@Michael Peters

Our editors are constantly searching for songs that are about to make a huge impact. This is what's breaking in hard rock. This playlist is regularly updated—if you hear something you like, 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 center. We regularly update this playlist. If you like a song, add it to your library.

“Hey Siri, play the Rock Drive playlist.”

Born from post-hardcore's drop-tuned riffs and the vulnerability of emo's signature honesty, screamo combines delicacy with aggression. At the Drive-In's hyperactive “Arcarsenal” keeps its head on with math-rock structure, Finch's “What It Is to Burn” fastens a pop melody to screamo's intensity, and Thursday's “Cross Out the Eyes” operates in the intersection, with earnest vocals atop cymbal crashes.

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.

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.

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.

Rock anthems were forged in the furnace of Aussie pubs in the '70s and '80s, born of sweat, beer, and rowdy audiences. AC/DC triumphed with brute force and larrikin showmanship, melding Angus Young's blistering riffs with Bon Scott's snaggle-toothed snarl. Cold Chisel and Midnight Oil were no less incendiary, the former marrying eloquent songwriting to Jimmy Barnes' lethal howl, while the latter had both a political outlook and a mammoth rock attack. This was a broad church with big hooks—witness the Sunnyboys' perfect distillation of '60s jangle and '70s power-pop, or the lioness growl and powerful sexuality of Chrissy Amphlett in Divinyls.