Piano rock, sometimes referred to as piano pop, is a term for a style of rock music that is based around the piano, and sometimes around piano-related instruments, such as the Fender Rhodes, the Wurlitzer electric piano, and keyboard-based synthesizers, rather than the guitar as is the case with traditional rock music.
The roots of piano rock can be traced to 1950s rock-and-roll pioneers Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Fats Domino. Many of t...
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Piano rock, sometimes referred to as piano pop, is a term for a style of rock music that is based around the piano, and sometimes around piano-related instruments, such as the Fender Rhodes, the Wurlitzer electric piano, and keyboard-based synthesizers, rather than the guitar as is the case with traditional rock music.
The roots of piano rock can be traced to 1950s rock-and-roll pioneers Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Fats Domino. Many of their frantic performance styles, such as kicking the piano bench out of the way to play standing, raking their hands up and down the keyboard for dramatic effect, and even sitting on the keyboard are now commonplace in modern piano rock and often seen in the performances of Billy Joel and Elton John.
Elton John, Freddie Mercury of Queen and Billy Joel can be considered the modern-day ground-breakers in the genre, with hits throughout the '70s, '80s, and '90s merging the rhythm and blues sounds of pianists Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder with...
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