Power Trio

A power trio is a rock and roll band format typically having a lineup of guitar, bass and drums, leaving out the rhythm guitar or keyboard that are used in other rock music to fill out the sound with chords. While one or more band members may sing, power trios usually emphasize instrumental performance and overall impact over vocals and lyrics.

The rise of the power trio in the 1960s was made possible in part by developments in amplifier technology that greatly enhanced the volume of the electric guitar and bass. The prototypical power trios were exemplified by late 1960s-era blues-rock/ hard rock bands The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Cream, Grand Funk Railroad and The James Gang. Blue Cheer, in its most popular configuration as a power trio, was said to have adopted that format after seeing Jimi Hendrix perform at the Monterey Pop Festival. Well-known 1970s-era power trios include the Canadian progressive rock group Rush;The American band out of Texas ZZ Top, the British heavy metal band Motörhead; The Jam; Robin Trower and The Police.

Keyboard-oriented power trios using electronic organ (or synthesizer in the 1970s) also emerged, such as Atomic Rooster, the guitar-less incarnations of Soft Machine and The Nice, and progressive rock band Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Ben Folds Five is a piano rock power trio from the 1990s.

In Latin America in the 1980s and 1990s, power rock trio Soda Stereo revolutionized Latin rock and became one of the biggest rock bands in the history of Latin American music. Other Latin rock power trios include Divididos, Invisible, A.N.I.M.A.L., Los Prisioneros and (in their beginnings) Leusemia.

Although power trios fell out of fashion in mainstream rock during the early 1980s, the rise of post-punk and indie rock in the later 1980s and throughout the 1990s featured many trios, such as grunge band Nirvana and pop-punk bands such as Green Day and Blink-182. One of the biggest power trios of today is the British band Muse.