Piano rock

Piano rock, sometimes referred to as piano pop, is a term for a style of music that is based around the piano, and sometimes around piano-related instruments, such as the Fender Rhodes, the Wurlitzer electric piano, and keyboard-based synthesizers. Unlike the classic rock combination of lead guitar, bass guitar, drums, and vocals, piano rock puts the pianist front and center. Traditionally, piano rock has not been as prevalent as classic rock. However, modern bands such as Ben Folds Five, Coldplay and The Whitlams, and solo artists such as Fiona Apple, Tori Amos and Rufus Wainwright, have heavily featured keyboard instruments in their songs.

The roots of piano rock can be traced to 1950s rock-and-roll pioneers Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis. Many of their frantic performance styles, such as kicking the piano bench out of the way to play standing, raking their hands up and down the keyboard for dramatic effect, and even sitting on the keyboard are now commonplace in modern piano rock and often seen in the performances of Billy Joel, Elton John and Ben Folds.

Elton John and Billy Joel can be considered the modern-day groundbreakers in the genre, with hits throughout the '70s, '80s, and '90s merging the Rhythm and blues sounds of pianists Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder with Jerry Lee Lewis-inspired Rock and Pop idioms.

Artists such as Tori Amos, Ben Folds, and Daniel Powter have kept piano rock in the public consciousness throughout the '90s and into the 2000s.

Keane and Coldplay are currently the most successful piano rock acts of the 2000's, though, while Keane's sound is purely piano, Coldplay use guitars in most songs.

Notable piano rockers and albums

Little Richard - Here's Little Richard (1957)
Jerry Lee Lewis - Jerry Lee's Greatest (1961)
Billy Joel - Piano Man (1973), The Stranger (1977)
Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973), Honky Chateau (1972), Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy (1975)
Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes (1992)
Ben Folds Five - Ben Folds Five (1995), Whatever and Ever Amen (1997), Naked Baby Photos (1998), The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner (1999)
Rufus Wainwright - Rufus Wainwright (1998)
Fiona Apple - Tidal (1996), When the Pawn... (1999), Extraordinary Machine (2005)
The Whitlams - Eternal Nightcap (1997)
Something Corporate - Ready... Break (2000)
Ben Folds - Rockin' the Suburbs (2001), Songs for Silverman (2005)
Coldplay - A Rush of Blood to the Head (2002)
Vanessa Carlton - Be Not Nobody (2002)
Delta Goodrem - Innocent Eyes (2003)
Keane - Hopes and Fears (2004), Under the Iron Sea (2006)
The Dresden Dolls - The Dresden Dolls (2004)
Missy Higgins - The Sound of White (2005)
Jack's Mannequin - Everything in Transit (2005)

Recent piano rock achievements

Triple J Hottest 100

Missy Higgins finished at numbers 31, 47 and 74 in the Triple J Hottest 100, 2005 with "The Special Two", "Stuff and Nonsense" and "The Sound of White"
Ben Folds finished at numbers 55 and 89 in the Triple J Hottest 100, 2005 with "Landed" and "Bastard"
Missy Higgins's "Scar" finished number two in the Triple J Hottest 100, 2004
The Dresden Dolls came in at number twelve in Triple J Hottest 100, 2004 with "Coin-Operated Boy"
Fiona Apple finished at number 62 in the Triple J Hottest 100, 2000 with her single, "Fast as You Can".
The Whitlams's "No Aphrodisiac" finished number one in the Triple J Hottest 100, 1997

Sources

Music genres | Rock music genres | Pop pianists

Gourt Home::Gourt :: Piano rock

Notable piano rockers and albums

Recent piano rock achievements

Juno Awards

Grammys

ARIA Music Awards

Triple J Hottest 100

See also

Sources