Tune in. Turn up. Rock out

In the ‘50s, visionaries like Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and Elvis Presley caught lightning in a bottle when their scandalous mix of rockabilly, blues, and R&B started a cultural revolution along generational lines. But even the most starry-eyed dreamer wouldn’t have been able to picture rock ’n’ roll becoming a dominant force on the planet. As it mutated over the decades—held together loosely by loud guitars and the spirit of rebellion—is it any wonder that the club’s membership has grown to accommodate both the stomp-and-clap folk-rock of Mumford & Sons and the distorted high-octane squall of Royal Blood?

The roots of rock as we know it today are traced back to the late '70s generation that rejected all that had come before, boiling rock down to its raw, raging basics in the crucible of punk. After punk begat the artier, more angular arrival of new wave, rock began to reinvent itself at a continually quickening pace—the many faces of alt-rock, the roar of grunge, the garage rock revival. Seattle heroes of the ‘90s—like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden—had a massive influence on the generation that followed, as did ‘00s rock revivalists like The Strokes, The White Stripes, and Black Keys. But rock music has been an illusive, debatable, constantly shifting form of expression from the very start. It's that refusal to stand still that keeps rock a vital force: one that’s destined to ignite many more teenage rebellions in the years to come.