A rock band or pop band is a small
musical ensemble that performs
rock music
Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States a ...
,
pop music
Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former descri ...
, or a related genre. A four-piece band is the most common configuration in rock and pop music. In the early years, the configuration was typically two
guitarists (a lead guitarist and a rhythm guitarist, with one of them singing lead vocals), a bassist, and a drummer (e.g.
the Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
and
KISS
A kiss is the touch or pressing of one's lips against another person or an object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely. Depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sexual attraction, ...
). Another common formation is a vocalist who does not play an instrument, electric guitarist, bass guitarist, and a drummer (e.g.
the Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and singer Pete Townshend, bass guitarist and singer John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered ...
,
the Monkees,
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ...
,
Queen
Queen or QUEEN may refer to:
Monarchy
* Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom
** List of queens regnant
* Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king
* Queen dowager, the widow of a king
* Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...
, and
U2). Instrumentally, these bands can be considered as trios. Sometimes, in addition to electric guitars, electric bass, and drums, also a keyboardist (especially a pianist) plays.
Etymology
The usage of band as "group of musicians" originated from 1659 to describe musicians attached to a regiment of the army and playing instruments which may be used while marching.
This word also used in 1931 to describe "one man band" for people who plays several musical instruments simultaneously.
Two members
Two-member rock and pop bands (such as
The White Stripes,
Tenacious D,
The Black Keys,
Flat Duo Jets and
Twenty One Pilots) are relatively rare, because of the difficulty in providing all of the musical elements which are part of the rock or pop sound (vocals, chordal
accompaniment,
bass lines, and percussion or drumming). Two-member rock and pop bands typically omit one of these musical elements. In many cases, two-member bands omit a drummer, since guitars, bass guitars, and keyboards can all be used to provide a rhythmic pulse.
Other examples of two-member bands are
MGMT,
WZRD,
Pet Shop Boys,
Hella
''Hella'' is an American slang term that originated in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is used as an intensifying adverb such as in "hella bad" or "hella good" and was eventually added to the '' Oxford English Dictionary'' in 2002. It is possib ...
,
Flight of the Conchords,
the Ting Tings,
They Might Be Giants (from 1982 to 1992) and
T. Rex (until shortly after scoring
their UK breakthrough hit, at which point they expanded to a four-piece and more).
When electronic
sequencers became widely available in the 1980s, they made adding in musical elements easier for two-member bands to perform. Sequencers allowed bands to program some elements of their performance, such as an
electronic drum part and a
synth bass
A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...
line. Two-member pop music bands such as
Soft Cell
Soft Cell are an English synthpop duo who came to prominence in the early 1980s. The duo consists of vocalist Marc Almond and instrumentalist David Ball. The band are primarily known for their 1981 hit version of " Tainted Love" and their pl ...
,
Blancmange
Blancmange (, from french: blanc-manger ) is a sweet dessert popular throughout Europe commonly made with milk or cream and sugar thickened with rice flour, gelatin, corn starch, or Irish moss (a source of carrageenan), and often flavoured w ...
, and
Yazoo used programmed sequencers. Other pop bands from the 1980s, who were ostensibly fronted by two performers, such as
Wham!,
Eurythmics, and
Tears for Fears
Tears for Fears are an English pop rock band formed in Bath, England, in 1981 by Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith. Founded after the dissolution of their first band, the mod-influenced Graduate, Tears for Fears were associated with the new ...
, were not actually two-piece ensembles, because other instrumental musicians were used "behind the scenes" to fill out the sound. Modern bands that use this format include
Ninja Sex Party
Ninja Sex Party (often abbreviated as NSP) is an American musical comedy duo consisting of singer Dan Avidan and keyboardist Brian Wecht. They formed in 2009 in New York City and are currently based in Los Angeles. They are also known as two th ...
and
Death Grips.
Two-piece bands in rock music are quite rare. However, starting in the 2000s, blues-influenced rock bands such as the White Stripes and
the Black Keys used a guitar-and-drums scheme.
Death from Above 1979 featured a drummer and bass guitarist. Tenacious D is a two-guitar band;
One Day as a Lion and
the Dresden Dolls both feature a keyboardist and a drummer.
Ratatat
Ratatat ( ) is a Brooklyn-based electronic rock duo consisting of Mike Stroud (guitar, melodica, synthesizers, percussion) and producer Evan Mast ( bass, synthesizers, percussion).
History
Beginnings and first album, ''Ratatat'' (2001–200 ...
comprises a two-guitar band that uses a drum machine for beats.
W.A.S.P. guitarist
Doug Blair is also known for his work in the two-piece
progressive rock
Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. I ...
band Signal2Noise, where he acts as the lead guitarist and bassist at the same time, due to a special custom instrument he invented (an electric guitar with five regular guitar strings paired with three bass guitar strings). Heisenflei of Los Angeles duo
the Pity Party
The Pity Party is a two-piece band from Los Angeles composed of Julie Edwards, aka Heisenflei (simultaneous drums, keyboards, and vocals) and Marc Smollin (guitar, vocals). They are the first band without representation to score a full-page fe ...
plays drums, keyboards, and sings simultaneously.
Royal Blood is a two-piece band that uses bass and drums along with
electronic effects.
Three members
The smallest ensemble commonly used in rock music is the trio format. In a hard-rock or blues-rock band, or heavy-metal rock group, a "
power trio" format is often used, which consists of an electric guitar player, an electric bass guitar player, and a drummer, and typically one or more of these musicians also sing (sometimes all three members sing, e.g. the
Bee Gees or Alkaline Trio). Some well-known power trios with the guitarist on lead vocals are the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, Nirvana, and
Muse
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in ...
.
A handful of others with the bassist on vocals include
Thin Lizzy (from 1970 to 1974),
Primus,
Rush, Motörhead,
the Police, and
Cream
Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this process ...
.
Some power trios feature two lead vocalists. For example, in the band
Blink-182, vocals are split between bassist
Mark Hoppus and guitarist
Tom DeLonge, or in the band
Dinosaur Jr.
Dinosaur Jr. is an American rock band formed in Amherst, Massachusetts, in 1984, originally simply called Dinosaur until legal issues forced a change in name.
The band was founded by J Mascis (guitar, vocals, primary songwriter), Lou Barlow ( ...
, guitarist
J. Mascis
Joseph Donald Mascis Jr. ( ; born December 10, 1965), better known as J Mascis, is an American musician who is the singer, guitarist and main songwriter for the alternative rock band Dinosaur Jr. He has also released several albums as a solo arti ...
is the primary songwriter and vocalist, but bassist
Lou Barlow writes some songs and sings, as well.
An alternative to the power trio is an
organ trios formed with an electric guitarist, a drummer, and a keyboardist. Although organ trios are most commonly associated with 1950s and 1960s jazz organ trio groups such as those led by organist
Jimmy Smith, organ trios also exist in rock-oriented styles, such as
jazz-rock fusion and
Grateful Dead–influenced
jam bands, for instance
Medeski Martin & Wood. In organ trios, the keyboard player typically plays a
Hammond organ or similar instrument, which permits the keyboard player to perform bass lines, chords, and lead lines. A variant of the organ trio is a trio formed with an electric bassist, a drummer, and an electronic keyboardist (playing synthesizers) such as the
progressive rock
Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. I ...
band
Emerson, Lake & Palmer.
A power trio with the guitarist on lead vocals is a popular record-company lineup, as the guitarist and singer usually are songwriters. Therefore, the label only has to present one "face" to the public. The
backing band may or may not be featured in publicity. If the backup band is not marketed as an integral part of the group, then the record company has more flexibility to replace band members or use substitute musicians. This lineup often leads to songs that are fairly simple and accessible, as the frontman (or frontwoman) has to sing and play guitar at the same time.
Four members
The four-piece band is the most common configuration in rock and pop music. Before the development of the electronic keyboard, the configuration was typically two guitarists, a bassist, and a drummer (e.g. the Beatles, KISS,
Metallica,
Rise Against,
the Clash
The Clash were an English rock band formed in London in 1976 who were key players in the original wave of British punk rock. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they also contributed to the and new wave movements that emerged in the w ...
, and
the Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins (also referred to as simply Smashing Pumpkins) are an American alternative rock band from Chicago. Formed in 1988 by frontman and guitarist Billy Corgan, bassist D'arcy Wretzky, guitarist James Iha and drummer Jimmy Ch ...
).
Another common formation is a vocalist, electric guitarist, bass guitarist, and a drummer (e.g.
Van Halen
Van Halen ( ) was an American rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. Credited with "restoring hard rock to the forefront of the music scene", Van Halen was known for its energetic live shows and for the virtuosity of its lead gu ...
,
the Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and singer Pete Townshend, bass guitarist and singer John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered ...
,
Queen
Queen or QUEEN may refer to:
Monarchy
* Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom
** List of queens regnant
* Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king
* Queen dowager, the widow of a king
* Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...
,
Red Hot Chili Peppers,
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ...
, and
Blur). Instrumentally, these bands can be considered as trios.
In some bands, the guitarist could also be an occasional keyboardist, like
The Smiths,
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and singer Pete Townshend, bass guitarist and singer John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered ...
, and
Joy Division. And some bands might have a keyboardist instead of a guitarist, like
Bastille and
Future Islands.
In some rock bands, bassists could be occasional keyboardists like
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ...
and
R.E.M. Keyboardists are used in place of bass, performing with a guitarist, singer, and drummer, for instance
the Doors. Some bands have a guitarist, bassist, drummer, and keyboard player, for example
Talking Heads
Talking Heads were an American rock band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991.[Talki ...](_blank)
, the
Small Faces, and
Pink Floyd.
Some bands have the bassist on lead vocals, such as
Thin Lizzy (a four-piece from 1974 onwards), Pink Floyd, Motörhead (as a four-piece 1984-1995), NOFX, Skillet, or even the lead guitarist, such as
Dire Straits,
Megadeth,
Weezer, and
Creedence Clearwater Revival. Some bands, such as the Beatles, have a lead guitarist, a rhythm guitarist, and a bassist that all sing lead and backing vocals, that also play keyboards regularly, as well as a drummer. Others, such as
the Four Seasons, have a lead vocalist, a lead guitarist, a keyboard player, and a bassist, with the drummer not being a member of the band.
Five members
Five-piece bands have existed in rock music since the development of the genre.
The Beach Boys,
Aerosmith,
AC/DC and
Oasis are examples of the common lineup of vocalist, lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass, and drums. An alternative lineup replaces the rhythm guitarist with a keyboard–synthesizer player (examples being the bands
Yes
Yes or YES may refer to:
* An affirmative particle in the English language; see yes and no
Education
* YES Prep Public Schools, Houston, Texas, US
* YES (Your Extraordinary Saturday), a learning program from the Minnesota Institute for Talent ...
,
Dream Theater,
Marilyn Manson, and
Deep Purple). Another alternative replaces the rhythm guitarist with a
turntablist, such as in the
Deftones,
Incubus, or
Limp Bizkit.
Further alternatives include a keyboardist, guitarist, drummer, bassist, and saxophonist, such as
the Sonics,
the Dave Clark 5, and
Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs. Three guitarists may be present with a bassist and a drummer, such as in the bands
Radiohead,
Pearl Jam, and
the Byrds
The Byrds () were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1964. The band underwent multiple lineup changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn (known as Jim McGuinn until mid-1967) remaining the sole con ...
. Some five-person bands feature two guitarists, a keyboardist, a bassist, and a drummer, with one or more of these musicians (typically one of the guitarists) handling lead vocals on top of their instrument (examples being
Children of Bodom
Children of Bodom was a Finnish melodic death metal band from Espoo. Formed in 1993 as Inearthed, the final line-up of the group upon their split in 2019 consisted of Alexi Laiho (lead guitar, lead vocals), Jaska Raatikainen (drums), Henkka Se ...
and
Styx). The four-piece arrangement can be augmented to five with a
second drummer playing a separate full drumkit, such as
Adam and The Ants from 1980 onwards, although other formations can also be expanded using two drummers such as
Pink Fairies 1970–1971,
The Glitter Band
The Glitter Band are a glam rock band from England, who initially worked as Gary Glitter's backing band under that name from 1973, when they then began releasing records of their own. They were unofficially known as the Glittermen on the first f ...
,
Wizzard,
Sigue Sigue Sputnik
Sigue Sigue Sputnik were a British new wave band formed in 1982 by former Generation X bassist Tony James. The band have had three UK top-40 hit singles, including " Love Missile F1-11" and " 21st Century Boy".
The band's music, image and in ...
,
Add N to (X), and
Rialto.
Other times, the vocalist brings another musical "voice" to the table, most commonly a harmonica or percussion;
Mick Jagger, for example, plays harmonica and percussion instruments such as
maracas and
tambourine
The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called " zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, tho ...
in the Rolling Stones.
Ozzy Osbourne
John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (born 3 December 1948) is an English singer, songwriter, and television personality. He rose to prominence during the 1970s as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath, during which period he adop ...
played the harmonica on some occasions with
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath were an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. They are often cited as pioneers of heavy metal music. The band helped def ...
. Flutes may also be used by vocalists, most notably
Ian Anderson of
Jethro Tull and
Ray Thomas of the
Moody Blues.
Larger rock ensembles
Larger bands have long been a part of rock and pop music, in part due to the influence of the "singer accompanied with orchestra" model inherited from popular
big-band jazz and
swing
Swing or swinging may refer to:
Apparatus
* Swing (seat), a hanging seat that swings back and forth
* Pendulum, an object that swings
* Russian swing, a swing-like circus apparatus
* Sex swing, a type of harness for sexual intercourse
* Swing ri ...
and popularized by
Frank Sinatra and
Ella Fitzgerald. To create larger ensembles, rock bands often add an additional guitarist, an additional keyboardist, additional percussionists or second drummer, an entire
horn section, and even a flautist. An example of a six-member rock band is
Toto with a lead vocalist, guitarist, bassist, two keyboard players, and drummer. Other examples include Australian band
INXS and American
Blondie; both consist of a lead vocalist, two guitarists, a keyboard player, a bassist, and a drummer. The American heavy-metal band
Slipknot is composed of nine members, with a vocalist, two guitarists, a drummer, a bassist, two custom percussionists, a
turntablist, and a sampler. Brazilian band
Titãs
Titãs () are a Brazilian rock band from São Paulo. Though they basically play pop/ alternative rock, their music has touched a number of other styles throughout their 30-year career, such as new wave, punk rock, grunge, MPB and electroni ...
, currently a three-man band, had as many as eight members in the late 1980s, with three lead singers, two guitarists, bassist, keyboard player, and drummer.
In larger groups (such as
the Band), instrumentalists could play multiple instruments, which enabled the ensemble to create a wider variety of instrument combinations. More modern examples of such a band are
Arcade Fire
Arcade Fire is a Canadian indie rock band, consisting of husband and wife Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, alongside Richard Reed Parry, Tim Kingsbury and Jeremy Gara. The band's current touring line-up also includes former core mem ...
and the
Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros is an American folk rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 2005. The group is led by singer Alex Ebert. The band's name is based on a story Ebert wrote in his youth, about a messianic figure named ...
. More rarely, rock or pop groups are accompanied in concerts by a full or partial symphony orchestra, where lush string-orchestra arrangements are used to flesh out the sound of slow ballads.
Rhys Chatham and
Glenn Branca started doing performances in the late 1970s with orchestras consisting of 10 to 100 (Branca) and even 400 guitars. Some groups have a large number of members who all play the same instrument, such as guitar, keyboard, horns, or strings.
Role of women
Women have a high prominence in many
popular music styles as singers. However, professional women instrumentalists are uncommon in popular music, especially in rock genres such as
heavy metal. "
aying in a band is largely a male homosocial activity, that is, learning to play in a band is largely a peer-based... experience, shaped by existing sex-segregated friendship networks. As well, rock music "...is often defined as a form of male rebellion vis-à-vis female bedroom culture."
[Julian Schaap and Pauwke Berkers. "Grunting Alone? Online Gender Inequality in Extreme Metal Music" in ''IASPM Journal''. Vol.4, no.1 (2014) p. 102] In popular music, a gendered "distinction between public (male) and private (female) participation" in music has existed.
"
veral scholars have argued that men exclude women from bands or from the bands' rehearsals, recordings, performances, and other social activities."
[Julian Schaap and Pauwke Berkers. "Grunting Alone? Online Gender Inequality in Extreme Metal Music" in ''IASPM Journal''. Vol.4, no.1 (2014) p. 104] "Women are mainly regarded as passive and private consumers of allegedly slick, prefabricated – hence, inferior – pop music..., excluding them from participating as high-status rock musicians."
One of the reasons that mixed-gender bands rarely exist is that "bands operate as tight-knit units in which homosocial solidarity – social bonds between people of the same sex... – plays a crucial role."
In the 1960s, pop music scene, "
nging was sometimes an acceptable pastime for a girl, but playing an instrument...simply wasn't done."
"The rebellion of rock music was largely a male rebellion; the women—often, in the 1950s and '60s, girls in their teens—in rock usually sang songs as personæ utterly dependent on their macho boyfriends...". Philip Auslander says that "Although there were many women in rock by the late 1960s, most performed only as singers, a traditionally feminine position in popular music". Though some women played instruments in American
all-female garage rock bands, none of these bands achieved more than regional success. So they "did not provide viable templates for women's on-going participation in rock".
In relation to the gender composition of
heavy-metal bands, it has been said that "
avy metal performers are almost exclusively male"
"...
least until the mid-1980s" apart from "...exceptions such as
Girlschool
Girlschool are a British rock band that formed in the new wave of British heavy metal scene in 1978. Frequently associated with contemporaries Motörhead, they are the longest-running all-female rock band, still active after more than 40 ye ...
."
However, "...now
n the 2010s
N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''.
History
...
maybe more than ever–strong metal women have put up their dukes and got down to it", "carv
ngout a considerable place for
hemelves."
When
Suzi Quatro emerged in 1973, "no other prominent female musician worked in rock simultaneously as a singer, instrumentalist, songwriter, and bandleader".
According to Auslander, she was "kicking down the male door in rock and roll and proving that a female ''musician'' ... and this is a point I am extremely concerned about ... could play as well if not better than the boys".
Variable lineups
Many bands maintain different but consistent lineups for studio recording vs. live performances.
Toxic Holocaust, for instance, consisted entirely of a single member within the recording studio for the first 10 years of their existence but still toured as a band with supplementary members on stage. For decades
Genesis
Genesis may refer to:
Bible
* Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind
* Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...
maintained two consistent lineups:
Tony Banks,
Mike Rutherford and
Phil Collins in the studio with
Chester Thompson
Chester Cortez Thompson (born December 11, 1948) is an American drummer best known for his tenures with Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention, Weather Report, Santana, the progressive rock band Genesis and Phil Collins as a solo artist. Thom ...
and
Daryl Stuermer
Daryl Mark Stuermer (born November 27, 1952) is an American musician, songwriter, and producer best known for playing the guitar and bass for Genesis during live shows, and lead guitar for Phil Collins during most solo tours and albums. He has al ...
always additionally appearing as band members in live performances.
See also
*
Side project, a band containing a person or persons already in another band
References
{{Authority control
Types of musical groups
Accompaniment
Popular music
Rock music