Editing Music of the United States (section)

===Rock, metal, and punk===
{{Main|Rock music|heavy metal music|punk rock}}
{{See also|New wave of American heavy metal}}

Rock and roll developed out of country, blues, and R&B. [[Origins of rock and roll|Rock's exact origins]] and early influences have been hotly debated, and are the subjects of much scholarship. Though squarely in the blues tradition, rock took elements from [[Afro-American music|Afro-Caribbean]] and [[Latin music (genre)|Latin music]]al techniques.<ref>Palmer, p. 48; cited in Garofalo, p. 95.</ref> Rock was an urban style, formed in the areas where diverse populations resulted in the mixtures of African American, Latin and European genres ranging from the blues and country to [[polka]] and [[zydeco]].<ref>Lipsitz, p. 214; cited in Garofalo, p. 95.</ref> Rock and roll first entered popular music through a style called ''[[rockabilly]]'',{{sfn|Gilliland|1969|loc=shows 7–8}} which fused the nascent sound with elements of country music. Black-performed rock and roll had previously had limited mainstream success, but it was the white performer [[Elvis Presley]] who first appealed to mainstream audiences with a black style of music, becoming one of the best-selling musicians in history, and brought rock and roll to audiences across the world.<ref>Garofalo, p. 131.</ref>

[[File:ZZTop.jpg|thumb|right|[[ZZ Top]] by 2014, has sold more than 50 million albums worldwide. ZZ Top was inducted into the [[Rock and Roll Hall of Fame]] in 2004.]]

The 1960s saw several important changes in popular music, especially rock. Many of these changes took place through the [[British Invasion]] where bands such as [[The Beatles]], [[The Who]], and [[The Rolling Stones]],{{sfn|Gilliland|1969|loc=shows 27–30, 48–49}} became immensely popular and had a profound effect on American culture and music. These changes included the move from professionally composed songs to the [[singer-songwriter]], and the understanding of popular music as an [[art]], rather than a form of commerce or pure entertainment.<ref>Garofalo, p. 185.</ref> These changes led to the rise of musical movements connected to political goals, such as the [[American Civil Rights Movement]] and the [[opposition to the Vietnam War]]. Rock was at the forefront of this change.

[[File:The Eagles in Berlin.JPG|thumb|left|[[Eagles (band)|The Eagles]] with five number-one singles, six Grammy Awards, five American Music Awards, and six number one albums, the Eagles were one of the most successful musical acts of the 1970s.]]

In the early 1960s, rock spawned several subgenres, beginning with [[surf music|surf]]. Surf was an instrumental guitar genre characterized by a distorted sound, associated with the Southern California [[surfing]] youth culture.<ref>Szatmary, p. 69–70.</ref>{{sfn|Gilliland|1969|loc=show 20}} Inspired by the lyrical focus of surf, [[The Beach Boys]] began recording in 1961 with an elaborate, pop-friendly, and harmonic sound.<ref>''Rolling Stone'', p. 251.</ref>{{sfn|Gilliland|1969|loc=show 37}} As their fame grew, The Beach Boys' songwriter [[Brian Wilson]] experimented with new studio techniques and became associated with the [[counterculture]]. The counterculture was a movement that embraced political activism, and was closely connected to the [[hippie]] subculture. The hippies were associated with [[folk rock]], [[country rock]], and [[psychedelic rock]].{{sfn|Gilliland|1969|loc=shows 41–42}} Folk and country rock were associated with the rise of politicized folk music, led by [[Pete Seeger]] and others, especially at the [[Greenwich Village]] music scene in New York.{{sfn|Gilliland|1969|loc=show 18}} Folk rock entered the mainstream in the middle of the 1960s, when the singer-songwriter [[Bob Dylan]] began his career. [[AllMusic]] editor [[Stephen Thomas Erlewine]] attributes The Beatles' shift toward introspective songwriting in the mid-1960s to Bob Dylan's influence at the time.<ref name="ErlewineBobDylan">{{cite web |last=Erlewine|first=Stephen Thomas|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/bob-dylan-p4147/biography|title=Bob Dylan|publisher=[[AllMusic]]. [[Rovi Corporation]]|at=Biography|access-date=2012-01-28}}</ref> He was followed by a number of country-rock bands and soft, folky singer-songwriters. Psychedelic rock was a hard-driving kind of guitar-based rock, closely associated with the city of [[San Francisco, California|San Francisco]]. Though [[Jefferson Airplane]] was the only local band to have a major national hit, the [[Grateful Dead]], a country and bluegrass-flavored [[jam band]], became an iconic part of the psychedelic counterculture, associated with hippies, [[LSD]] and other symbols of that era.{{sfn|Gilliland|1969|loc=shows 41–42}} Some say that the [[Grateful Dead]] were truly the most American [[patriotic]] [[rock band]] to have ever existed; forming and molding a culture that defines Americans today.<ref>Garofalo, p. 196, 218.</ref>

[[File:Aerosmith_B.jpg|thumb|right|[[Aerosmith]] is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as "the Bad Boys from Boston" and "America's Greatest Rock and Roll Band".]]

Following the turbulent political, social and musical changes of the 1960s and early 1970s, rock music diversified. What was formerly a discrete genre known as ''rock and roll'' evolved into a catchall category called simply ''[[rock music]]'', which came to include diverse styles developed in the US like [[punk rock]]. During the 1970s most of these styles were evolving in the underground music scene, while mainstream audiences began the decade with a wave of [[singer-songwriter]]s who drew on the deeply emotional and personal lyrics of 1960s folk rock. The same period saw the rise of bombastic [[arena rock]] bands, bluesy [[Southern rock]] groups and mellow [[soft rock]] stars. Beginning in the later 1970s, the rock singer and songwriter [[Bruce Springsteen]] became a major star, with anthemic songs and dense, inscrutable lyrics that celebrated the poor and working class.<ref name="Garofalo_2"/>

Punk was a form of rebellious rock that began in the 1970s, and was loud, aggressive, and often very simple. Punk began as a reaction against the popular music of the period, especially [[disco]] and [[arena rock]]. American bands in the field included, most famously, [[The Ramones]] and [[Talking Heads]], the latter playing a more avant-garde style that was closely associated with punk before evolving into mainstream [[New wave music|new wave]].<ref name="Garofalo_2"/> Other major acts include [[Blondie (band)|Blondie]], [[Patti Smith]], and [[Television (band)|Television]]. In the 1980s some punk fans and bands became disillusioned with the growing popularity of the style, resulting in an even more aggressive style called [[hardcore punk]]. Hardcore was a form of sparse punk, consisting of short, fast, intense songs that spoke to disaffected youth, with such influential bands as [[Bad Religion]], [[Bad Brains]], [[Black Flag (band)|Black Flag]], [[Dead Kennedys]], and [[Minor Threat]]. Hardcore began in metropolises like [[Washington, D.C.]], though most major American cities had their own local scenes in the 1980s.<ref>Blush, p. 12–13.</ref>

[[File:Foo_Fighters_Live_21.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Foo Fighters]] have won 12 [[Grammy Award]]s, including [[Grammy Award for Best Rock Album|Best Rock Album]] four times.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mccormick |first=Neil |date=June 28, 2015 |title=Dave Grohl interview: 'I'm going to fix my leg and then I'm going to come back' |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandpopfeatures/11684482/Dave-Grohl-interview-Im-going-to-fix-my-leg-and-then-Im-going-to-come-back.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150619045037/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandpopfeatures/11684482/Dave-Grohl-interview-Im-going-to-fix-my-leg-and-then-Im-going-to-come-back.html |archive-date=June 19, 2015 |access-date=August 5, 2016 |website=[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]]}}</ref>]]

Hardcore, punk, and garage rock were the roots of ''[[alternative rock]]'', a diverse grouping of rock subgenres that were explicitly opposed to mainstream music, and that arose from the punk and post-punk styles. In the United States, many cities developed local alternative rock scenes, including Minneapolis and Seattle.<ref>Garofalo, p. 446–447.</ref> Seattle's local scene produced [[grunge|grunge music]], a dark and brooding style inspired by hardcore, [[psychedelia]], and alternative rock.<ref>Garofalo, p. 448.</ref> With the addition of a more melodic element to the sound of bands like [[Nirvana (band)|Nirvana]], [[Pearl Jam]], [[Soundgarden]], and [[Alice in Chains]], grunge became wildly popular across the United States<ref>Szatmary, p. 285.</ref> in 1991. Three years later, bands like [[Green Day]], [[The Offspring]], [[Rancid (band)|Rancid]], [[Bad Religion]], and [[NOFX]] hit the mainstream (with their respective then-new albums ''[[Dookie (album)|Dookie]]'', ''[[Smash (The Offspring album)|Smash]]'', ''[[Let's Go (Rancid album)|Let's Go]]'', ''[[Stranger than Fiction (Bad Religion album)|Stranger than Fiction]]'' and ''[[Punk in Drublic]]'') and brought the [[punk rock in California|California punk]] scene exposure worldwide.

[[File:Metallica at The O2 Arena London 2008.jpg|thumb|[[Metallica]] was one of the most influential bands in [[heavy metal music|heavy metal]], as they bridged the gap between commercial and critical success for the genre.<ref>{{cite web |last=Erlewine|first=Stephen Thomas|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/metallica-p4906/biography|title=Metallica|publisher=Allmusic. Rovi Corporation|at=Biography|access-date=2012-05-04}}</ref> The band became the best-selling rock act of the 1990s.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Rolling Stone:Metallica-Biography|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/artists/metallica/biography|access-date=4 May 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071230030414/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/metallica/biography|archive-date=December 30, 2007 }}</ref>]]

Heavy metal is characterized by aggressive, driving rhythms, amplified and distorted guitars, grandiose lyrics, and virtuosic instrumentation. Heavy metal's origins lie in the hard rock bands who took blues and rock and created a heavy sound built on guitar and drums. The first major American bands came in the early 1970s, like [[Blue Öyster Cult]], [[Kiss (band)|KISS]], and [[Aerosmith]]. Heavy metal remained, however, a largely underground phenomenon. During the 1980s the first major pop-metal style arose and dominated the charts for several years kicked off by metal act [[Quiet Riot]] and dominated by bands such as [[Mötley Crüe]] and [[Ratt]]; this was [[glam metal]], a hard rock and pop fusion with a raucous spirit and a [[glam rock|glam]]-influenced visual aesthetic. Some of these bands, like [[Bon Jovi]], became international stars. The band [[Guns N' Roses]] rose to fame near the end of the decade with an image that was a reaction against the glam metal aesthetic.

By the mid-1980s heavy metal had branched in so many different directions that fans, record companies, and fanzines created numerous subgenres. The United States was especially known for one of these subgenres, [[thrash metal]], which was innovated by bands like [[Metallica]], [[Megadeth]], [[Slayer]], and [[Anthrax (American band)|Anthrax]], with Metallica being the most commercially successful.<ref>Garofalo, p. 187.</ref> The United States was known as one of the birthplaces of [[death metal]] during the mid to late 1980s. The Florida scene was the most well-known, featuring bands like [[Death (metal band)|Death]], [[Cannibal Corpse]], [[Morbid Angel]], [[Deicide (band)|Deicide]], and many others. There are now countless death metal and deathgrind bands across the country.