By the late '60s, the youth market that had developed in the '50s was now a youth culture. Rock music was beginning to be taken seriously. The Beatles, "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band" was getting rave reviews from the establishment and was even being called an artistic masterpiece. It was the first Rock album to ever receive such acclaim.

And then there were Rock festivals. The first major one was the Monterey Pop Festival in '67. And the biggest was Woodstock with its three days of peace, love and understanding. These festivals were among the most visible signs the kids were not going to be like their parents. At least not for awhile. The youth movement actively and passionately rejected the values, attitudes and mores of the older generation.

In 1968 Richard Nixon was elected President largely on the belief that he had a secret plan for ending the war in Vietnam. As the war spilled into the '70s America became polarized - nobody left in the middle. Rock's response to the times was to get more extreme and more theatrical.

Alice Cooper and David Bowie took the Doors' Jim Morrison's theatrical concepts to a new level. The Who created the rock opera "Tommy" about a deaf, dumb and blind kid who played a mean pinball. Queen, KISS and others created new Rock theatrics.

Alice Cooper was the name of both the lead singer and the band. Alice Cooper, the singer, a former high school track star, claimed the band's name was conjured up on a ouija board. The original Alice Cooper was allegedly the sister of a witch killed during the Salem witch-hunts who, seeking a better life in another time, poisoned herself. Happens everyday.

Alice Cooper's stage show involved numerous props including a boa constrictor, weapons of torture and a gallows, wild costumes, a fair amount of violence and Alice's shocking face make-up. And then, from England, there was David Bowie. If Alice Cooper looked frightening, Bowie appeared glamorous. The make-up was precious and delicate. And his songwriting went beyond the teen anthems Alice Cooper presented.

Music critic Jon Landau once said, "I have seen the future of Rock and his name is Bruce Springsteen." More often than not performers don't live up to the hype. Springsteen exceeded it. He started out like a lot of people playing in faceless and probably tuneless bands, thrashing out the latest Rock hits. But unlike countless others, Springsteen's capabilities expanded to an incredible level in the early '70s. Not only was he a dynamic performer, he was also a masterful songwriter. "The Boss" was at the forefront of Rock's singer/songwriter movement along with Jackson Browne and Detroit's Bob Seger.

Born and raised in New Jersey's Asbury Park, Springsteen's lyrics were in direct contrast with the Glam Rockers. Springsteen wrote about real experiences and feelings that everyone could identify with. He also had a Rocker's outsider attitude. He once said, "growing up there were two things really unpopular around my house; one was my guitar and the other was me." Springsteen's single "Born To Run" was a major break through. Soon he found himself on both the covers of Time and Newsweek. There were cries of "hype" but Springsteen faced a bigger problem. Contractual difficulties soon sidetracked his career (never sign a recording contract on the hood of a car). With the legal hassles behind him, Springsteen resumed his career producing several incredible albums including "Born In The U.S.A.," (his biggest commercial success) that contained "Glory Days," "Dancing In The Dark" and the fierce title track.

By the mid-70s record companies had mastered the formula of finding, developing and marketing Rock bands. These bands were often, rightly, referred to as, "corporate rock." Meanwhile, Heavy Metal ripped and snarled, largely as a rebellion against the stale music environment.

After years of war and social unrest people wanted a break. Disco came along and people fell for it big time. With only lackluster Rock available who could blame them? But by the tail end of the '70s there was a building backlash against disco's mindlessness. In England the Punk movement smashed through. First, it was a reaction to a vapid music scene but it also reflected the lack of opportunity for young people at the time. While Punk had limited appeal, "New Wave" brought Rock back into the mainstream. Back was a sense of artistic integrity missing in disco and corporate rock. The Talking Heads, Blondie, the Cars, Police and the retro-Punk U2 arrived. The Police were particularly interesting since they successfully incorporated Reggae into their early sound.

Nothing in the history of popular culture had greater success bringing music and fashion together than MTV. Cable TV had started in the late '60s to bring broadcast television to people who lived beyond the signal's reach. Seeing cable's potential, Home Box Office established a-pay-per-view service for movies and sporting events. From this successful beginning some bright minds got the idea of launching a music television channel. Rock had always been a highly visible medium, whether it was Elvis' gyrating pelvis, the Beatles energetic performances, Alice Cooper's stage antics or KISS' total audiovisual assault. So this seemed like a natural progression. MTV made its mark from inception.

What if you lived in a place where it rained nearly all the time, where going outside was difficult or uncomfortable at the very least. You'd probably stay inside and write computer code or sit in your basement and practice guitar. Kurt Cobain, lead guitarist and singer with the legendary Nirvana, came up with that explanation for the Grunge movement, which originated in the Northwest and was tagged as the "Seattle Sound." Given the Northwest's often-gray environment the songs also had a certain bleakness to them. And much like the Punk movement, a decade earlier, this music provided a voice to disenfranchised young people.

But there was another factor that led to the development of Grunge. The Seattle area had local record labels that fostered the scene. The biggest and most successful was Sub-Pop. Just as Sun Records had been the focal point in the early stages of Rock 'n' Roll, Sub-Pop did the same for Grunge. Sub-Pop used a then unique mail order marketing technique to get its music out. Customers would subscribe, receiving the latest singles (without hearing them first - talk about trust). And even though bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden went on to major labels they couldn't and wouldn't have gotten far without Sub-Pop.

In the end, Grunge wasn't all that new or innovative but it sure was powerful. One critic claimed Nirvana sounded like a cross between Punk and Boston. Cobain thought Nirvana sounded like "The Knack and Bay City Rollers being molested by Black Sabbath and Black Flag."

2000 Rock

What do we have here? If you stick around long enough, like Rock, somebody's gonna really mess with it. The marriage or illicit relationship between Country and Blues delivered Rock 'n' Roll. Now, Hip-Hop/Rap, which had undeniably became a major pop force, started to find its way into the Rock sound.

The new century opened largely with the last decade's Rockers rolling along as if nothing had happened. But something had. The Rock/Hip-Hop mix continued to thrive. Kids growing up in the '80s and '90s went all they way around the block. They took to Rock; they took to Hip-Hop. So why not jam the suckers together and see what happens? Godsmack, Linkin Park, Papa Roach and a too live crew rolled down that road.

What was probably Rock's greatest achievement was that it made it into the new century. Regarded as a useless youth fad by the powers-that-be when it appeared decades ago Rock had a profound impact on music, fashion and politics. Now, whether it was the end result or part of the mix, Rock was still kicking. Of course, Coldplay, Powderfinger and a slew of "Mainstream Alternative" (talk about contradictory terms) groups stayed relatively close to the original concept.