I don't really listen to much music. I started to in 2020. I exclusively listen to albums. Almost never in 1 sitting but I'll pick off from where I left off. And I do have a few genres I enjoy. But that could be because I don't listen to much. Anyways. Thought I'd share.
The next best thing though: an app that recreates the experience as much as possible. Side flipping, crackle, gatefold covers and so on. I made it because I missed most of the things mentioned in this video. It's called Vinyl Fetish and it's available for iPhone and iPad. It can pick up albums from your library, whether sourced by Apple Music or not.
When I was considering pivoting from instrumental music to vocal music and wondering what to write about as a leader of a relatively boring life, this was the video that finally made me realize that not every song has to be autobiographical. This video has helped me jumpstart my lyric writing. Eventually my writing did end up having my life and thoughts bleed through into the lyrics, but it still allows me the freedom of polishing some untruths in there knowing that officially the song is from a fictional person's perspective. Thank you Noah. Big fan of Ghost Notes as well, an avid listener.
it is not that genres are dieing. it is more that subcultures are dieing because there's so much distraction (and comfort) at your fingertips that ppl do not rebel anymore. and rebellion is wwat most of youth cultures are about. remember when electronic dance music (not EDM! that term wasn't coined back then) declared 'no more fucking rock'n'roll!' and was anti-stardom with the djs being tucked away in some dark corner of the room instead being put front and center on big stages? it was all about the music and not the ppl who made it. today ppl dress emo if they feel like it, go to raves on weekends, look cute and preppy for instagram but it's more about lifestyle choices and looks, not about belonging to a certain peer group. music has become and ex- and interchangeable soundtrack to ex- and interchangeable lives and isn't the primary and essential choice that informs everything from your outfit (remember punks? ravers? skater kids? NYC hardcore and straight edge folks?) to your outlook in life, your political views and the way you act, talk and move through life in general. there's not much left to rebel against and pretty much everything has been said, has been done and has been heard before.
One of my favourite playlists I made I titled "The Rebellion of Hope" a collection of songs that I wanted to tell the story of a group of punks who hijack a media station, get into an argument amongst themselves and are ultimately destroyed by the fascist authority they rebelled against. The playlist includes songs from Green Day, RATM, New Radicals, Bruce Cockburn, Golden Earring, Soundgarden, and begins with Chumbawamba. While it would have been nice to be able to have every song be the same type of sound, ultimately the way each song added to the story was more important.
As a lifelong musician, i realized the oppressive limitations of genre at a young age. Heres some questions: If I use this sound will it not be _______ genre What kind of music is the song Im making? If its not an identifiable "kind of music" will people like it? If two songs of mine are different what genre artist am I? The answer to every one of these for me: To care about the answer to any of these questions is the opposite of art. They are rules. Theres art remaining when copying but if you go by percentage how much percentage is not your art? How ok are you with that number?
I would make one change to the “most recently emerged genre” part. It’s not all EDM, I would reclassify it as Electronic Music in general. Not all electronic music is meant for dancing, and I think it’s worth noting that. Electronic Music is of course arbitrary, and there’s plenty of Electronic Music that doesn’t sound electronic at all, maybe sounding more like folk or something else. But there is a theme in Electronic Music: all of the music has strong roots in production methods that utilize synthesizers and/or computers to create the music
the EDM classification as used as in this video is utter bull.... . EDM was used as an umbrella marketing term, mainly because a catchphrase was needed to take over the US festival market. using that to describe the latest 'new genre' is ignorant at best. what about jungle / drum'n'bass which put something new on the table and formed a massive worldwide movement since the mid-90s? what about dubstep (not: skrillex and that) which came to a sparse, bass driven vibe? or even more recent - footwork x juke which took abstraction in dance music to a whole new level? the latter might still be hyperniche as a genre but looking at artists like jana rush and their music there is innovation happening right now.
This is an issue when people are hyper fixated in their own subject and lose sight of the trees for the forest. If you remove agreed upon definitions you end up alienating the general public, gatekeeping for "certain" kind of people. Same has been attempted with other types of art, such as theater to painting - or even cosine! And you know who is the people eating at the "fusion contemporarily" restaurant and who at the hotdogs joint? Yup.
you're missing a key point - division and subjugation are essential tools for capitalists - what you're describing is ultimately an effect of capitalism, not genre categorization, necessarily
Genres are super helpful .. but yeah sure, in the mainstream and for younger generations, genres are probably baffling, but if you can understand the 100s of genres and their histories, they are extremely useful. Each one has its lineage, its intersections. Genres are a genetic code and are very misunderstood, especially by the industry itself. The idea that genres as basic as "Rock" were remotely useful even when they were invented is kinda deluded. Genres need to be much more detailed than that to be useful. Also, genres can be personal, since theyre social. So you can have a genre of "the kind of music me and my friend used to listen to" and that's fine - its still a genre - and a very useful one too.
genres, sub-genres and sub-sub-genres are indeed helpful for specialists in the field. i do expect, being actively and professionally invlvd in the electronic music scene for 25+ years, average electronic music fans to be able to tell house, techno and trance apart, to have a rough idea of what drum'n'bass sounds like and - at best - to recognize that electro goes 'boom-tchk' instead of 'boom-boom-boom-boom' all the time. i do not expect them to know shit about darkjungle, raggacore, mythstep, (neo)detroit, technobass, ghettobass, ghettohouse, anarchcore or tribe tekno.
Regarding the emergence of new genres, consider how technology lead to most of those new developments. Cheap guitars in the 50's led to rock'n'roll, turntables through the 70's-80's led to hip-hop, computers in the 80's-90's led to electronic music. Each of these genres adds a "letter" in the alphabet of music which can combine with any other to create new hybrids the same way 26 letters in English can combine into virtually infinite writings. I think we're also just on the cusp of electronic music truly evolving, it's still essentially in its infancy.
I do agree that people tend to embrace tiny sub-genres rather than broad genres (outside of pop music, that is. I think the majority of pop lovers see themselves as "pop music fans" first and foremost, and the other stuff they listen to is secondary; and I myself have to say that I still have a great deal of attachment to the word "punk", both because of the broad swath of music it describes and the community) But as for new genres being created, there are definitely people out there making unique music that could be classified as part of new genres, but in the current hyper-capitalist landscape if what you're doing isn't called pop or rap, it's not going to sell, so there's no incentive for labels to pounce on a specific genre tag like they did "grunge" or "emo". And incidentally, I think when people say they listen to "everything", they just mean pop, hip hop, electronica, and radio rock/metal; I doubt most of them listen to hardcore or big band or death metal or delta blues or, say, Japanese classical music, much less all of the above (maybe you - the person reading this right now - do, but notice I said MOST).
For me the answer for question what I listen to can start im many ways depending on what I've been listening lately. But it always ends with '...but mostly metal'
I'll never get over how pissy people got when The Sword went from doom metal to stoner rock (then "dad rock," whatever the hell that means, still sounds like stoner rock to me). Don't listen if you don't like it, but don't tell a band that they're obligated to keep making records the same way until they break up or die.
7:21 When I saw the video title, this was pretty much exactly the thought that came into my head. Definitely agree with what you're saying here. I was very interested to see this topic come up, because I consider myself a multi-genre musician. I've played Blues, funk, salsa, classical, jazz, progressive rock, folk, electronic... I just love music and eagerly consume and perform it whenever I can. As long as it's good, the genre's almost irrelevant. I've recently started paying more attention to marketing my work to fans, and so this is an important subject. Bandcamp lets you tag tracks/albums with any genres you want, but nevertheless, you're required to have a "primary genre" as well, which is always included. Since I'm releasing both electronic work and piano solos at the moment, this is slightly awkward (unless I want to create a separate artist account, that is). As for my answer to the question "what kind of music do you listen to?" - it's "Bandcamp" 😛 Bandcamp radio (daily/weekly) constantly introduces me to new discoveries, and it's a fascinating journey.
A great example of genres no longer defining groups, bands, or individuals now adays is the fact that most groups don't feel the need to tie themselves to one genre anymore. Some groups experiment album to album. Others even go song to song. A great example of this is a wonderful band I found called TWRP. Each album tries to be something slightly new but still their style. They have a synthwave album, a jazz album, and even a drum and guitar driven album. Lincoln Park did this same thing when they shifted their music with some of their newer albums. Some old fans of the band disliked the new sound while others embraced it. This new age of being "what you want" has really blurred lines across genres. You make music that is what you want to make, regardless of the inspiration that it may come from. It is still your style, your take on that inspiration, but it can fit so many different "Genres"
Lordy, I could go on a LOOOOOONG time writing about this, and so I will... When Living Colour released vivid in 1988, I was blown away not just by the music, but by the fact that African American men were making some of the hardest rock out there. I commented on that to my friend, and he said "what do you think Jimi Hendrix was doing, then?" That opened my eyes, and ever since, I've been actively searching out connections that all "genres" of music have. Nothing exists in a vacuum, and everything influences - and is influenced - by everything else. In fact, when I categorize my music, that's exactly what I lump rock, metal, folk rock, pop music, etc. etc. etc. into - the category of "Everything Else." Yeah, I still keep things like "Country," "Folk," "Rap/Soul," and "Jazz" in separate categories, but even within those categories, I acknowledge that some music just can't be pigeonholed. As for "Classical," (which always includes medieval plainsong, Renaissance, Baroque, Romantic, Impressionistic and Modern, among many many many other labels), I've taken to calling all of that "Composed Music." Yeah yeah, all music is "composed," but "Flight of the Bumblebee" is WAY different than "Paranoid," so cut me some slack. BTW, my categorizations here are based on my collection of digital music. Yes, I still collect MP3s! And I organize them in Apple Music (yes yes, I'm old), with the categories I've described above. As for my playlists? ENTIRELY chronological. You want to see how music is influenced and influences? Listen to it in the context of when it was either written, premiered or recorded, and compare that to music that was created at the same time, regardless of "genre." It's eye-opening.
