Garage rock

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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 such performers 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 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 in the early '70s, but the Nuggets compilation brought them back 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 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, and The Strokes owing more than a little to the style. This later revival received much mainstream attention and became one of the dominant forms of rock and roll through the early part of the decade.