- Hard Rock redirects here. For the restaurant, please see Hard Rock Cafe.
Hard rock is a form of rock and roll music which finds its closest roots in early 1960s garage rock. Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, The Stooges, MC5, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Thin Lizzy, Aerosmith, Def Leppard and Guns N' Roses are renowned examples of hard rock. AC/DC's music perhaps best exemplifies the energy of the genre. Hard rock achieved maximum popularity between 1969 and 1985, and soon thereafter gave way to heavy metal.
Hard rock is often loosely defined, and is primarily of use in describing radio station formats. There is often significant crossover with heavy metal music, but a few distinctions are worth noting: hard rock typically features major key song construction, as opposed to heavy metal, which is often minor key oriented. There is a heavy reliance on the pentatonic scale for most elements of song construction, and fifths (power chords) are often substituted for traditional chords. Chord progressions are commonly associated to 1-4-5 degrees of the scale, as in rock and roll.
Hard rock is typified by a bright, trebly overdrive distortion effect on the guitars, lending to its overall sound. Drums can range from 100-150 Beats Per Minute, with 120 BPM being typical. Bass is usually warm sounding and lyrics are usually not as dark as those found in heavy metal.
Songs are generally hook laden, and consist of:
- an intro
- verse
- chorus
- verse
- chorus
- solo
- chorus
- an ending
although there is much room for variation, and repetition of verses and choruses.
The term "hard rock" is also used as an umbrella term for genres such as punk, gothic rock, industrial rock and heavy metal, in order to distinguish them from softer, more radio friendly pop rock music. Obviously, the double use of "hard rock" has led to confusion.
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