The term art rock has been employed to describe several works of Rock music developed right after the 1960s Psychedelic Rock explosion. Following on the heels of this phenomenon, art rock has been the result of musicians developing an interest towards a handful of forms of music out of the boundaries of rock and, in general terms, making an attempt to break away as much as possible from the constrains imposed by Rock & Roll (or from the roots of rock itself, which, in turn, inspired genres like Blues Rock, Country Rock or U.S. Folk Rock). A non-musical factor that could explain this development is the conscious transition that certain rock (and non-rock) artists made from singles-based music towards a bigger development of the album as a cohesive lyrical and thematic whole (an important step towards the popularization of the so-called concept album) as shown by the 1966–1967 set of examples like Pet Sounds, Freak Out!, The Who Sell Out or Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (which can be counted as forerunners of later art rock).
Some essential listening:
The Velvet Underground & Nico, The Velvet Underground & Nico – 1967
The Moody Blues, Days of Future Passed – 1967
The Velvet Underground, White Light / White Heat – 1968
The United States of America, The United States of America – 1968
King Crimson, In the Court of the Crimson King – 1969
Pink Floyd, The Dark Side of the Moon – 1973
King Crimson, Red – 1974
Pink Floyd, Wish You Were Here – 1975
David Bowie, Low – 1977
Pink Floyd, Animals – 1977
Peter Gabriel, Peter Gabriel – 1980
David Bowie, Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) – 1980
Brian Eno-David Byrne, My Life in the Bush of Ghosts – 1981
King Crimson, Discipline – 1981
XTC, English Settlement – 1982
Radiohead, OK Computer – 1997
Spiritualized®, Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space – 1997
Ween, The Mollusk – 1997
Mr. Bungle, California – 1999
Nine Inch Nails, The Fragile – 1999
Radiohead, Kid A – 2000
Radiohead, Amnesiac – 2001
Ween, Quebec – 2003
The Mars Volta, Frances the Mute – 2005
Radiohead, In Rainbows – 2007
PJ Harvey, Let England Shake – 2011
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Push the Sky Away – 2013
David Bowie, ★ [Blackstar] – 2016
Radiohead, A Moon Shaped Pool – 2016
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Skeleton Tree – 2016