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Hard rock is strongly influenced by music; the most frequently used in hard rock is the , which is a typical blues scale. Unlike traditional rock and roll (which takes elements of the "old" blues), hard rock incorporates elements of " ", a style of blues played with more modern instruments such as electric guitars, drums, and electric bass.

A notable departure from traditional blues forms is that hard rock is seldom restricted to the I, IV, and V prevalent in or , but includes other chords, typically rooted on tones of the .
The term "hard rock" is often applied to many styles of , their only common feature being that they deviate from pop rock, though this is generally incorrect. Two such examples are punk rock and grunge.

Punk rock uses a faster tempo and fewer riffs (often using ).
The predominant instruments in hard rock are the electric guitar, bass guitar, and drums. The role of the is very prevalent in hard rock.

Most hard rock bands comprise of two different types of guitarist: and . The lead guitarist plays the , and . Speed-enhancing techniques such as , and , are used by hard rock lead guitarists to maximize the speed of their solos and riffs.

The role of the rhythm guitarist is to compliment the lead guitarist and provide rhythmic and harmonic accompaniment to the other instruments in the band. The and 's role are important to the structure of hard rock music; the outlines the harmony of the music whilst the drums sustain the rhythm of the music.
During the 1970s, hard rock inspired a new genre of music known as " .

" The emergence of this genre has led to confusion between hard rock and heavy metal bands, as the distinctions between the two are usually subtle, and the distinction often comes down to a band's image, rather than its songs. The two genres have some , for example; heavy metal pioneers, such as , and , are often considered both heavy metal and hard rock, whereas, bands such as , , , , and , are normally referred to as hard rock.
What usually happens with heavy metal and hard rock is that bands like Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple will be considered heavy metal.

As more and more bands come along with heavier stuff, what would of been metal is now not as heavy as what is popular at the time.
To further the confusion, the most popular heavy metal subgenre of the , , was known to take influence from both the pioneering acts and other hard rock groups, such as Alice Cooper, KISS and Aerosmith, etc. Both KISS and Aerosmith subsequently went on to experiment with glam metal.

From a musical point of view, heavy metal tends to interpret the basic syncopated jazz rhythm of an eight and two sixteenth carried on a ride cymbal with a swing feel down to the bass line with a literal "straight up" feel. Thus the "dum da da dum da da dum" bass line is a standard basis for the heavy metal sound (as heard, for example, in 's song during the verses, or in 's song . Another good example is to listen to the difference between how the song is played by the original writers, and the interpretation as played by .

The primary difference between and is in the lyrics. Heavy metal lyrical content extends from "reality lament" tone of blues, discussing serious, provocative or philosophical ideas. Glam metal, on the other hand, extends from its more "fantasy escapist" tones of pop music, and tends to focus more on parties, having a good time, relationships.

, one of the first hard rock albums.

As stated, one of the major influences of hard rock is blues music, especially British blues. British rock bands, such as , , , and , modified rock and roll, adding to the standard genre; harder sounds, heavier guitar riffs, bombastic drumming and louder vocals.

This sound created the basis for hard rock. Early forms of hard rock can be heard in the songs " " and " by The Beatles, " " by The Who, and " " by The Kinks.
At the same time, , produced a form of blues-influenced , which combined elements of , blues and rock and roll, creating a unique genre.

He was one of the first guitarists to experiment with new guitar effects like , and .
Hard rock emerged from British groups of the late-1960s, such as Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, who mixed the music of early British rock bands with a more hard-edged form of . Led Zeppelin's eponymous first album, (1969), is an example of blues rock which represents the beginning of the hard rock genre.

The blues origins of the album are clear, and a few songs by well-known blues artists are adapted or covered within it. Later, Deep Purple entered the hard rock scene with the albums, (1968), (1968), and (1969).
by Deep Purple.

Led Zeppelin's third album, was more -oriented than their second, but the heavy aspects of their music remained. In 1970, Black Sabbath released what is considered the first heavy metal album, . Black Sabbath's music was revolutionary even in hard rock; it was typified by dark lyrics, hard riffs and a heavy atmosphere, transforming the current hard rock into to an early form of heavy metal.

Deep Purple's transformation of hard rock continued with their album, , considered (along with Black Sabbath) as one of the first proto-metal albums. The Machine Head song, " ", is considered the first speed metal song. Another band, Nazareth, provided a blend of hard rock which commercialised the genre further with their best selling album, , which in turn, influenced numerous other bands.

During the 1970s, hard rock developed a variety of sub-genres. In 1972, Alice Cooper made the first " " album, . The following year, , and released their eponymous debut albums, demonstrating the broadening directions of hard rock.

In 1974, released its debut album, and Queen released its third album, , with the track influencing later thrash metal artists, such as and . Queen used layered vocals and guitars and mixed hard rock with glam rock, heavy metal, prog rock, and even opera. released their first three albums , and , in a little over a year, achieving their commercial breakthrough with double live album .

In the mid-1970s, Aerosmith released the ground-breaking albums and which incorporated elements of blues and hard rock and would later influence rock artists as diverse as , , and .
With the death of in 1976, Deep Purple disbanded. In 1977, the lead singer of Lynyrd Skynyrd, , died in a plane crash, disbanding the group.

A year later, The Who's drummer, died in his sleep via an overdose. With the rise of in the U.S.

and in the UK, hard rock began to lose popularity. Disco appealed to a more diverse group of people and punk seemed to take over the rebellious role that hard rock once held. Meanwhile, Black Sabbath moved away from the darkness of their early work with albums such as .

, another important group in hard rock, formed in 1978. Their music was based mostly on the guitar skills of , the lead guitarist. The song, " " from the album , demonstrated Eddie Van Halen's technique and was very influential.

In 1979, the differences between the hard rock movement and the rising heavy metal movement were highlighted when the hard rock band, AC/DC, released its second-biggest album, . AC/DC's music was based mostly on and early-1970s hard rock, with the group explicitly repudiating the "heavy metal" tag.
by AC/DC is the fifth highest-selling album, the album in the U.

S. by any band.

, the lead singer of AC/DC, also died in 1980. With these deaths, the first wave of "classic" hard rock bands ended. Some bands, such as Queen, moved away from their hard rock roots and more towards pop.

AC/DC recorded the album , with their new lead singer, . Back in Black is the fifth highest-selling album of all time in the U.S.

. By being so successful, AC/DC and Van Halen helped make possible the rise of more radio-friendly hard rock.
In 1981, the U.

S. band, , released , which set the basis for the rising genre of glam metal. A year later, the genre grew, especially thanks to and .

Quiet Riot's is the first heavy metal album ever to reach #1 on the .
, an English hard rock band, released in 1983 the album , which reached #2 in the American charts. Their music was a mix of glam rock, heavy metal, classic rock and , which influenced many 1980s hard rock and glam rock bands.

In 1983, Mötley Crüe released the album, , which became a huge hit. 's album became a huge success, hitting #2 on the Billboard album charts. In particular, the song " " reached #1 on the single chart and is considered one of the most popular rock songs ever written.

However, 1984 was also their first to include the use of keyboards and , marking a shift away from their original guitar-orientated style.
In 1991, of Queen announced he had and died a day later. The early 1990s were at first dominated by and .

The multi-platinum releases of Metallica's " " and Guns N' Roses' and in 1991 showcased this popularity. But as these bands' acts and albums became more decadent and self-indulgent, their popularity waned, and by 1992 a new form of hard rock, known as grunge, emerged. Some grunge bands became very successful, such as , , , and .

While their success was often pitched in the media as a punk rock reaction to arena rock and glam metal, the bands were hardly antagonistic to the heavy metal genre in general. Soundgarden and Nirvana were influenced by much 1970s and 1980s metal, while Alice in Chains were arguably a heavy metal band themselves. Several other notable bands include: , , , and a few non- -based bands such as , , and .

In the UK, bands like , and demonstrated that guitar heroics could be incorporated into songs that lacked the often-misogynistic content of '70s and '80s hard rock bands.
As the popularity of artists such as Metallica continued from the 1980s into the 1990s, some other bands had begun to fuse metal with a range of eclectic influences. These bands came to be known as artists, a subset of .

Some, such as , , , and fused with metal styles, though most of these bands actually formed in the '80s. / fused many genres with hard rock, ranging from to soul. and were also successful experimental hard rock bands.

's retro glam-metal influences helped propel them to the upper realms of the charts in the early 2000s.

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