[1][4][5] It emerged in the mid-1960s as artists pursued a majestic, orchestral sound[4] and is identifiable for its appropriation of Baroque compositional styles (contrapuntal melodies and functional harmony patterns) and dramatic or melancholic gestures.

[7] The term "baroque rock" was coined in promotional material for the Left Banke, who used harpsichords and violins in their arrangements[8] and whose 1966 song "Walk Away Renée" exemplified the style.

[12] Baroque pop, stylistically, fuses elements of rock with classical music, often incorporating layered harmonies, strings, and horns to achieve a majestic, orchestral sound.

He writes that the song "didn't feature any oboes but stuck out rather dramatically in 1964, the year of 'You Really Got Me' and 'Little Red Rooster'", that its arrangement was comparably "restrained" and "almost medieval", and that its refined qualities were emphasised by singer Colin Blunstone having an enunciation that was "pure St Albans grammar".

[1] Music historian Andrew Grant Jackson states that "the era of baroque pop", in which "rock melded with classical elements", began with the Rolling Stones' "Play with Fire" (February 1965) and Brian Wilson's work on The Beach Boys Today!

[1] Slate's Forrest Wickman credits the Beatles' producer, George Martin, along with Paul McCartney and Wilson, as some of the men "most responsible" for the move into baroque pop.

[18] Author Bernard Gendron says that, further to American composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein's public approval of the band's music, the Beatles were feted in the "art-music world" in the summer of 1965 through the arrival of "'Beatles à la Baroque' or more generically 'baroque rock'".

[21] A classically trained musician, Martin played what sounded like a baroque harpsichord solo on the Beatles' "In My Life", released on their December 1965 album Rubber Soul.

[22][nb 3] Author Joe Harrington comments that due to the Beatles' influence in all areas of pop music's development, "In My Life" led to the arrival of "baroque-rock".

According to music critic Richie Unterberger, "the sobriquet may have been ham-fisted, but certainly there were many Baroque elements in the Left Banke's pop—the stately arrangements, the brilliant use of keyboards and harpsichords, the soaring violins, and the beautiful group harmonies.

[24] The album's baroque-pop aesthetics were limited to one track, "God Only Knows",[17][24] a song that The Record's Jim Beckerman deemed "baroque rock" in the same "retro instrumentation and elegant harmonies" vein as the Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby" (1966) and Procol Harum's "A Whiter Shade of Pale" (1967).

[27] In a climate equally informed by political radicalism in 1968, Stanley writes, "English baroque" continued as a combined simulacrum of the Zombies' album Odessey and Oracle (1968), McCartney's contributions to The Beatles (1968), Honeybus' single "I Can't Let Maggie Go" (1968), Scott Walker's chamber pop, and Crosby, Stills & Nash vocal harmonies.