Rossini's parents expected the future composer to get right to work -- they enrolled him in music lessons at the age of four. The young Rossini started writing compositions as a teenager; by the time he was in his 20s, he had already written more than seven operas. In 1812, Italy's most important ope

Bombast, Dramatic, Epic, Funny, Sardonic

Baroque architecture, Baroque theater, Bombast, Dramatic, Eclectic, Epic, Intense

The Sex Pistols may have provided the shock-value dynamite for the punk explosion in 1970s Britain, but it was the Clash who channeled the energy of that explosion into a discrete form of music. Or rather, they channeled it into several forms simultaneously; they diversified the space of punk. The Cl

Bombast, Pioneering, Political, Punk, Slangy

Hailed as the second coming of the Beatles, Oasis crooned its way into the British pop music scene in 1994 with a sound and an image that finally did away with all that nostalgia for the melancholy Smiths. Yes, Oasis ushered in a new mood. Cocky and flamboyant, melodic and glam-inflected, they announ

Agitated, Bombast, Brit-pop, Citational, Gritty, In-your-face, Masculine