a variety of genres. Songs were not limited to hits or singles; indeed the DJs often played obscure or longer tracks by newer or more adventurous artists than heard on Top 40 stations of the day. This reflected the growth of albums as opposed to singles as rock's main artistic vehicle for expression in the 1960s and 1970s.

With a few exceptions commercial Freeform had a relatively brief life. With more and more listeners acquiring FM radios, the stakes became higher for stations to attract market share so that they could sell more advertising at a higher rate.

By 1970 many of the stations were moving to institute programming rules with a "clock" and system of "rotation". With this shift, Stations formats in the early 1970s were now billed as Progressive. DJs still had much input over the music they played, and the selection was deep and eclectic, ranging from folk to hard rock with other styles such as Jazz fusion occasionally thrown in.

A broad cross section of rock music that gained popularity during this time came to be called Progressive rock, likely because the wide recognition and success of artists could be attributed to airplay on Progressive stations; much the way the College rock label was given to bands that received air play on student-run college stations during the 1980s.

Rock music is a loosely defined genre of popular music that entered the mainstream in the mid 1950s. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rhythm and blues, country music and also drew on folk music, jazz, and classical music.

The sound of rock often revolves around the electric guitar or acoustic guitar, and it uses a strong back beat laid down by a rhythm section of electric bass guitar, drums, and keyboard instruments such as organ, piano, or, since the 1970s, synthesizers. Along with the guitar or keyboards, saxophone and blues-style harmonica are sometimes used as soloing instruments. In its "purest form", it "has three chords, a strong, insistent back beat, and a catchy melody."^[1]

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, rock music developed different subgenres. When it was blended with folk music it created folk rock, with blues to create blues-rock and with jazz, to create jazz-rock fusion. 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, glam rock, heavy metal, hard rock, progressive rock, and punk rock. Rock subgenres that emerged in the 1980s included New Wave, hardcore punk and alternative rock. In the 1990s, rock subgenres included grunge, Britpop, indie rock, and nu metal.

A group of musicians specializing in rock music is called a rock band or rock group. Many rock groups consist of an electric guitarist, lead singer, bass guitarist, and a drummer, forming a quartet. Some groups omit one or more of these roles and/or utilize a lead singer who plays an instrument while singing, sometimes forming a trio or duo; others include additional musicians such as one or two rhythm guitarists and/or a keyboardist. More rarely, groups also utilize stringed instruments such as violins or cellos, or horn sections of saxophones, trumpets or trombones.