Rock
About Rock
Rock and roll was born in the mid-1950s when Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley collided rhythm and blues with country. The Beach Boys and Jimi Hendrix expanded it in the 1960s, Bruce Springsteen made it the voice of working America, and Metallica and Nirvana carried it through metal and grunge. It was the dominant popular music of the United States for half a century.
Key Artists
Bob Dylan
1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, 2020s
Bruce Springsteen
1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, 2020s
Chuck Berry
1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s
Elvis Presley
1950s, 1960s, 1970s
Jimi Hendrix
1960s
Metallica
1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, 2020s
Nirvana
1980s, 1990s
The Beach Boys
1960s, 1970s, 1980s
Keep exploring
Timelines
Moments
The night Elvis put the leather back on
After seven years of bad films and no live shows, Elvis Presley sat down in a black leather suit in front of a small studio audience and reminded America why it had been frightened of him in 1956.
Nirvana light the candles and play a funeral
Kurt Cobain asked for stargazer lilies and black candles on the MTV Unplugged stage. Five months later the closing song, a Lead Belly blues, was being replayed as his epitaph.