Garage rock revival, from the outside in. Each step is a genre and the single record this encyclopedia would put on first. Play them in this order and the last one should sound like a next step rather than a wall.
- 1 The way in
Rock 1954
The whole family: guitar, bass, drums and a beat borrowed from blues and rhythm and blues. Every branch below grows out of this trunk, metal included.
Sung. Melodic singing throughout.
Put on
The Beatles - Revolver, if you want to understand why everything branched so fast.
The Beatles, Revolver (1966) - 2 Then
Rock and roll 1954
Ground zero: twelve-bar blues sped up, piano hammered hard, lyrics about cars and girls. It made the electric guitar the defining instrument of the century.
Sung. Melodic singing throughout.
Put on
Chuck Berry - Johnny B. Goode. That opening riff is the DNA of the entire tree.
Chuck Berry, Chuck (2017) - 3 Then
Garage rock 1963
High-school bands, a Farfisa organ and one good idea recorded badly. Attitude beats technique here, and punk descends from it directly.
Sung. Melodic singing throughout.
Put on
The Sonics - Psycho. Gerry Roslie's voice is a decade ahead of punk.
The pick names a track. This is the record the encyclopedia holds by them.
The Sonics, Here Are The Sonics!!! (1965) - 4 What you asked about
Garage rock revival 2000
A reaction to nu metal and radio pop: crisp guitars, plain production, narrow suits. It put guitar rock back on festival bills in the 2000s.
Sung. Melodic singing throughout.
Put on
The Strokes - Is This It. Thirty-six minutes without a gram of fat.
The Strokes, Is This It (2001) - 5 Where to go next
Oi! / street punk 1977
Working-class punk with terrace choruses and lyrics about the pub, the factory and football.
Shouted. Barked or chanted, and you can still make out the words.
Put on
Cock Sparrer - Shock Troops. Slade-level choruses with punk guitars.
Cock Sparrer, Cock Sparrer (1978)
Assembled from the tree: every genre Garage rock revival descends from, in order. Garage rock revival has no subgenres, so the last step is the genre that rates closest to it by sound.