Last Updated on March 14, 2026 by Black Sunshine Media
Leave it to the letter E to school me on just how much I don’t know about music. Of the 14 genres listed below, I could only write two descriptions off the top of my head. A few of these rock genres were revelations, i.e., they have a name for that?
Join me on a mission to discover new genres and subgenres aka Rock Genres Explained. We’ll find out where they came from, when it was popular, who defines the genre, and what I should listen to?
Easy listening
| Origins: | 1940s American radio programming |
| Peak popularity: | 1945–1975 |
| Defining artists: | Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Patti Page, Tony Bennett, Nat King Cole, Rosemary Clooney, Doris Day, Perry Como, Engelbert Humperdinck, The Carpenters |
| Signature cut: | “Close to You” by the Carpenters (1970) |
The precursor of soft rock and adult contemporary, easy listening (aka mood music) is a radio format related to middle of the road (MOR) music.
Electric folk
| Origins: | Mid-1960s American and British folk |
| Peak popularity: | 1966–1980 |
| Defining artists: | Bob Dylan, Fairport Convention, The Byrds, Steeleye Span |
| Exemplary album: | The Byrds, Greatest Hits (1967) |
Folk music was traditionally played on acoustic instruments. So it was considered folk music blasphemy when Bob Dylan appeared on stage with an electric guitar at Manchester Free Trade Hall in 1966. The shock wouldn’t last, though. Electric folk merged into folk rock in the mid-1960s as a fusion of traditional folk music with rock elements. Pioneered by artists like Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span in the U.K., and the Byrds in the U.S., the genre sought to modernize folk music by incorporating electric instruments and rock rhythms. The term electric folk is interchangeable with British folk rock.
Electronica
| Origins: | Early 1990s (mostly) British pop, rock, synthpop |
| Peak popularity: | 1992–2001 |
| Defining artists: | Chemical Brothers, Fatboy Slim, Moby, Madonna, and Björk |
| Exemplary track: | None |
Electronica is an umbrella term for electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing, and a music scene that came to prominence in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. The original term “electronica” derives from the influential English techno label New Electronica, one of the leading forces of the early 1990s “electronic listening music” scene, which never made sense. Did people get together and listen to this bullshit?
Electronicore
| Origins: | Early 2000s metalcore and electronic music |
| Peak popularity: | 2000–? |
| Defining artists: | Enter Shikari, Attack Attack! |
| Exemplary track: | Attack Attack!, Someday Came Suddenly (2008) |
Unfortunately, to understand electronicore without hearing it requires a knowledge of several other obscure subgenres of rock. Also known as synthcore or trancecore, this is a schizophrenic fusion genre combining elements of metalcore with various electronic music styles, including trance, electronica, and dubstep. Emerging in the late 2000s, bands like Enter Shikari and Attack Attack! pioneered this sound, blending aggressive guitar riffs with electronic breakdowns and synthesizer-driven melodies.
Electronic dance music (EDM)
| Origins: | n/a |
| Peak popularity: | n/a |
| Defining artists: | n/a |
| Exemplary album: | n/a |
EDM is an umbrella term for a massive range of genres, from acid jazz to trip hop. However, electronic dance music has a long history that predates DJs, raves, and Molly. Early precursors include Jamaican dub, electropop (e.g., Kraftwerk and Giorgio Moroder), hip hop, and disco.
Electronic rock
| Origins: | Late 1960s experimental rock |
| Peak popularity: | 1969–present |
| Defining artists: | The United States of American, Silver Apples, Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, The Killers |
| Exemplary album: | Depeche Mode, Violator (1987) |
Ninety percent of rock music genres involve electronic instrumentation, but we’re talking about industrial rock, new wave, synthpop, etc. Any rock band with a synthesizer is electronic rock. Electronic rock, also referred to as electro rock or synth rock, combines elements of rock music with electronic music, utilizing instruments from both genres.
Originating in the late 1960s, artists like The United States of America and Silver Apples experimented with electronic sounds within a rock framework. The genre gained prominence in the 1980s with bands such as Depeche Mode and Nine Inch Nails, who blended synthesizers with guitars in traditional pop and rock structures.
Electroclash
| Origins: | Late 1990s techno and synth pop |
| Peak popularity: | 2001 |
| Defining artists: | Fischerspooner, Miss Kitten & The Hacker |
| Sample cut: | “Emerge” by Fischerspooner |
They say it’s a hybrid of retro-style new wave and synth-pop with 1990s EDM. Plus, a few scoops of performance art. There’s nothing “rock” about this genre except for the attitude.
Electropunk
| Origins: | Late 1970s punk and electronic rock |
| Peak popularity: | 1977–1985 |
| Defining artists: | Suicide, The Screamers, Devo, Atari Teenage Riot |
| Exemplary album: | Suicide, Suicide (1977) |
The precursor of industrial music, electropunk combines elements of electronic music with punk rock‘s fuck-all attitude. Originating in the late 1970s and early 1980s, bands like Suicide and The Screamers utilized synthesizers and drum machines to create aggressive, minimalist soundscapes. Meanwhile, Devo scored a synth punk hit with “Whip It!” in 1979, bringing the genre to a wider audience.
Honestly, the first Suicide album in 1977 set the stage for subsequent post-punk, synth-pop, and industrial rock genres. Everything else is just chatter.
Later revival instances include electronic body music, dance punk, and electroclash. Other artists, like Chicago’s Big Black, added guitars and helped to spawn a new wave of math rock, industrial rock, and noise rock.
Emo
| Origins: | Mid-1980s Washington, D.C. hardcore punk |
| Peak popularity: | 2000–2015 |
| Defining artists: | Rites of Spring, My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy, Dashboard Confessional |
| Exemplary album: | My Chemical Romance, The Black Parade (2005) |
Emo originated in the mid-1980s Washington, D.C. hardcore scene. Bands like Rites of Spring and Embrace infused hardcore punk with confessional lyrics and overwrought vocal stylings. The genre is characterized by wounded angst, frantic tempos, and intricate guitar work.
I was today years old when I realized that “emo” means emotional hardcore. I knew it was something about emotions, but I never put it together. To me, Fall Out Boy, Dashboard Confessional, and My Chemical Romance sound like a blend of power pop, post-punk, and metal with plaintive and screamy vocals over the top. They’d be listenable if they’d roll back the angst fader about -8 dB. But that’s mainstream emo.
Emo revival
| Origins: | Mid-1990s emo and punk rock |
| Peak popularity: | 2008–2015 |
| Defining artists: | Algernon Cadwallader, The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die, Modern Baseball, The Hotelier |
| Exemplary album: | Algernon Cadwallader, Some Kind of Cadwallader (2008) |
The emo revival was a resurgence of interest in emo music during the late 2000s and early 2010s. This movement saw a return to the genre’s roots, emphasizing dexterous guitar work and self-centered lyrics. Bands like Algernon Cadwallader and The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die were at the forefront, drawing inspiration from 1990s Midwest emo.
Emoviolence
| Origins: | Mid 1990s hardcore punk |
| Peak popularity: | 1998–2008 |
| Defining artists: | Siege, Orchid, Saetia, Pg.99 |
| Exemplary album: | Orchid, Chaos is Me (1999) |
I’m going to break protocol and jump ahead to another letter of the alphabet, the letter P, and the genre powerviolence.
Powerviolence (sometimes written as power violence) is a furious and impatient subgenre of hardcore punk, closely related to thrashcore and grindcore. While the term powerviolence originally included many stylistically diverse bands, it typically refers to bands that focus on speed, brevity, breakdowns, and constant tempo changes. Meanwhile, powerviolence songs are often very short, with some lasting less than twenty seconds.
In contrast with grindcore, powerviolence rejects musical aspects of heavy metal (solos, cartoonish and macabre themes, etc.), veering toward socio-politically charged and iconoclastic hardcore punk. Siege is considered the pioneer of powerviolence, drawing their inspiration from Hüsker Dü, Neon Christ, Dirty Rotten Imbeciles (D.R.I.), and Corrosion of Conformity.
While powerviolence is closely related to thrashcore (often referred to simply as “thrash”), it is markedly different from thrash metal in both sound and approach.
Emoviolence merges the emotional intensity of emo with the chaotic aggression of powerviolence. Emerging in the late 1990s, bands like Orchid and Saetia were instrumental in defining the genre’s sound, characterized by frantic tempos, screamed vocals, and abrupt song structures. Sounds like fun.
Ethereal wave
| Origins: | Early 1980s British new wave |
| Peak popularity: | 1984–present |
| Defining artists: | Cocteau Twins, This Mortal Coil |
| Exemplary album: | This Mortal Coil, Filigree & Shadow (1986) |
Ethereal wave, also known as ethereal darkwave or ethereal goth, is a subgenre of darkwave music that developed in the early 1980s in the U.K. Characterized by its atmospheric and otherworldly sound, it often features lush textures, reverb-heavy guitars, and haunting vocals. Bands like Cocteau Twins and This Mortal Coil were pioneers of the genre, influencing the development of dream pop and shoegaze.
Experimental metal
| Origins: | Early 1980s heavy metal |
| Peak popularity: | 1985–present |
| Defining artists: | Celtic Frost, Voivod, Mr. Bungle |
| Exemplary album: | Celtic Frost, To Mega Therion (1985) |
Experimental metal, also known as avant-garde metal, is a subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by experimentation and innovative, avant-garde elements, including non-standard and unconventional sounds, instruments, song structures, playing styles, and vocal techniques. The genre was pioneered by bands such as Celtic Frost and Voivod, who incorporated elements from progressive rock and extreme metal, particularly death metal.
Experimental pop
| Origins: | Mid 1960s pop and rock |
| Peak popularity: | 1966–present |
| Defining artists: | The Beach Boys, The Beatles, Velvet Underground, Can, Brian Eno, Björk, The Flaming Lips, Kate Bush, Animal Collective |
| Exemplary album: | Björk, Homogenic (1997) |
A massive number of roads in contemporary rock music—from alternative to sadcore—lead back to Brian Wilson and his masterpiece, Pet Sounds (1966). And to a lesser extent, the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967). But Wilson got there first, and he was inspired by John Cage and some of the stuff Phil Spector was doing with the so-called Wall of Sound recording technique. Pet Sounds is essentially the “patient zero” for this entire movement. It moved the goalposts from “how well can you play?” to “how well can you imagine a sound that doesn’t exist yet?”
Beyond Pet Sounds
Moving beyond Wilson and the Beatles, we follow the lineage of the Velvet Underground and Can, who eschewed the cliches of blues-based rock n’ roll. Once “the blues element” of pop and rock was removed, artists were free to explore the musical universe, or, in some cases, construct new universes of new design. The output of experimental pop is often synonymous with art rock and art pop, sharing a unified theory of “sonic architecture.” However, art rock veers further from popular music artifice into psychedelic dimensions, while art and experimental pop stay firmly rooted in the material world.
Experimental pop is a methodology that takes the DNA of a traditional song—verse, chorus, bridge—and subjects it to “stress tests” using techniques borrowed from contemporary classical, jazz, and electronic music. Non-pop music elements, sometimes called “errors” like digital clipping, tape hiss, or industrial noise could be melodic components. Songs may start as a folk ballad but mutate into a techno track or a wall of feedback by the end. The way a sound is recorded is as important as the notes played.
The Laptop Revolution
By the 90s and 2000s, this evolved into a “laptop revolution” where artists used software to deconstruct the very idea of a “band.” From the bowels of electronic music sprung new subgenres such as indietronica, dream pop, and ethereal wave. Artists like Björk and Animal Collective prioritize world-building over radio play. It attracts a listener who enjoys “active listening,” where the reward isn’t just a catchy hook, but the discovery of a hidden layer of sound on the tenth playback
Experimental rock
| Origins: | Late 1960s progressive rock |
| Peak popularity: | 1969–present |
| Defining artists: | The Residents, Frank Zappa, Velvet Underground, Can, Sonic Youth |
| Exemplary album: | Frank Zappa, Apostrophe (1974) |
Experimental anything is just somebody asking, “Has anybody ever put sprinkles on a cupcake?”
Let’s put a violin on this part. Let’s record this vocal in the bathroom. Let’s run that guitar amp through a Leslie speaker. Let’s cut and paste our song structures on tape. Let’s double-track the drums. Let’s use two microphones to record the whole album…
Sometimes called “avant rock”, experimental rock is a subgenre of rock music that explores or destroys the boundaries of traditional composition and performance. Emerging in the 1960s, experimental rock is characterized by improvisation, fine art and literary influences, odd instrumentation, blurry lyrics (or instrumentals), unorthodox structures and rhythms. Above all, and not unlike experimental pop, it’s the sound of the recording studio played like an instrument.
At its core, experimental rock is anti-social, with an underlying rejection of commercial aspirations.
Extreme metal
| Origins: | Mid-1980s heavy metal |
| Peak popularity: | 1987–present |
| Defining artists: | Death, Mayhem, Napalm Death |
| Exemplary album: | Mayhem, De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas (1994) |
Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for dozens of related heavy metal music subgenres developed since the early 1980s. It is characterized by sonic, verbal, and visual aggression, encompassing genres such as death metal, black metal, doom metal, and grindcore.
Did we miss any rock genres beginning with E? Let us know in the comments!
