Rap rock, 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
Alternative rock 1985
An umbrella for everything that grew outside commercial radio and then conquered it. Defined originally by the college-radio network, not by any one sound.
Sung. Melodic singing throughout.
Put on
Pixies - Doolittle. Cobain admitted he was simply trying to write a Pixies song.
Pixies, Doolittle (1989) - 3 Then
Funk rock 1984
Slap bass and funk grooves under rock guitars. Rap rock, and through it nu metal, start here.
Sung. Melodic singing throughout.
Put on
Faith No More - Angel Dust. An album that deliberately sabotages its own success.
Faith No More, Angel Dust (1992) - 4 What you asked about
Rap rock 1986
Rapped vocals over rock riffs. The Run-DMC and Aerosmith collaboration opened the door; Rage turned it into a political weapon.
Rapped. Verses delivered as rap over the riffs.
Put on
Rage Against the Machine - the debut. No synths and no samples, just four people.
Rage Against the Machine, Rage Against the Machine (1992) - 5 Where to go next
Industrial rock 1982
Guitars over programmed drums, sampling and factory noise. The bridge to industrial metal.
Sung and screamed. Clean singing and harsh vocals trade off, often chorus against verse.
Put on
Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral. Recorded, not at all by chance, in a house with a grim history.
Nine Inch Nails, The Downward Spiral (1994)
Assembled from the tree: every genre Rap rock descends from, in order. Rap rock has no subgenres, so the last step is the genre that rates closest to it by sound.