View source for Art rock

==History==
=== 1960s: Origins{{anchor|Origins}} ===
{{quote box
| quote = In the late sixties and early seventies, rock both co-opted and challenged the prevailing view of musical art, often at the same time. This is evident in a diverse body of music that includes [[the Beach Boys]]' ''[[Pet Sounds]]'' and [[the Beatles]]' ''[[Sgt. Pepper]]''; [[Frank Zappa]]'s ''[[Freak Out!|Freak Out]]'' ... [[the Who]]'s rock opera ''[[Tommy (The Who album)|Tommy]]''; [[Pink Floyd]]'s technologically advanced concept album ''[[The Dark Side of the Moon|Dark Side of the Moon]]''; and [[Miles Davis]]'s [[jazz fusion|jazz/rock fusion]].|
| source = —[[Michael Campbell (pianist and author)|Michael Campbell]], ''Popular Music in America'', 2012{{sfn|Campbell|2012|p=251}}
| align = right
| width = 25%
| salign = right
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The earliest figure of art rock has been assumed to be record producer and songwriter [[Phil Spector]], who became known as an [[auteur]] for his [[Wall of Sound]] productions that aspired to a "classical grandiosity".{{sfn|Bannister|2007|p=48}} According to biographer [[Richard Williams (journalist)|Richard Williams]], Spector transformed rock music from a performing art into an art that could only exist in the recording studio, which "paved the way for art rock".{{sfn|Williams|2003|p=38}} [[The Beach Boys]]' leader [[Brian Wilson]] is cited by biographer [[Peter Ames Carlin]] as the forerunner of "a new kind of art-rock that would combine the transcendent possibilities of art with the mainstream accessibility of pop music".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Carlin|first1=Peter Ames|author-link=Peter Ames Carlin|title=MUSIC; A Rock Utopian Still Chasing An American Dream|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/25/arts/music-a-rock-utopian-still-chasing-an-american-dream.html|date=25 March 2001|work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> Critic [[Stephen Holden]] says that mid-1960s recordings by the Beatles, Spector and Wilson are often identified as marking the start of art pop, which preceded the "bombastic, classically inflected" art rock that started in the late 1960s.<ref name="Holden">{{cite news|last=Holden|first=Stephen|author-link=Stephen Holden|date=28 February 1999|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/02/28/arts/music-they-re-recording-but-are-they-artists.html|title=MUSIC; They're Recording, but Are They Artists?|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=17 July 2013}}</ref> Writing in 1972, music journalist Nat Freedland of ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' magazine, stated "during the golden period of the mid '60s, [[Bob Dylan]] and the Beatles led the way to an expansion of rock into an area of art songs with a beat".<ref name=":1">{{cite magazine |date=22 July 1972|title=Billboard|url=https://books.google.com/...|access-date=2025-07-28|magazine=Billboard .|last=Freedland|first=Nat}}</ref>

Many of the top British groups during the 1960s and 1970s – including members of the Beatles, [[the Rolling Stones]], [[the Kinks]], [[the Who]], [[10cc]], [[the Move]], [[the Yardbirds]] and Pink Floyd – came to music via [[art school]].{{sfn|MacDonald|1998|p=xiv}}{{sfn|Frith|1989|p=208}} This institution differed from its US counterpart in terms of having a less industry-applicable syllabus and in its focus on furthering eccentric talent.{{sfn|MacDonald|1998|pp=xiii–xiv}} By the mid-1960s, several of these acts espoused an approach based on art and originality, where previously they had been absorbed solely in authentic interpretation of US-derived musical styles, such as [[Rock and roll|rock 'n' roll]] and [[Rhythm and blues|R&B]].{{sfn|Lindberg et al.|2005|pp=104–06}}

==== Influential albums ====
The December 1965 release of the Beatles' ''[[Rubber Soul]]'' has been regarded as signifying a watershed for the form of the pop album.{{sfn|Howard|2004|p=64}}{{sfn|Perone|2004|p=23}} The album garnered recognition for the Beatles as artists from the American mainstream press due to the use of unconventional studio techniques and instruments which were not popular in rock music at the time.{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=595}}{{sfn|Frontani|2007|p=122}} Writing in 1968, [[Gene Sculatti]] of ''[[Jazz & Pop]]'' recognised ''Rubber Soul'' as "the definitive 'rock as art' album" and "the necessary prototype" that major artists such as the Rolling Stones (with ''[[Aftermath (The Rolling Stones album)|Aftermath]]'') and the Beach Boys had felt compelled to follow.<ref name="Sculatti">{{cite web|last=Sculatti|first=Gene|author-link=Gene Sculatti|url=http://www.teachrock.org/resources/article/villains-and-heroes-in-defense-of-the-beach-boys/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714191639/http://teachrock.org/resources/article/villains-and-heroes-in-defense-of-the-beach-boys/|title=Villains and Heroes: In Defense of the Beach Boys|magazine=[[Jazz & Pop]]|date=September 1968|publisher=teachrock.org|archive-date=14 July 2014|access-date=20 June 2017}}</ref> According to ''[[Bandcamp Daily]]'', the record was "one of the premier art rock albums".<ref name=":2" />
[[File:Brian_Wilson_Pet_Sounds_2.jpg|left|thumb|[[Brian Wilson]] recording ''Pet Sounds'' in the studio, 1966]]
The period when rock music became most closely aligned with the contemporary [[art world]] began in 1966 and continued until the mid-1970s.{{sfn|Campbell|2012|p=250}} Academic Michael Johnson associates "the first documented moments of ascension in rock music" to the Beach Boys' ''[[Pet Sounds]]'' (May 1966).{{sfn|Jones|2008|p=56}} Biographer [[David Leaf]] wrote that the album heralded art rock,{{sfn|Leaf|1985|p=74}} while ''[[New York (magazine)|Cue]]'' magazine described the Beach Boys as having been "among the vanguard" with regard to art rock, among many other aspects relating to the counterculture through late 1967.<ref>{{cite journal |date=1971|title=Pet Sounds|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EwgwAQAAIAAJ|journal=Cue|volume=40|issue=27}}</ref>

Jacqueline Edmondson's 2013 encyclopaedia ''Music in American Life'' states that, although it was preceded by earlier examples, [[Frank Zappa]] and the Mothers of Invention's debut album ''[[Freak Out!]]'' (June 1966) came to be seen as "the first successful incorporation of art music in a pop context". With Los Angeles as his base since the early 1960s, Zappa was able to work in an environment where student radicalism was closely aligned with an active avant-garde scene, a setting that placed the city ahead of other countercultural centres at the time and would continue to inform his music.{{sfn|Edmondson|2013|p=1233}}

By August 1966, the Beatles' ''[[Revolver (Beatles album)|Revolver]]'' furthered the rock album-as-art perspective{{sfn|Perone|2004|pp=118–19}} and continued pop music's evolution.{{sfn|Howard|2004|p=2}} It expanded the genre's scope in terms of the range of musical styles, which included Indian, avant-garde and classical, and the lyrical content of the album,{{sfn|Greene|2016|pp=9, 21–22}} and also in its departure from previous notions of melody and structure in pop songwriting.{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=67}} As with ''Rubber Soul'', the album inspired many of the progressive rock artists of the 1970s,{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=95}} and each of its songs has been recognised as anticipating a new subgenre or style.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|p=xiii}}
[[File:Velvet_Underground_1968_by_Billy_Name.png|right|thumb|[[The Velvet Underground]], 1968]]
Author Matthew Bannister traces "the more self-conscious, camp aesthetic of art rock" to pop artist [[Andy Warhol]] and the Velvet Underground, who emulated Warhol's art/pop synthesis.{{sfn|Bannister|2007|pp=26, 45}} Accordingly, "Warhol took Spector's combination of the disembodiment, 'distance' and refinement of high culture with the 'immediacy' of mass cultural forms like rock and roll several stages further ... But Warhol's aesthetic was more thoroughly worked out than Spector's, which represented a transitional phase between old-fashioned auteurism and the thoroughly postmodern, detached tenets of pop art. ... Warhol's approach reverberates throughout art rock, most obviously in his stance of distance and disengagement."{{sfn|Bannister|2007|pp=40, 44}} ''[[Clash Music]]'' names the Velvet Underground's debut March 1967 album ''[[The Velvet Underground & Nico]]'' "the original art-rock record".<ref>{{cite news|date=11 December 2009|url=http://www.clashmusic.com/feature/classic-albums-the-velvet-undergrond-and-nico|title=Classic Albums: The Velvet Underground – The Velvet Underground & Nico|newspaper=[[Clash Music]]|access-date=28 March 2015|archive-date=2 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402112235/http://www.clashmusic.com/feature/classic-albums-the-velvet-undergrond-and-nico|url-status=dead}}</ref> Bannister writes of the Velvet Underground: "no other band exerted the same grip on the minds of 1970s/1980s art/alternative rock artists, writers and audiences."{{sfn|Bannister|2007|p=44}} Their influence would recur from the 1970s onwards to various worldwide [[Indie music|indie]] scenes{{sfn|Bannister|2007|p=44}} and "nearly every sub-variety of [[avant-garde rock]], from 70s art-rock to [[No wave|no-wave]], [[New wave music|new-wave]], and [[Punk rock|punk]]", according to the [[Library of Congress]]' [[National Recording Registry]].{{sfn|Unterberger|2009|pp=6, 358}}

AllMusic states that the first wave of art rock musicians were inspired by the Beatles' ''[[Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band]]'' (May 1967) and believed that for rock music to grow artistically, they should incorporate elements of [[European music|European]] and classical music to the genre.<ref name="prog-rock3">{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/subgenre/prog-rock-ma0000002798|website=[[AllMusic]]|title=Pop/Rock » Art-Rock/Experimental » Prog-Rock}}</ref> Many British groups flowered in the album's wake; those who are listed in ''Music in American Life'' include [[the Moody Blues]], [[the Strawbs]], [[Genesis (band)|Genesis]], and "most notably", Pink Floyd.{{sfn|Edmondson|2013|p=184}}

=== 1970s ===
{{See also|New wave music|Post-punk|Art punk}}

English band [[Roxy Music]] have been credited as "art rock pioneers".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Living Legends: How Roxy Music Went From "Inspired Amateurs" To Art Rock Pioneers {{!}} GRAMMY.com |url=https://grammy.com/news/roxy-music-phil-manzanera-interview-art-rock-pioneers-50th-anniversay-reissue-2022-tour-living-legends |access-date=2026-04-08 |website=grammy.com}}</ref> British newspaper ''[[The Economist]]'' labeled Roxy Music "the best art-rock band since the Beatles".<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |title=How Roxy Music helped define generations of pop |url=https://www.economist.com/prospero/2019/03/19/how-roxy-music-helped-define-generations-of-pop |access-date=2026-04-10 |work=The Economist |issn=0013-0613}}</ref> Adding that, "They are, quite simply, the greatest art-rock group Britain has produced this side of the Beatles."<ref name=":0" />  [[File:David Bowie 1975.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.7|[[David Bowie]] photographed in 1974]]Enthusiasm for usage of the term in music criticism and journalism waned in the mid-1970s.{{sfn|Campbell|2012|p=251}} From then to the 1990s, art rock was infused within various popular music genres.<ref name="britannica">[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/36651/art-rock "Art rock"]. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 15 December 2011.</ref> ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' states that its genre's tendencies were continued by some British and American [[hard rock]] and [[pop rock]] artists, and that [[Brian Eno]]'s late 1970s and early 1980s collaborations with [[David Bowie]] and [[Talking Heads]] are exemplary of "the successful infusion of art rock tendencies into other popular music genres".<ref name="britannica" /> Bowie and Eno collaborated on a series of consecutive albums called the "[[Berlin Trilogy]]", characterised as an "art rock trifecta" by ''[[Consequence of Sound]]'', who noted that at the time of their release, "The experimental records weren't connecting with audiences on the scale Bowie was used to... New Wave had exploded, and a generation of Bowie descendants had taken the stage."<ref>{{cite web |website=[[Consequence of Sound]]|title=Ranking: Every David Bowie Album From Worst to Best|date=8 January 2018|url=https://consequence.net/2018/01/ranking-dissected-david-bowie/ | first1=Blake | last1=Goble | first2=Cap | last2=Blackard | first3=Pat | last3=Levy | first4=Lior | last4=Phillips | first5=David | last5=Sackllah | access-date=21 October 2018}}</ref>

According to ''[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]'', [[Television (band)|Television]]'s debut album ''[[Marquee Moon]]'' (1977) "harnessed the energy you associate with [[Punk rock|punk]], even as they crossed it with art-rock and the poetic urges of frontman [[Tom Verlaine]]".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Dahlen |first=Chris |title=Television: Marquee Moon / Adventure |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/11853-marquee-moon-adventure/ |access-date=2025-08-25 |website=Pitchfork |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |date=2026-04-09 |title=The Art of Rock |url=https://daily.bandcamp.com/lists/art-rock-album-guide |access-date=2026-04-10 |website=Bandcamp Daily}}</ref> According to ''[[Bandcamp Daily]]'', Cleveland band [[Pere Ubu]] were "the pinnacle of American art rock", stating that "art rock is an ideal American language because it's highbrow content in lowbrow language, and no one gets the balance better than this band."<ref name=":2" /> 

=== 1980s–1990s ===
{{See also|Post-rock}}
[[File:Thom Yorke 1998.jpg|thumb|[[Thom Yorke]] performing with Radiohead in 1998]]
During the 1980s, [[Talk Talk]] was described as "art-rock pioneers" by ''[[the Quietus]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Doran |first=John |date=2026-02-17 |title="It’s About Time We Brought Art In, Innit?" Talk Talk's The Colour Of Spring at 40 |url=https://thequietus.com/opinion-and-essays/anniversary/talk-talk-colour-of-spring-review/ |access-date=2026-04-09 |website=The Quietus |language=en-GB}}</ref> At the time, many of the original art rock artists of the 1970s had abandoned their experimental sound. Writing in 1981, journalist Roy Trakin stated: "Of course, these stalwarts can still fill [[Madison Square Garden]] and sell a great many records, as they always have, but their days of adventurous risk-taking and musical innovation are long gone – replaced by the smug satisfaction of commercial success."<ref name="Trakin1981">{{Cite magazine|last1=Trakin|first1=Roy|title=The New English Art Rock|magazine=[[Musician (magazine)|Musician]]|date=February 1981|issue=30|url=http://chalkhills.org/articles/Musician198102.html}}</ref>

During the 1990s, according to ''[[The Guardian]]'', Radiohead's 1995 album ''[[The Bends (album)|The Bends]]'' "was the point when Radiohead went from being a mid-level alt-rock band to an art-rock band".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hann |first=Michael |date=2016-05-02 |title=All surprises: Radiohead and the art of the unconventional album release |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2016/may/02/all-surprises-radiohead-and-art-of-unconventional-album-release |access-date=2026-04-08 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |title=Radiohead (Band) |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/t/radiohead/ |access-date=2025-08-25 |magazine=Rolling Stone |language=en-US}}</ref> In 1997, Radiohead released the album [[OK Computer]], which has been labeled an "art rock" album.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-09-23 |title=Radiohead's Enigmatic Album Art Gets the Museum Treatment |url=https://news.artnet.com/art-world/radiohead-thom-yorke-stanley-donwood-ashmolean-2691634 |access-date=2026-04-08 |website=Artnet News |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Hogan |first=Marc |date=2017-03-20 |title=An Airbag Saved My Life: Artists Reflect on OK Computer |url=https://pitchfork.com/features/ok-computer-at-20/10035-an-airbag-saved-my-life-artists-reflect-on-ok-computer/ |access-date=2026-04-09 |website=Pitchfork |language=en-US}}</ref> However, the band rejected links to art rock, despite comparisons to Pink Floyd's 1973 album ''[[The Dark Side of the Moon]]''.<ref>{{citation |last=Varga |first=George |title=Radiohead's Jazz Frequencies |date=November 2001 |magazine=[[JazzTimes]]}}</ref> [[Robert Christgau]] from ''[[The Village Voice]]'' said Radiohead immersed lead singer [[Thom Yorke]]'s vocals in "enough electronic marginal distinction to feed a coal town for a month" to compensate for the "soulless" songs, resulting in "arid" art rock.<ref name="christgau">{{citation |last=Christgau |first=Robert |title=Consumer Guide |date=23 September 1997 |magazine=[[The Village Voice]] |url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cgv997-97.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110826195622/http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cgv997-97.php |archive-date=26 August 2011 |url-status=live |author-link=Robert Christgau}}</ref>

=== 2000s–2020s ===
{{See also|Windmill scene}}

In the 2000s, art rock continued to evolve as a new generation of artists drew on the genre's traditions while incorporating elements of [[electronic music]], [[noise rock]], and [[post-punk]]. American band [[Deerhunter]], led by [[Bradford Cox]], were noted for their combination of [[ambient music|ambient]] textures and guitar-driven experimentation, with ''[[The Guardian]]'' describing them as part of a broader art rock resurgence in the late 2000s.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Deerhunter: Halcyon Digest review |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/sep/30/deerhunter-halcyon-digest-review |work=The Guardian |date=2010-09-30 |access-date=2026-04-11}}</ref> [[Animal Collective]] similarly gained attention for their eclectic approach to songwriting, blending [[psychedelic music|psychedelia]], [[electronic music|electronics]], and folk traditions in a manner that critics frequently associated with the art rock lineage.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavilion |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/12518-merriweather-post-pavilion/ |website=Pitchfork |access-date=2026-04-11}}</ref>

In 2007, [[NPR]] described [[Arcade Fire]] as an "art-rock outfit".<ref>{{Cite web |last1=F |last2=r |last3=e |last4=s |last5=h |last6=A |last7=i |last8=r |date=2007-06-04 |title=Arcade Fire: Art-Rock Fueled by Eclecticism and Pain |url=https://www.npr.org/artists/15166346/arcade-fire |access-date=2026-04-09 |website=NPR}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Album Review: Arcade Fire – WE |url=https://ownedforsound.com/album-review-arcade-fire-we/ |access-date=2026-04-09 |language=en-US}}</ref>

In 2013, in a ''[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]'' review of American rock duo [[MGMT]]'s album [[MGMT (album)|''MGMT'']], writer Ian Cohen stated the band released "fluke hits" which allowed them to "become stealth operatives for uncompromising art-rock in the compromised major label system."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cohen |first=Ian |title=MGMT: MGMT |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/18487-mgmt-mgmt/ |access-date=2026-04-08 |website=Pitchfork |language=en-US}}</ref>

[[St. Vincent (musician)|St. Vincent]], the project of multi-instrumentalist [[St. Vincent (musician)|Annie Clark]], became one of the most prominent art rock artists of the 2010s. Her self-titled 2014 album ''[[St. Vincent (album)|St. Vincent]]'' received widespread critical acclaim, with ''[[NME]]'' calling it a landmark of modern art rock that combined angular guitar work with electronic production and art pop sensibilities.<ref>{{Cite web |title=St Vincent – ‘St Vincent’ review |url=https://www.nme.com/reviews/album/reviews-st-vincent-15454 |website=NME |access-date=2026-04-11}}</ref>
[[File:Black Country, New Road (49387468462).jpg|thumb|Black Country, New Road performing in January 2020]]
In the late 2010s and early 2020s, the [[Windmill scene]] in [[Brixton]], South London, became a focal point for a new wave of art rock. Centered around [[The Windmill, Brixton|the Windmill]] venue, bands such as [[black midi]], [[Squid (band)|Squid]], and [[Black Country, New Road]] developed a distinctive sound characterized by complex time signatures, abrasive textures, and genre-defying compositions. The English group Black Country, New Road have been described as an "art-rock collective" by the ''[[BBC]]''.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2023-05-15 |title=Black Country, New Road: 'The music is never bigger than the friendship' |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-65565457 |access-date=2026-04-08 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Hakimian |first=Rob |title=Black Country, New Road are going their own way |url=https://crackmagazine.net/article/profiles/black-country-new-road/ |access-date=2026-04-08 |website=Crack Magazine}}</ref> ''[[The Varsity (newspaper)|Varsity]]'' writers Anuk Weerawardana and Wilf Vall cited their 2022 album ''[[Ants from Up There]]'' as "art rock meets [[chamber pop]]".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Black Country, New Road on being 'the best band in the world' |url=https://www.varsity.co.uk/music/29622 |access-date=2026-04-08 |website=Varsity Online |language=en}}</ref> Black midi's debut album ''[[Schlagenheim]]'' (2019) was described by ''[[The Quietus]]'' as a landmark of the post-punk and art rock revival.<ref>{{Cite web |title=black midi – Schlagenheim |url=https://thequietus.com/articles/26604-black-midi-schlagenheim-review |website=The Quietus |access-date=2026-04-11}}</ref>  

In 2026, ''[[Bandcamp Daily]]'' stated that art rock has "never been frozen in time", with brand new artists evolving the genre "with every generation".<ref name=":2" />