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 What you asked about
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 Where to go next
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)
Assembled from the tree: every genre Rock descends from, in order. The last step is the gentlest of Rock's 8 subgenres - least harsh vocals first, then least heavy.