10 Rock Albums That Invented Entire Genres

It should come as a surprise to no one that David Bowie’s music changed the course of rock music. From his days in the glam rock sphere to experimenting with every other genre under the sun, you could argue that Bowie shifted the focus of rock more than a few times. In terms of breaking new ground though, it all started when he went to Berlin.

Kicking off his Berlin trilogy of albums, Low has some of the most off the wall songs that Bowie would ever write, making tunes that didn’t seem to have a genre outside of whatever David and Brian Eno were working on. On the back half of the record though, Bowie disappears in the mix, being composed mostly of instrumentals that seem to create atmosphere instead of following any traditional song structure.

Whether Bowie had this in mind or not, these tunes became the cornerstone for what would become post rock in the next few years, with artists following his lead and creating songs that were more about establishing mood and less on the conventional pop song structure. Bowie may have gone back to a more pop friendly sound in the ‘80s, but his need for adventure has been influencing generations of musicians after this album.