Garage Rock

The crackling spark of Garage Rock's raw invention can be traced to the moment when guitarist Link Wray blew is stack and started stabbing holes in the speakers of his guitar amp to push the 1958 single "Rumble" beyond the bounds of convention. It ignited a movement of fuzzy, D.I.Y. expressionism that roared to life in the early '60s, when guitar-wielding amateurs in basements and garages across America turned up the fuzz and gave a good shaking to the sanctity newly minted suburbs. No longer did pop songs have to sound so buttoned up. No longer did they have to be played by straight laced professionals. Garage Rock liberated pop music, and put it in the hands of amateurs. Purists see the apex in the genre's fathers like The Animals, The Kinks, The Squires and The Troggs, but, as the brilliant Nuggets box sets would illustrate, this period boasted regional scenes with countless unknown bands.