Bachata drew from a variety of early 20th century Latin music styles. It incorporates the Afro-Cuban rhythms and Spanish guitars of the Cuban son and guaracha music, as well as narrative qualities of the Puerto Rican folk music, plena, and the fast-paced Dominican dance music, merengue. Bachata's strongest influence was the romantic guitar music of the Cuban bolero, according to ILoveBachata.com.
José Manuel Calderón recorded the first bachata song in1962 at the Radiotelevisión Dominicana recording studios in the Dominican Republic. Calderón's "Borracho de Amor" drew heavily on romantic boleros of the time, and was barely recognizable as a bachata, says David C. Wayne in his article "An Overview of Bachata Music" for Iaso Records. Calderón included a string section, horns, and piano in his work, unlike the simpler arrangements that marked early bachata.
Due to Bachata's popularity in the streets of the Dominican Republic, bachata lyrics became less romantic in nature and began to focus on drinking, sex, and bravado. In the 1970s and 1980s this focus increased, Bachata tempos picked up, and a darker connection with the poverty and prostitution in the barrios of the Domincan Republic developed. Bachata music was now an outcast in Dominican society played only on one national radio station, according to Wayne.
Bachata bolero marked the begining of bachata music--reminiscent of Cuban boleros with a slow and romantic nature. Cabaret bachata featured a coarseness reflective of the cabarets in which it was performed, and distinguished it from other Latin American forms. according to Wayne. Sexual double-entendre bachata grew in popularity in the 1980s and marked the beginning of the current bachata style. Techno-bachata of the 1980s was shaped by middle-class musicians to be more reminiscent of bolero. Frontier-romantica bachata dominated the scene in the early 1990s utilizing electric guitars and a merengue influence to create a more danceable music. The New York school of bachata, made popular by artists such as Aventura and Monchy Y Alexandra, incorporates R&B, blues, and hip-hop, and is the dominant style of today's bachata music.
Bachata music has evolved and adapted with the times to become one of the most popular music genres among young Latinos. Bachata today is "as popular as salsa and meringue," according to MusicaLatina.net.