The genre was called the new wave genre, when the rock music took a new turn and after that experimental rock music came into being in 1980's. This was the time, when various rock bands started using synthesizers purposefully in modern rock music. And thus rock synthesizers became popular gradually since then. But there was a time when, synthesizers were doing well mainly with the pop music, popularized by new wave leaders like Devo, The Buggles, and Gary Numan.
To get hold of the rock synthesizers, it is essential to know the base and a bit background of it. It was Robert Moog, who introduced the musician with a new world of unknown sounds with the invention of voltage-controlled and keyboard-accessible synthesizer. This further also gave them idea about sound production and control and thus curiosities increased and it began to enter the mainstream of pop music. However, the technological revolution experienced by the popular music made the performers to take advantage of the potentials of the synthesizers.
The synthesizer once was basically used for the same purpose as the electronic piano or an organ was used, just to make spacey noises in the background. Then came the synthesizers that were pushed to the front stage. This made the players dress in casual suits and platform shoes. However, by the early 70's, many rock groups like, Yes, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, and Tangerine Dream etc., started using the rock synthesizers explicitly due to its unique range of sounds. It was the rock-based form that mainly influenced their development in the next decade.
The 1980's were the growing period of the underground music and thus the growth of the rock synthesizers, which resulted in increased use of the synths by more and more bands. Infact, many artists began to be known as synth rock artists. This is the same period that added new style and genres to the rock music, such as Goth rock and new wave. Or it can be said that it was the period that gave birth to new experimentations with help of the synth rocks and thus experimental rock music came into being.
Experimental music means a new kind of sound emerging out of the mixture of existing rock music and the sounds from the new rock synthesizers. The outcome of this experimentation is the album, The Residents (or Meet the Residents). But somehow, it failed to please the audience at the beginning, as they were not ready to accept anything except the traditional ones, like the space rock, ethereal sounds, or the old electric piano.
In the next decade, i.e. 1990's, the rock synth changed its style of music. The style that evolved was basically the combination of 80's new wave, 80's, 90's industrial music, glam rock, gothic rock and heavy metal. However, after 2000's, the rock bands, or rather say synth rock bands were on the top of demand list of the people. Their experimental melodies influenced by the new wave music were successful in breaking the myth of the masses that rock synthesizers cannot rock them.
