Piano rock

Piano rock, sometimes referred to as piano pop, is a term for a style of rock 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, rather than the guitar as is the case with traditional rock music.
History
The roots of piano rock can be traced to 1950s rock-and-roll pioneers Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Fats Domino. 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 and Elton John.
Elton John, Freddie Mercury of Queen and Billy Joel can be considered the modern-day ground-breakers 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. Pianist Roy Bittan made contributions to the genre with his playing on such albums as Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run, Meat Loaf's Bat out of Hell, and Dire Straits' Making Movies.
Artists such as Waking Ashland, Muse, Coldplay, We Shot the Moon, Tori Amos, Ben Folds, Rufus Wainwright, Keane, The Whitlams, Five For Fighting, Evanescence, Blue October, Something Corporate, Fiona Apple, Secondhand Serenade, Straylight Run, Making April, Jack's Mannequin, Andrew McMahon, Gabe Dixon Band, Relient K, Regina Spektor, Vanessa Carlton, Nellie McKay, Sarah Slean, Tim Minchin, Anna Nalick, Sara Bareilles, Kate Nash, The Fray, and Augustana have kept piano rock in the public consciousness throughout the '90s and into the 2000s.

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