1.
Hard rock
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Hard rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music that began in the mid-1960s, with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. It is typified by a use of aggressive vocals, distorted electric guitars, bass guitar, drums. Hard rock developed into a form of popular music in the 1970s, with bands such as The Who, Led Zeppelin, Queen, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Aerosmith, AC/DC. During the 1980s, some rock bands moved away from their hard rock roots and more towards pop rock. Hard rock began losing popularity with the success of R&B, hip-hop, urban pop, grunge. Out of this movement came garage rock bands like The White Stripes, The Strokes, Interpol and, later on, in the 2000s, only a few hard rock bands from the 1970s and 1980s managed to sustain highly successful recording careers. Hard rock is a form of loud, aggressive rock music, the electric guitar is often emphasised, used with distortion and other effects, both as a rhythm instrument using repetitive riffs with a varying degree of complexity, and as a solo lead instrument. Drumming characteristically focuses on driving rhythms, strong drum and a backbeat on snare. The bass guitar works in conjunction with the drums, occasionally playing riffs, vocals are often growling, raspy, or involve screaming or wailing, sometimes in a high range, or even falsetto voice. In the late 1960s, the heavy metal was used interchangeably with hard rock. Heavy metal took on darker characteristics after Black Sabbaths breakthrough at the beginning of the 1970s, in the 1980s it developed a number of subgenres, often termed extreme metal, some of which were influenced by hardcore punk, and which further differentiated the two styles. Despite this differentiation, hard rock and heavy metal have existed side by side, with bands frequently standing on the boundary of, other antecedents include Link Wrays instrumental Rumble in 1958, and the surf rock instrumentals of Dick Dale, such as Lets Go Trippin and Misirlou. In the 1960s, American and British blues and rock bands began to rock and roll by adding harder sounds, heavier guitar riffs, bombastic drumming. From the late 1960s, it common to divide mainstream rock music that emerged from psychedelia into soft. Soft rock was often derived from rock, using acoustic instruments and putting more emphasis on melody. In contrast, hard rock was most often derived from rock and was played louder. Blues rock acts that pioneered the sound included Cream, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Cream, in songs like I Feel Free combined blues rock with pop and psychedelia, particularly in the riffs and guitar solos of Eric Clapton. Jimi Hendrix produced a form of blues-influenced psychedelic rock, which combined elements of jazz, blues and rock, from 1967 Jeff Beck brought lead guitar to new heights of technical virtuosity and moved blues rock in the direction of heavy rock with his band, The Jeff Beck Group
2.
Alternative rock
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Alternative rock is a genre of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular in the 1990s and 2000s. In this instance, the word refers to the genres distinction from mainstream rock music. The terms original meaning was broader, referring to a generation of musicians unified by their debt to either the musical style or simply the independent. Ethos of punk rock, which in the late 1970s laid the groundwork for alternative music, Alternative rock is a broad umbrella term consisting of music that differs greatly in terms of its sound, its social context, and its regional roots. Most of these subgenres had achieved minor mainstream notice and a few bands representing them, such as Hüsker Dü, with the breakthrough of Nirvana and the popularity of the grunge and Britpop movements in the 1990s, alternative rock entered the musical mainstream and many alternative bands became successful. By the end of the decade, alternative rocks mainstream prominence declined due to a number of events that caused grunge and Britpop to fade, emo attracted attention in the larger alternative rock world, and the term was applied to a variety of artists, including multi-platinum acts. Post-punk revival artists such as Modest Mouse and The Killers had commercial success in the early, before the term alternative rock came into common usage around 1990, the sort of music to which it refers was known by a variety of terms. In 1979, Terry Tolkin used the term Alternative Music to describe the groups he was writing about, in 1979 Dallas radio station KZEW had a late night new wave show entitled Rock and Roll Alternative. College rock was used in the United States to describe the music during the 1980s due to its links to the radio circuit. In the United Kingdom, dozens of small do it yourself record labels emerged as a result of the punk subculture, according to the founder of one of these labels, Cherry Red, NME and Sounds magazines published charts based on small record stores called Alternative Charts. The first national chart based on distribution called the Indie Chart was published in January 1980, at the time, the term indie was used literally to describe independently distributed records. By 1985, indie had come to mean a particular genre, or group of subgenres, at first the term referred to intentionally non–mainstream rock acts that were not influenced by heavy metal ballads, rarefied new wave and high-energy dance anthems. The use of alternative gained further exposure due to the success of Lollapalooza, for which festival founder, in the late 1990s, the definition again became more specific. Defining music as alternative is often difficult because of two conflicting applications of the word, the name alternative rock essentially serves as an umbrella term for underground music that has emerged in the wake of punk rock since the mid-1980s. Alternative bands during the 1980s generally played in clubs, recorded for indie labels. Sounds range from the gloomy soundscapes of gothic rock to the guitars of indie pop to the dirty guitars of grunge to the 1960s/1970s revivalism of Britpop. This approach to lyrics developed as a reflection of the social and economic strains in the United States and United Kingdom of the 1980s, by 1984, a majority of groups signed to independent record labels mined from a variety of rock and particularly 1960s rock influences. This represented a break from the futuristic, hyper-rational post-punk years
3.
Heavy metal music
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Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and the United States. Heavy metal lyrics and performance styles are associated with aggression. The first heavy metal such as Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath. During the mid-1970s, Judas Priest helped spur the evolution by discarding much of its blues influence, Motörhead introduced a punk rock sensibility. Beginning in the late 1970s, bands in the new wave of British heavy metal such as Iron Maiden, before the end of the decade, heavy metal fans became known as metalheads or headbangers. During the 1980s, glam metal became popular with such as Mötley Crüe. Since the mid-1990s popular styles have further expanded the definition of the genre and these include groove metal and nu metal, the latter of which often incorporates elements of grunge and hip hop. Heavy metal is characterized by loud distorted guitars, emphatic rhythms, dense bass-and-drum sound. Metal subgenres variously emphasize, alter, or omit one or more of these attributes, the typical band lineup includes a drummer, a bassist, a rhythm guitarist, a lead guitarist, and a singer, who may or may not be an instrumentalist. Keyboard instruments are used to enhance the fullness of the sound. Deep Purples Jon Lord played an overdriven Hammond organ, in 1970, John Paul Jones used a Moog synthesizer on Led Zeppelin III, by the 1990s, in. almost every subgenre of heavy metal synthesizers were used. The electric guitar and the power that it projects through amplification has historically been the key element in heavy metal. The heavy metal guitar sound comes from a use of high volumes. Guitar solos are an element of the heavy metal code. That underscores the significance of the guitar to the genre, most heavy metal songs featur at least one guitar solo, which is a primary means through which the heavy metal performer expresses virtuosity. One exception is nu metal bands, which tend to omit guitar solos, with rhythm guitar parts, the heavy crunch sound in heavy metal. Palm muting the strings with the hand and using distortion. Palm muting creates a tighter, more sound and it emphasizes the low end
4.
Pop punk
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Pop punk is a punk rock music genre and a fusion genre that combines elements of punk rock with elements of pop music. Pop punk typically combines fast punk rock tempos, power chord changes and loud, distorted guitars with pop-influenced melodies. Pop-influenced punk rock emerged in the mid-1970s with a style that was stylistically similar to power pop. By the mid-1980s, several bands merged hardcore punk with pop music to create a new, faster pop punk sound such as Dag Nasty, Pop punk in the United States began to grow in popularity locally in California in the mid-to-late 1980s. Pop punk particularly thrived in California, where independent record labels adopted a do it approach to releasing music. By the mid-1990s, a few pop punk bands had started to sell millions of records and receive radio and television airplay. By 1994, pop punk was quickly growing in mainstream popularity, the late 1990s, exemplified by the 1999 release of Blink-182s Enema of the State, represented the genres mainstream peak, although some pop punk bands scored successful album chartings in the 2000s. In the mid-2000s, emo pop, a genre combining emo and pop punk. By the end of the 2000s, the pop sound of the 1990s had largely waned in mainstream popularity. Pop punk typically merges upbeat pop melodies with catchy hooks, catchy choruses, harmonies, speedy tempos, punk rock power chord changes and loud, distorted electric guitars. About. com has described second-wave pop punk bands as having a radio friendly sheen to their music, club, pop punk often pits sweet harmonies against bratty, rowdy riffs. Lyrical topics that are common in pop punk include love, lust, drunkenness, adolescence, cartoonish violence, some pop punk lyrics focus on jokes and humor. Some pop punk music features elements of rock, power pop. According to Ryan Cooper of About. com, pop punk is a style that more to the Beatles. It is not clear when the pop punk was first used. Protopunk and power pop bands of the late 1960s and early 1970s helped lay the groundwork for the pop punk sound, the Beatles, the Kinks and the Beach Boys all paved the way for pop punk. With their love of the Beach Boys and late 1960s bubblegum pop, the Ramones loud and fast melodic minimalism differentiated them from other bands in New York Citys budding art rock scene, but pop punk was not considered a separate subgenre until later. An early use of the pop punk appeared in a 1977 New York Times article, Cabaret
5.
Wind-up Records
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Wind-up Entertainment, Inc. is an American record label founded by Alan and Diana Meltzer in 1997. It is based in New York City and is distributed by Universal Music Group, Wind-ups best-selling artists worldwide were Creed and Evanescence. Wind-up Records was formed in 1997 by Alan Meltzer, former owner of CD One Stop, Wind-up at one point was the largest independently owned record label in the world. The parent company Wind-up Entertainment also runs numerous publishing companies as well as a retail, online. The companys slogan is Developing Career Artists, some of the successful acts on the label included Creed, Evanescence, Seether and Finger Eleven. The label has also re-released albums from bands previously associated with Grass Records, such as Toadies, The Wrens, in September 2009, the label reached an agreement with EMI Music Germany and in February 2011 with EMI Music Canada. The partnership has seen EMI Music take over the marketing and distribution of such as Creed, Evanescence. In Canada, distribution was initially with Sony Music Canada as was the distribution in the United States, however, in October 2004, distribution in Canada switched over to Warner Music Canada with the creation of Wind-up Entertainment Canada. Distribution in Canada moved again, for a time in February 2011. On October 31,2011, the founder, Alan Meltzer. In 2012, Universal Music Group acquired the EMI music operations, in October 2013, the Bicycle Music Company bought the rights to much of Wind-Ups back catalogue, including the contracts to acts such as Seether. These artists will be distributed by the Concord Music Group, in May 2015, Concord Bicycle Music bought the rest of the Wind-Up label. Accurate according to Wind-ups website as of November 25,2013. A. R
6.
Roadrunner Records
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Roadrunner Records is a major record label that concentrates primarily on heavy metal and hard rock bands. It is a division of Warner Music Group and is based in New York City, the label was launched in 1980 in the Netherlands. Roadrunners initial business was importing North American metal-band recordings into Europe, in 1986, Roadrunner opened its US headquarters in New York City and later opened offices in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Japan, Australia, Denmark, Russia and the latest in Canada. Early successes included albums from King Diamond and Annihilator, the label also handled early Metallica releases in the Scandinavian region. The end of the 1980s saw the release of two albums that are now considered classics of their genres, Obituarys Slowly We Rot. The 1990s saw the arrival of such as Life of Agony, Machine Head, Suffocation, Type O Negative. As the 1990s wore on, several of Roadrunners bands managed to make an impact on the mainstream, most notably Sepultura, Sepulturas 1993 album, Chaos A. D. became the first Roadrunner band to crack the Top 40 on the Billboard album chart. Type O Negative became the first Roadrunner band to receive a certification from the RIAA, this was a Gold award for the 1993 album Bloody Kisses, the band also became the first Roadrunner band to receive radio play. In 2000, Slipknot became the first Roadrunner band to go Platinum, nickelback were also very successful on the label. Derek Shulman ran the label in the late 90s, beginning in 2001, Roadrunner was distributed by the Universal Music Group through a share of the label owned by The Island Def Jam Music Group. On December 18,2006, Warner Music Group signed an agreement to purchase a majority in shares of Roadrunner Records parent company and this deal became finalized on January 29,2007 after receiving regulatory approval in Germany. On June 11,2008, Roadrunner Records was voted as the Best Metal Label by Metal Hammer at their Golden Gods Awards, the award was accepted by Sharon Den Adel and Ruud Jolie of Within Temptation, one of Roadrunners biggest acts. However, Roadrunner has also accused of being a label only interested in current or trendy alternative music, reflected by their roster of mainly popular. One of the earliest names on the label, King Diamond, left the label due to alleged lack of support for the 1990 King Diamond release. In 2008, punk cabaret chanteuse Amanda Palmer was told by the label that wanted to re-edit her video for Leeds United to make her look slimmer. On April 6,2010, Palmer announced on her Twitter account that Roadrunner had dropped her, the most recent complaints about Roadrunner have come from one of the labels biggest bands Megadeth. Roadrunner Records was significantly affected by Warner Music Groups legal dispute against YouTube, most of the videos on their channel, however, are still viewable. There is even a disclaimer talking about Warners dispute right on the channel, on November 11,2010, Warner Music Group announced they had acquired the remaining of Roadrunners stock
7.
Epic Records
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Epic Records is an American record company owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, Inc. Epic was founded predominantly as a jazz and classical music label in 1953 and it later expanded its scope to include a more diverse range of musical genres, including pop, R&B, rock and hip hop. Historically, the label has housed popular acts such as Boston, ABBA, Michael Jackson, Celine Dion, Dave Clark Five, Gloria Estefan, Pearl Jam, Shakira, Anastacia, and Sly & the Family Stone. Along with Columbia and RCA Records, Epic is one of Sony Music Entertainments three main record labels, L. A. Reid has served as chairman and CEO of Epic since July 2011. Sylvia Rhone was appointed president in March 2014, Epic Records was launched in 1953 by Columbia Records for the purpose of marketing jazz, pop and classical music that did not fit the theme of its more mainstream Columbia Records label. Initial classical music releases were from Philips Records which distributed Columbia product in Europe, pop talent on co-owned Okeh Records were transferred to Epic which made Okeh a rhythm and blues label. Epics bright-yellow, black, and blue became a familiar trademark for many jazz. By 1960, the musical base had been expanded to include all genres. This was done in part to prevent the roster of Columbia Records from being overstuffed with newer artists, subsequently, Epic became better known for its signing of newer, fledgling acts. By the end of the 1960s, Epic earned its first gold records and had evolved into a formidable hit-making force in rock and roll, R&B and country music. Among its many acts, it included Roy Hamilton, Bobby Vinton, The Dave Clark Five, The Hollies, Tammy Wynette, Donovan, The Yardbirds, Lulu, July, Helen Shapiro and Jeff Beck. Also during the 1960s, Epic oversaw the smaller subsidiary CBS labels including Okeh Records, in 1968, Epic recordings began being distributed in the UK by CBS after the distribution deal with EMI expired that year, Epic itself launched in England around 1971. Epic was involved in a trade of artists. Graham Nash was signed to Epic because of his membership in The Hollies, when the newly formed Crosby, Stills & Nash wanted to sign with Atlantic Records, Ahmet Ertegün worked out a deal with Clive Davis whereby Richie Furays new band Poco would sign with Epic. Also contributing to the success was its distribution of Philadelphia International Records. Sony bought CBS Records in 1987, and the company was renamed Sony Music in 1991. In 2004, Sony merged with another powerhouse music distributor, BMG, bringing labels such as RCA, Arista, Columbia, Epic, Jive, in February 2009, singer and songwriter Amanda Ghost was appointed president of Epic Records. Later in the year, Sony BMG Music merged Epic and Columbias operations, Sony BMGs Legacy Recordings reissues the companys classic and catalog titles
8.
Republic Records
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Republic Records is an American record company that operates as a division of Universal Music Group. The label was endowed by Monte Lipman and Avery Lipman in 1995, the labels main offices are located in New York City, New York, United States, other offices of the record label are located at the Interscope Center in Santa Monica, California, U. S. According to Mediabase, Republic Records was 2012s top charting U. S. label, according to Avery Lipman, he and his brother Monte Lipman first conceived of Republic Records at the kitchen table of their apartment, My brother and I had been working at record companies. He was in between jobs and we started putting out as a hobby. We had an approach to the business. The first record we put out happened to work really well, frustrated by the limitations of being an independent with a very small staff, the Lipman brothers accepted an offer from Universal. One of several labels that comprise Universal Motown Republic Group, the newly named Republic Records was formed in 1995 as a sub-label of MCAs Geffen Records, Avery Lipman told HitQuarters that the pairing was a complete disaster, saying, Our ideas and vision didn’t fit with the label. We didn’t trust our own instincts and we let others decide what was right for the project. As of 2006, Universal Republic has adopted an A&R and partnership-based growth strategy, in an era of music industry transition they have proven effective, as Universal Republic has continued to grow in the industrys declining years. In mid-2012, Universal Republic Records changed its name to its former name Republic Records, all Universal Republic Records roster were moved to Republic Records. The label has released albums by Lil Wayne, Kid Cudi. The new Republic became the one label in soundtrack production. On March 31,2014, it was announced that Big Machine and Republic Records revived Dot Records, vH1 and Republic has both used Social media in this campaign. In 2015 Republic Records had songs in six of the spots in the top 10 of the Mediabase Top 40 Chart, in the earlier days, Republic Records released the Bloodhound Gangs EP, Dingleberry Haze, as well as their first LP, Use Your Fingers. Universal Republic has created strategic partnerships and co-ventures, singer Jay Sean and producer Kevin Rudolf of Cash Money Records. Rudolfs single, Let It Rock was certified 3x Platinum and licensed by multiple television networks for sports, Jay Seans debut single Down sold 3 million copies in the United States and 6 million worldwide. Seans follow-up single Do You Remember also sold over a million copies, American singer Taylor Swift with Nashville-based Big Machine Records. Swift today is a Diamond artist with 10 Grammys and 40 million records sold worldwide, jack Johnson on Brushfire Records who has achieved multi-Platinum certifications twice and is estimated to have sold about 8 million albums worldwide
9.
Evanescence
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Evanescence /ˌɛv. æn. ˈɛs. ɛns/ is an American rock band founded in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1995 by singer/pianist Amy Lee and guitarist Ben Moody. After recording independent albums, the released their first full-length album, Fallen. Fallen sold more than 17 million copies worldwide and helped the band win two Grammy Awards out of seven nominations, as well as scoring No.6 in CBSs Top Bestselling Albums of the Last 10 Years. A year later, Evanescence released their first live album, Anywhere but Home, in 2006, the band released their second studio album, The Open Door, which sold more than five million copies. As a result, none of the three studio albums feature the same lineup. The latter two led to a hiatus, with temporary band members contributing to tour performances. Billboard ranked Evanescence No.71 on the Best Artists of the Decade chart, announced in June 2009, the newest line-up of the band eventually returned with Evanescence, their self-titled third studio album, released on October 11,2011. It debuted at No.1 on the Billboard 200 chart with 127,000 copies in sales, the album also debuted at No.1 on four other different Billboard charts, the Rock Albums, Digital Albums, Alternative Albums, and the Hard Rock Albums charts. The band spent 2012 on tour in promotion of their latest album with bands including The Pretty Reckless. Troy McLawhorn also became a band member during this time. Following the end of the tour cycle in 2012, the band entered another hiatus. In 2015, the band emerged from hiatus and announced they would resume touring, however, they denied that new Evanescence material was being produced, in addition, Balsamo left the band and was replaced by Jen Majura. Late 2016 saw additional touring from the band and a statement from Lee that Evanescence would continue, in March 2017, Lee stated Evanescence was working on a fourth album for release later in 2017. Evanescence was founded by singer, pianist and songwriter Amy Lee and former lead guitarist, the two met in 1994 at a youth camp in Little Rock, where Moody heard Lee playing a Meat Loaf song on the piano. The band became popular performing in coffee shops around the Little Rock area. After experimenting with band names, such as Childish Intentions and Stricken, they decided on Evanescence, the first is the self-titled Evanescence EP, of which about 100 copies were made and distributed at the bands early live performances. The second is the Sound Asleep EP, also known as the Whisper EP, there was also a third EP called Mystary EP. For their first full-length demo CD, Origin, about 2,500 copies were produced, Origin and the EPs contain demo versions of some songs on their debut album, Fallen
