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experimental rock

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Also known as avant-garde rock, avant rock, avant-rock

type of music based on rock

Key facts

Other names
Avant-rock avant-garde rock avant-garde rock and roll (early)
Stylistic origins
Rock avant-garde experimental free jazz noise musique concrète free improvisation tape music sound collage
Cultural origins
1960s; United States and United Kingdom
Derivative forms
Art rock

via Wikipedia infobox

~25 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Experimental rock (originally known as avant-garde rock or avant-rock) is a subgenre of rock music that emerged in the 1960s. The genre emphasizes innovation over commercial appeal, incorporating influences and ideas lifted from avant-garde music through traditional rock music instrumentation. It is primarily characterized by its use of unconventional song structures, musical techniques, rhythms and lyricism, usually deemed challenging, difficult, inaccessible or underground.

Etymology

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “experimental rock” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.