Israeli rock (, Rok Yisra'eli) is rock music created by Israeli bands and singers.
History
1960s
thumb|right|150px|Rock singer [[Shalom Hanoch]]
Israel's initial attitude towards rock music was mixed, with the genre gaining popularity amongst the youth but receiving condemnation from the press and government, most notably in 1965 when the minister of education Hanoch Rinot prevented the funding for a possible concert in Ramat Gan by The Beatles, labeling their music as holding "no artistic value". Israeli musicians of the time believed that it was a fad that would soon pass. The first Israeli rock bands began performing in the mid-1960s in nightclubs and discos, first in Ramla and later on HaMasger Street in Tel Aviv. These bands mainly performed cover versions of popular rock songs by bands like The Beatles and The Shadows. Rock culture, in the social and political sense, was nowhere in sight. The High Windows, The Lions (aka The Lions of Juda), The Styles (aka Uzi and the Styles), The Fat and the Thins, The Blue Stars, The Goldstars, The New Stars, The Generals, The Monks, The Spiders, The Electric Stage, The Seventh Radiance, and The Sing-Sing.
In the euphoria that followed the Six-Day War, the performing groups of the Israel Defense Forces rose in status with a steady stream of songs about victory, bereavement and loss. Rock became part of the alternative music scene that was played mostly in clubs such as "Hakarish" and "Calypso", formerly known as drug dens. which combined rock music and a unique sense of humor. Another successful artist was Gabi Shoshan, a Moroccan-born Israeli singer and actor. Shoshan’s greatest hits included “Shesh Esre Malou La’Naar” (The Boy Is 16) and “Bereshit” (The Beginning), among many others. Shoshan was part of an era of Israeli music called "Flower Power". The (consecutive 1st prize) winners of the 1976, 1977, and 1978 Chassidic Song Festival was the band that invented Jewish Rock, The Diaspora Yeshiva Band, who made several albums, had many hits (Hafachta, Malchutcha, Ivdu), and toured worldwide including Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center.
At the end of the decade, singers who wrote and performed rock oriented music became very popular and very successful, including Shalom Hanoch (who previously collaborated with Arik Einstein), Ariel Zilber (formerly of Tamuz), Svika Pick (in combination with pop music and disco music), Efraim Shamir, Yitzhak Klepter (formerly of Kaveret and the Churchills) and Gary Eckstein.
1980s
right|thumb|200px|[[Mashina]]
During the 1980s a few rock bands became popular. Notable rock bands of the decade were The Click, Benzin, T-Slam, and Mashina which became the most successful Israeli rock band of the decade.
1990s
left|thumb|150px|[[Aviv Geffen]]
In the 1990s, a new wave of young rock bands and singers started. The entrance of some artists and bands that were formed in the 80s, like the famous duo of Rami Fortis and Berry Sakharof, Mashina, Korin Allal, Meir Banai and others into the Israeli mainstream, inspired many young rock artists such as Aviv Geffen, Inbal Perlmuter, Yermi Kaplan, Assaf Amdursky, and others, and just in the years of 1990-1994 an uncountable number of young rock bands were formed. Bands such as Eifo HaYeled, Monica Sex, HaYehudim,