摇滚乐(rock music)，亦作rock and roll。
出现在美国的音乐风格，从1950年代中期开始最後成为流行全世界的音乐强项。虽然摇滚乐使用许多不同乐器，但基本的配备是一个或多个人声，一把扩音电吉他（包括贝斯，节奏器和导线）以及鼓。一开始的形式很简单，以厚重的，舞蹈取向的节奏，不复杂的旋律和和弦，以及抒情轻快的和音反应听众关心的主题－年轻的爱情，青春期的压力，汽车。摇滚的源头基本上是节奏蓝调而非乡村音乐或其他音乐风格；不论是节奏蓝调或乡村音乐1950年代初期过後就不再是流行音乐的主流，直到克立夫兰的DJ佛利德（Alan Freed, 1921～1965）推出结合节奏与蓝调的音乐节目以前，音乐基本上只演奏给黑人听众聆听。他的秀成功地使他所采用（虽然不是发明）的摇滚乐这一名词流行起来。1955～1956年间这种由查克贝里、「比尔.哈利和彗星」乐团以及特别是艾维斯普里斯莱表演的快节奏，情绪高昂的音乐在当时已成长为青春期的美国战後婴儿潮中间掀起狂波巨澜，创造了大产业。1960年代，在多种影响的综合之下摇滚乐从轻柔及机械化形式脱胎换骨。在英国，摇滚乐发展得比较晚，当披头合唱团和滚石合唱团（Rolling Stones）以他们早期的新鲜风格在美国获得巨大回响，英国成长中的新世代浑然不知新的巨星已经诞生。同时，巴布狄伦和其他美国歌手也发展出民谣摇滚（folk rock），一种结合摇滚、传统民谣和诗的音乐，年轻的音乐人开始触及政治与社会议题。如The Byrds乐团、杰佛逊星船合唱团（Jefferson Airplane）以及门合唱团（The Doors）（参阅Jim Morrison）以抒情曲风加上精湛技巧，其经典画面就是个人超长独奏，还有珍妮丝贾普林以及吉米罕醉克斯在传统的节奏蓝调中融入精心设计的异国风味都带动了许多跟随者。1970年代早期出现能写能唱的歌手如艾尔顿强、大卫鲍伊以及布鲁斯史宾斯汀，摇滚乐进一步吸收其他音乐风格而有流行摇滚，爵士摇滚以及庞克摇滚的诞生。1980年代，音乐录影带的出现使摇滚乐更形完备，每一支流行单曲都拍摄了音乐录影带。
English version：
rock music
Musical style that arose in the U.S. in the mid-1950s and became the dominant form of popular music in the world. Though rock has used a wide variety of instruments, its basic elements were one or several vocalists, heavily amplified electric guitars (including bass, rhythm, and lead), and drums. It began as a simple style, relying on heavy, dance-oriented rhythms, uncomplicated melodies and harmonies, and lyrics sympathetic to its audience's concerns—young love, the stresses of adolescence, and automobiles. Its roots lay principally in rhythm and blues and to a lesser extent in country music and other styles; both R&B and country lay outside the mainstream of popular music in the early 1950s, when the Cleveland disc jockey Alan Freed (1921-1965) began programming rhythm and blues, music which until then had been played only to black audiences. His show's success gave currency to the term he had adopted (though not invented) for the music—rock and roll. The highly rhythmic, sensual music of C. Berry, B. Haley and the Comets, and particularly E. Presley in 1955-56 struck a responsive chord in the newly affluent postwar teenage audience, creating a huge industry. In the 1960s, several influences combined to lift rock out of what had already declined into a bland and mechanical format. In England, where rock's development had been slow, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones were found to have retained the freshness of its very early years and achieved enormous success in the U.S., where a new generation had grown up unaware of the music on which that of the new stars was based. At the same time, B. Dylan and other American performers were developing “folk rock,” a blending of traditional ballad and verse forms with rock, and young musicians began to explore social and political themes. Such groups as the Byrds, Jefferson Airplane, and the Doors (see Jim Morrison) combined imaginative lyrics with instrumental virtuosity, typically featuring long passages of solo improvisation, and J. Joplin and J. Hendrix won large followings with their exotic elaborations on traditional rhythm and blues. The early 1970s saw the rise of singer-songwriters such as E. John, D. Bowie, and B. Springsteen, and rock assimilated other forms to produce pop rock, jazz-rock, and punk rock. In the 1980s, rock was complemented by music videos, short video programs built around individual popular songs.