The 60s music scene was a particularly revolutionary era in popular music, as it saw the formation and evolution of rock. At the beginning of the decade, pop and rock and roll trends of the 1950s continued; nevertheless, the rock and roll of the decade before started to merge into a more international, eclectic variant known as rock.
In the early 1960s, rock and roll in its purest form were gradually overtaken by pop rock, beat, psychedelic rock, blues rock, and folk rock, which had grown in popularity. The country and folk-influenced style associated with the latter half of the 60s rock music spawned a generation of popular singer-songwriters who wrote and performed their own work. Towards the decade's end, genres such as Baroque pop, sunshine pop, bubblegum pop, and progressive rock started to grow popular, with the latter of the two finding greater success in the following decade.
Furthermore, the 1960s saw funk and soul music rising in popularity; rhythm and blues, in general, remained popular, and this style was commonly associated with Girl groups of the time, whose fusion of R&B and Gospel with rock and roll enjoyed success until the mid-part of the decade.
Aside from the popularity of rock and R&B music in the 60s, Latin American, as well as Jamaican and Cuban music, achieved a degree of popularity throughout the decade, with genres such as Bossa nova, the cha-cha-cha, ska, and calypso being popular. From a classical point of view, the 60s were also an important decade as they saw the development of experimental, jazz and contemporary classical music, notably minimalism and free improvisation.
