10 Songs That Started Hard Rock
6. Train Kept A Rollin - The Yardbirds
Though the British Invasion bands of the 60's were concerned with more pop-centric rock, the other side of the spectrum showcased bands that were firmly rooted in the blues tradition. However, some of these bands reached outside the norm to give audiences something they had never heard before.
Starting off as a young blues upstart, the Yardbirds emerged onto the scene by taking the traditional blues songs from the American troubadours and beefing them up with a shot of adrenaline. Coming from their aptly titled Having a Rave Up... album, "Train Kept A-Rollin" took the traditional rock approach and increased the tempo by about 5 notches. Throughout the band's tenure, some of rock's greatest guitarists would come through their ranks from Eric Clapton to Jimmy Page to the Jeff Beck, the latter of which can be heard wailing across this very track.
As the British Invasion reached overseas, the song was one of the precursors for the American hard rock bands coming to fruition, with boogie rockers Aerosmith releasing their own rendition of the song just a few years down the road. With a simple foundation, "Train Kept A-Rollin" shows what you can do with just a few chords and tons of energy.