Genre story · Rock
Synth Rock
Rock bands placing synthesizers alongside their guitars until the electronic part becomes one of the main voices.
Synth Rock is a broad descriptor for Rock music in which electronic keyboards and synthesizers are central to the arrangement. Its roots reach the 1970s, when progressive and new-wave musicians started treating synthesizers as more than occasional effects. Later alternative bands placed programmed bass, electronic hooks or unusual keyboard textures beside rock drums and guitars. The term has no single founding city, and a band that uses one synth on one song is not automatically part of a distinct movement.
How the instruments share the work
A synthesizer may carry the lead melody while guitar supplies rhythm, or electronic pulses may change the role of live drums. Some records use bright, precise production; others pair synthesizers with distortion and rougher performance. What matters is the audible musical relationship, not the number of electronic instruments on stage.
Near other styles
Synth Rock overlaps with New Wave, Synth Pop, Industrial Rock and some Art Rock. Its presence should not turn every Synth-Pop group into a rock band.
Listening landmarks across different examples
- 1978The CarsThe CarsRock guitars and synthesizer hooks sharing a pop structure.
- 2004The KillersHot FussNew-wave-derived keyboards within alternative rock songwriting.
- 2009MetricFantasiesGuitar-based songs with electronic parts integrated into the arrangement.