There are wildly different perceptions of rock and roll music worldwide. There are some who view it as an enjoyable genre of music to listen to, myself included. Like any other form of music, it is an outlet that allows the listener to forget about the real world and receive arural pleasure from sizzling guitar and thunderous drums.
However, there are a few misconceptions about rock and roll.
Some say that rock music is simply loud, boisterous noise. Others say it does not have any melody. That may be true for some artists and songs, but a substantial amount of it is quite meaningful in its lyrics and music. Music cannot be generalized, no matter what genre or mold it may fit.
Rock music can be defined as loud music with the typical instrumentation of electric guitar, bass guitar, drums and vocals. However, alternative instruments are also occasionally utilized in certain rock songs, such as keyboards and acoustic guitars. Rock and roll is my go-to music to listen to for various reasons. I love hearing the ferocity of electric guitars and strong, howling vocals. They instill a sense of power and urgency in me that I hardly receive by any other means. I especially enjoy listening to guitar solos, whether they are slow and melodic or fast and frantic.
However, some rock songs are emotionally powerful and gives the listener something he or she can relate to, just like almost any other genre of music. Rock music displays this in a powerful manner and it appeals to me because I like to get that feeling with both music and lyrics. This is where the primary misconceptions about rock music come into play.
There are some who believe that rock and roll is nothing but mindless noise. This is not true if one is trying to generalize because rock music has become extremely diverse over time. There is a variety of different forms of rock, such as hard rock, heavy metal, soft rock, alternative rock, punk rock, surf rock, rap rock and many others that have their own distinctive features.
A plethora of songs with typical rock instrumentation feature flowing melodies and tell a story through lyrics. Storytelling and melody have been staples of rock and roll ever since the Beatles burst onto the worldwide music scene in the 1960s, and most rock music today is characterized by this, albeit with more modern features like electronics.
Of course, there are some heavy metal and “screamo” artists that chiefly utilize noise and screaming as an outlet. I can see how someone would classify that as “just noise,” but I would not say the same for almost any other style of rock.
I do not believe rock and roll music should be viewed as garbled noise without melody by anyone. I think that this can be said for any type of music and can also be applied to life in general. In short, people should not judge anything as a whole until they actually delve into it.
