Which Musician(s) Helped Popularize Folk Rock?

Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that developed in the United Kingdom and the United States in the mid-1960s.

The Beatles

While there are a number of artists who helped to popularize folk rock, the Beatles are often credited as being one of the primary forces behind the genre’s rise in popularity. In 1965, the group released the album “Rubber Soul,” which featured a number of folk-inspired tracks such as “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)” and “Nowhere Man.” The album’s success helped to legitimize folk rock as a viable commercial genre and inspired a number of other artists to experiment with similar sound.

The Byrds

The Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band is considered one of the most influential bands of the 1960s. Their signature sound merged elements of folk music, country music, and pop music, creating a new genre of music that would come to be known as folk rock. The Byrds helped popularize folk rock with hits like “Mr. Tambourine Man” and “Turn! Turn! Turn!”. They are also credited with helping to pioneer the use of electric guitars in folk rock.

Simon and Garfunkel

While there were many musicians who helped to popularize folk rock, Simon and Garfunkel were among the most significant. The duo’s 1964 debut album, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M., featured a mix of traditional folk songs and original material, performed in a style that was at once simple and elegant. The album was not an immediate hit, but it slowly built momentum over the next few years, thanks in part to the popularity of the single “The Sound of Silence.” By 1966, Simon and Garfunkel had become one of the most successful folk rock acts of their generation, with a string of hits that included “I Am a Rock” and “Homeward Bound.” They would go on to even greater success with their 1967 album, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme, which featured the No. 1 hit “The Graduate.”

Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young

While the Byrds get much of the credit for birthing folk rock with their cover of Bob Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man,” Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young did more to popularize the genre and bring it into the mainstream than any other band. The supergroup was comprised of solo artists David Crosby and Graham Nash, who had both recently left the Byrds, and singer-songwriter Neil Young, who would go on to immense success as a solo artist. The quartet’s first album, “Déjà Vu,” released in 1970, was a massive critical and commercial success, cementing their status as one of the most important bands of their era. Folk rock would go on to be a hugely influential genre, spawning subgenres like country rock and influencing countless musicians in the decades that followed.

The Eagles

The Eagles are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1971 by Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Bernie Leadon, and Randy Meisner. With five number-one singles, six Grammy Awards, five American Music Awards, and six number one albums, the Eagles were one of the most successful musical acts of the 1970s. At the end of the 20th century, two of their albums, Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975) and Hotel California, were ranked among the 20 best-selling albums in the United States according to the Recording Industry Association of America. Hotel California is ranked 37th in Rolling Stone’s list of “The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time” and the band was ranked number 75 on the magazine’s 2004 list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.