Garage rock

Garage rock was a simple, raw form of rock and roll created by a number of American bands in the mid-1960s. Inspired by British Invasion bands like The Beatles, The Kinks, and The Rolling Stones, these mostly midwestern American 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 and Australia.) Since they were usually young and amateurish, the results were much cruder than their inspirations but their music was full of passion and energy. Most of the band emphasized their amateurishness, playing the same three chords, bashing their guitars and growling their vocals. 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 in the early '70s, but the Nuggets compilation brought them back to the spotlight.

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 fed in into the alternative rock movement and future grunge music explosion, which was partially inspired by garage rock from Seattle like The Sonics. This movement died down at the end of the decade but there was another revival in the 2000s with bands like The White Stripes, The Hives, The Strokes, The Libertines, The Datsuns, The D4 and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club owing more than a little to the style.

'Bands':

13th Floor Elevators
The Count 5
Dick Dale
Electric Prunes
Human Beinz
Kinks
The Nuggets
Pretty Things
The Seeds
The Shadows Of Knight
The Sonics
The Standells
The Stooges
The Troggs
Question Mark and the Mysterians
The Ugly Ducklings
Chocolate Watchband
The Leaves
Blues Magoos
The Atlantics