Highway to Hell: The History of Rock Music

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When did rock music originate? The truest form of rock music as we know it today probably started in the 1960s with the advent of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones in England. In truth, though, the history of rock music is complex and you should dig deeper into history to find its true United States origins. Elvis Presley and rock and roll? Go deeper still. 

In truth, you must go back seven years from the first Elvis record — “That’s All Right” in 1954 — to understand where rock music got its name and how it became the sound we love today, more than half a century later. 

Rock Music’s Origins

In 1947, a New Orleans blues singer called Roy Brown released “Good Rockin’ Tonight,” a song widely recognized as the first record to include the word “rock” in its title. Was it rock music, though? Best described as melismatic — stretching one word over multiple notes — Brown’s vocal style infused elements of his gospel roots with blues and a little swing. It’s no wonder many credit Roy Brown’s distinctive sound with helping to transform R&B into rock and roll, not only by including the word itself.

Rock and Roll

The formation of rock music took another giant stride forward in 1951, when Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats recorded “Rocket 88.” Arranged by Ike Turner, Brenston was a member of Turner’s band, the Kings of Rhythm, and carved his name into rock music folklore, as many music historians now view the song as the first rock and roll release in history. It would be three years before the first widely touted rock and roll song, Bill Haley and His Comets’ “Rock Around the Clock,” found airplay. 

Haley’s release established rock and roll in the musical mainstream, inspiring the likes of Elvis Presley’s debut release, Little Richard with “Tutti Frutti” and Chuck Berry’s “Maybellene” in 1955 and Fats Domino’s “Blueberry Hill” the following year. Recognizable rock and roll tunes followed as Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers with “Why Do Fools Fall in Love,” the Coasters and “Yakety Yak,” and “Tears on My Pillow” by the Imperials hit the airwaves.

Rock Soars in the Early 1960s

By the turn of the decade, Elvis-influenced rock and roll was the real deal. The Memphis, Tennessee-based superstar spent seven weeks on top of the U.S. charts with “Jailhouse Rock” in 1957 and would reach the U.S. number one on multiple occasions in the 1950s and 1960s. His dominance eventually dwindled due to the upsurge in popular music inspired by rock and roll. The early decade saw a new brand of all-female harmony groups emerging.

The Shirelles’ smash hit, “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow,” became the first all-girl U.S. number one of the rock and roll-inspired pop era in 1961, closely followed by chart successes for the Crystals, the Ronettes and the Chiffons. Berry Gordy Jr.’s newly formed Detroit, Michigan-based Motown label hit the top of the U.S. Pop and R&B charts for the first time in 1961, with “Please Mr. Postman” by the Marvelettes. 

Motown would become an influential force in music. However, as rock music’s direction changed, Motown followed a different route to significant success, with artists like Diana Ross, Lionel Richie, Marvin Gaye, and the Jackson Five among its most successful conscripts. 

The British Invasion

The “British Invasion” of rock music was on the way. While Elvis and the girl groups dominated American music in the early 1960s, bands influenced by the skiffle, dancehall and Celtic folk sounds of the 1950s began merging these with the music of Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Little Richard, and Presley from across the Atlantic. The Quarrymen became the Beatles in Liverpool in 1960, while the blues and early rock and roll-rooted Rolling Stones formed in London two years later. 

In four short years, the Beatles were international stars. Their 1964 debut on the popular Ed Sullivan Show in New York City prompted much international fanfare. Young American females loved the Beatles, joining their British counterparts who’d contributed to record sales, earning the Fab Four three U.K. Single chart-toppers the previous year.

“Beatlemania” swept across the U.S., prompted by the Ed Sullivan appearance and “I Want to Hold Your Hand” — the band’s first Billboard Hot 100 hit only weeks before. There was no let-up for the Liverpool band as the 1960s produced an incredible 19 more chart-topping U.S. hit singles. Furthermore, the Beatles’ success prompted the “British Invasion” mentioned earlier.

Rock bands and other popular U.K. artists like Peter and Gordon, the Animals, Manfred Mann, Petula Clark, Herman’s Hermits, the Rolling Stones, the Troggs and Donovan all topped the U.S. Singles chart between 1964 and 1966. American artists restored some normalcy to the charts only during the following year.

The Mid to Late 1960s Rock Transformation

Rock music in the mid- to late 1960s significantly changed the rock and roll-based sound that preceded it. More rock subgenres became apparent, with blues, folk, surf, and psychedelic rock joining hard rock to form an exciting time for rock music. Groups and artists like The Who and Van Morrison from the U.K. joined Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, the Beach Boys, and the Doors in creating sounds that pushed traditional rock boundaries.

Jimi Hendrix had performed his unique brand of guitar-dominated music since 1962, often as a backing musician for the likes of Wilson Pickett, Sam Cooke, Jackie Wilson and Ike and Tina Turner. In 1965, he performed in Little Richard’s ensemble band on the Nashville-based TV program “Night Train.” The following year, Chas Chandler, ex of the Animals, noticed the guitarist playing “Hey Joe” in a nightclub in Greenwich Village, New York, and persuaded him to accompany him to London. 

The rest is rock history, as the newly formed Jimi Hendrix Experience peaked at number six on the U.K. charts the same year. Shortly after Hendrix changed rock guitarwork forever, a Los Angeles, California, quartet found acclaim with a release that would essentially establish the psychedelic rock subgenre.

Psychedelic, Surf and Folk Rock

The Doors, led by Jim Morrison, topped the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 with “Light My Fire,” now an anthem of the 1960s rock era. “Light My Fire sparked a successful rock career for the band until Morrison died of a suspected heroin overdose in 1971. Several other bands jumped on the psychedelic rock highway, including the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and the Velvet Underground.

The Velvet Underground, managed by iconic pop artist Andy Warhol for much of the mid-1960s, never had chart success, but are viewed in retrospect as playing a pivotal role in rock music history. The Doors and the Velvet Underground are not the only rock music highlights from the psychedelic rock period. 

The English band Pink Floyd provided many memorable moments in rock music, from its “Arnold Layne” debut in 1967 to Roger Waters’ departure in 1985 and beyond. The Beatles were also still a thing, changing musical direction as every great band can. The 1967 “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” album spawned psychedelic rock hits, including “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds” and the title track. The album rocketed to the top of the charts worldwide.

Psychedelic rock wasn’t the only rock subgenre that thrived in the 1960s. The California-based Beach Boys popularized the surf rock genre in the early 1960s, with “I Get Around” being the band’s first U.S. number one single in 1964, the precursor to another two U.S. chart-topping hits in the decade. Bob Dylan fashioned his own folk-rock style with his poetic lyrics belying his questionable vocal ability. Incredibly, Dylan reached the Billboard Hot 100 chart 23 times from 1965 to 1982, but his consistency never landed him a U.S. number-one single.

1960s and 1970s Hard Rock    

In the late 1960s, a rock group arrived that would forever change the genre’s direction. Led Zeppelin formed in London in 1968, with charismatic vocalist Robert Plant backed up by influential lead guitarist Jimmy Page — who prompted younger fans to take up the guitar — bassist and keyboardist John Paul Jones, and hard-hitting drummer John Bonham. From the moment “Good Times Bad Times” hit the U.S. Single charts in 1969 until Bonham accidentally died after a heavy drinking session 11 years later, Led Zep was the epitome of what every aspiring rock band wanted to be.

Led Zeppelin’s guitar-driven sound drew heavily on folk and blues music influences, with their music inspiring the later heavy metal rock subgenre. Unlike practically anybody before — Bob Dylan and a few others apart — Zeppelin concentrated on full albums and live appearances to gauge its success instead of single releases. Many rock aficionados regard the band’s 1971 “Led Zeppelin IV” album as one of rock’s best albums in history. With songs as wide-ranging as “Black Dog,” “When the Levee Breaks,” and the enigmatic over-eight-minute-long “Stairway to Heaven,” you can understand why.

Other groups like The Who, Deep Purple, Iron Butterfly, Steppenwolf and Ozzy Osbourne’s Black Sabbath continued what Led Zeppelin started. Sabbath, Welsh outfit Budgie, and England’s Uriah Heep pushed the heavy guitar sound even further to start a sub-genre that remains in different guises until today. Heavy metal will not go away, as bands like Metallica confirm.

Rock Gets Heavier and More Progressive in the 1970s

The emergence of early metal bands in the late 1960s caused further disruptions in rock music, which continued through the 1970s and beyond. Other successful and recognizable heavy metal groups joined the aforementioned early rock subgenre advocates. Hawkwind, Judas Priest, AC/DC from Australia, Motörhead, Quiet Riot and Saxon, among others, promoted the frenetic heavy guitar and drum sound to appeal to a whole new rock listenership.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the new generation of rock drew some less-than-complimentary reviews from the press — heavy metal was darker than its hard rock predecessor, with themes often occult-based. Some blamed the existing hippie movement for triggering a blending of themes with occultism, leading to album releases including Black Sabbath’s 1973 “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath,” Judas Priest’s “Sin After Sin” four years later and AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell” before the decade ended. 

When you add singles like “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” by Blue Öyster Cult — a 1976 single apparently promoting suicide — and AC/DC’s 1979 title track, there was an undoubtedly ominous trend among heavy metal and hard rock acts at the time.

Progressive Rock

As rock music entered the 1970s, a new subgenre, Progressive Rock, which was founded in the late 1960s by bands like the Moody Blues, Procol Harum, Soft Machine and an evolving Pink Floyd, began to gain popularity. Progressive rock featured complex musical arrangements with frequent tempo and key changes. It often included long instrumental sections, resulting in longer track times, and its classical, folk and jazz influences were clear. Concept albums were common, with each track linked to a central theme. 

Some of the best examples of prog rock concept albums from the 1970s include Jethro Tull’s “Thick as a Brick,” “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway” by Genesis, “2112,” from the Canadian band Rush, “Quadrophenia” by the Who and the masterful “Dark Side of the Moon” by Pink Floyd. The latter remains one of the world’s bestselling albums, spending 989 weeks on Billboard’s Album charts between 1973 and 2024.

Punk and Gothic Rock

The punk rock music subgenre started stateside with bands like the Ramones and the Stooges, fronted by Iggy Pop. It was the emergence of the U.K. band the Sex Pistols that paved the way for punk’s ultimate success as a stand-alone genre. Frontman John Lydon, or Johnny Rotten, and bassist Sid Vicious combined to lead an anti-establishment musical uprising like the world had never seen before. Cleverly managed by Malcolm McLaren, the band’s short stay at the top of the rock music world revolutionized the attitudes of young fans.

Hot on the heels of the punk movement came the gothic rock sound. With a dark, atmospheric and melancholic sound, Gothic rock drew attitudinal influences from punk and post-punk, but could not have been more different musically. English bands Siouxsie and the Banshees, Joy Division, Bauhaus and the Cure paved the way for the success of gothic rock well into the 1980s, with the Sisters of Mercy and the Mission refining it electronically as the new decade progressed.

Rock Music in the 1980s and 1990s

Since the 1980s, rock music has produced some new sounds and subgenres but has generally clung to the classic influences of previous decades. All-girl groups became popular again in the 1980s, with the Go-Go’s, Bananarama and the Bangles leading the pop-rock renaissance. Stevie Ray Vaughan and ZZ Top continued the blues-rock subgenre, and surf-rock influenced the early Sublime sound, with the enduring Beach Boys still leading the way. Psychedelic rock’s influences saw the emergence of acts like the Stone Roses, Primal Scream, XTC and the Flaming Lips through the 1980s and 1990s.

Bob Dylan’s influence continued in the folk-rock subgenre, while established artists like Eric Clapton and Phil Collins drew heavily on folk’s influence, incorporating it into their soft rock sound. John Mellencamp’s Heartland-inspired music had plenty of folk-rock influence. English bands Marillion and Pink Floyd did outstanding jobs keeping the progressive rock flag flying as pop-rock, glam-rock, R&B and rap began dominating the charts internationally.

Moving into the 1990s, Seattle, Washington-based grunge bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains and Soundgarden found international success in what was likely the most significant influence in rock music since punk in the 1970s. Grunge has since encouraged post-punk and nu-metal sounds.

What the New Millennium Means in Rock Music History

Original rock groups still surface occasionally, but earlier rock still defines the overall sound. As autotune and digitized recording take center stage as we move deeper into the 2020s, the musical landscape continues evolving. Even live shows feature elements of autotune nowadays, and music festivals seem to be dying, which probably leaves some prominent past rock musicians turning in their graves. The focus these days is more on pure musical sound, with much of the human elements and imperfections that made rock music great now less evident.

Is Rock Music Dying?

Let’s face it, the greatest rock eras of yore are now truly history. However, these magnificent musicians continue to inspire and influence artists and bands who use more traditional and hands-on processes to achieve their sound. Although the music trends are moving away from rock music as we know it, with its esteemed history, real rock music is not dead or dying — however, you might say it’s taking an extended hiatus.