Music of Texas - Rock

Rock

One of the first major Texan musical stars was Buddy Holly, a very famous rock and roll musician from the 1950s. Another up and coming singer, from Wink, Texas, was also making waves in the music scene. His name was Roy Orbison. He was followed by Buddy Knox, Bobby Fuller and Dallas rockabilly stars Gene Summers, Johnny Carroll and Ronnie Dawson.

The next decade witnessed such greats as Janis Joplin, from Port Arthur. She is ranked #46 on Rolling Stone 2004 list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. Doug Sahm's Sir Douglas Quintet released several innovative performances, as did psychedelic rock underground legends 13th Floor Elevators, led by Roky Erickson. The hard rock of ZZ Top was born out of the bands American Blues and Moving Sidewalks in Houston in 1969. In 1971, Bloodrock from Ft. Worth released "D.O.A.",an international hit. Don Henley of the Eagles grew up in Linden, Texas.

More recently, Texas, especially the cities of Austin and Denton, has produced garage rock, punk rock and indie rock bands like Lift to Experience (Denton). San Antonio produced Butthole Surfers in the 1980s as well as the Doom Metal band; Las Cruces in the 90's, and El Paso was the home of At the Drive-In and its two offshoots, Sparta, and The Mars Volta. The Arlington-area band Pantera went on to become heavily influential in the metal genre. Other notable bands include Drowning Pool, Fair to Midland, Coilback, Paleface, Element Eighty, Jacknife and The Destro. Houston metal bands from the '80s include Helstar, King's X, Galactic Cowboys, The Hunger, Blitz and Ripper. And Dead Horse