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

Rock and roll1954

Head to headBeat / British Invasion vs Rock and roll
Beat / British Invasion: heaviness 2, melody 10, speed 5. Rock and roll: heaviness 2, melody 8, speed 6.Heaviness2 / 2Melody10 / 8Speed5 / 6
Each corner is a ten-point rating. The further out, the higher.

The difference, by ear

Beat is the British reading of American rock and roll, with harmony from skiffle and the music hall and a much stronger emphasis on the group singing together.

Both are sung cleanly, but rock and roll is a little faster: 140 to 180 bpm against 120 to 160. To hear the difference, play The Beatles next to Chuck Berry. Beat / British Invasion grew out of rock and roll, nine years later.

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

In figures

Heaviness
Beat / British Invasion2
Rock and roll2
level
Speed
Beat / British Invasion5
Rock and roll6
+1
Melody
Beat / British Invasion10
Rock and roll8
−2

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.

Full page →

Rock and roll

1954 · Memphis / Chicago, USA · 6 subgenres

Where it sits

Rock › Rock and roll

In short

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.

How it sounds

  • Twelve-bar blues sped up, with piano pounded in eighths and saxophone where the guitar solo would later go.
  • The guitar plays short repeating riffs rather than long solos - Chuck Berry essentially wrote the vocabulary.
  • Mono production, one room, dance-hall energy.

Key acts

  • Chuck Berry
  • Little Richard
  • Elvis Presley
  • Bo Diddley

Start here

The pickChuck Berry - Johnny B. Goode. That opening riff is the DNA of the entire tree.

Full page →