Rock Music of the 2000's

Without taking this American Music class, I would have still had the same ideas about rock and roll as I (and probably many others) used to: that it was all about the wild, electric guitar-wielding stars of the 1960's and 1970's that inspired the rockers who followed. Names like Hendrix and Paige are ingrained in my mind as the frontrunners of the rock and roll movement. And they were in a way. Names like Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters were familiar to me, but I never quite realized the size of the effect musicians like them had on the rock 'n roll movement. They really broke new ground with their heavy use of electric guitars and vocal distortion, which defines virtually all rock bands of my generation. Of course there are countless offshoot genres of Rhythm & Blues, but it amazes me to realize that if one were to retrospectively trace the influences of successful rock musicians today, they would probably lead back to the Rhythm & Blues artists who started a revolutionary movement that dominates American popular music today.