Rockpedia

Compare

Two genres, side by side. The ratings are editorial judgements on a ten-point scale, not measurements. Where they come out level, the difference is in the prose underneath them.

First genre

Beat / British Invasion1963

Second genre

Folk rock1964

Head to headBeat / British Invasion vs Folk rock
Beat / British Invasion: heaviness 2, melody 10, speed 5. Folk rock: heaviness 2, melody 10, speed 4.Heaviness2 / 2Melody10 / 10Speed5 / 4
Each corner is a ten-point rating. The further out, the higher.

The difference, by ear

Folk rock is what happened when these guitar sounds met American folk repertoire, and the Byrds are explicitly answering the Beatles.

Both are sung cleanly, but folk rock is slower: 80 to 120 bpm against 120 to 160. To hear the difference, play The Beatles next to The Byrds. They share a root in rock, and Beat / British Invasion came first, by a year.

Put together from each genre's vocals, tempo, song length, key acts and place in the tree.

In figures

Heaviness
Beat / British Invasion2
Folk rock2
level
Speed
Beat / British Invasion5
Folk rock4
−1
Melody
Beat / British Invasion10
Folk rock10
level

Beat / British Invasion

1963 · Liverpool, UK

Where it sits

Rock › Rock and roll › Beat / British Invasion

In short

The British took American rock and roll, added vocal harmony and shipped it back across the Atlantic. Both hard rock and pop-rock start here.

How it sounds

  • Two- and three-part vocal harmony borrowed from American girl groups and doo-wop.
  • Twelve-string Rickenbacker guitar with a clean, chiming tone.
  • Short songs, near-perfect pop structures, almost no improvisation.

Key acts

  • The Beatles
  • The Kinks
  • The Who
  • The Animals

Start here

The pickThe Kinks - You Really Got Me. The first genuinely distorted riff on record.

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Folk rock

1964 · USA / United Kingdom · 4 subgenres

Where it sits

Rock › Folk rock

In short

Folk lyrics played on a twelve-string electric guitar. It taught rock that the words can matter as much as the riff.

How it sounds

  • Twelve-string guitar, clean tone, open arpeggios.
  • Dense vocal harmony inherited from the American folk tradition.
  • The text comes first: songs are built around the words rather than the riff.

Key acts

  • The Byrds
  • Bob Dylan
  • Fairport Convention
  • Simon & Garfunkel

Start here

The pickFairport Convention - Liege & Lief. The birth certificate of British folk rock.

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