Rock band is a generic name to describe a group of musicians specialising in a particular form of electronically amplified music. Deriving its name from the musical style which was its immediate progenitor, rock and roll, the type of music played by rock bands has its roots deeply steeped in both rock and roll, and its immediate forebear, rhythm and blues. A rock band tends to have a heavy focus on certain instruments principally electric guitar, bass guitar, and drums. Later in the 1960s, certain rock bands such as Pink Floyd and Hawkwind experimented with electric organs and synthesisers. Other instruments deployed within the context of a rock band include the electric violin, as used by Curved Air and the flute played by Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull.

Many early rock bands were in the vanguard of psychedelic music and the complexities arising largely led to rock music becoming a generic term broader than "rock and roll".

See also: list of rock and roll performers, list of popular music performers, musical genres