Rock is a music genre. Its style originated in the 40s and 50s from the fusion of Afro-American blues with country and folk. The structure of rock songs imitates the model of blues composition, in particular the “shout”: a countermelody that answers to some verses and becomes a sort of refrain that is repeated after each group of verses. Rock was born and developed in the early 50s in the United States as an artistic form of rebellion against the establishment. The rock of Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis captured the dreams and the expectations of young people. On 21 March 1952, Alan Freed organised in Cleveland, United States, the Moondog Coronation Ball, considered by many to be the first concert ever in the history of rock. In the early 60s, new musical trends coming from the United Kingdom transformed the style of rock: on the one hand, the beat of Beatles and Rolling Stones, on the other hand, the mod style of Who and Kinks. Whereas American rock from California was influenced by new cultural movements coming from the East: the result was psychedelic rock.

In the mid-70s things changed further: many musicians did not agree with the development of a baroque style in rock, known as “prog rock”. Therefore, many bands decided to go back to the original motivations, which led to the creation of hard rock, turned famous by Led Zeppelin. In the 80s, rock had become a global business, while new “alternative” bands kept on circulating. Such bands interpreted rock in an anti-commercial way. At the beginning of the 90s in the underground environments of some American cities arose the grunge culture. Nirvana, in Seattle, embodied and spread the nihilism of young people at the end of the millennium. Rock influences the lifestyle of people who plays and listens to it. Starting from the 50s, it has represented the soundtrack of hundreds of millions of young people all around the world, accompanying the cultural and social evolution of the artistic movements during the entire 20th century.