What is "garage rock"

n. (context US English) a simple, relatively raw form of rock and roll from the mid 1960s

Garage rock is a raw and energetic style of rock and roll that flourished in the mid-1960s, most notably in the United States and Canada but also elsewhere. At the time it had no specific name and was not recognized as a separate genre, but critical recognition in the early 1970s, and the particularly release of the 1972 compilation album Nuggets did much to define and memorialize the style. The term derives from the perception that groups were often made up of young amateurs who rehearsed in the family garage, though many were professional. The phrase garage band is often used to refer to musical acts in this genre.

The style, a precursor to psychedelic rock, is often characterized by aggressive and unsophisticated lyrics and delivery, sometimes using guitars distorted through a fuzzbox. Surf rock and subsequently the Beatles and the beat groups of the British Invasion motivated thousands of young people to form bands in the US and elsewhere from 1963 through early 1968. Hundreds of acts produced regional hits, and a handful had national chart hits. With the advent of psychedelia, a number of garage bands incorporated exotic elements into the genre's primitive stylistic framework, but after 1968, as more sophisticated forms of rock music overtook the marketplace, garage rock records largely disappeared from the national and regional charts.

In an effort to identify and recognize the music as a distinct genre, certain critics in the early 1970s began to retroactively refer to the style as " punk rock", the first form of music to bear this description; and it is sometimes called " garage punk", " protopunk", or '60s punk" to distinguish it from the more commonly known punk rock of the mid- and late-1970s that it influenced. Garage rock has experienced various revivals over the last several decades and continues to influence many modern acts who prefer a "back to basics" and "do it yourself" musical approach.