3 Rock Songs That Invented Sub-Genres Before They Had Names

Someone has to be the first to do everything. Though the origin of a movement can be hard to pinpoint, there are tentpole figures we can point to for a pretty good picture of how it develops. Music is one movement after another. Aside from the significant developments (i.e., the advent of rock, the birth of rap), countless sub-genres help define different eras. Below are three rock songs that were so early to a sub-genre movement that they didn’t even have names for them yet. Revisit these tracks that were well before their time.

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“You Really Got Me” (The Kinks)

Punk didn’t truly hit its stride until the ’70s, but there were rumblings of the sub-genre well before. The Kinks‘ “You Really Got Me” was one of those rumblings.

The band injected this ’60s mod track with a heavy amount of attitude. This caustic energy would become a hallmark of the sub-genre, leaving the classic rock era behind for something befitting the counter-culture. Though many bands contributed to the punk movement, this Kinks hit was a major player.

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“Black Sabbath” (Black Sabbath)

Black Sabbath weren’t the only band credited with the heavy metal movement, but many consider them major influences on the sub-genre’s development.

Their dark sound added a thick layer of doom to rock. This singular sound inspired many subsequent rock bands to try on a similar mystique in their songs. Listeners may not have had the term “heavy metal” quite yet, but there was no mistaking that Black Sabbath’s title track was something entirely new.

“Hey Hey, My My” (Neil Young & Crazy Horse)

There is a clear line traced from the other bands on this list. It’s easy to see how they influenced their respective sub-genres. One that is not so apparent to casual fans is Neil Young’s influence on grunge rock.

Young has long been known as a folky. Even in his rockier numbers, his music is still steeped in that tradition. Nevertheless, many people consider him a forefather of the grunge movement. His distorted guitar sound would later be heard in the rock heroes of the ’90s. Though grunge was but an inkling in the public consciousness at the time, Young helped to lay the groundwork for this era-defining sub-genre.

(Photo by Howard Barlow/Redferns)