Golden Age (1960s-1980s)

In 1957, Turkish radio stations played surf rock by the Tornados or the Ventures and films with Elvis Presley and Bill Haley were shown in Turkish cinemas. This inspired musicians like Erkin Koray to start already in 1957 with cover versions of rock & roll tunes, using the new electric guitar. By the early 1960s, Turkish groups began to perform instrumentals, such as those by The Shadows and The Ventures. Although often locally popular performers, these Turkish groups were rarely recorded.

The first original Turkish-language pop song was "Ayrilanlar Icin", released in 1964 by Timur Selcuk. Other singers also emerged, including Baris Manco, who first recorded in the early 1960s before later spearheading the growth of Turkish rock music in the 1970s with albums such as 2023 (1975) and become the father of Anatolian Rock. At the same time, Turkish society began to undergo significant cultural changes, including the growth of multi-party democracy in the region.

The domestic rock music scene in Turkey expanded rapidly in the mid- and late 1960s. In 1963, Erkin Koray published "One September Night" (Bir Eylul Aksami) which is regarded as the first rock & roll song in Turkish language and opened a new era, the Turkish psychedelic rock.

From 1968 to about 1975, psychedelic rock became popular in Turkey, notably the work of guitarist Erkin Koray, regarded as a "hugely influential figure on the Istanbul music scene". The band Mogollar are credited with "changing the landscape of Turkish rock by incorporating elements of Anatolian folk music," and, after recording in France as Les Mogols, named their musical genre Anadolu Pop. Another pioneer, Fikret Kizilok, combined the style of Anadolu Pop with overtly political lyrics, and experiments with electronic music.

Turkish musicians also regularly performed at competitive European music festivals. In 1964, Tulay German performed the song "Burcak Tarlasi" at the Balkan Music Festival, in a bossa nova style, and became immediately popular. As a direct result, the newspaper Hurriyet organized a "Golden Microphone" (Altin Mikrofon) competition, to encourage the development of new songs in Turkish blending folk tune and Western style.

This helped identify a new generation of musicians, including the groups Mavi Isiklar, Siluetler, and musicians Cem Karaca, Edip Akbayram, Selcuk Alagoz, and his sister Rana Alagoz. Finalists were awarded with an opportunity to record a 45rpm-disc, and a tour across the country. As a result, it caused people outside the big cities to be exposed to this genre.