Who else is sick of these "Genres" that aren't really Genres?

Ex: Indie, Electronic, World, Alternative (I sort of think that's a genre actually, but only if it's Alternative-[Something]), and Emo. Most of these are not real genres.

Indie pisses me off the most.

Indie is how you describe a record label not a piece of music.

Anybody else with me and/or have an genre that pisses them off?

And Ambient music just pisses me off in general. Atleast usually.

NME has really started pissing me off lately by inventing genres and shoehorning artists into them. "New Rave" seems to have caught on, despite universal rejection of everyone it claims to classify. Trip hop is also a bullshit genre.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: The Twinkie That Wouldn't Die,

Genres in general are nonsense. Most people don't start a band with the express aim of compartmentalising themselves to appeal to the smallest possible audience. Most people just make music that feels right to them. It's the music press that feels the need to micro-manage bands into obscure/imaginery genres so they can relate them to artists past and present, and make themselves look clever in the process.

So what are the "real" genres?

quote:

Originally posted by ScotttheStorm:
Who else is sick of these "Genres" that aren't really Genres?

I think I see what you are getting at but some people like love having a specific genre for every single dang thing they hear. So yeah, I hate those ultra-specific genres and they mainly seem to surface around the electronic genre.

When I hear a new band, I have no problem stating that it’s good, solid rock/pop or vice-versa—wait, even the order matters?!. Others will jump in and say, “no it’s ‘twee’ rock with some understated chamber pop.” All I can think is “what the?!”

Just the other day someone said they were listening to “drone rock,” what the heck is that?

And yeah, especially in the electronic section this seems to happen a lot. I was just telling someone earlier that the electronic buffs (or so the ones that think they are) go crazy when anyone mislabels their beloved music. Heck, some of it is electronic techno but no, they must “correctly” call it “drill ‘n’ bass”—make sure you use the quotes around the “n”!

Evidently, I think it’s pretty ridiculous.

I know some people are around here, but I try not to be a Genre Nazi. I've always said the best bands are tough to categorize anyway. If someone asks me what kind of music I like, I'll usually say, "rock", even if that encompasses everything from Carl Perkins to Carl Newman.

The problem with so "rock" is that it means nothing to anyone. Most genres have very specific characteristics that qualify them to fit in the genre ("electronic" music is usually the easiest to categorize because they are so strict about what qualifies a track as a certain genre). "Rock" is a supergenre because it covers so much territory.. there is a huge difference between Boris, Nickelback, and The Fall... yet they are all "rock". Post-punk is one of the easiest genres for me to classify because it concentrates more on time period, intentions, and mindset than it does on the actual sound.. that's why The Birthday Party, Joy Division, and The Slits can all be put in the same genre.

Genre classification also makes it much easier to find like-minded individuals and get/give recommendations. If I ask you what type of music you listen to and you respond "rock" then I'm done with the conversation. If you respond that you're into some drone, sludge, stoner rock, and Japanese noise punk then I can automatically start shootin' the shit with you.

It's kindof an aside, but I have realized over time that most of what distinguishes one genre from another is the sound of the singer's voice. I have heard so many country songs that were only "country" because of the singer's twangy vocals. And I've heard so many "Emo" bands that just had a singer with a whiney voice. Rap music? Metal? Pop?

Granted there are also lyrical topics, instrumentation, rhythems, styling, song structure, and the like that also have a huge impact, but I never completely realized how much the genre classification depended on the vocals.

quote:

Originally posted by Shadrach:
It's kindof an aside, but I have realized over time that most of what distinguishes one genre from another is the sound of the singer's voice. I have heard so many country songs that were only "country" because of the singer's twangy vocals. And I've heard so many "Emo" bands that just had a singer with a whiney voice. Rap music? Metal? Pop?

I don't know about about all that... spoken-word v. rap? And even when a rap song has a guitar track, it has a very difference part it plays in the song than a pop song.

You play a rock track with someone rapping over it to a group of people on the street, and I bet you anything everyone of them would call it a "Rap" song. I'm just saying that the average person typically classifys music genres based on the way the singer sounds.

It's not absolute of course. Just an observation.

But the average "music listener" does not pertain. That'd be like walking up to a random person and asking them to watch Koyaanisqatsi (which I keep forgetting to watch, sorry!) to get their opinion on it.

We are not the norm here, the majority of us stick to the underground and the experimental.. and even the ones who don't (Dork) have good reasoning and music knowledge. The people who coin genre terms that stick are not generally random people, they usually have musical pull (even though New Rave is lame as hell.. it was originally a joke term by the Klaxons, I believe.. and people took it seriously)

I don’t know, I guess I just don’t really care what other people think when I say I am listening to “rock.” I always carry a bunch of CDs to listen to on my breaks at work and I listen to them throughout the day. One time during lunch a girl came in to practice and she asked me as I was listening to Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, “What kind of music is that?” Mind you, this is a little 9-nine year old girl, so I just replied, “oh it’s rock.” She then responded with, “Oh OK, my sister likes rock, she listens to Evanescence.” Now, I don’t know about you guys but I never felt the uncontrollable urge to say, “oh no, this is much different because blah, blah.” I mean, who cares? So I just said, “Oh, that’s cool.” They are both stems of rock and who cares if one of my students assumes that rock is X or Y band.

I know a lot of genre Nazis around here and they really bug me. They say, “I am listening to the new one by The Yellow Chairs. This is some interesting nu-wave, shoegaze music, with a bit of drill ‘n’ bass without the bass and some Americana, folksy guitars that have that kind of grungy feel but more drone vocals and some of that psychedelia without the twee but more of a surf kind of feel and with some nice sludge and garage (not punk!) drumming on the side.”

They want to get all definite and supreme when it comes to this kind of stuff. I just think, “Man, get over yourself.” These are people that take themselves too seriously I suppose. All I know is that I like a lot of different styles of music and maybe I don’t know the exact, definite, final genre for each album I own but then again, so what?

quote:

Originally posted by FragileKidA:
I know a lot of genre Nazis around here and they really bug me. They say, “I am listening to the new one by The Yellow Chairs. This is some interesting nu-wave, shoegaze music, with a bit of drill ‘n’ bass without the bass and some Americana, folksy guitars that have that kind of grungy feel but more drone vocals and some of that psychedelia without the twee but more of a surf kind of feel and with some nice sludge and garage (not punk!) drumming on the side.”

I laughed out loud IRL.

Yo, B... how's it goin'.

Well, like I said, I like it for making/receiving recommendations. If someone tells me they like Evanescense, that's great.. I'm not going to bother taking the discussion past "oh, that's cool" because chances are that person is going to not even going to consider most of what I listen to music and there's no chance that we'll see eye to eye. I like genres for discussing music with like-minded individuals. Now, I can discuss music with you, FKA, even though you won't get genre specific with me. I feel it's safe to say that we have fairly firm grasps on each other's taste.. we've been around each other for a bit now.

Hell, when I first came here a year ago, I was floundering trying to figure out what I liked.. I had no music that I felt I identified with and no reasoning behind what I liked. Thanks to the frequent posters here, you guys helped me gain a lot of confidence in my opinions and helped guide me to a lot of stuff I love now.. and that was just a year ago! I don't know if you guys remember how little I shared my opinion at the beginning, really only ask for recommendation an seeing what you guys were all listening.

Sorry to get all cute and sentimental, but thanks for all that! I owe you guys a beer if I ever see you in a bar (and you happen to be wearing a shirt with your handle on it; or if I come out to your neck of the woods FKA, I'm moving in January! Got my lease to sign today!)

I once thought surf was as simple a genre to classify as possible. Until I came across CD Baby's site. I often have no idea how they or the artists who sell music at the site end up tossing their non-surf album in the surf category.

I agree, Fragile, that classifications are annoying and whatnot. And this isn't an aggressive question at all, but how do you suggest we describe music to one another? If you can't use "genre" classifications, and don't want to move into the comparison territory (which actually get more fishy, in my opinion, than genre discussions), how do you tell someone what something sounds like?

Cool, lots of responses to make.

quote:

Originally posted by Blue Recluse:
I laughed out loud IRL.

Yo, B... how's it goin'.

I am glad I provided a laugh bro. And I am being completely serious when I ask but, what is “IRL”?

As for how I am doing; eh, things could be different but they’re not.

quote:

Originally posted by JGlass:
Sorry to get all cute and sentimental, but thanks for all that! I owe you guys a beer if I ever see you in a bar (and you happen to be wearing a shirt with your handle on it; or if I come out to your neck of the woods FKA, I'm moving in January! Got my lease to sign today!)

Awesome, I will be waiting for you to hit me up. I was actually just thinking of making some cool shirts that say my moniker on the front and on the back say “Listen to The Stage Names”—I’ll let you know.

I do remember when you rarely posted though and I remember you kind of just hid on the side. I also remember poking fun at your “b0arder” name a few times and I think—correct me if I am wrong—that opened you up a bit. We chatted a few times in the chat and through PMs and it’s been great man. I appreciate all of the help and I am glad that you are more comfortable now to post here a lot. That does make me happy because this place is for everyone and anyone that loves music and wants to talk about it. Good luck on your critiquing of music, don’t let a belittling, rude and tactless person tell you otherwise, you are on your way.

quote:

Originally posted by Shadrach:
I agree, Fragile, that classifications are annoying and whatnot. And this isn't an aggressive question at all, but how do you suggest we describe music to one another? If you can't use "genre" classifications, and don't want to move into the comparison territory (which actually get more fishy, in my opinion, than genre discussions), how do you tell someone what something sounds like?

Good questions Shadrach. If I need to provide a genre, I usually try to let them know one, though I am still not too definite. From there I name some similar bands and some similar songs. I will let people know that “X band is this genre” or “Y artist is this genre” but it will never be anything like “Z girl band is screamo with some nice trip-hop that might be gabba or maybe even neo-electro and acid trance!”

My question may have gotten lost in the shuffle:

quote:

Originally posted by Maximum Jack:
So what are the "real" genres?

quote:

Originally posted by FragileKidA:
Good luck on your critiquing of music, don’t let a belittling, rude and tactless person tell you otherwise, you are on your way.

He can tell me otherwise, it's fine.. he has, once again, not backed up his claims. I think his shenanigans are cute.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: JGlass,