garage rock

[Baxter Stockman]

I head/read this term thrown around alot but what is it? I realise they are bands such as the strokes and the white stripes, but how would you describe it as a genre?

 

[HorseHead]

I head/read this term thrown around alot but what is it? I realise they are bands such as the strokes and the white stripes, but how would you describe it as a genre?

"Garage Rock" has been around since the '60s.

http://www.answers.com/garage+rock?gwp=11&ver=1.1.0.364&method=3

"Garage rock was a simple, raw form of rock and roll created by a number of United States bands in the mid-1960s. Inspired by British Invasion bands like The Beatles, The Kinks, and The Rolling Stones, these mostly Midwestern United States groups played a variation on British Invasion rock. While the American Midwest produced many of the best-known examples of garage rock, there were many bands in that style coming from the West Coast of the United States and Australia.

The term "garage rock" comes from the perception that many such performers were usually young and amateurish, and often rehearsed in a garage. These bands' music was often much cruder than their inspirations but was full of passion and energy. Most of the bands used simple chord progressions, pounding drums, and catchy lyrics. In many ways, the garage bands were the first bands in what would eventually be known as punk rock.

Hundreds of garage bands popped up around America and a handful of them — Shadows of Knight, The Count 5, The Seeds, The Standells — had hits, but most were destined for obscurity. In fact, nearly all of the bands were forgotten by the early 1970s, though the famous Nuggets compilation brought them back somewhat closer to the spotlight.

Revivals

In the 1980s, there was a garage rock revival that saw a number of bands earnestly trying to replicate the sound, style, and look of the '60s garage bands; this trend coincided with a similar surf rock revival, and both styles fed in into the alternative rock movement and future grunge music explosion, which was partially inspired by garage rock from Seattle like The Sonics and The Wailers.

This movement also evolved into an even more primitive form of garage rock that became known as garage punk by the late 1980s, thanks to bands such as The Gories, The Mummies, and The Devil Dogs. Bands playing garage punk differed from the garage rock revival bands in that they were less cartoonish caricatures of '60s garage bands and their overall sound was even more loud, obnoxious, and raw, often infusing elements of proto punk and 1970s punk rock (hence the "garage punk" term). Garage rock and garage punk coexisted throughout the 1990s and into the 2000s with many independent record labels releasing thousands of records by bands playing various styles of primitive rock and roll all around the world. Some of the more prolific of these independent record labels included Estrus, Rip Off, In The Red, Telstar, Crypt, Dionysus, Get Hip, Bomp! and Sympathy for the Record Industry. Also in the early 2000s, a few bands playing garage rock actually gained mainstream appeal and commercial airplay, something that had eluded garage rock bands of the past. These included The Strokes, The White Stripes, and The Hives, while other lesser-knowns such as The Detroit Cobras, The 5.6.7.8's, The Dirtbombs, The New Bomb Turks, the Oblivians, Teengenerate, The Makers, Guitar Wolf, Lost Sounds, The Hard Lessons and others enjoyed moderate underground success and appeal.

In the late '90s, Steven van Zandt ("Little Steven") became a torchbearer, spokesperson, and proponent for garage rock, promoting concerts and festivals in New York City and also, in 2002, starting a syndicated radio program called Little Steven's Underground Garage and also launching an Underground Garage channel on the Sirius Satellite Radio network.

See also
Pub rock (UK)
Pub rock (Australia)

Original 1960s and '70s garage bands
13th Floor Elevators
Davie Allan and The Arrows
The Amboy Dukes
The Atlantics
The Balloon Farm
The Barbarians
The Beacon Street Union
The Beau Brummels
The Bees
Blues Magoos
Blues Project
The Bohemian Vendetta
The Bootmen
The Bourbons
The Brigade
The Brigands
The Brogues
The Calico Wall
The Castaways
The Charlatans
The Children of the Mushroom
Chocolate Watchband
The Choir
The Clash
Clefs of Lavender Hill
The Count 5
Cosmic Rock Show
Cotton Mouth
The Crome Syrcus
The Cryan Shames
The Daily Flash
The Del-Vetts
The Dovers
The E-Types
Earth Opera
The Elastik Band
Electric Prunes
Fenwyck
The Five Americans
The Floating Bridge
Kim Fowley
Freeborne
Frijid Pink
The Frost
The Gants
The Gestures
The Golliwogs
Gonn
The Groupies
Harbinger Complex
The Hombres
The Human Beinz
The Human Expression
The Humane Society
Kenny and The Kasuals
Kinks
The Kingsmen
The Knaves
The Knickerbockers
Larry and the Bluenotes
The Leaves
The Lemon Drops
The Litter
The Live Five
The Lollipop Shoppe
Love
Lyme and Cybelle
The Lyrics
The Magic Mushrooms
The Magicians
Max Frost and the Troopers
MC5
The Merry-Go-Round
Michael and the Messengers
The Mind's Eye
The Mojo Men
The Monks
Mouse and the Traps
The Moving Sidewalks
Mr. Lucky and the Gamblers
The Music Explosion
The Music Machine
The Mystery Trend
Nazz
New Colony Six
The New Tweedy Brothers
The Nightcrawlers
The Night Walkers
The Nuggets
The Outcasts
The Outsiders
The Other Half
The Palace Guard
Phluph
The Premiers
Pretty Things
Psychedelic Stooges
Question Mark and the Mysterians
The Rare Breed
The Rationals
The Rats Two Line
The Remaining Few
The Remains
Richard and the Young Lions
The Rovin' Kind
The Rumors
S.J. and The Crossroads
Sagitarius
Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs
Saturday's Children
The Seeds
Shadows of Knight
Sir Douglas Quintet
The Sonics
The Sparkles
SRC
The Squires
The Standells
Stereo Shoestring
The Stooges
The Strangeloves
Strawberry Alarm Clock
The Swingin' Medallions
Syndicate Of Sound
Teddy and The Pandas
Teegarden
The Third Bardo
Third Power
The Third Rail
The Tidal Waves
Thursday's Children
The Troggs
The Turtles
The Ugly Ducklings
Ultimate Spinach
The Underdogs
The Uniques
Unrelated Segments
The Vagrants
Van Winkle
Wailers
We The People
The Wilde Knights
The William Penn V
The Woolies
The Yorkshires
The Zakary Thaks

1980s, '90s, and 2000s garage revival bands
The 5.6.7.8's
The Alleys
The Avatars
The Bent Scepters
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Billy Childish
The Cynics
Dead Moon
The Detroit Cobras
The Dirtbombs
The Embrooks
The Fleshtones
The Fuzztones
Girl Trouble
The Gore Gore Girls
The Gravedigger 5
The Greenhornes
The Hentchmen
The Insomniacs
The Kaisers
Lyres
Mando Diao
The Milkshakes
The Miracle Workers
Mondo Topless
The Mooney Suzuki
The Morlocks
The Nymphs
The Nomads
The Original Sins
The Outta Place
The Pandoras
Plane 9
The Satelliters
The Seers
The Stems
The Stomachmouths
The Strokes
The Subsonics
The Stepford Husbands [1]
The Swingin' Neckbreakers
The Untamed Youth
The Von Bondies
The White Stripes
The Woggles"