Rock Bands

There have been all kinds of different types of rock bands throughout the years. Most of the bands have had a different type of style. All of these different types of style are what has shaped today's music. Some of the bands from the earlier times were: The Beatles, AC/DC, Guns and Roses and the Bee Gees.

The Beatles were the greatest and most powerful act of the rock era. They introduced more innovations into popular music than any other rock band of the 20th century. The Beatles grabbed a hold of the attention in 1964 and never let go for the next six years. The Beatles were the first British rock group to achieve worldwide prominence. The Beatles knew each other and had already been playing together in Liverpool for about five years before they had begun having hit records. As composers, their craft and melodic inventive were the best. As singers, both John Lennon and Paul McCartney were among the best and most expressive vocalists in rock and as performers they were exciting and photogenic. Guitarist and teenage rebel John Lennon got hooked on rock and roll in the mid fifties and formed a band called the Quarrymen at his high school. Around 1957, the Quarrymen were joined by another guitarist, Paul McCartney. Soon another guitarist, George Harrison, joined them. The quarrymen changed people throughout the 50's eventually reducing to the three core guitarist who had proven themselves. The Quarrymen changed their name to the "Silver Beatles" but soon dropped the "Silver" to become just "The Beatles". Lennon's art college friend, Stuart Sutcliffe, joined the band on bass. Finding a permanent drummer was hard until in the summer of 1960, Pete Best joined.

The group was forced to expand its repertoire, tighten up its chops, and invest its show with enough manic energy to keep its rowdy crowds satisfied. Sutcliffe soon quit and McCartney took over on the bass. Harrison settled in as lead guitarist and Lennon had rhythm guitar. In the middle of the 1961 the Beatles made their first recordings in Germany. The Hamburg Stint was notable for gaining the Beatles sophisticated, artistic fans. In 1961, the Beatles exploding popularity caught the attention of a local record store owner Brian Epstein, who soon became the bands manager. In 1962, Sutcliffe tragically died from a brain hemorrhage. The Beatles were signed by Martin in the middle of 1962. Epstein, who had helped the Beatles before, tried influencing the Beatles to smarten their appearance, getting rid of the leather jackets and trousers for tailored suits and ties. In August 1962, drummer Pete Best was kicked out of the band, a controversial decision that has been the cause of much speculation since. The Beatles phenomenon didn't truly kick in until "Please Please Me," which topped the British charts in early 1963. This was the prototype British Invasion single which was an infectious melody, charging guitars, and positively exuberant harmonies. "Please Please Me" topped the British charts for an astonishing 30 weeks, establishing the group as the most popular rock & roll act ever seen in the U.K. One of the reasons why the Beatles were so good is because they took what was popular and made it their own kind of thing. After some celebrated national TV appearances, Beatle mania broke out across the British Isles in late 1963, and the group generating screams and hysteria at all of their public appearances, musical or otherwise. Capitol was the first refusal of the Beatles' recordings in the United States. Capitol had declined to issue the group's first few singles, which ended up appearing on relatively small American independents. Capitol took up its option on "I Want to Hold Your Hand," which stormed to the top of the U.S. charts within weeks of its release on December 26, 1963. The Beatles' television appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show in February of 1964 launched Beatle mania even bigger than it had reached in Britain. In the first week of April 1964, the Beatles had the top five best-selling singles in the U.S.; they also had the first two slots on the album charts, as well as other entries throughout the Billboard Top 100. No one had ever dominated the market for popular music so heavily. The Beatles continued to reach number one with most of their singles and albums, however, in 1970 the band broke up.

AC/DC was one of the most influential hard rock sounds of the 1970's. AC/DC was formed in 1973 in Australia by guitarist Malcolm Young and his brother Angus. Angus was only fifteen years old at the time. Their sister suggested that they should wear their school uniform on stage so this became their visual trademark. The band moved from Sydney to Melbourne the next year, where drummer Phil Rudd and bassist Mark Evans joined the band. Bon Scott became their lead singer when Dave Evans refused to go on stage. Scott had been vocalist for the Australian bands Fraternity and the Valentines. He also helped cement the group's image as brutes. He had several convictions on minor criminal offenses and was rejected by the Australian Army for being "socially maladjusted." Throughout their career they favored crude double entendres and violent imagery, all spiked with a mischievous sense of fun. The group released two albums High Voltage and TNT in Australia in 1974 and 1975. Material from the two records comprised the 1976 release High Voltage in the U.S. and U.K.; the group also toured both countries. Dirty Deeds Done Cheap followed at the end of the year. Evans left the band at the beginning of 1977, with Cliff Williams taking his place. In the fall of 1977, AC/DC released Let There Be Rock, which became their first album to chart in the U.S. What really broke the doors down for the band was the following year's Highway to Hell, which hit number 17 in the U.S. and number eight in the U.K., becoming the group's first million-seller. Bon Scott died from alcohol poison