In the 1950's Elvis Presley, a man from Tennessee, created Rock N' Roll. Since then it has been a very American genre, so here is the history of it.
1960's
In the mid 60's, the British Invasion struck, putting most American music at a stop. But at the same time, the San Francisco Hippy Movement was beginning and The Doors down in L.A. were starting up. The San Francisco Movement was truly a form of early punk. It was politically charged, the hippies were angry because of the Vietnam War and pollution (notice how little punk has changed.) The main bands were The Doors (not from SF though) Phish and The Greatful Dead.
The movement ended in 1969 when
The Rolling Stones held a free concert at a race track called Altamont. They got the idea from
The Greatful Dead. Nobody realized how many people would be there.
The Stones hired security from the notoriuos
Hell's Angels. During the concert
The Angels killed a man and 3 others also died. It is often called the day the 60's died.
Also in 1969 a band named Led Zeppelin went on their first American Tour. These brits had 10 times the attitude of every other British group, Rolling Stones included. Immediatley after, the effect in America were felt.
1970's
In the early 70's, bands like Foghat and Chicago were Americas finest bands. But then three eastern bands changed that. Aerosmith were a Bostonian band with as much attitude as Zeppelin, and skills that could back it up. From New York, there was Kiss, they had incredible stage theatrics with heavy music like Aerosmith's and Zeppelin's. Those three (Aerosmith, Kiss, and Zep) were the best bands in the new type of music now called Classic Metal. Also from the Boston area was Boston. They had a softer sound but could rock just as hard as Aerosmith. In the mid-to-late 70's a Pasadena band with an incredible guitarist, called Van Halen hit the spotlight. They had a sound much like Kiss's but more complicated and musical.
In the late 70's Brit Punk became mainstream, once again leaving the american scene in the dust.
1980's
In 1982 a single called Cum On Feel The Noise by Quiet Riot went gold and there style of Sleazy Hard Rock/Metal became slightly popular. But when Motley Crüe released Shout At The Devil, the scene exploded. All the bands with that style of music from the So Cal area were signed to contracts many of them became mildly popular, like Ratt, Warrant, and Poison. In the mid 80's Metallica came out with Master Of Puppets. Their insanely popular metal was harder, faster, and more serious then that of Motley Crüe. In the late 80's another band became huge, Guns N' Roses. Their return to bluesy-Aerosmith-rock got them to the top. They were as serious as Metallica but as accessable as Motley Crue. The whole scene came to crash in the 90's with Nirvana.
1990's
In 1991 a single called Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana changed music forever. The whole Seattle scene became like the L.A. scene of the 80's. Bands like Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains and Soundgarden became immensly popular. The change in music from the 80's to 90's mirrored the change in culture. Where-as in the 80's everything was about having fun, the new Grunge scene was very down. Many of the artists had a self-hating image. But in 1994 in a day, the whole scene died, along with Nirvana's frontman Kurt Cobain.
In the mid 90's a new album called Dookie by Green Day hit the mainstream. Green Day were from suburban San Francisco and had a fast, angry sense of Punk and a hooky, catchy, "light-wieght" style of Pop and thus, was dubbed Pop-Punk or Punk-Pop. Bands like Sum 41, Blink-182 and Good Charlotte followed.
2000's
Nu-Metal bands like Linkin Park, System Of A Down and Papa Roach hit the spotlight. They involved the increasingly popular Rap and Pantera like metal. The bands use hip-hop style rappers and DJ's. Along with drummers, bassist and guitarists. Althought this scene is popular, the Punk-Pop scene never lost any steam and is still goin with newer bands like Good Charlotte.
In 2004 and 05 we have scene a more funk-related music like Maroon 5 and The Killers.
It is hard to see the next major movement in Rock but if you look back there definatley is a pattern between Hard Rock based music and Punk based music. But with Nu-Metal and Punk-Pop music popular at the same time it is hard to tell.
