Music Genres

Remove all ads!

After digging my way out of a thread on another forum about music genres are the best and which bands fitted into which genres, I conclude that no one really has a clue about what is what. So how do you define what genres? What is it that makes gothic metal/rock what it is? Are new 'punk' bands really punk? What actually is the difference between grunge and post grunge? How does one define 'funk', ect.

And then some examples: Is Evanescence gothic, or is Marilyn Manson. Does Blink 182 count as punk, or only old bands like The Clash? How does one seperate Silverchair and Nirvana into seperate types of grunge? Are the Red Hot Chilli Peppers really funk? Ect.

 

personal opinion, 100% of the time.

 

That pretty well sums it up. Although, there were periods in time where different music derives it genre. For example...

Sonic Youth, Sex Pistols, Dead Kennedys etc. - Punk
Blink 182, Good Charlotte, Less Than Jake - Punk Rock.

The music is severely different, but they seem to portray a similar message (although die hard punks would rather drink acid than listen to punk rock). Thats the difference there. Punk - 80's. Punk Rock - Today

Iron Maiden, Megadeath, Slayer, Metallica - Metal (although many would consider much of that as Death Metal).

Slipknot, Manson, Cradle of Filth etc. - Nu Metal, Death Metal sort of stuff.

Same sounds, different style.

But yeah, apart from some of the basic hard core, die hard fans, it really doesn't matter what you genre you lump a band into. As long as you don't start to refer to bands I like as the 'Bad' genre. Then there will be bloody murder

 

I just do it simply into music I like and don't like. If I like a band and someone says 'oh it,s soft rock' I'll look at other stuff like that and see if I like it. Otherwise I'm not too bothered.

I just like stuff you can play loud
classical sucks though

 

I care not for genres. It's a matter of fashion. I care not for fashion. Music is crappy or not crappy. At my own discretion

 

IMHO, the problem is the continual making of new so-called genres created to set bands apart from "mainstream" music.

At one time (ie. in my day), we had rock (to pick just one style of music). That was it - just rock, which encompassed a whole range of styles. Then we had "hard rock" and "pop rock". Then some hard rockers didn't like to be associated with the other "sell-outs", so they called themselves "metal". Then "grunge". Then "goth". etc. etc. etc. Now, basically every band is a genre unto itself.

As far as I'm concerned, it's all music. Either you like it, or you don't. Period. Who cares about which genre it "belongs" to? Because tomorrow, it'll be called something else anyway.

 

I'm in agreement. I mean, one of a friend's friends actually had a go at me for calling Mighty Mighty Bosstones punk when "they're clearly ska" but to me genres don't really count for all that much - music is music and should be enjoyed as such. Or not enjoyed as your tastes allow. To me, genres are for lazy radio station people so that they don't take risks. Granted though, some radio stations do take risks, but not enough.

 

That's all very well and fine and all, but it really doesn't add anything to this already meaningless thread

The point of this was to try and define the genres that people had come up with, not to come to the conclusion that they're not important anyway. People will keep refering to things by genre whether you think it's a good idea or not, so we might as well come up with a collective definition for them as well as increase our post count in the process (which is, you must admit, the only real reason you're replying to this drivel )

 

Apologies Aikanaro.

The real problem with genres is that, not knowing myself how to separate different styles, if lokoing at genres I go by what those in the industry say. And the problem with that is that no-one can agree on some styles and bands.

I've heard some call Silverchair grunge, some say nu-metal, some say gothic and some say punk.
Anyway, to make it easier on myself, I simply lump each band into the genre it fits best, and most don't get the 'nu' tag, they just get what they get.

My answers to your examples, Evanescence is gothic, Marilyn Manson is gothic metal as they're both kinda similar styles but MM has that more metal edge. Blink 182 are punk. As are Good Charlotte, Jimmy Eat World (though I've not heard a lot of their stuff) and The Offspring (though Offspring are recently a bit closer to punk-rock like Linkin Park). Silverchair and Nirvana are grunge. Too much separating leads to confusion - hence, I guess, your original question. And Red Hot Chilli Peppers are funk with a leaning towards rock sometimes.

If required, I am able to separate bands into genres, but it gets too confusing at times. Mainly because there are too many bands putting out music that sounds similar to lots of others but with small differences, be it extra instruments or different lyrical content. eg Creed and Nickelback who, to me, are both rock without the 'nu'. Despite Creed's seeming leaning toward Christian lyrics (which is not a problem, they just don't have enough obvious Christian lyrics to be Christian Rock). Just too confusing these days. Anyway, hopefully that was what you were looking for when you posed the original question.

 

I'm sorry, but you guys got it all wrong about the punk. Blink 182, Simple Plan, etc. are all pop punk (or better yet Pimply Poseur Punk ). Bands like the Sex Pistols and Clash are brit punk. Bands like the Dead Kennedys and Sonic Youth are considered punk rock (DK is the father of punk rock).

Bands like the Mighty Mighty Bosstones are very, very ska (you can tell ska by a) if they have a light sounding music with the bassline driving the melody, b) if there's f*ckin' trumpets)

Rancid (one of my favorite bands) traverses all of these said genres (that's why they're the ****).

Then there's a genre all too unique (although quite broad) and that's Hardcore Punk. Bands like The Casualties and Sloppy Meateaters go here.

I could go on forever, but there's one last genre that deserves mentioning: Political Punk. This can range from Punk Rock to hardcore (and others, but these two are far more common), but no matter what they ALWAYS (well almost always) talk about the US and what a ****in' great job they're doin' Noteables are Propaghandi, Anti-Flag, Virus9, Though Riot, and many more.

I wouldn't call Jimmy Eat World punk, punkrock or anything with punk in it. All it is is rock.

 

No. None of the bands mentioned are death metal. Slayer and early Metallica are thrash. Iron Maiden are simply metal.

All of the above are not metal at all... CoF may be called "pseudo metal", the rest are mallcore.

If you want a breakdown of the metal genres, complete with examples, ask nicely. I'm sure that there's a website that deals with it correctly, but I'm too lazy to go looking for it now.

 

Marilyn Manson is about as gothic as the Chili Peppers - Not at all. All he's managed to do is take the goth stereotype (which pretty much is the opposite of what goth originally was about) and jacked up the 'shock value'.

Linkin Park is nothing like punk rock. The Offspring (at least the old stuff, I don't listen to anything else of theirs) is certainly punk rock.

I detest the very idea of Christian Rock. Why do we care whether the band is Christian/has Christian orientated lyrics. They should be classified by what their music fits into, not their personal ideals/whatnot.

 

I don't know about you, but I listen to artists, not genres.

Aikanaro: what's wrong with classifying Christian Rock (or other music/noise/junk) in its own genre? Several years ago, a friend of mine told me that I "probably didn't want to get a secular CD," while I was at Best Buy. I'm not saying there's anything right or wrong about Christian Contempary Music, but I think that fans of CCM would prefer to have their own category in the store or whatever.

That asides, CCM has never really been assimilated into the mainstream. That asides, lots of record companies (like Tooth & Nail, one of my favorites) will sponsor a bunch of CCM bands with various styles but very few non-CCM bands.

Anyways, that's just my rant. Besides, I'm sure that CCM bands prefer to have their music defined as "Christian" instead of "Ska" or "Metal".

(On one last note, CCM seems to be one genre that is well defined. Christian musicians are musicians who are Christian beliefs; MXPX fits in this category. Christian bands are bands who profess Christian beliefs; Skillet fits in this category.)

 

I believe it's because metal is hardly associated with Christianity. Would even say contrary. More like unwashed people dressed in black, with occasional three sixes, upside-down crosses and pentagrams applied at random

 

Actually there was a movement called White Metal during the 80s which was consisted of bands with christian lyrics. The most famous band of this movement was The Stryper. Also, bands with christian lyrics appeared during 90s and some of them like Lordian Guard and Savior Machine have released masterpieces.

 

Let's also not forget Solid State Records (actually a division of Tooth & Nail).

 

I disagree Mystra, sorry dude. You don't need to seperate punk that much. I mean you can hear the influences of The Clash in Blink 182 and Sum 41. You can hear the Ramones in Strung Out. The Sex Pistols just plain suck in my opinion.

Your right about Rancid though they are just a general hybrid of all punk/Ska, they can have the ripping songs like Don Giovanni, or they can go across the spectrum with Corozon De Oro.

Punk doesn't need to be political or hardcore, it's more about the attitude, of I'm here to do this and I'm going to do it well.

By the way DK was way overated. I find that Stiff Little Fingers, New York Dolls, The Ramones and The Clash did way more for punk then Dead Kennedys.

 

I find the Ramones are overrated. Everyone knows the Ramones, but personally (although I've listened to them a lot) i really don't like them. The Cash wrote some good songs, but I really don't care for them either.

I see where you're coming from about DK though. There are hardly any bands out there that have derived their sound from them, so they really havn't done much for the punk scene in general. I really like them though. I'm not saying they're god or anything, but they were the first ones to do punk rock.

I'd say Operation Ivy has done a lot for the punk scene. There's a surprising amount of bands that are inspired by Op Ivy, even though they were only around for like 2 years.

I agree where you're coming from about not separating punk so much, but also punk has become really popular the last few years and so defining the good punk from the bad, I think, is important. Political Punk though needs to be separate. There's bands like Propaghandi and Anti-Flag, then there's bands like Raised Fist and Unseen. Their music sounds similar, but their attitudes differ (straight edge, vegan, mohawks, studs, etc.).

 

Talking Heads and Iggy Pop for me are far better than the Ramones.

As for music, I'm fan of the Rock 'n Roll. Rolling Stones, Beatles, Kinks, Led Zeppelin, Doors...