Fusion is one of music’s most productive tools. It’s the process of blending two or more musical styles to create a new one. Bring a folk musician and a rocker into the studio and, theoretically, you’re going end up with some folk rock. It’s a simple equation and rock music has proved itself to be such a malleable host that it now has more subgenres than you can shake a pick at.
Here are 15 of rock’s most important subgenres together with a couple of classic album recommendations to fully fire your curiosity.
Rock's 15 most important subgenres
15. Folk rock
During the 1950s and into the early 1960s music fans on both sides of the Atlantic were enjoying parallel folk revivals. Both were guitar-picking scenes full of socio-political awareness, protest songs, coffee houses and, particularly in the UK, cardigans. But come the summer of 1965 the folk purists were stunned when their acoustic scene was blown apart by the introduction of a new power source, electricity.
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The trio of plugged-in protagonists responsible for upsetting the folk apple cart were The Byrds, Bob Dylan and The Beatles. All three neatly coalesced on the release of the former’s ‘Mr Tambourine Man’. The Beatles’ provided the inspiration for the electrified, beat-driven soundtrack and Dylan the song itself. The Byrds, former folkies themselves, had the smarts to put them both together, and folk rock, as a genre, was born.
Dylan’s mostly-electric fifth album Bringing It All Back Home and his subsequent amplified appearance at the Newport Folk Festival put more nails into trad folk’s coffin, and brought its new rocky hybrid to the fore.
The nascent folk rock sound was taken forward in the US by acts such as Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Love, the Lovin’ Spoonful and Joni Mitchell. In the UK, alongside Donovan and Cat Stevens, wonderful bands such as Fairport Convention and Pentangle created some of the subgenre’s longest lasting classics.
Essential albums:
Bob Dylan – Highway 61 Revisited (1965)
Fairport Convention – Liege and Lief (1969)
14. Jazz rock
Also referred to as jazz fusion, jazz rock emerged in the late 1960s and melded the improvisational complexity of jazz with the electrified, driving power of rock. The subgenre was jump-started by Miles Davis with the release of a couple of hugely influential albums, the out-there In A Silent Way (1969) and the even more out-there, foundational masterpiece Bitches Brew (1970). Davis had been listening to Jimi Hendrix and wanted in on the action.
With the luxury of hindsight, jazz fusion bands can be post-rationally placed into defined two camps. Firstly, there are the rock bands with jazz leanings and a horn section, such as Chicago, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Steely Dan and even Frank Zappa.
Then there’s the jazz virtuosos compelled to experiment with rock instrumentation, such as Weather Report, Mahavishnu Orchestra and the lesser-known Return To Forever. All three bands comprised of Miles Davis alumni.
Essential albums:
Miles Davis – Bitches Brew (1970)
Steely Dan – Aja (1977)
13. Country rock
In simple terms, country rock is country music played with attitude by rock musicians. The subgenre first peeked its head above the parapet in the late 60s as a reaction to the sterile, ultra-polished Nashville Sound coming out of country music’s capital. It fused country’s vocal harmonies and storytelling genius with rock’s heavy sonics and nonconformist attitude.
Early trailblazers included Buffalo Springfield, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Poco and The Byrds. It was the latter, under the guidance of cosmic country guru Gram Parsons, who released the subgenre’s early defining statement in Sweetheart Of The Rodeo.
The 70s witnessed an explosion in popularity with The Eagles taking country rock into the charts with Desperado in 1973 and then Hotel California three years later. They dragged acts such as Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt into the mainstream with them.
Essential albums:
The Byrds – Sweetheart Of The Rodeo (1968)
The Flying Burrito Brothers – Gilded Palace Of Sin (1969)
12. Blues rock
The blues as a musical genre originated among African Americans in the Deep South states of the US in the 1860s. Its songs, often deeply spiritual, survived the passage of time to be given the heavy electric guitar/thumping drums treatment by skinny white boys on both sides of the Atlantic.
In the US acts such as Lonnie Mack, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and Canned Heat took the blues into new heavier directions with extended improvised guitar solos a speciality.
The UK witnessed a full-blown blues boom in the 1960s with the Rolling Stones, the Yardbirds, Cream and Fleetwood Mac among its explosive number. The guitar hero had arrived with Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Peter Green providing the histrionics.
Essential albums:
Canned Heat – Boogie With Canned Heat (1968)
John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers – Blues Breakers With Eric Clapton (1966)
11. Psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock acts aimed to enmesh their music with an altered, transcendent state of consciousness. Heavy reverb, distortion and wigged-out modified sounds were some of the sonic effects used to replicate the experience.
Songs morphed into loose, extended jams with The Grateful Dead and Pink Floyd pioneering exponents. Jimi Hendrix’s mind-expanding guitar antics blended perfectly into the scene, and even The Beatles embraced the genre with ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’, a pitch perfect slice of psychedelia. The Rolling Stones also joined in with Their Satanic Majesties Request but were fooling nobody.
When the 1960s ended so did the music, and a return to roots-based rock was to follow.
Essential albums:
Jimi Hendrix Experience – Axis: Bold Of Love (1967)
Pink Floyd – Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (1967)
10. Heavy metal
The most monumental of all of rock’s subgenres started with an unholy trinity of British rock bands in the shape of Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple. All three of them came out of the blues rock scene, but an injection of volume, power and distortion took them on a journey into a genre of all their own. US bands, such as Aerosmith, Van Halen and Kiss, joined in and added their own unique touches.
Kicking off in the late 1970s, bands in the new wave of British heavy metal such as Iron Maiden, Def Leppard and Saxon injected a shot of fresh life.
For many, heavy metal has evolved into so much more than just a rock subgenre and is a lifestyle choice complete with a sense of community and a familiar dress code. Extreme subgenres of the subgenre abound in heavy metal and ‘hair’, ‘thrash’, ‘death’ and ‘black’ metal have all had their moments.
Essential albums:
Black Sabbath – Paranoid (1970)
Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin IV (1971)
9. Soft rock
One of most radio-friendly of all the subgenres, soft rock, sometimes referred to as adult-orientated rock (AOR), made a defining virtue of ironing out rock’s rough edges. Fuzz, distortion and soloing were swapped out for melody, simple song construction and lush studio production.
The 1970s was the genre’s most prolific era with major artists such as Carole King, Bread, Elton John, Chicago, The Carpenters and James Taylor all closely associated. Supertramp, Hall & Oates, Toto and a reinvented Fleetwood Mac eventually joining the party.
A subgenre of the subgenre, yacht rock is basically soft rock with a cast of Californian musicians and a pair of salty deck shoes.
Essential albums:
Fleetwood Mac – Rumours (1977)
Daryll Hall & John Oates – Abandoned Luncheonette (1973)
8. Glam rock
Glam rock shunned rock’s noodling indulgences for a return to pop-rock guitar hooks and a straightforward verse-chorus song structure. A largely UK phenomenon, glam rock bands embraced an over-developed sense of theatricality, caking themselves in glittery make-up and dressing like a bunch of eccentric aunties in feather boas.
The music divided broadly into two camps. On one hand, David Bowie, Roxy Music and early Queen held on to a semblance of high arty pretension. While hit-orientated bands such as The Sweet, Slade and T. Rex aimed their bubblegum riffs at the teen market. Alice Cooper was adopted into the UK as an honorary glam rocker.
Glam quickly burnt out, but it had sketched out the blueprint for the punk rock movement to come.
Essential albums:
T Rex – Electric Warrior (1971)
David Bowie – The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars (1973)
7. Krautrock
A deluge of truly experimental music came out of Germany in the early 70s giving the sonic envelope a good pushing like never before. With the country still in the aftershock of World War II the younger generation were seeking a unique sound to call their own. This led to the path of experimentation and many of the new bands were locked into tape collages, early synthesizers and a propulsive motorik beat.
From cosmic synth-scapes to brain-frying space rock, krautrock is a difficult subgenre to neatly categorise. The most fruitful years of the krautrock scene cover the period from 1970 to 1975.
A top five of legendary acts would comprise of Can, Neu!, Faust, Amun Duul and Ash Ra Tempel. Aside from their first two albums, electronic giants Kraftwerk worked outside of the krautrock scene and fall short of legendary status.
Essential albums:
Can – Tago Mago (1971)
Neu! – Neu! (1972)
6. Prog rock
Forget rock’n’roll and brew, prog rock’s appeal lies in the multi-layered complexity of its songs, and the instrumental virtuosity of its musicians; The Ramones it is not. Nerdy by nature, prog is the natural home of the concept album with storytelling a vital factor and science fiction and fantasy its most recurring themes.
Predominantly a British concern, prog can boast bands such as Yes, King Crimson, Genesis, Gentle Giant, Soft Machine and Pink Floyd at its ambitious, intellectual core. The trademark futuristic album cover art also makes a vital contribution to the overall prog rock aesthetic with the design skills of Roger Dean and Hipgnosis to the fore.
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Prog rock briefly fell foul of a punk rock backlash in the late 1970s, but its enduring appeal rode out the wave of snotty animosity and much of its first press vinyl remains highly desirable among collectors.
Essential albums:
King Crimson – In The Court Of The Crimson King (1969)
Genesis – Selling England By The Pound (1973)
5. Punk rock
Fed up with the bloated stagnancy of the music scene and the bleak socio-political environment, snarly punk rock movements were running concurrently in the UK and US. Both were imbued with the spirit of rebellion, but the bands, haircuts and sonic output were wildly different.
In London the leading lights were the Sex Pistols, The Damned and The Clash. All were dissatisfied with everything around them, and looking to burn things down. In New York, the bands were just that bit older and approached punk as more of an art project. Saying that, they could all create an unholy racket and bands like The Heartbreakers, The Ramones, The Dictators and The Dead Boys all had furious reputations as live acts.
It was difficult for punk to keep up the young, loud and snotty vibe for any sustained period of time, and the scene’s sense of authenticity quickly sold out. The punk ethos survived and remains a pervading influence.
Essential albums:
The Clash – The Clash (1977)
The Ramones – Leave Home (1977)
4. Post punk
Inspired by punk’s energy, but frustrated with the movement’s inability to expand beyond rock’s traditional three-chord clichés, UK’s post-punk bands were committed to exploring more expansive sonic territories.
Post-punk artists, most of whom had previously been punks anyway, experimented within a variety of sonic territories, including dub, funk, krautrock, electronica, and free jazz. Bands like Joy Division, Public Image, Magazine, Wire and Gang Of Four also gleaned ideas from art, literature, philosophy, and politics. Pretension was back on the agenda.
Punk may have kicked down the door on the excesses of the mainstream-rock establishment, but it was the torrent of music that followed in its wake that just might be its greatest legacy.
Essential albums:
Joy Division – Unknown Pleasures (1979)
Gang Of Four – Entertainment (1979)
3. Indie rock
Indie rock is one of those subgenres that’s definition has become increasingly slipperier to nail down over the years. The term originated in the 1980s and originally referred to arty, non-mainstream bands that were releasing music on independent labels. The Smiths on Rough Trade is often cited as the indie rock’s prime exemplar.
Over time, as so often they do, the majors moved in and indie rock came to define an attitude and sound rather than any affiliation to a label. The acts were still independent in spirit and acceptance outside of the mainstream remained the goal.
Indie acts such as Radiohead, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, and Arctic Monkeys in the UK along with The White Stripes, Wilco and The Strokes in the US are radiant beacons of the subgenre.
Essential albums:
Arctic Monkeys – Favourite Worst Nightmare (2007)
Wilco – Yankee Foxtrot Hotel (2001)
2. Goth
Gothic rock, to use its full title, is a peculiar subgenre that emerged out of the UK post punk scene. Its inspiration is taken from gothic literature, romanticism and the supernatural. As with many musical movements it has spawned a subculture and a strict vampiric make-up code.
A first wave of key artists featured heavy hitters such as Siouxsie & The Banshees, The Cure, Bauhaus and The Birthday Party, while subsequent influxes of fresh blood included figureheads Sisters Of Mercy, Southern Death Cult, and Gene Loves Jezebel.
While an obvious influence on Marilyn Manson, goth’s appeal in the US, appropriately enough, remains underground.
Essential albums:
The Cure – Disintegration (1989)
Sisters Of Mercy – First & Last & Always (1985)
1. Post rock
While still using rock’s familiar roster of instruments (guitar, bass, drums, keyboards) and many of its traditional stylings, post rock deconstructs its core genre to deliver heavily textured, atmospheric instrumental soundscapes. Early innovators such as Talk Talk and Slint are credited with blazing a trail in the late 1980s.
In the early 90s Tortoise became the post rock’s first poster boys and continue to make great music to this day. Curious newcomers to the subgenre are advised to seek out the Chicago-based Kranky label and its influential roster of bands (Stars Of The Lid, Labradford).
Meanwhile, Scotland’s Mogwai are now over 10 albums in and are consistent festival headliners across the globe. The band’s album As The Love Continues even topped the UK album charts in 2021.
Essential albums:
Tortoise – Millions Now Living Will Never Die (1996)
Mogwai – Young Team (1997)
All photos Getty Images / Album covers Discogs
Top image The Byrds pose for a portrait circa 1965
