Instrumental rock is rock music that emphasizes musical instruments and features very little or no singing. Examples of instrumental rock can be found in practically every subgenre of rock, often from musicians who specialize in the style. Instrumental rock was most popular from the mid-1950s to mid-1960s, with artists such as Bill Doggett Combo, The Fireballs, The Shadows, The Ventures, Johnny and the Hurricanes and The Spotnicks. Surf music had many instrumental songs. Many instrumental hits had roots from the R&B genre. The Allman Brothers Band feature several instrumentals. Jeff Beck also recorded two instrumental albums in the 1970s. Progressive rock and art rock performers of the 1960s and 1970s did many virtuosic instrumental performances.
Richard Thompson is an English singer, songwriter, and guitarist.
Christopher Joseph Isaak is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional actor. He is widely known for his breakthrough hit and signature song "Wicked Game", as well as other songs such as "Blue Hotel", "Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing" and "Somebody's Crying". He is known for his reverb-laden rockabilly revivalist style and wide vocal range. His songs generally focus on the themes of love, loss, and heartbreak. With a career spanning four decades, Isaak has released a total of 12 studio albums, toured, and received numerous award nominations. He is often compared to Roy Orbison, Elvis Presley, Ricky Nelson, and Duane Eddy.
Kenneth Clark Loggins is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. His early songs were recorded with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in 1970, which led to seven albums recorded as Loggins and Messina from 1972 to 1977. His early soundtrack contributions date back to A Star Is Born in 1976, and he is known as the King of the Movie Soundtrack. As a solo artist, Loggins experienced a string of soundtrack successes, including an Academy Award nomination for "Footloose" in 1985. Finally Home was released in 2013, shortly after Loggins formed the group Blue Sky Riders with Gary Burr and Georgia Middleman. He won a Daytime Emmy Award, two Grammy Awards, and was nominated for an Academy Award, a Tony Award, and a Golden Globe Award.
Warren Bruce Cuccurullo is an American musician, singer-songwriter, restaurant owner and former body builder who first worked with Frank Zappa during the 1970s. He was also a founding member of Missing Persons in the 1980s. In 1986, Cuccurullo joined Duran Duran, becoming a long-term member of the band until 2001. In 2022, he will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Duran Duran.
The Ventures are an American instrumental rock band, formed in 1958 in Tacoma, Washington, by Don Wilson and Bob Bogle. The band, a quartet for most of its existence, helped to popularize the electric guitar in the United States and across the world during the 1960s. While their popularity in the United States waned in the 1970s, the group remains especially revered in Japan, where they tour regularly to this day. The classic lineup of the band consisted of Wilson, Bogle, Nokie Edwards, and Mel Taylor (drums).
Richard Theodore Otcasek, known as Ric Ocasek, was an American singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He was the primary co-lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, songwriter, and frontman for the rock band the Cars. In addition to his work with the Cars, Ocasek recorded seven solo albums, and his song "Emotion in Motion" was a top 20 hit in the United States in 1986. Ocasek also worked as a record producer for artists such as Motion City Soundtrack, Suicide, Bad Brains, Weezer, Nada Surf, Guided by Voices, and No Doubt. In 2018, Ocasek was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Cars.
Trevor Charles Rabin is a South African rock musician and composer. Born into a musical family and raised in Johannesburg, Rabin took up the piano and guitar at an early age and became a session musician, playing and producing with a variety of artists. In 1972, he joined the rock band Rabbitt who enjoyed considerable success in South Africa, and released his first solo album, Beginnings. In 1978, Rabin moved to London to further his career, working as a solo artist and a producer for various artists including Manfred Mann's Earth Band.
Pablo Cruise is an American pop/rock band from San Francisco currently composed of David Jenkins, Cory Lerios, Sergio Gonzalez (drums), Larry Antonino and Robbie Wyckoff. Formed in 1973, the band released eight studio albums over the next decade, during which time five singles reached the top 25 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The group underwent several personnel changes and split up in 1986. The original lineup—Jenkins, Lerios, Price and Bud Cockrell—reunited briefly in 2004, and the group continues to tour today with two out of the original four members present.
Carl Dean Wilson was an American musician, singer, and songwriter who co-founded the Beach Boys. He was best known as their lead guitarist, as the youngest sibling of bandmates Brian and Dennis, and as the group's de facto leader in the early to mid-1970s. He was also the band's musical director on stage from 1965 until his death.
Kalapana is an American pop-rock band from Honolulu, Hawaii. They are known for their songs “Naturally” and “The Hurt”.
Vernon Alphonsus Reid is an English-born American guitarist and songwriter. Reid is the founder and primary songwriter of the rock band Living Colour, Reid was named No. 66 on Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.
Michael den Elzen is a musician and music producer based in Melbourne, Australia. He has performed for over 30 years with many well-known Australian and New Zealand artists, principally as a guitarist, and has contributed music for several Australian movie soundtracks.
Blues Saraceno is an American rock guitarist, composer and music producer, currently residing in Los Angeles, California. He was discovered by Guitar for the Practicing Musician magazine at the age of 16, which assisted him in releasing instrumental recordings on an independent basis.
Jon Brion is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, and composer. He performed with the Excerpts, the Bats, 'Til Tuesday and the Grays before becoming an established producer and film score composer.
Don Edward Fagenson, known professionally as Don Was, is an American musician, record producer and record executive. Primarily a bass player, Was co-founded the funk-rock band Was. In later years he produced songs and albums for many popular recording artists including, since 1994, The Rolling Stones. In 2012, he became president of jazz music label Blue Note Records.
Wayne Kramer is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, producer and film and television composer.
Nick Larkins is an Australian rock musician who has played with various Australian acts, and solo. Nick was born in London but raised in Hobart, Tasmania. Larkins has been highly nomadic for much of his career. He has usually been based in the city of Melbourne, known as the live music capital of Australia, but has also lived and worked in Europe several times.
Martin Cilia is an English-born Australian musician. Cilia is best known for his songwriting skills, and his membership in The Atlantics, where he performs on the guitar. Cilia played his first gig in a school hall in Morley High in 1972 with fellow students. He remembered playing songs by The Shadows, The Monkees, The Beatles, and Cat Stevens.
Bob Rafkin was an American singer, songwriter and guitar player.
