Art rock, from the outside in. Each step is a genre and the single record this encyclopedia would put on first. Play them in this order and the last one should sound like a next step rather than a wall.
- 1 The way in
Rock 1954
The whole family: guitar, bass, drums and a beat borrowed from blues and rhythm and blues. Every branch below grows out of this trunk, metal included.
Sung. Melodic singing throughout.
Put on
The Beatles - Revolver, if you want to understand why everything branched so fast.
The Beatles, Revolver (1966) - 2 What you asked about
Art rock 1966
Rock made by art-school graduates: concept, image and experiment ahead of formula. It overlaps with prog but cares far less about virtuosity.
Sung. Melodic singing throughout.
Put on
Talking Heads - Remain in Light. African funk, synthesizers and existential panic.
Talking Heads, Remain in Light (1980) - 3 Where to go next
Coldwave / minimal wave 1981
European post-punk on cheap drum machines: cold synths, distant vocals, the atmosphere of a grey housing block in winter.
Sung. Melodic singing throughout.
Put on
Trisomie 21 - Le Repos des Enfants Heureux. Grey-tower-block melancholy in pure form.
The pick names a track. This is the record the encyclopedia holds by them.
Trisomie 21, Passions Divisées (1984)
Assembled from the tree: every genre Art rock descends from, in order. Art rock has no subgenres, so the last step is the genre that rates closest to it by sound.