Explore › Rock
Genre guide

Rock music.
The genre that changed everything.

Rock music emerged in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, evolving from a blend of blues, country, and rhythm and blues. What began as a rebellious youth movement built around electric guitars and amplified sound grew into the most commercially dominant and culturally influential genre of the 20th century. From Chuck Berry to the Beatles, from Nirvana to Radiohead, rock has constantly reinvented itself - spawning hundreds of subgenres while keeping its core identity as music built on energy, attitude, and the electric guitar.

Browse featured Rock artists

From the genre's founders to the names still being discovered.

Rock articles
6 days ago
Mike Ness Had to Learn to Swallow Again. Then He Made the Best Social Distortion Album in Decades.
Social Distortion's "Born to Kill" — their first album in 15 years, released May 8 on Epitaph — is the record Mike Ness made after surviving tonsil cancer, surgery, and relearning how to sing. Co-produced with Dave Sardy and featuring Lucinda Williams and Benmont Tench of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, it's the most vital thing the band has made in decades.
6 days ago
Forty Years to the Top: Megadeth's Final Album Is Also Their First No. 1
Megadeth's self-titled seventeenth and final album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in January 2026 — the band's first-ever chart-topper — driven by 69,000 pure album sales and a farewell narrative built around physical decline, a closing track titled “The Last Note,” a bonus cover of “Ride the Lightning” that closes the circle on Dave Mustaine's entire career, and a launch tied to the theatrical documentary “Megadeth: Behind the Mask.”