Hard Rock

Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard rock music was produced by the Kinks, the Who, The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Cream, Vanilla Fudge, and the Jimi Hendrix Experience. In the late 1960s, bands such as Blue Cheer, the Jeff Beck Group, Iron Butterfly, Led Zeppelin, Golden Earring, Steppenwolf and Deep Purple also produced hard rock.

The genre developed into a major form of popular music in the 1970s, with the Who, Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple being joined by Queen, AC/DC, Aerosmith, Kiss, and Van Halen. During the 1980s, some hard rock bands moved away from their hard rock roots and more towards pop rock.V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra and S. T. Erlewine, ''All Music Guide to Rock: the Definitive Guide to Rock, Pop, and Soul'' (Milwaukee, WI: Backbeat Books, 3rd edn., 2002), , pp. 903–5. Established bands made a comeback in the mid-1980s and hard rock reached a commercial peak in the 1980s, with glam metal bands such as Bon Jovi and Def Leppard and the rawer sounds of Guns N' Roses which followed with great success in the later part of that decade.

Hard rock began losing popularity with the commercial success of R&B, hip-hop, urban pop, grunge and later Britpop in the 1990s. Despite this, many post-grunge bands adopted a hard rock sound and the 2000s saw a renewed interest in established bands, attempts at a revival, and new hard rock bands that emerged from the garage rock and post-punk revival scenes. Out of this movement came garage rock bands like the White Stripes, the Strokes, Interpol and later the Black Keys. In the 2000s, only a few hard rock bands from the 1970s and 1980s managed to sustain highly successful recording careers.

Definitions

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 bass drum and a backbeat on snare, sometimes using cymbals for emphasis.R. Shuker, ''Popular Music: the Key Concepts'', (Abingdon: Routledge, 2nd end., 2005), , pp. 130–1. The bass guitar works in conjunction with the drums, occasionally playing riffs, but usually providing a backing for the rhythm and lead guitars. Vocals are often growling, raspy, or involve screaming or wailing, sometimes in a high range, or even falsetto voice.

In the late 1960s, the term heavy metal was used interchangeably with hard rock, but gradually began to be used to describe music played with even more volume and intensity. While hard rock maintained a bluesy rock and roll identity, including some swing in the back beat and riffs that tended to outline chord progressions in their hooks, heavy metal's riffs often functioned as stand-alone melodies and had no swing in them.. In the 1980s heavy metal developed a number of subgenres, often termed extreme metal, some of which were influenced by hardcore punk, and which further differentiated the two styles.V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra and S. T. Erlewine, ''All Music Guide to Rock: the Definitive Guide to Rock, Pop, and Soul'' (Milwaukee, WI: Backbeat Books, 3rd edn., 2002), , pp. 1332–3. Despite this differentiation, hard rock and heavy metal have existed side by side, with bands frequently standing on the boundary of, or crossing between, the genres.

History

The roots of hard rock can be traced back to the mid to late 1950s, particularly electric blues, which laid the foundations for key elements such as a rough declamatory vocal style, heavy guitar riffs, string-bending blues-scale guitar solos, strong beat, thick riff-laden texture, and posturing performances.Michael Campbell & James Brody (2007), ''Rock and Roll: An Introduction''
page 201
/ref> Electric blues guitarists began experimenting with hard rock elements such as driving rhythms, distorted guitar solos and power chords in the 1950s, evident in the work of Memphis blues guitarists such as Joe Hill Louis, Willie Johnson, and particularly Pat Hare, who captured a "grittier, nastier, more ferocious electric guitar sound" on records such as James Cotton's " Cotton Crop Blues" (1954). Robert Palmer, "Church of the Sonic Guitar", pp. 13–38 in Anthony DeCurtis, ''Present Tense'' (Durham NC: Duke University Press, 1992), , pp. 24–27. Other antecedents include Link Wray's instrumental " Rumble" in 1958, and the surf rock instrumentals of Dick Dale, such as "Let's Go Trippin'" (1961) and "Misirlou" (1962).

Origins (1960s)

In the 1960s, American and British blues and rock bands began to modify rock and roll by adding harder sounds, heavier guitar riffs, bombastic drumming, and louder vocals, from electric blues. Early forms of hard rock can be heard in the work of Chicago blues musicians Elmore James, Muddy Waters, and Howlin' Wolf, the Kingsmen's version of "Louie Louie" (1963) which made it a garage rock standard,P. Buckley, ''The Rough Guide to Rock'' (London: Rough Guides, 2003), , p. 1144. and the songs of rhythm and blues influenced British Invasion acts,R. Unterberger, "Early British R&B", in V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra and S. T. Erlewine, ''All Music Guide to Rock: the Definitive Guide to Rock, Pop, and Soul'' (Milwaukee, WI: Backbeat Books, 3rd edn., 2002), , pp. 1315–6. including "You Really Got Me" by the Kinks (1964), "My Generation" by the Who (1965) and " (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" (1965) by the Rolling Stones. From the late 1960s, it became common to divide mainstream rock music that emerged from psychedelia into soft and hard rock. Soft rock was often derived from folk rock, using acoustic instruments and putting more emphasis on melody and harmonies.J. M. Curtis, ''Rock Eras: Interpretations of Music and Society, 1954–1984'' (Madison, WI: Popular Press, 1987), , p. 447. In contrast, hard rock was most often derived from blues rock and was played louder and with more intensity.

Blues rock acts that pioneered the sound included Cream, the Jimi Hendrix Experience, and the Jeff Beck Group. Cream, in songs like "I Feel Free" (1966) combined blues rock with pop and psychedelia, particularly in the riffs and guitar solos of Eric Clapton. Cream's best known-song, " Sunshine of Your Love" (1967), is sometimes considered to be the culmination of the British adaptation of blues into rock and a direct precursor of Led Zeppelin's style of hard rock and heavy metal. Jimi Hendrix produced a form of blues-influenced psychedelic rock, which combined elements of jazz, blues and rock and roll. 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.V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra, S. T. Erlewine, eds, ''All Music Guide to the Blues: The Definitive Guide to the Blues'' (Backbeat, 3rd edn., 2003), , pp. 700–2. Dave Davies of the Kinks, Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, Pete Townshend of the Who, Hendrix, Clapton and Beck all pioneered the use of new guitar effects like phasing, feedback and distortion. The Doors' debut album released in 1967, included songs like " Soul Kitchen", "Twentieth Century Fox", and a cover version of "Back Door Man", which were what music journalist Stephen Davis characterized as "enough hard rock tracks". The Beatles began producing songs in the new hard rock style beginning with their 1968 double album ''The Beatles'' (also known as the "White Album") and, with the track " Helter Skelter", attempted to create a greater level of noise than the Who. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic has referred to the "proto-metal roar" of "Helter Skelter", while Ian MacDonald called it "ridiculous, with McCartney shrieking weedily against a massively tape-echoed backdrop of out-of-tune thrashing".I. Macdonald, ''Revolution in the Head: The Beatles Records and the Sixties'' (London: Vintage, 3rd edn., 2005), p. 298.

Groups that emerged from the American psychedelic scene about the same time included Iron Butterfly, MC5, Blue Cheer and Vanilla Fudge.R. Walser, ''Running With the Devil: Power, Gender, and Madness in Heavy Metal Music'' (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1993), , pp. 9–10. San Francisco band Blue Cheer released a crude and distorted cover of Eddie Cochran's classic "Summertime Blues", from their 1968 debut album ''Vincebus Eruptum'', that outlined much of the later hard rock and heavy metal sound. The same month, Steppenwolf released its self-titled debut album, including "Born to Be Wild", which contained the first lyrical reference to heavy metal and helped popularise the style when it was used in the film ''Easy Rider'' (1969). Iron Butterfly's ''In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida'' (1968), with its 17-minute-long title track, using organs and with a lengthy drum solo, also prefigured later elements of the sound.

By the end of the decade a distinct genre of hard rock was emerging with bands like Led Zeppelin, who mixed the music of early rock bands with a more hard-edged form of blues rock and acid rock on their first two albums ''Led Zeppelin'' (1969) and ''Led Zeppelin II'' (1969), and Deep Purple, who began as a progressive rock group in 1968 but achieved their commercial breakthrough with their fourth and distinctively heavier album, ''Deep Purple in Rock'' (1970). Also significant was Black Sabbath's ''Paranoid'' (1970), which combined guitar riffs with dissonance and more explicit references to the occult and elements of Gothic horror. All three of these bands have been seen as pivotal in the development of heavy metal, but where metal further accentuated the intensity of the music, with bands like Judas Priest following Sabbath's lead into territory that was often "darker and more menacing", hard rock tended to continue to remain the more exuberant, good-time music.

Expansion (1970s)

In the early 1970s the Rolling Stones further developed their hard rock sound with '' Exile on Main St.'' (1972). Initially receiving mixed reviews, according to critic Steve Erlewine it is now "generally regarded as the Rolling Stones' finest album". They continued to pursue the riff-heavy sound on albums including '' It's Only Rock 'n' Roll'' (1974) and ''Black and Blue'' (1976). Led Zeppelin began to mix elements of world and folk music into their hard rock from ''Led Zeppelin III'' (1970) and '' Led Zeppelin IV'' (1971). The latter included the track " Stairway to Heaven", which would become the most played song in the history of album-oriented radio. Deep Purple continued to define their unique brand of hard rock, particularly with their album ''Machine Head'' (1972), which included the tracks " Highway Star" and "Smoke on the Water". In 1975 guitarist Ritchie Blackmore left, going on to form Rainbow and after the break-up of the band the next year, vocalist David Coverdale formed Whitesnake.V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra and S. T. Erlewine, ''All Music Guide to Rock: the Definitive Guide to Rock, Pop, and Soul'' (Milwaukee, WI: Backbeat Books, 3rd edn., 2002), , pp. 292–3. 1970 saw the Who release ''Live at Leeds'', often seen as the archetypal hard rock live album, and the following year they released their highly acclaimed album ''Who's Next'', which mixed heavy rock with extensive use of synthesizers. Subsequent albums, including ''Quadrophenia'' (1973), built on this sound before ''Who Are You'' (1978), their last album before the death of pioneering rock drummer Keith Moon later that year.V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra and S. T. Erlewine, ''All Music Guide to Rock: the Definitive Guide to Rock, Pop, and Soul'' (Milwaukee, WI: Backbeat Books, 3rd edn., 2002), , pp. 1220–2.

Emerging British acts included Free, who released their signature song "All Right Now" (1970), which has received extensive radio airplay in both the UK and US. After the breakup of the band in 1973, vocalist Paul Rodgers joined supergroup Bad Company, whose eponymous first album (1974) was an international hit.V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra and S. T. Erlewine, ''All Music Guide to Rock: the Definitive Guide to Rock, Pop, and Soul'' (Milwaukee, WI: Backbeat Books, 3rd edn., 2002), , pp. 52–3. UK band Foghat also found success throughout the decade with their boogie and blues style. The mixture of hard rock and progressive rock, evident in the works of Deep Purple, was pursued more directly by bands like Uriah Heep and Argent. Scottish band Nazareth released their self-titled début album in 1971, producing a blend of hard rock and pop that would culminate in their best selling, ''Hair of the Dog'' (1975), which contained the proto-power ballad "Love Hurts". Having enjoyed some national success in the early 1970s, Queen, after the release of ''Sheer Heart Attack'' (1974) and '' A Night at the Opera'' (1975), gained international recognition with a sound that used layered vocals and guitars and mixed hard rock with heavy metal, progressive rock, and even opera.. The latter featured the hit single "Bohemian Rhapsody".

In the United States, shock-rock pioneer Alice Cooper achieved mainstream success with '' School's Out'' (1972), and followed up with ''Billion Dollar Babies'', which reached the No. 1 position on the ''Billboard 200'' albums chart in 1973. Also in 1973, blues rockers ZZ Top released their classic album ''Tres Hombres'' and Aerosmith produced their eponymous début, as did Southern rockers Lynyrd Skynyrd and proto-punk outfit New York Dolls, demonstrating the diverse directions being pursued in the genre.V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra and S. T. Erlewine, ''All Music Guide to Rock: the Definitive Guide to Rock, Pop, and Soul'' (Milwaukee, WI: Backbeat Books, 3rd edn., 2002), , pp. 9–11, 681–2, 794 and 1271–2. Montrose, including the instrumental talent of Ronnie Montrose and vocals of Sammy Hagar released their first album in 1973. Former bubblegum-pop family act the Osmonds recorded two hard rock albums in 1972 and had their breakthrough in the UK with the hard rock hit "Crazy Horses.""The Osmonds: how we made Crazy Horses" The Guardian 23 January 2017
/ref> Kiss built on the theatrics of Alice Cooper and the look of the New York Dolls to produce a unique band persona, achieving their commercial breakthrough with the double live album '' Alive!'' in 1975 and helping to take hard rock into the stadium rock era. In the mid-1970s Aerosmith achieved their commercial and artistic breakthrough with '' Toys in the Attic'' (1975) and ''Rocks'' (1976), Blue Öyster Cult, formed in the late 1960s, picked up on some of the elements introduced by Black Sabbath with their breakthrough live gold album ''On Your Feet or on Your Knees'' (1975), followed by their first platinum album, ''Agents of Fortune'' (1976), containing the hit single " (Don't Fear) The Reaper". Journey released their eponymous debut in 1975W. Ruhlmann, "Journey" ''Allmusic'', retrieved 20 June 2010. and the next year Boston released their highly successful début album.V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra and S. T. Erlewine, ''All Music Guide to Rock: the Definitive Guide to Rock, Pop, and Soul'' (Milwaukee, WI: Backbeat Books, 3rd edn., 2002), , p. 132. In the same year, hard rock bands featuring women saw commercial success as Heart released ''Dreamboat Annie'' and the Runaways débuted with their self-titled album. While Heart had a more folk-oriented hard rock sound, the Runaways leaned more towards a mix of punk-influenced music and hard rock. The Amboy Dukes, having emerged from the Detroit garage rock scene and most famous for their psychedelic hit "Journey to the Center of the Mind" (1968), were dissolved by their guitarist Ted Nugent, who embarked on a solo career that resulted in four successive multi-platinum albums between ''Ted Nugent'' (1975) and his best selling ''Double Live Gonzo!'' (1978).RIAA Gold and Platinum Search for albums by Ted Nugent
/ref> "Goodbye to Love" by The Carpenters, a duo whose music was otherwise almost exclusively soft rock, drew hate mail for its incorporation of a hard rock fuzz guitar solo by Tony Peluso.

From outside the United Kingdom and the United States, the Canadian trio Rush released three distinctively hard rock albums in 1974–75 ('' Rush'', '' Fly by Night'' and ''Caress of Steel'') before moving toward a more progressive sound with the 1976 album '' 2112''.V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra and S. T. Erlewine, ''All Music Guide to Rock: the Definitive Guide to Rock, Pop, and Soul'' (Milwaukee, WI: Backbeat Books, 3rd edn., 2002), , p. 966. Also from Canada, Triumph released their debut album in 1976 before their breakthrough came in the form of the '' Just a Game'' album in 1979. Later, the band's streak of popularity continued with the '' Allied Forces'' album in 1981. The Irish band Thin Lizzy, which had formed in the late 1960s, made their most substantial commercial breakthrough in 1976 with the hard rock album '' Jailbreak'' and their worldwide hit "The Boys Are Back in Town". Their style, consisting of two duelling guitarists often playing leads in harmony, proved itself to be a large influence on later bands. They reached their commercial, and arguably their artistic peak with '' Black Rose: A Rock Legend'' (1979).V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra and S. T. Erlewine, ''All Music Guide to Rock: the Definitive Guide to Rock, Pop, and Soul'' (Milwaukee, WI: Backbeat Books, 3rd edn., 2002), , pp. 1333–4. The arrival of the Scorpions from Germany marked the geographical expansion of the subgenre.R. Walser, ''Running With the Devil: Power, Gender, and Madness in Heavy Metal Music'' (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1993), , p. 10. Australian-formed AC/DC, with a stripped back, riff heavy and abrasive style that also appealed to the punk generation, began to gain international attention from 1976, culminating in the release of their multi-platinum albums ''Let There Be Rock'' (1977) and ''Highway to Hell'' (1979).V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra and S. T. Erlewine, ''All Music Guide to Rock: the Definitive Guide to Rock, Pop, and Soul'' (Milwaukee, WI: Backbeat Books, 3rd edn., 2002), , pp. 3–5. Also influenced by a punk ethos were heavy metal bands like Motörhead, while Judas Priest abandoned the remaining elements of the blues in their music,V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra and S. T. Erlewine, ''All Music Guide to Rock: the Definitive Guide to Rock, Pop, and Soul'' (Milwaukee, WI: Backbeat Books, 3rd edn., 2002), , pp. 605–6. further differentiating the hard rock and heavy metal styles and helping to create the new wave of British heavy metal which was pursued by bands like Iron Maiden, Saxon, and Venom.

With the rise of disco in the US and punk rock in the UK, hard rock's mainstream dominance was rivalled toward the later part of the decade. Disco appealed to a more diverse group of people and punk seemed to take over the rebellious role that hard rock once held. Early punk bands like the Ramones explicitly rebelled against the drum solos and extended guitar solos that characterised stadium rock, with almost all of their songs clocking in under three minutes with no guitar solos. However, new rock acts continued to emerge and record sales remained high into the 1980s. 1977 saw the début and rise to stardom of Foreigner, who went on to release several platinum albums through to the mid-1980s.V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra and S. T. Erlewine, ''All Music Guide to Rock: the Definitive Guide to Rock, Pop, and Soul'' (Milwaukee, WI: Backbeat Books, 3rd edn., 2002), , pp. 425–6. Midwestern groups like Kansas, REO Speedwagon and Styx helped further cement heavy rock in the Midwest as a form of stadium rock. In 1978, Van Halen emerged from the Los Angeles music scene with a sound based around the skills of lead guitarist Eddie Van Halen. He popularised a guitar-playing technique of two-handed hammer-ons and pull-offs called tapping, showcased on the song "Eruption" from the album ''Van Halen'', which was highly influential in re-establishing hard rock as a popular genre after the punk and disco explosion, while also redefining and elevating the role of electric guitar.V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra and S. T. Erlewine, ''All Music Guide to Rock: the Definitive Guide to Rock, Pop, and Soul'' (Milwaukee, WI: Backbeat Books, 3rd edn., 2002), , pp. 1182–3. In the 1970s and 80s, several European bands, including the German Michael Schenker Group, the Swedish band Europe, and Dutch bands Golden Earring, Vandenberg and Vengeance experienced success both in Europe and internationally.

Glam metal era (1980s)

The opening years of the 1980s saw a number of changes in personnel and direction of established hard rock acts, including the deaths of Bon Scott, the lead singer of AC/DC, and John Bonham, drummer with Led Zeppelin. Whereas Zeppelin broke up almost immediately afterwards, AC/DC pressed on, recording the album ''Back in Black'' (1980) with their new lead singer, Brian Johnson. It became the fifth-highest-selling album of all time in the US and the second-highest-selling album in the world. Black Sabbath had split with original singer Ozzy Osbourne in 1979 and replaced him with Ronnie James Dio, formerly of Rainbow, giving the band a new sound and a period of creativity and popularity beginning with '' Heaven and Hell'' (1980). Osbourne embarked on a solo career with ''Blizzard of Ozz'' (1980), featuring American guitarist Randy Rhoads.V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra and S. T. Erlewine, ''All Music Guide to Rock: the Definitive Guide to Rock, Pop, and Soul'' (Milwaukee, WI: Backbeat Books, 3rd edn., 2002), , pp. 105–6. Some bands, such as Queen, moved away from their hard rock roots and more towards pop rock, while others, including Rush with '' Moving Pictures'' (1981), began to return to a hard rock sound. The creation of thrash metal, which mixed heavy metal with elements of hardcore punk from about 1982, particularly by Metallica, Anthrax, Megadeth and Slayer, helped to create extreme metal and further remove the style from hard rock, although a number of these bands or their members would continue to record some songs closer to a hard rock sound.V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra and S. T. Erlewine, ''All Music Guide to Rock: the Definitive Guide to Rock, Pop, and Soul'' (Milwaukee, WI: Backbeat Books, 3rd edn., 2002), , p. 1332.R. Walser, ''Running with the Devil: Power, Gender, and Madness in Heavy Metal Music'' (Wesleyan University Press, 2003), , pp. 11–14. Kiss moved away from their hard rock roots toward pop metal: firstly removing their makeup in 1983 for their ''Lick It Up'' album, and then adopting the visual and sound of glam metal for their 1984 release, '' Animalize'', both of which marked a return to commercial success. Pat Benatar was one of the first women to achieve commercial success in hard rock, releasing four consecutive US Top Five albums between 1980 and 1983.

Often categorised with the new wave of British heavy metal, in 1981 Def Leppard released their second album ''High 'n' Dry'', mixing glam-rock with heavy metal, and helping to define the sound of hard rock for the decade.V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra and S. T. Erlewine, ''All Music Guide to Rock: the Definitive Guide to Rock, Pop, and Soul'' (Milwaukee, WI: Backbeat Books, 3rd edn., 2002), , pp. 293–4. The follow-up ''Pyromania'' (1983) was a big hit and the singles "Photograph", "Rock of Ages" and "Foolin'", helped by the emergence of MTV, were successful. It was widely emulated, particularly by the emerging Californian glam metal scene. This was followed by US acts like Mötley Crüe, with their albums ''Too Fast for Love'' (1981) and ''Shout at the Devil'' (1983) and, as the style grew, the arrival of bands such as Ratt,S. T. Erlewine & G. Prato, "Ratt" ''Allmusic'', retrieved 19 June 2010. White Lion,G. Prato, "White Lion" ''Allmusic'', retrieved 19 June 2010. Twisted Sister and Quiet Riot. Quiet Riot's album ''Metal Health'' (1983) was the first glam metal album, and arguably the first heavy metal album of any kind, to reach number one in the ''Billboard'' music charts and helped open the doors for mainstream success by subsequent bands.

Established bands made something of a comeback in the mid-1980s. After an 8-year separation, Deep Purple returned with the classic ''Machine Head'' line-up to produce '' Perfect Strangers'' (1984) which was a platinum-seller in the US and reached the top ten in nine other countries. After somewhat slower sales of its fourth album, '' Fair Warning'', Van Halen rebounded with ''Diver Down'' in 1982, then reached their commercial pinnacle with '' 1984''. Heart, after floundering during the first half of the decade, made a comeback with their eponymous ninth studio album which contained four hit singles. The new medium of video channels was used with considerable success by bands formed in previous decades. Among the first were ZZ Top, who mixed hard-edged blues rock with new wave music to produce a series of highly successful singles, beginning with "Gimme All Your Lovin'" (1983), which helped their albums '' Eliminator'' (1983) and ''Afterburner'' (1985) achieve diamond and multi-platinum status respectively.V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra and S. T. Erlewine, ''All Music Guide to Rock: the Definitive Guide to Rock, Pop, and Soul'' (Milwaukee, WI: Backbeat Books, 3rd edn., 2002), , pp. 1271–2. Others found renewed success in the singles charts with power ballads, including REO Speedwagon with " Keep on Loving You" (1980) and "Can't Fight This Feeling" (1984), Journey with "Don't Stop Believin'" (1981) and " Open Arms" (1982), Foreigner's "Waiting for a Girl Like You" (1981) and "I Want to Know What Love Is" (1984),S. Frith, "Pop Music" in S. Frith, W. Straw and J. Street, eds, ''The Cambridge Companion to Pop and Rock'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), , pp. 100–1. Scorpions' " Still Loving You" (1984), Heart's "What About Love" (1985) and Boston's " Amanda" (1986).

Bon Jovi's third album, ''Slippery When Wet'' (1986), mixed hard rock with a pop sensitivity selling 12 million copies in the US while becoming the first hard rock album to spawn three hit singles. The album has been credited with widening the audiences for the genre, particularly by appealing to women as well as the traditional male dominated audience, and opening the door to MTV and commercial success for other bands at the end of the decade. The anthemic '' The Final Countdown'' (1986) by Swedish group Europe was an international hit. This era also saw more glam-infused American hard rock bands come to the forefront, with both Poison and Cinderella releasing their multi-platinum début albums in 1986.B. Weber, "Poison" ''Allmusic'', retrieved 19 June 2010.W. Ruhlmann, "Cinderella" ''Allmusic'', retrieved 19 June 2010. Van Halen released '' 5150'' (1986), their first album with Sammy Hagar on lead vocals, which sold over 6 million copies. By the second half of the decade, hard rock had become the most reliable form of commercial popular music in the United States.

Established acts benefited from the new commercial climate, with Whitesnake's self-titled album (1987) selling over 17 million copies, outperforming anything in Coverdale's or Deep Purple's catalogue before or since. It featured the rock anthem "Here I Go Again '87" as one of 4 UK top 20 singles. The follow-up ''Slip of the Tongue'' (1989) went platinum, but according to critics Steve Erlwine and Greg Prato, "it was a considerable disappointment after the across-the-board success of ''Whitesnake''". Aerosmith's comeback album '' Permanent Vacation'' (1987) would begin a decade long revival of their popularity.S. T. Erlewine, "Aerosmith" ''Allmusic'', retrieved 27 September 2010. ''Crazy Nights'' (1987) by Kiss was the band's biggest hit album since 1979 and the highest of their career in the UK. Mötley Crüe with '' Girls, Girls, Girls'' (1987) continued their commercial successV. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra and S. T. Erlewine, ''All Music Guide to Rock: the Definitive Guide to Rock, Pop, and Soul'' (Milwaukee, WI: Backbeat Books, 3rd edn., 2002), , pp. 767–8. and Def Leppard with '' Hysteria'' (1987) hit their commercial peak, the latter producing six hit singles (a record for a hard rock act). Guns N' Roses released the best-selling début of all time, ''Appetite for Destruction'' (1987). With a "grittier" and "rawer" sound than most glam metal, it produced three hits, including "Sweet Child O' Mine".V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra and S. T. Erlewine, ''All Music Guide to Rock: the Definitive Guide to Rock, Pop, and Soul'' (Milwaukee, WI: Backbeat Books, 3rd edn., 2002), , pp. 494–5. Some of the glam rock bands that formed in the mid-1980s, such as White Lion and Cinderella experienced their biggest success during this period with their respective albums ''Pride'' (1987) and '' Long Cold Winter'' (1988) both going multi-platinum and launching a series of hit singles. In the last years of the decade, the most notable successes were ''New Jersey'' (1988) by Bon Jovi,S. T. Erlewine, "Bon Jovi" ''Allmusic'', retrieved 20 June 2010. ''OU812'' (1988) by Van Halen, '' Open Up and Say... Ahh!'' (1988) by Poison'', Pump'' (1989) by Aerosmith, and Mötley Crüe's most commercially successful album '' Dr. Feelgood'' (1989). ''New Jersey'' spawned five hit singles. In 1988 from 25 June to 5 November, the number one spot on the Billboard 200 album chart was held by a hard rock album for 18 out of 20 consecutive weeks; the albums were ''OU812'', ''Hysteria'', ''Appetite for Destruction'', and ''New Jersey''. A final wave of glam rock bands arrived in the late 1980s, and experienced success with multi-platinum albums and hit singles from 1989 until the early 1990s, among them Extreme, Warrant Slaughter and FireHouse. Skid Row also released their eponymous début (1989), but they were to be one of the last major bands that emerged in the glam rock era.V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra and S. T. Erlewine, ''All Music Guide to Rock: the Definitive Guide to Rock, Pop, and Soul'' (Milwaukee, WI: Backbeat Books, 3rd edn., 2002), , pp. 1018–9.

Grunge and Britpop (1990s)

Hard rock entered the 1990s as one of the dominant forms of commercial music. The multi-platinum releases of AC/DC's '' The Razors Edge'' (1990), Guns N' Roses' ''Use Your Illusion I'' and ''Use Your Illusion II'' (both in 1991), Ozzy Osbourne's ''No More Tears'' (1991), and Van Halen's ''For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge'' (1991) showcased this popularity. Additionally, the Black Crowes released their debut album, '' Shake Your Money Maker'' (1990), which contained a bluesy classic rock sound and sold five million copies. In 1992, Def Leppard followed up 1987's ''Hysteria'' with ''Adrenalize'', which went multi-platinum, spawned four Top 40 singles and held the number one spot on the US album chart for five weeks.

While these few hard rock bands managed to maintain success and popularity in the early part of the decade, alternative forms of hard rock achieved mainstream success in the form of grunge in the US and Britpop in the UK. This was particularly evident after the success of Nirvana's ''Nevermind'' (1991), which combined elements of hardcore punk and heavy metal into a "dirty" sound that made use of heavy guitar distortion, fuzz and feedback, along with darker lyrical themes than their "hair band" predecessors. "Grunge" ''Allmusic'', retrieved 18 June 2010. Although most grunge bands had a sound that sharply contrasted mainstream hard rock, several, including Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Mother Love Bone and Soundgarden, were more strongly influenced by 1970s and 1980s rock and metal, while Stone Temple Pilots managed to turn alternative rock into a form of stadium rock. However, all grunge bands shunned the macho, anthemic and fashion-focused aesthetics particularly associated with glam metal. In the UK, Oasis were unusual among the Britpop bands of the mid-1990s in incorporating a hard rock sound. Welsh band Manic Street Preachers emerged in 1991 with a sound Stephen Thomas Erlewine proclaimed to be "crunching hard-rock". By 1996, the band enjoyed remarkable vogue throughout much of the world, but were commercially unsuccessful in the U.S.

In the new commercial climate glam metal bands like Europe, Ratt, White Lion and Cinderella broke up, Whitesnake went on hiatus in 1991, and while many of these bands would re-unite again in the late 1990s or early 2000s, they never reached the commercial success they saw in the 1980s or early 1990s. "Hair metal" ''Allmusic'', retrieved 14 June 2010. Other bands such as Mötley Crüe and Poison saw personnel changes which impacted those bands' commercial viability during the decade. In 1995 Van Halen released ''Balance'', a multi-platinum seller that would be the band's last with Sammy Hagar on vocals. In 1996 David Lee Roth returned briefly and his replacement, former Extreme singer Gary Cherone, was fired soon after the release of the commercially unsuccessful 1998 album ''Van Halen III'' and Van Halen would not tour or record again until 2004. Guns N' Roses' original lineup was whittled away throughout the decade. Drummer Steven Adler was fired in 1990, guitarist Izzy Stradlin left in late 1991 after recording ''Use Your Illusion I and II'' with the band. Tensions between the other band members and lead singer Axl Rose continued after the release of the 1993 covers album '' The Spaghetti Incident?'' Guitarist Slash left in 1996, followed by bassist Duff McKagan in 1997. Axl Rose, the only original member, worked with a constantly changing lineup in recording an album that would take over fifteen years to complete.S. T. Erlewine and G. Prato, "Guns N' Roses" ''Allmusic'', retrieved 19 June 2010. Slash and McKagan eventually rejoined the band in 2016 and went on the Not in this Lifetime... Tour with them.

Some established acts continued to enjoy commercial success, such as Aerosmith, with their number one multi-platinum albums: ''Get a Grip'' (1993), which produced four hit singles and became the band's best-selling album worldwide (going on to sell over 10 million copies), and '' Nine Lives'' (1997). In 1998, Aerosmith released the hit "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing". AC/DC produced the double platinum ''Ballbreaker'' (1995).S. T. Erlewine, "AC/DC" ''Allmusic'', retrieved 20 July 2010. Bon Jovi appealed to their hard rock audience with songs such as "Keep the Faith" (1992), but also achieved success in adult contemporary radio, with the hit ballads "Bed of Roses" (1993) and "Always" (1994). Bon Jovi's 1995 album ''These Days'' was a bigger hit in Europe than it was in the United States, spawning four hit singles in the UK. Metallica's '' Load'' (1996) and '' ReLoad'' (1997) each sold in excess of 4 million copies in the US and saw the band develop a more melodic and blues rock sound.V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra and S. T. Erlewine, ''All Music Guide to Rock: the Definitive Guide to Rock, Pop, and Soul'' (Milwaukee, WI: Backbeat Books, 3rd edn., 2002), , pp. 729–30. As the initial impetus of grunge bands faltered in the middle years of the decade, post-grunge bands emerged. They emulated the attitudes and music of grunge, particularly thick, distorted guitars, but with a more radio-friendly commercially oriented sound that drew more directly on traditional hard rock. "Post-grunge" ''Allmusic'', retrieved 17 January 2010. Among the most successful acts were the Foo Fighters, Candlebox, Live, Collective Soul, Australia's Silverchair and England's Bush, who all cemented post-grunge as one of the most commercially viable subgenres by the late 1990s.V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra and S. T. Erlewine, ''All Music Guide to Rock: the Definitive Guide to Rock, Pop, and Soul'' (Backbeat Books, 3rd edn., 2002), , pp. 1344–7. Similarly, some post-Britpop bands that followed in the wake of Oasis, including Feeder and Stereophonics, adopted a hard rock or "pop-metal" sound.

Survivals and revivals (2000s)

A few hard rock bands from the 1970s and 1980s managed to sustain highly successful recording careers. Bon Jovi were still able to achieve a commercial hit with " It's My Life" from their double platinum-certified album '' Crush'' (2000). and AC/DC released the platinum-certified ''Stiff Upper Lip

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