Katana VentraIP

Garage rock

Garage rock (sometimes called garage punk or '60s punk) is a raw and energetic style of rock and roll that flourished in the mid-1960s, most notably in the United States and Canada, and has experienced a series of subsequent revivals. The style is characterized by basic chord structures played on electric guitars and other instruments, sometimes distorted through a fuzzbox, as well as often unsophisticated and occasionally aggressive lyrics and delivery. Its name derives from the perception that groups were often made up of young amateurs who rehearsed in the family garage, although many were professional.

"Garage band" redirects here. For other uses, see Garage band (disambiguation).

Garage rock

In the US and Canada, surf rock—and later the Beatles and other beat groups of the British Invasion—motivated thousands of young people to form bands between 1963 and 1968. Hundreds of grass-roots acts produced regional hits, some of which gained national popularity, usually played on AM radio stations. With the advent of psychedelia, numerous garage bands incorporated exotic elements into the genre's primitive stylistic framework. After 1968, as more sophisticated forms of rock music came to dominate the marketplace, garage rock records largely disappeared from national and regional charts, and the movement faded. Other countries in the 1960s experienced similar rock movements that have sometimes been characterized as variants of garage rock.


During the 1960s, garage rock was not recognized as a distinct genre and had no specific name, but critical hindsight in the early 1970s—and especially the 1972 compilation album Nuggets—did much to define and memorialize the style. Between 1971 and 1973, certain American rock critics began to retroactively identify the music as a genre and for several years used the term "punk rock" to describe it, making it the first form of music to bear the description, predating the more familiar use of the term appropriated by the later punk rock movement that it influenced. The term "garage rock" gained favor amongst commentators and devotees during the 1980s. The style has also been referred to as "proto-punk", or, in certain instances, "frat rock".


In the early to mid-1980s, several revival scenes emerged featuring acts that consciously attempted to replicate the look and sound of 1960s garage bands. Later in the decade, a louder, more contemporary garage subgenre developed that combined garage rock with modern punk rock and other influences, sometimes using the garage punk label originally and otherwise associated with 1960s garage bands. In the 2000s, a wave of garage-influenced acts associated with the post-punk revival emerged, and some achieved commercial success. Garage rock continues to appeal to musicians and audiences who prefer a "back to basics" or "do-it-yourself" musical approach.

American rock

List of 1960s one-hit wonders in the United States

List of garage rock bands

Nederpop

Aswell, Tom (2010). Louisiana Rocks!: The True Genesis of Rock and Roll (1st ed.). Gretna, Louisiana: Pelican Publishing Company.  978-1-58980-677-1.

ISBN

Bovey, Seth (2019). Five Years Ahead of My Time: Garage Rock from the 1950s to the Present. London: Reaktion Books.  9781789140651.

ISBN

Crowley, Kent (2011). Surf Beat: Rock 'n' Roll's Forgotten Revolution. New York: Backbeat Books.  9781617130076.

ISBN

Dalley, Robert J. (1996). Surfin' Guitars: Instrumental Surf Bands of the Sixties (2nd ed.). Ann Arbor, Michigan: Popular Culture, Ink.  1560750421.

ISBN

Davidson, Eric (2010). . Backbeat Books (Hal Leonard Performing Arts Publishing). ISBN 978-0-87930-972-5.

We Never Learn: The Gunk Punk Undergut, 1988–2001

Edmondson, Jacqueline (April 2009). Jerry Garcia: A Biography. Santa Barbara, California: Greenwood Biographies.  978-0-313-35121-1.

ISBN

Gendron, Bernard (2002). Between Montmartre and the Mudd Club: Popular Music and the Avant-Garde (1st ed.). University of Chicago Press.  978-0-226-28735-5.

ISBN

Grubbs, David (2014). Records Ruin the Landscape: John Cage, the Sixties, and Sound Recording (1st ed.). Duke University Press.  978-0-8223-5576-2.

ISBN

Hall, Ron (2001). (1st ed.). Memphis: Sharngri-La Projects. ISBN 978-0-9668575-1-1.

Playing for a Piece of the Door: A History of Garage & Frat Bands in Memphis 1960–1975

Joynson, Vernon (2004) Fuzz, Acid and Flowers Revisited: A Comprehensive Guide to American Garage, Psychedelic and Hippie Rock (1964-1975). Borderline  978-1-899855-14-8.

ISBN

Kristiansen, Lars J. (2010). Screaming for Change: Articulating a Unifying Philosophy of Punk Rock. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc.  978-0-7391-4274-5.

ISBN

Medina, Cuahtémoc (Autumn 2005). Pellizzi, Francesco (ed.). . Harvard University Press. p. 187. ISBN 978-0-87365-766-2. Retrieved June 7, 2017.

Res: Anthropology and Aesthetics, 48: Autumn 2005: Permanent/Impermanent - Henry Flynt

Murrells, Joseph (1978). (2nd ed.). London: Barrie and Jenkins Ltd. ISBN 978-0-214-20512-5.

The Book of Golden Discs

Rogan, Johnny (1998). The Byrds: Timeless Flight Revisited (2nd ed.). Rogan House.  978-0-9529540-1-9.

ISBN

Rosenberg, Stuart (2008). Rock and Roll and the American Landscape: The Birth of an Industry and the Expansion of the Popular Culture, 1955–1969. iUniverse.  978-1-4401-6458-3.

ISBN

Swenson, John (2012). New Atlantis: Musicians Battle for the Survival of New Orleans. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.  978-0-19-993171-2.

ISBN

Thompson, Dave (September 1, 2002). The Music Lover's Guide to Record Collecting. San Francisco: Backbeat Books.  978-0-87930-713-4.

ISBN

Unterberger, Richie (2000). . Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN 978-0-87930-616-8.

Urban Spacemen and Wayfaring Strangers: Overlooked Innovators and Eccentric Visionaries of '60s Rock

Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits: Eighth Edition. Record Research. p. 499.  978-0-8230-8554-5.

ISBN

Wickham, Barry G.; Richman, Geoffrey M. (2008). Price and Reference Guide for 1960s Garage, Psychedelic and Uncharted Rock 45s. Petaluma, California: Richman and Wickham.  9780615260211.

ISBN

– histories of local and regional bands of the 1960s

'60s Garage Bands

– interviews with former members of 1960s garage bands

Beyond the Beat Generation

– covers Australian garage rock bands of the 1960s and later

Everett True's Australian Garage Rock Primer

– website and blog which hosts discussions on various topics related to garage rock

G45 Central

– garage bands of the 1960s by state, province and country

Garage Hangover

Archived January 20, 2014, at the Wayback Machine – covers the group sounds ("G.S.") garage/beat boom in Japan

GS

- articles, interviews, and reviews of 1960s psychedelic and garage acts

It's Psychedelic Baby! Magazine

– Website devoted to covering as many as 1400 Dutch Nederbeat bands of the 1960s (in both Dutch and English)

Start

– magazine that provides information on garage rock and vintage music from the 1960s and other eras

Ugly Things