Rock music is a loosely defined genre of popular music that entered the mainstream in the 1950s. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rhythm and blues, country music, folk music, jazz, and classical music. It often uses elecstric guitars and has a strong back beat with accents on the second and fourth beats in a measure.
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.
Read the article about The Evolution of Popular Music: USA 1960–2010. They did a study of of the harmonic and timbral properties of 17,000 recordings on the Billboard Hot 100 between 1960–2010, and identified three main stylistic shifts:
1. 1964: started prior to British invasion: loud guitars, major chords, no dominant seventh chords
2. 1983: synth pop and new wave, heavy rock, with lots of chords. Synth bass songs sounded similar in terms of harmony and timbre.
3. 1991: introduction of hip-hop. Most significant change of the three periods. Rhythm-based, absence of chord structure, reflected culture of the times and changed it.
The study shows that the popularity of styles has ebbed and flowed over the years:
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