<P> Early blues rock bands often emulated jazz, playing long, involved improvisations, which would later be a major element of progressive rock . From about 1967 bands like British bands Cream and the Jimi Hendrix Experience had begun to move away from purely blues - based music into psychedelia . By the 1970s blues rock had become heavier and more riff - based, exemplified by the work of British bands Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple, and the lines between blues rock and hard rock "were barely visible", as bands began recording rock - style albums . The genre was continued in the 1970s by figures such as George Thorogood, but bands became focused on heavy metal innovation, and blues rock began to slip out of the mainstream . </P> <P> By the 1960s, the scene that had developed out of the American folk music revival had grown to a major movement, utilising traditional music and new compositions in a traditional style, usually on acoustic instruments . In America the genre was pioneered by figures such as Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger and often identified with progressive or labor politics . In the early sixties figures such as Joan Baez and Bob Dylan had come to the fore in this movement as singer - songwriters . Dylan had begun to reach a mainstream audience with hits including "Blowin' in the Wind" (1963) and "Masters of War" (1963), which brought "protest songs" to a wider public, but, although beginning to influence each other, rock and folk music had remained largely separate genres, often with mutually exclusive audiences . </P> <P> The folk rock movement is usually thought to have taken off with The Byrds' recording of Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" which topped the charts in 1965 . With members who had been part of the cafe - based folk scene in Los Angeles, the Byrds adopted rock instrumentation, including drums and 12 - string Rickenbacker guitars, which became a major element in the sound of the genre . Later that year Dylan adopted electric instruments, much to the outrage of many folk purists, with his "Like a Rolling Stone" becoming a US hit single . Folk rock particularly took off in California, where it led acts like The Mamas & the Papas and Crosby, Stills and Nash to move to electric instrumentation, and in New York, where it spawned performers including The Lovin' Spoonful and Simon and Garfunkel, with the latter's acoustic "The Sounds of Silence" being remixed with rock instruments to be the first of many hits . </P> <P> Folk rock reached its peak of commercial popularity in the period 1967 - 8, before many acts moved off in a variety of directions, including Dylan and the Byrds, who began to develop country rock . However, the hybridization of folk and rock has been seen as having a major influence on the development of rock music, bringing in elements of psychedelia, and helping to develop the ideas of the singer - songwriter, the protest song and concepts of "authenticity". </P>

Van halen emerged from the california-based metal scene of the 1970s