Instrumental rock is rock music that emphasizes instrumental performance and features very little or no singing. Examples of instrumental music in rock can be found in practically every subgenre of 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 late 1960s and early 1970s did many virtuosic instrumental performances.
David Cortez Clowney, known by the stage name Dave "Baby" Cortez, is an American pop and R&B organist and pianist, best known for his 1959 hit, "The Happy Organ". He is the second earliest surviving singer to have a solo #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 next to Frankie Avalon.
James Edgar Spruill, also known as Wild Jimmy Spruill, was an American New York based session guitarist, whose guitar solos featured on many rhythm and blues and pop hits of the 1950s and 1960s.
"Runaway" is a number-one Billboard Hot 100 song made famous by Del Shannon in 1961. It was written by Shannon and keyboardist Max Crook, and became a major international hit. It topped the Billboard charts for four consecutive weeks, and Billboard ranked it as the No. 5 song for 1961. It was No. 472 on the 2010 version of Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and No. 466 on the 2004 version.
"Hoots Mon" is a song written by Harry Robinson, and performed by Lord Rockingham's XI. It was a number-one hit single for three weeks in 1958 on the UK Singles Chart. It is based on the old Scottish folk song, "A Hundred Pipers". It was also one of the first rock and roll songs to feature the Hammond organ, which would become popular in rock and roll music the following year with Dave "Baby" Cortez's, "The Happy Organ".
"Take Good Care of My Baby" is a song written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin. The song was made famous by Bobby Vee, when it was released in 1961.
"The Battle of New Orleans" is a song written by Jimmy Driftwood in 1936. The song describes the Battle of New Orleans from the perspective of an American soldier; the song tells the tale of the battle with a light tone and provides a rather comical version of what actually happened at the battle. It has been recorded by many artists, but the singer most often associated with this song is Johnny Horton. His version, recorded at Bradley Studios in Nashville, Tennessee, scored number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1959. Billboard ranked it as the No. 1 song for 1959, it was very popular with teenagers in the late 1950s/early 1960s in an era mostly dominated by rock and roll music.
Paul Evans is an American rock and roll singer and songwriter, who was most prominent in the 1950s and 1960s. As a performer, he had hits with the songs "Seven Little Girls Sitting in the Backseat", reaching No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1959), "Midnight Special" and "Happy-Go-Lucky Me".
"Sleep Walk" is an instrumental song written, recorded, and released in 1959 by American instrumental rock and roll duo Santo & Johnny Farina, with their uncle Mike Dee playing the drums. Prominently featuring steel guitar, the song was recorded at Trinity Music in Manhattan, New York City. "Sleep Walk" entered Billboard's Top 40 on August 17, 1959. It rose to the number 1 position for the last two weeks in September and remained in the Top 40 until November 9. "Sleep Walk" also reached number 4 on the R&B chart. It was the last instrumental to hit number 1 in the 1950s and earned a gold record for Santo and Johnny. In Canada, the song reached number 3 in the CHUM Charts. In the UK it peaked at number 22 on the charts.
"Raunchy" is an instrumental by American rock and roll artist Bill Justis, co-written with Sidney Manker and produced by Sam Phillips. The tune, from the album Cloud 9, was released as a single on the record label Phillips International Records, a sub-label of Sun Records, on September 23, 1957.
"Green Onions" is an instrumental composition recorded in 1962 by Booker T. & the M.G.'s. Described as "one of the most popular instrumental rock and soul songs ever" and as one of "the most popular R&B instrumentals of its era", the tune is a twelve-bar blues with a rippling Hammond M3 organ line by Booker T. Jones that he wrote when he was 17, although the actual recording was largely improvised in the studio.
The Bell Notes were an early American rock and roll group from the East Meadow area of Long Island, New York.
"Don't Say Nothin' Bad (About My Baby)" is a 1963 song written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King for the girl group the Cookies. It was the group's most successful single and their only one to reach the top ten on the U.S. singles charts.
"Peter Gunn" is the theme music composed by Henry Mancini for the television show of the same name. The song was the opening track on the original soundtrack album, The Music from Peter Gunn, released by RCA Victor in 1959. Mancini won an Emmy Award and two Grammys for Album of the Year and Best Arrangement. In 2005, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
"Baby Talk" is a song was originally released as a single in 1959 by The Laurels on Spring Records, though their version failed to chart. Later in 1959, the song was recorded by Jan and Dean which was a Top 10 hit for them on Dore Records. In 1962, Jan & Dean released a sequel to the song, entitled "She's Still Talking Baby Talk".
"Theme of Exodus" is a song composed and performed by Ernest Gold. It serves as the main theme song to Otto Preminger's epic film Exodus, based on the 1958 novel of the same name by Leon Uris, which tells the story of founding of the modern State of Israel. The song was released on the soundtrack album for the picture. All music was written by Gold, who won both Best Soundtrack Album and Song of the Year at the 1961 Grammy Awards for the soundtrack and theme to Exodus respectively. It is the only instrumental song to ever receive that award.
"Bongo Rock" is a rock and roll instrumental recorded by Preston Epps, written by Epps and Arthur Egnoian. Released as a single in 1959, it charted #14 Pop in the United States, and #4 in Canada. It was included in Epps' 1960 album Bongo Bongo Bongo.
"Forever" is a song written by Buddy Killen, which was released by The Little Dippers and Billy Walker in January 1960.
"Mr. Lee" is a 1957 single by The Bobbettes. The song peaked at #1 on the CHUM Chart in Canada and on national R&B charts in the United States in 1957. It was included in Robert Christgau's "Basic Record Library" of 1950s and 1960s recordings, published in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981).
"Rinky Dink" is an instrumental written by Dave "Baby" Cortez and Paul Winley and performed by Cortez. It reached #9 on the U.S. R&B chart and #10 on the U.S. pop chart in 1962. It was featured on his 1962 album Rinky Dink. In Canada the song reached #6.
