Jangle pop, 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
Folk rock 1964
Folk lyrics played on a twelve-string electric guitar. It taught rock that the words can matter as much as the riff.
Sung. Melodic singing throughout.
Put on
Fairport Convention - Liege & Lief. The birth certificate of British folk rock.
Fairport Convention, Fairport Convention (1968) - 3 What you asked about
Jangle pop 1980
Clean, chiming Rickenbacker guitars and melody everywhere. The building block of indie rock.
Sung. Melodic singing throughout.
Put on
R.E.M. - Murmur. Don't try to decipher the lyrics; the band didn't want you to.
R.E.M., Murmur (1983) - 4 Where to go next
Midwest emo 1994
Open tunings and interlocking arpeggios, odd meters and lyrics about autumn and empty rooms.
Sung. Melodic singing throughout.
Put on
American Football - Never Meant. That opening guitar figure is a whole genre.
American Football, American Football (1999)
Assembled from the tree: every genre Jangle pop descends from, in order. Jangle pop has no subgenres, so the last step is the genre that rates closest to it by sound.