Pop culture stands for popular culture and is generally a set of practices or beliefs of the younger generations. Types of pop culture include music, movies, video games, radio, slang, fashion, and sports. All of these things are influenced by pop culture from the past and what society believes could be “cool” and “acceptable”. I think music is one of the most influential and important types of pop culture because everyone can listen to it and so many people do on a daily basis. Even if it’s just in the car or in a store, you can enjoy music wherever you go. The majority of people who listen to music more regularly have prefered genres of music, which can include country, rock, jazz, classical, electric, rap, hip-hop, and pop. A lot of people associate rock with anger and rage because of its loud origins, but, recent studies propose that hard music like rock can actually make you happier, healthier and lift your mood when you are feeling down. The genre of music, rock, has influenced and changed pop culture in the past and will continue to affect pop culture forever.
Rock music is a louder, more bass feeling genre, than other genres like pop and country, consisting usually of electric guitar, bass guitar, and drums. Rock is quite a broad term that covers a couple different types of genre’s origins. Rock and Roll is the oldest type of rock and originally became popular in the 1950’s and 1960’s when something called the British Invasion took place. It was in the United States where many British bands travelled to, hoping to strike it big. Bands such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and The Kinks were far more beloved and cherished than all others. The Beatles came out on top with a total number of twenty, number one hits in just seven years from 1963-1970. This was the start of Rock and Roll.
Then there are hard rock and metal genres which are louder, more aggressive, and sometimes dangerous. With metal, the singers sometimes include themselves screaming as loud as they can into microphones at concerts to get the crowd more excited and energetic. There are also things called mosh pits at almost every metal concert and most hard rock concerts which are groups of people at the edge of the stage that jump up and down, so if you fall down, you can get trampled on and seriously injured or possibly die. Hard rock and metal genres were looked down upon by parents when they started to gain popularity from teens and young adults. Rock in general was thought as the devil’s music by many strong faithed christians and parents. Steppenwolf’s song “Born to be Wild” is one of the oldest songs that people today would consider hard rock and did influence many artists that come after Steppenwolf. Bands like Led Zeplin, Aerosmith, Rush, and ZZ Top were bigger than most others and grew the genre of hard rock until around 2000 when it evolved because of new technology and the minds of teens. There were many bands that shaped the genre of hard rock since then, such as Metallica, Kiss, Iron Maiden, Foo Fighters, and even Avenged Sevenfold which released their first album in 1999. The music these bands played were more faster paced and even louder than before which requires more skill and time to develop the correct techniques to play such challenging beats.
Also in the 1970s, many new bands claimed to play “classic rock” which was closer to rock and roll than any other type of rock. Bands such as AC/DC, Guns And Roses, The Rolling Stones, and Elton John played this type of rock exceptionally well. Some of these bands still play at concerts and release new tracks, but to many adults who grew up listening to classic rock “Nothing’s better than the classics”. AC/DC released many beloved songs but a couple that stood out the most are “Back In Black” and “Thunderstruck”. This Australian band influenced pop culture more than any other band based on their interactions with the public, concert’s variety, and songs they released. The very varietal genre of rock has influenced pop culture among youth over the past seventy years.