10 Rock Bands That Invented Their Own Genre

At the end of the '70s, many people forget just how hollow the rock scene had started to become. We had some of the heavy hitter bands starting to rest on their laurels a little bit, along with the prog scene that was starting to become a little complex for the average rock fan to take in. There was a middle ground though, and Van Halen gave us some heaviness that somehow sounded like the greatest party in the world.

Off the strength of their debut album, Van Halen became the biggest name in music pretty much overnight, with Eddie Van Halen pioneering the tapping techniques that would become a staple of the hard rock scene going forward. Along with David Lee Roth's electric stage presence from one song to the next, the band's home state of California seems to change as well, going for a more party centric approached centered around the Sunset Strip.

Though Van Halen rose to prominence around '78, the '80s were the era that they birthed themselves, giving way to bands like Motley Crue that were coming up the ranks, along with people like Poison later down the line. While you can't really call them glam metal from skin to core or anything, the entire Sunset Strip scene could practically be renamed 'music derivative of Van Halen' if they were being honest.