Britain has long been at the forefront of pioneering in different music genres, and some of the most popular rock subgenres are said to have been developed here. With some of the biggest progressive rock and hard rock bands that have come from Britain, there’s no reason not to accept that their genres were at least partially created in Britain.
These are among the most popular subgenres in rock music created by British bands.
Progressive Rock
Progressive Rock was dominated by British rock bands during its formation and development. The overall purpose of progressive rock was to make the musicality and compositions more technical. With bands such as King Crimson, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, and The Electric Light Orchestra being leasers in the genre, it quickly became one of the Purest sub-genres with required great musical capabilities in technicality.
British Folk Rock
Folk has been intertwined with a variety of genres in music, such as metal and rock and with Britain’s love for rock, it was naturally more rock sounding. British folk rock was developed in late 1960 by the Fairport Convention and Pentangle, who used the British folk revival as its basis to mix with British rock.
Glam Rock
Glam rock saw rock music gaining a bit more colour, tighter clothes, longer hair and overall more glam. This subgenre did not last as long but was used for short periods by some of Britain’s pioneers in music, such as David Bowie, T.Rex, and Roxy Music.
Hard Rock and Heavy Metal
Britain is surely the leader of hard rock and heavy metal, with legendary bands that are still touring and recording, such as Iron Maiden, Motorhead, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, and Led zeppelin, all being born and raised in Britain. Hard rock and heavy metal were the product of mixing blues rock, psychedelic rock, and garage rock together and using heavier tones for a more energetic but darker sound.
With these sub-genres having been created in Britain, English bands dominated the charts and brought attention to the progression of the genre of rock.