Hard Rock

Hard rock on vinyl: riffs, amplifiers and stadiums

In short: Hard rock grew out of blues rock and psychedelia in the late sixties: louder, heavier, with distorted guitar riffs and powerful vocals. Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Black Sabbath set the tone, and in the seventies Aerosmith and Queen filled stadiums. The Vinyl Room currently has 94 hard rock records.

What is hard rock?

The riff is everything: a short, forceful guitar figure around which a whole song is built. Here you’ll find the 1970 debut “Black Sabbath”, Led Zeppelin’s “In Through The Out Door”, Queen’s “News Of The World” and Grand Funk’s “We’re An American Band”.

The style reaches far: from Italy Il Rovescio Della Medaglia with “La Bibbia”, from Denmark D-A-D with “Live Shots”, and with Queens Of The Stone Age or Faith No More the hard rock of the nineties and 2000s.

What to look for

Big hard rock albums exist in pressings from many countries and decades; original, later pressing or reissue is noted with each copy.

From our stock

First pressings

New in

→ Led Zeppelin · Black Sabbath · Blues rock · Rock on vinyl · How to spot a first pressing · Grading explained

FAQ

What is hard rock? Loud, riff-driven rock with distorted guitars, born in the late sixties.

Which bands shaped hard rock? Among others Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Aerosmith and Queen.

What is the difference from heavy metal? Heavy metal grew out of hard rock and is usually even harder and darker; Black Sabbath stand right on the border.

Is there hard rock from Denmark? Yes – here D-A-D with “Live Shots”.