An accessible and relevant parallel to this process is animal taxonomy. Biologists seek to identify the relationship between all creatures on Earth and place them in relative categories. Importantly, this process of classifying animals is imperfect and ultimately subjective, meaning there are no hard and fast limits or boundaries. For example, until the early s, rabbits were classified as rodents order Rodentia. As more information was gathered about the animals and their nearest relatives, biologists shifted their perception and moved rabbits into the small, specific taxonomic order Lagomorpha where they remain today alongside hares and pikas.
Music classification works in precisely the same way. It assesses individual characteristics of songs and albums and places them in categories based on their most closely related creations. This means that genres are defined by the density or sparseness of common traits: dense clusters of similar creations form the heart of a music style while relative gaps in creative approaches form the edges.
The rabbit also illustrates an important aspect of music taxonomy: classifications change over time as more knowledge is gathered about closely related creations, particularly as artists contribute to new styles of music. In this way, genres tend to be loose and flexible when they are new and become increasingly firm as hundreds and thousands of similar creations are made in and around them. However, just as with animals, there is gray area among music creations that causes blurred edges and overlap between categories.
Additionally, few creations can be properly categorized using a single label, and in the interest of clarity, it is perfectly natural to describe a song or album using multiple genre names, adjectives, and blend words, such as traditional heavy metal , blackened thrash , or chill synthwave. It's a common misunderstanding -- among supporters and detractors alike -- to think of music genres as a rigid system of unyielding boundaries.
On their fundamental level, genre names are a reflexive means of description and comprehension that enables us to more easily perceive the relationships between artists and their creations. In turn, this helps us locate music that we will particularly enjoy, make recommendations to others, and have more nuanced conversations about our favorite artists.
People imagine it as forcing new music into old boxes, or perhaps worse, pushing creations out of those boxes for not fitting an established sound.
From an artist's perspective, this concern is understandable, as unhappy fans have a tendency to express their distaste for new music by using genre comparisons. However, when used flexibly, genre names actually enable us to recognize and support pioneering creators as well as give those artists a marketing tool to help them reach interested listeners.
It's true that genre-defying artists encounter plenty of obstacles in their careers, including a tendency among some listeners to prefer familiar sounds as well as journalists and playlisters who worry about losing their audience by embracing divergent music.
But the specific language listeners use to describe the music is only a byproduct of the actual obstacle these creators must overcome. Lounge Lounge music refers to music played in the lounges and bars of hotels and casinos, or at standalone piano bars. Generally, the performers include a singer and one or two other musicians.
The performers play or cover songs composed by others, especially pop standards, many deriving from the days of Tin Pan Alley.
Notionally, much lounge music consists of sentimental favorites enjoyed by a lone drinker over a martini, though in practice there is much more variety. The term can also refer to laid-back electronic music, also named down-tempo, because of the reputation of lounge music as low-key background music. The mariachi sound, known as son, is a mixture of Spanish, native and African traditions and differs from region to region.
Memphis Blues Memphis blues is a type of blues music that was pioneering in the early part of the 20th century by musicians like Sleepy John Estes and Willie Nix, associated with vaudeville and medicine shows. It was in the Memphis blues that groups of musicians first assigned one guitarist to play rhythm, and one to play lead and solos — this has become standard in rock and roll and much of popular music. In addition, the jug band arose from the Memphis blues, mixing the sound with jazz and using homemade, simple instruments.
See A Blues Groove. Motown A style of soul music with distinctive characteristics, including the use of tambourine along with drums, bass instrumentation, a distinctive melodical and chord structure, and a call and response singing style originating in gospel music. Nerdcore Nerdcore is a genre of music characterized by themes and subject matter considered to be of general interest to nerds and geeks.
See Free Samples. New Age New Age music is a vaguely defined style of music that is generally quite melodic and often primarily instrumental, frequently relying on sustained pads or long sequencer-based runs.
Very long songs, up to 20 minutes and more, are not uncommon. Vocal arrangements and usage of acoustic instruments is less common in many cases, high-quality samples are used instead of the latter. Recordings of naturally occurring sounds are sometimes used as an introduction to a track or throughout the piece. New or Nu Wave New wave is a broad music genre that encompasses numerous pop-oriented styles from the late s and the s.
The term was originally used as a catch-all for the music that emerged concurrent with punk rock, but was not as primitive and slightly more accessible.
Common characteristics of new wave music include a humorous or quirky pop approach, the use of electronic sounds, and a distinctive visual style featured in music videos and fashion. New wave peaked commercially in the late s and the early s with numerous major artists and an abundance of one-hit wonders. See Stronger Than Dirt. Noise or Noise Rock Noise refers to outsider music that is expressly loud and chaotic. Nordic Traditional Nordic dance music is a type of traditional music or folk music that once was common in all five Nordic countries Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden.
The most typical instrument is the fiddle. In most cases normal violins are used, but there are exceptions such as the hardingfele, used in parts of Norway, that in addition to the normal four strings has a set of sympathetic strings. Other instruments that traditionally often were used are simple clarinets, mainly home-made, and later accordion. The music and its associated subculture had the goal of bringing together punks, skinheads, and other disaffected working-class youth.
It became a recognized genre in the latter part of the s, emerging after the perceived commercialization of punk rock, and before the soon-to-dominate hardcore punk sound.
It fused the sounds of early punk bands such as the Sex Pistols, the Ramones, the Clash, and the Jam with influences from s British rock bands such as the Small Faces, and the Who, football chants, pub rock bands such as Dr.
Although Oi! Pop Pop music is a sub-genre of popular music. Post-Rock Post-rock is a form of experimental rock characterized by a focus on exploring textures and timbre over traditional rock song structures, chords, or riffs. Post-rock artists are often instrumental, typically combining rock instrumentation with electronics.
The genre emerged within the indie and underground music scene of the s and early s. However, due to its abandonment of rock conventions, it often bears little resemblance musically to contemporary indie rock, borrowing instead from diverse sources including ambient music, electronica, jazz, krautrock, dub, and minimalist classical.
Technology was often harnessed for new sounds, and music became more studio oriented, rather than for the stage, creating an experience more for listening rather than dancing. Key elements of Prog often include but are not limited to: 1 Abandoning the standard lengths of rock or pop songs, which sometimes has led to epic length of compositions.
Proto-Punk Proto-punk or protopunk is the rock music played by garage bands from the s to mids that presaged the punk rock movement. The Stooges, MC5, Death, etc. See Le Chateau Daddy-O. Psych or Psych Rock Psych refers to contemporary Psychedelic music, often with a darker edge informed by Punk or with Noise elements.
Punk Punk Rock is an anti-establishment music movement that began about although precursors can be found several years earlier , exemplified by The Ramones, the Sex Pistols, The Clash, and The Damned.
It was initially used to identify the style of music that later developed into rock and roll. By the s, rhythm and blues was being used as a blanket term to describe soul and funk as well.
Ragtime An American musical genre, enjoying its peak popularity around the years — Much Ragtime is written in Sonata form, with four distinct themes and a modified first theme appearing in the work. Ragtime music is syncopated, with the melodic notes landing largely on the off-beats.
Rap A form of rhyming lyrics spoken rhythmically over musical instruments that typically uses a musical backdrop of sampling, scratching and mixing by disk jockeys DJs. Rapping is one of the elements of hip hop music and was originally called emceeing. See Hip Hop Hooray. Reggae Music founded upon a rhythm style, which is characterized by regular chops on the back-beat, played by a rhythm guitarist.
Reggae is an African-Caribbean style of music developed on the island of Jamaica and closely linked to the religion of Rastafarianism though not universally popular among its members.
See Roots Train. Retro Music directly imitating styles of the past. See Ear Candy 2. Rockabilly Rockabilly is the earliest form of rock and roll as a distinct style of music. It is a fusion of blues, hillbilly boogie, bluegrass music and country music, and its origins lie in the American South.
It frequently features slower tempos than ska, as well as more vocal harmonies and heavier bass guitar. Second Line Second line is a type of music characterized by a rhythm used in New Orleans jazz and blues music, or those who follow behind the musical members of a parade to enjoy the music. An example of second line is the rhythm of the music performed by jazz bands in New Orleans parades. Ska Ska is a forerunner of reggae, combining Caribbean and American musical styles into uptempo dance music with accents famously on the off beats.
It comes in three primary waves: 1st Jamaica , 2nd England , and 3rd global. Soul Soul music is a combination of rhythm and blues and gospel. Rhythm and blues a term coined by music writer and record producer Jerry Wexler is itself a combination of blues and jazz, and arose in the s as small groups, often playing saxophones, built upon the blues tradition.
Soul music is differentiated by its use of gospel-music devices, its greater emphasis on vocalists, and its merging of religious and secular themes. Soundtrack Music used in the sound mix for a motion picture. For a play or live production, see Cast Recordings. See Overture. Southern Rock Southern rock is a subgenre of rock music and Americana. It developed in the Southern United States from rock and roll, country music, and blues, and is focused generally on electric guitar and vocals.
Sometimes these bands stray into the territory of Jam. Space Rock Space Rock is a genre characterized by loose and lengthy song structures centered on instrumental textures that typically produce a hypnotic, otherworldly sound. It may feature distorted and reverberation-laden guitars, minimal drumming, languid vocals, synthesizers and lyrical themes of outer space and science fiction.
Surf Rock Surf music is a sub-genre of rock music associated with surf culture, particularly as found in Southern California. It was especially popular from to in two major forms. The first is instrumental surf, distinguished by reverb-drenched electric guitars played to evoke the sound of crashing waves, largely pioneered by Dick Dale and the Del-Tones, and made popular by groups like The Ventures.
The second is vocal surf, which took elements of the original surf sound and added vocal harmonies, a movement led by the Beach Boys.
Dick Dale developed the surf sound from instrumental rock, where he added Middle Eastern and Mexican influences, a spring reverb, and the rapid alternate picking characteristics. The genre reached national exposure when it was represented by vocal groups such as the Beach Boys and Jan and Dean. The words made them surfing songs… That was the difference… the real surfing music is instrumental. See Darkside Daddy.
Swing Swing music, also known as swing jazz, is a form of jazz music that developed during the s and solidified as a distinctive style during the s in the United States.
Swing is distinguished primarily by a strong rhythm section, usually including double bass and drums, medium to fast tempo, and the distinctive swing time rhythm that is common to many forms of jazz. See American Pop.
Glitter rock — a synonym for glam — comes from Gary Glitter, about which the less said, the better. More often, a genre name will come from a musician's works. Free jazz comes from Ornette Coleman 's album of the same name; ditto blue-eyed soul, from the Righteous Brothers' LP.
The mids Jamaican boogie dubbed rocksteady is named for an Alton Ellis single , while reggae followed it into Jamaican dancehalls on the heels of the Maytals' Do the Reggay in Soca is a condensation of Trinidadian artist Lord Shorty 's Soul of Calypso, from , while acid house, originally from Phuture's single Acid Tracks , has come to mean anything with a yammering, squealing TB on it.
Eno says in his famous liner notes from 's Discreet Music that the idea had come to him while recuperating in hospital after getting hit by a car in January ; a guest put 18th-century harp music on at low volume, then left the immobile Eno to ponder its placement. The guest remembers it differently: in Geeta Dayal's Another Green World, Eno's then-girlfriend Judy Nylon says she put the harp music on intending to balance it with the pouring rain outside, and that Eno caught on immediately.
Sometimes lyrics become genres. I'd say the 'hip', he'd say the 'hop'. The term jungle came from a soundsystem yard tape from Jamaica that featured the chant "Alla the junglists". Reynolds points out that the British rave label Ibiza had "the first use of the word 'jungle' on their [inch] sleeves", including 's Noise Factory single, Jungle Techno.
Sometimes record labels become genre names, as with industrial, named after Throbbing Gristle's imprint , established in , and lovers rock , industrial's polar opposite: sentimental, romantic reggae named for the London label of Dennis and Eve Harris from around the same time.
And sometimes record labels just mandate new terms. Outlaw country, no wave and techno all came into use via compilation albums: respectively, 's Wanted! There are occasions, too, when an artist just says something is something, and that is that. Think of Afrobeat — not be confused with Afropop, an old catch-all to describe, well, all pop from Africa. Afrobeat was the name coined in by Fela Kuti to describe the music he was inventing around that time, made up of funk, jazz, Nigerian highlife, anti-authoritarian lyrics and high-grade weed.
The 90s were rife with musician-coined genres. Illbient was coined in by DJ Olive, of the trio We, to describe a multimedia presentation to a journalist in Brooklyn. But sometimes an artist assigns a title that becomes something else. Power-pop was coined by Pete Townshend in to define the Who, but wound up being what Eric Carmen of prime power-pop practitioners the Raspberries described as "groups that came out in the 70s that played kind of melodic songs with crunchy guitars and some wild drumming".
Not to mention the endless acolytes who mimicked them.
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