@Archie FLETCHER

Straight from sticky basement floors and sweaty dives into your headphones, these emerging subterranean bands could be the next generation of metal heavyweights. Discover your new favorite now. We regularly update this playlist. If you like a song, add it to your library.

The sound of rock has changed a hundred times since the late ’60s, but its essence—cranking it up and finding salvation through sound—is pretty much the same. From the freedom salvos of the Summer of Love through the alternative revolution to now, what follows is rock chiseled to weather the winds of time, guitar firmly at its centre. We regularly update this playlist. If you like a song, add it to your library.

“Hey Siri, play the Rock Drive playlist.”

The ’90s was a huge decade for hardcore as the genre underwent a divergence of sounds and approaches, sparking numerous new styles and subgenres. Early in the decade, bands like Earth Crisis and Born Against took things in a heavier direction—a sound which led to the success of bands like Refused later in the decade. In New York the continued impact of metal on hardcore produced heavyweights such as Sick of It All, Madball and Biohazard, while California had more melodic acts like Pennywise and No Use For a Name. Take a tour of the decades evolving hardcore scene with these key artists.

When you get down to it, there’s a way in which all rock is Southern rock: a mix of Black blues, white country and church music repurposed for less-than-godly means. And if you’ve ever spent time in the American South, you know that Tom Petty’s Florida and ZZ Top’s Texas might as well be in different countries. Still, there’s a thread that runs through the tracks here, a legacy connecting the swagger of Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Drive-By Truckers, the rustic expansiveness of the Allman Brothers and My Morning Jacket—not to mention a sense of directness that speaks to the lives of regular folks in ways the broader culture sometimes overlooks.

In the late ’70s, ferocious young bands began stripping punk down, making it even louder and faster and, by the early ’80s, hardcore had spread around the world. With their uncompromising attitude and brutal riffs, bands like Black Flag, Minor Threat, Bad Brains and Agnostic Front launched a revolution, and these ’80s hardcore classics will make you want to get in the pit.

Glam rock saw itself as pop’s flamboyant revenge on rock for becoming unduly worthy, complex and unglamorous at the turn of the '70s. As a musical form, glam is all about poise and attack, a decadent rebellion against the suffocating normalcy of suburban life. There’s the primal rock rush epitomised by the gouging guitars of Wolverhampton band Slade, or the stylish strut of London outfit The Sweet’s glam-boogie beat. And then there’s the artistic sophistication of titans such as David Bowie and Roxy Music, who were able to blend new genres from an immaculate, cherry-picked list of their favourite sounds and throw them all together with a theatrical shimmy. Straddling both camps, T. Rex’s Marc Bolan led the way as the scene’s pouting, extravagant figurehead, his fey allure giving beefy rockers the opportunity to raid the dressing-up box and try on different personalities, experimenting with makeup and subverting gender norms.

If one were to definitively name the golden age of the guitar riff, it'd be tough to argue against the ‘70s, when the lean rock ‘n' roll of the late ‘60s met the rise of heavy metal. Led Zeppelin sculpted goliath hooks that pushed their blues sound into the cosmos, and Black Sabbath, armed with a dark and towering din, struck fear into the hearts of parents around the world. Whether employing turbocharged takes on classic forms (AC/DC), building arena-crumbling walls of sound (The Who) or embarking on interstellar prog missions (Rush), the riff rose to glorious heights in the hands of these artists.

While its roots stretch back to the 1950s, Brazilian rock spread its wings in the ’90s. British and American influences were matched by experimentation across the board, creating an array of distinct homegrown sounds. A growing passion for the electric guitar also helped spawn a scene that was as loud as it was diverse. Traditional met punk with the forró-core style of Raimundos. Skate culture and alternative rock influenced the Charlie Brown Jr. sound. O Rappa and Skank were all about the reggae and ska, while pop blended with funk and soul in the songs of Jota Quest.