Last Updated on January 8, 2026 by Christian Adams
As the seventh letter of the alphabet, G represents a healthy portion of rock genres, but I’m reminded of how far I’ve yet to go before A to Z are covered.
You’ll find a couple of solid headliners in the mix: garage rock, glam rock, and gothic rock, which remain popular and influential today. Likewise, you might get educated on goregrind, grebo, and grindle. I did. We can never stop learning new stuff, which is the point of Rock Genres Explained.
Let’s check out the rock genres beginning with G!
Garage punk
| Origin: | Late 1980s garage and punk rock |
| Peak popularity | 1989–1999 |
| Defining artists: | The Gories, Oblivians, and Thee Oh Sees |
| Exemplary album: | The Gories, I Know You Been Houserockin’ (1991) |
Garage punk gets conflated with the original garage rock genre spearheaded by bands like The Sonics in the mid-1960s. The 1980s revival is raw, loud, and messy—a collision of primitive 1960s garage rock and the unhinged energy of ’70s proto-punk (e.g., The Stooges).
The sound is lo-fi, aggressive, and unpretentious, with a strong D.I.Y. spirit. Garage punk bands also incorporated numerous other styles into their approach, such as power pop, 1960s girl groups, hardcore punk, blues, early R&B, and surf music.
Garage rock
| Origin: | Mid-1960s rock n’ roll |
| Peak popularity | 1965–present |
| Defining artists: | The Sonics, The Standells, The Kingsmen, and The Black Keys (garage revival) |
| Exemplary album: | The Sonics, Here Are The Sonics (1965) |
The term garage rock didn’t exist until the early 1970s, and most early bands now associated with garage were considered proto-punk. Musically, garage rock is the scrappy, rebellious teenage cousin of early rock n’ roll—feral riffs, fuzzed-out guitars, throat-shredding vocals, pounding drums, cheap amps, and a whole lot of attitude.
Garage rock exploded in the mid-1960s across suburban America, where thousands of young bands were inspired by British Invasion groups but kept things rough around the edges. The “garage” aspect of the genre originated from the bands that often practiced in the garage of their parents’ homes.
Geek rock
| Origin: | Late 1980s alternative and comedy rock |
| Peak popularity | 1990–present |
| Defining artists: | Nerf Herder, They Might Be Giants, Weird Al, Harry and the Potters |
| Exemplary album: | They Might Be Giants, Flood (1990) |
I had never heard of the “geek rock” genre until today, but it makes sense now that I know there’s a band called Harry and the Potters. A subgenre of nerd rock, we’re talking about whimsical alternative rock a la They Might Be Giants.1 There might be accordions or theremins involved. Geek rock themes include comic books, science fiction, board games, magic, video games, academia, and technology. Anything you can “geek out” about is fair play.
Theoretically, Frank Zappa and “Weird Al” Yankovic are the comedy godfathers of geek rock. Elvis Costello and Weezer were subtle influences on the genre, too; however, I think those are purely superficial. Geek rock now has its own subgenres, including wizard rock and nerd punk. Theoretically, all math rock is also geek rock, sorry.
Glam metal
| Origin: | Mid-1980s heavy metal |
| Peak popularity | 1982–1990 |
| Defining artists: | Mötley Crüe, Poison, Ratt, Hanoi Rocks, Quiet Riot, Twisted Sister, Bon Jovi, Dokken, Skid Row, Cinderella, and Warrant |
| Exemplary album: | Motley Crue, Dr. Feelgood (1989) |
Let’s call it by the more common name: hair metal emerged on L.A.’s Sunset Strip in the late ’70s and blew up in the ’80s, combining “heavy metal” riffs with pop sensibilities and over-the-top theatrics. Cross-dressing tough guys and guitar solos evolved directly from the glam rock movement of the 1970s.
Take the visual elements of David Bowie, T. Rex, and New York Dolls, and combine them with “heavy metal” and theatrical acts such as Alice Cooper and Kiss. Flashy, bombastic hard rock, dripping with lowest common denominator hooks, faux-operatic vocals, leather pants, and more hairspray than the Dallas Cowboys cheerleading team. And utterly devoid of substance.
Heavy metal is such a scam. Very few bands that sold records under the heavy metal banner were heavy or metal. You’re gonna tell me Sammy Hagar is heavy metal? Kiss and Alice Cooper weren’t heavy metal. Black Sabbath and Judas Priest were heavy metal. On the bright side, thrash metal will emerge as a violent reaction against hair metal.
Glam punk
| Origin: | Early 1970s glam and ‘60s garage rock |
| Peak popularity | 1972–1976 |
| Defining artists: | New York Dolls, Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers, Lou Reed |
| Exemplary album: | New York Dolls, New York Dolls (1973) |
The New York Dolls may have looked like a bunch of transvestites, but at least two of those guys were holding brass knuckles and switchblades. Glam punk is a glittery, snotty hybrid of the glam rock aesthetic and the sneer and speed of punk. It’s confrontational, stylish, and rebellious, first gaining ground in the early 1970s, especially in New York and London. It didn’t last, however. The Sex Pistols made short work of the genre in 1977, but we saw a brief revival in the 1980s with early hair metal bands like Guns N’ Roses and Hanoi Rocks, and again in the early 1990s with the first two Manic Street Preachers’ albums.
Glam rock
| Origin: | Early 1970s rock n’ roll, pop, and progressive art rock |
| Peak popularity | 1971–1977 |
| Defining artists: | Gary Glitter, David Bowie, T. Rex, Mott the Hoople, Sweet, Slade, Mud, Roxy Music, Alvin Stardust, and Wizzard |
| Exemplary album: | David Bowie, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972) |
Glam rock arrived in 1971, when T. Rex appeared on the BBC’s Top of the Pops wearing glitter and satin. Marc Bolan’s larger-than-life persona, outrageous clothes, makeup, hairstyle, and platform boots led to a celebration of androgyny, theatricality, and back-to-basics songwriting, mixing hard rock with pop hooks and a flamboyant visual style that flipped traditional masculinity on its head.
Musically, glam rock borrowed the melodic sensibility from bubblegum pop, the guitar riffs of blues and hard rock, and the stomping rhythms of 1950s rock n’ roll. Visually, it was a blend of campy Hollywood glamour and pin-up sex appeal, combined with occult mysticism and mythology. Some did it better than others.
The genre never died, but everybody should have seen the writing on the wall when David Bowie released Young Americans (1975) and introduced his new Thin White Duke persona, dropping the androgyny for cocaine and impeccably tailored men’s suits.
Goregrind
| Origin: | Late 1980s death metal and grindcore |
| Peak popularity | ? |
| Defining artists: | Carcass (early era), General Surgery, and Last Days of Humanity |
| Exemplary album: | Carcass, Symphonies of Sickness (1989) |
There’s nothing pleasant about the musical equivalent of a snuff film, but here we are. Goregrind is pure sonic brutality—a blood-soaked beating—inadvisably fast drums, guttural growling, ultra-distorted guitars, and lyrics that focus on grotesque, gory themes (usually tongue-in-cheek). It evolved from grindcore, death metal, and shock rock in the late ’80s and early ’90s, with a nastier, more splatter-movie vibe.
Gothabilly
| Origin: | Early 1980s gothic rock and rockabilly |
| Peak popularity | 1980–? |
| Defining artists: | The Cramps, Horrorpops, and Demented Are Go |
| Exemplary album: | The Cramps, Songs the Lord Taught Us (1980) |
Where to draw the line between the rock genres of gothabilly and straight-up psychobilly? I guess it all depends on where you have the Cramps in your Venn diagram of rock genres. Gothabilly mixes the retro twang of rockabilly with dark, spooky gothic aesthetics—think upright basses, guitars with nothing but reverb, and lyrics about graveyards, monsters, and the macabre. It started popping up in the late 1970s, particularly in the U.S. and Europe, out of psychobilly scenes with a darker, more stylish bent.
Gothic country
| Origin: | Mid-1990s country, folk, and Americana |
| Peak popularity | 1995–2010 |
| Defining artists: | 16 Horsepower, Those Poor Bastards, and The Handsome Family |
| Exemplary album: | 16 Horsepower, Sackcloth ‘n’ Ashes (1996) |
I go into some of these rock genres with no advanced knowledge, so I was hoping that gothic country would be dudes who look like Robert Smith, singing about coal mines and plunking wistfully on banjos. I swear, I thought it would be a bunch of hillbillies playing “A Forest” on mandolins. How wrong can one be?
Alas, gothic country has the haunting and melancholy, combining traditional country and Americana with dark, often eerie lyrical themes—loneliness, death, the supernatural, dread, and redemption—but not a lot of mascara or eyeliner involved, unfortunately.
By design, gothic country has dusty, old-timey vibes mixed with a brooding sense of doom. The genre found footing in the 1990s and 2000s in the American South and Midwest.
Gothic metal
| Origin: | Early 1990s gothic rock and metal |
| Peak popularity | 1990–2000 |
| Defining artists: | Paradise Lost, Type O Negative, and Theatre of Tragedy |
| Exemplary album: | Paradise Lost, Gothic (1991) |
OK, this is what I’m talking about (see: gothic country). Gothic metal might as well be the Cure with Flying V’s, double bass drum popcorn, and significantly more implied violence. You get the gloomy atmospheres of gothic rock with the crunchy posturing of heavy metal—imagine The Cure’s Disintegration (1989) covered by King Diamond. Expect slow-to-mid-tempo riffs, deep emotional themes, soaring or growled vocals, and sometimes orchestral touches. It emerged in the early ’90s across Europe, particularly Scandinavia and the U.K.
Gothic rock
| Origin: | Mid-1980s death metal |
| Peak popularity | 1980–1989 |
| Defining artists: | The Cramps, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Bauhaus, The Cure, Killing Joke, The Sisters of Mercy |
| Exemplary album: | Bauhaus, In the Flat Field (1980) |
Just so everybody is on the same page, the “gothic” part of gothic rock refers to the aesthetics of depression, fear, gloom, and haunting that first emerged in 18th- to mid-19th-century literature, including but not limited to Mary Shelley, Lord Byron, Edgar Allan Poe, Bram Stoker, William Godwin, and vampires n’ shit.
Gothic rock (aka goth) sulked its way from late ’70s and early ’80s British post-punk into something more introspective and darker. Twentieth-century goth mixed it up with modern themes such as death, existentialism, nihilism, romanticism, and tragedy.
Like glam, punk, new wave, and half of all rock genres, goth is also a fashion. Born from the demise of glam rock and pioneered by Siouxsie Sioux of Siouxsie and the Banshees, who nicked from The Cramps. Robert Smith of the Cure’s early 1980s look was also massively influential and a boon to the cosmetics industry.
Musically, goth can be traced back to the cold, angular, and theatrical sound of the Doors and the Velvet Underground, and meshed with the theatrics of Scott Walker, David Bowie, and Alice Cooper. It’s moody, sometimes cinematic, and usually dramatic, driven by post-punk roots but heavier on the funereal atmosphere, minor key melodies, morose lyrics, and spacey guitar and keyboard sounds.
Later stages of gothic rock spread to several splinter genres (as seen above), including death rock and horror punk.
Grebo
| Origin: | Late 1980s English alternative rock and hip-hop |
| Peak popularity | 1992–1994 |
| Defining artists: | Pop Will Eat Itself, Ned’s Atomic Dustbin, and The Wonder Stuff. |
| Exemplary album: | Pop Will Eat Itself, Dos Dedos Mis Amigos (1994) |
“Grebo” is a British slang term derived from “greaser”, used for bikers with long hair.
Years before Limp Bizkit wowed the public with “Nookie”, there was Pop Will Eat Itself and grebo; a dirty, chaotic blend of punk, alternative rock, hip-hop, and electronic music. It was a short-lived subculture and vague subgenre of indie rock coming from bands in the Midlands, England, during the late ’80s. These lads had a rough-and-ready, street-level image and sound. At least one Anglo-Saxon with dreadlocks in the band type of shit.
Grindcore
| Origin: | Mid-1980s punk and extreme metal |
| Peak popularity | 1986–? |
| Defining artists: | Napalm Death, Repulsion, Brutal Truth, Siege, Nasum, and Terrorizer |
| Exemplary album: | Napalm Death, Scum (1987) |
A chaotic mix of hardcore punk and extreme metal, delivered at jackrabbit speeds with ultra-short songs (sometimes less than a minute). It started in the mid-1980s in the U.K., as bands pushed hardcore punk to its most aggressive limits. Nothing subtle about these lads and their affinity for “blast beats”, otherwise known as musical popcorn.
Grindie
| Origin: | Mid-2000s British indie rock and dance punk |
| Peak popularity | 2006? |
| Defining artists: | Hadouken!, Test Icicles, and some early Dizzee Rascal |
| Exemplary album: | Hadouken!, Music for an Accelerated Culture (2008) |
Grime is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) that morphed from an earlier genre, U.K. garage, and draws influences from jungle, dancehall, and hip-hop. Grindle is a hybrid of grime and indie rock, featuring aggressive rapping and beats with fuzzy guitars and indie swagger. It surfaced in the mid-2000s in London.
Groove metal
| Origin: | Early 1990s thrash metal, industrial metal |
| Peak popularity | 1989–2004 |
| Defining artists: | Pantera, Lamb of God, Sepultura, Prong, and Machine Head |
| Exemplary album: | Pantera, Vulgar Display of Power (1992) |
Early Metallica was great, but thrash was fairly one-dimensional. Groove metal dials back the frantic speed of thrash, focusing instead on heavy, mid-tempo, chugging riffs. It emerged in the early ’90s, mainly in the U.S., as bands like Pantera shifted away from pure thrash into something heavier with a cohesive rhythm section.
Group Sounds
| Origin: | Mid-1960s Japanese pop and rock |
| Peak popularity | 1967–1971 |
| Defining artists: | The Tigers, The Tempters, and The Spiders |
| Exemplary album: | The Tigers, The Tigers On Stage (1968) |
Did you know the Japanese had a version of the British Invasion? Group Sounds was a Japanese rock movement from the mid-to-late 1960s, blending Western beat music (especially The Beatles and The Ventures) with Japanese pop sensibilities. It’s jangly, melodic, and often a little psychedelic.
Grunge
| Origin: | Mid-1980s Seattle garage and post-punk |
| Peak popularity | 1991–1995 |
| Defining artists: | Mudhoney, Melvins, and Nirvana |
| Exemplary album: | Nirvana, Bleach (1989) |
As it applies to popular music, grunge was a relatively short-lived Seattle phenomenon with massive coattails. They say grunge killed hair metal, but realistically, it was an alternative rock-assisted suicide. The Pixies and Jane’s Addiction had much more liability. Grunge was only a tiny part of the equation.
Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains weren’t grunge. Even though Soundgarden emerged from the same scene, they were never grunge. So many bands were mislabeled as grunge because they played loud, defiant, post-punk alternative rock and wore T-shirts on stage. Like, they just finished a shift at the sporting goods shipping warehouse in Tacoma.
Grunge is a sloppy and emotional fusion of punk’s defiance, metal’s heaviness, and classic rock’s melodic sense. Imagine a punk band doing Creedence Clearwater Revival covers. It boomed out of Seattle in the late 1980s and early 1990s, bringing a sense of flannel disillusionment and authenticity back to rock music.
Gypsy punk
| Origin: | Early 1980s traditional Romani and Eastern European folk music and punk rock |
| Peak popularity | 2005–present |
| Defining artists: | Boiled in Lead, Gogol Bordello |
| Exemplary album: | Gogol Bordello, Gypsy Punks: Underdog World Strike (2005) |
If you’re looking for a rabbit hole of no return, do a little digging on the nomadic trajectory of the Romani people. It’ll help you understand what’s happening here in gypsy punk. It’s a cross of raucous, chaotic folk punk and Eastern European Romani music—expect accordion, fiddle, a trumpet or saxophone, fast tempos, and sweaty, beer-soaked energy. It came into its own in the early 2000s, especially in New York’s multicultural underground.
Let us know in the comments if we missed any rock genres that start with the letter G!
- While “nerd” and “geek” are often used interchangeably, purists (like me) recognize a subtle distinction. Geek rock is closely associated with “fandom”—music about specific pop-culture properties like Star Trek, comic books, or gaming. Nerd rock includes a broader spectrum of autism, defined by a personality and a technical approach to music-making. While they are kissing cousins of the same movement, nerd rock is the umbrella that covers the temperament, while geek rock often refers to the specific sub-cultural references. ↩︎
