Music And Sub-Genres; Why?

[Ferbian]

In music, every primary genre like Rock, Pop, Heavy Metal etc. have various sub-genres to go with the main genre. And while a lot of music usually manage to fit itself into the different sub-genres, and the fact that they actually make it work, and it makes sense. Overall I just don't see any point in it?

Why is it that music must be so divided into sub-genres? Why isn't there just something called "rock" and that's it? Something like this, for some I would believe could be rather confusing. Certainly I would say it is for me, to separate an alternative metal and an alternative rock band. Or for that sake a heavy metal and alternative metal band.

Sometimes the differences are obvious as ever, however there's differences that hardly makes any sense, and often a lot of these bands gets pushed into both genres because one or two songs variate from the one genre they've been marked into. Say Metallica to use an example, is marked as a Thrash Metal, as well as Heavy Metal band, and exactly why? Why do we need such differences, why can't it just be Metallica - Heavy Metal band?

Am I the only one who shares this opinion? Is musical genres too confusing and could easily be simplified?

 

[Aeon Mathix]

I agree with you, funny thing is I was actually talking to my friend about this the other day, I was looking up some lyrics from one of my favorite bands All That Remains, which is a metal band, and I when I was reading the lyrics to their song "Six" it had their genre in the left hand column of the page and it said a lot of different things like Metalcore, Screamo, Melodic Metal, and I was actually thinking what you were and thats just why cant they just be called Metal? Thats how it is with a lot of bands I like, I listen to a rock band and they are called all of these things like Post grunge, Alternative rock, christian rock, etc. instead of just rock you know? I would find it easier to search on say itunes if it was just all the main genres like Rock, Metal, Rap, Pop, etc. but instead they have all the sub genres that makes it difficult for me to search for a new band, instead of finding a new band to listen to, i find a new genre i never even heard of. Sorry if some of that doesnt make sense I cant really explain what I mean that well

 

[LigerBomb]

C'mon Ferbs you say it like its some kind of personal affront to your delicate sensibilities. Sub-genre's are just a quick way to categorize music so people can quickly find what they are (probably) looking for without wasting their time on bands that sound nothing like what they're after.

It really only becomes an "issue" if you're a big enough loser to waste your time getting ********* when your personal definitions and classifications are blurred and broken by other people's opinions.

I fail to see the big deal.

Oh, and for the record:

Say Metallica to use an example, is marked as a Trash Metal, as well as Heavy Metal band, and exactly why?

It's THRASH Metal man, THRASH metal. Although you could probably make a case with St. Anger.

 

[mrbrownstone]

First off

Say Metallica to use an example, is marked as a Trash Metal

It's THRASH not TRASH, hopefully that was just an honest typo not a dig at Metallica.

Anyway on topic I see where you are coming from to an extent but I diagree. Sub Genres are very necessary, say someone is looking to get into some new music, say thrash metal for example. If everything was just classified as metal they would have to look through Death Metal, Old School Metal, Pirate Metal (yes that really exists) etc in order to find some Thrash Metal. It just saves time basically.

I do agree though that some sub genres are just unnecessary, like say Symphonic Death Metal and Melodic Death Metal (yes both of those are real) is there really a difference between the two? Or Metalcore and Hardcore Metal I really doubt there is a difference.

So yeah in general sub genres are good and a time saver however some are just really stupid and unnecessary.

 

[El Rev sXe]

First off



It's THRASH not TRASH, hopefully that was just an honest typo not a dig at Metallica.

Anyway on topic I see where you are coming from to an extent but I diagree. Sub Genres are very necessary, say someone is looking to get into some new music, say thrash metal for example. If everything was just classified as metal they would have to look through Death Metal, Old School Metal, Pirate Metal (yes that really exists) etc in order to find some Thrash Metal. It just saves time basically.

I do agree though that some sub genres are just unnecessary, like say Symphonic Death Metal and Melodic Death Metal (yes both of those are real) is there really a difference between the two? Or Metalcore and Hardcore Metal I really doubt there is a difference.

So yeah in general sub genres are good and a time saver however some are just really stupid and unnecessary.

Hmmm, there is a difference between Symphonic Death Metal and Melodic Death Metal: as the name says, SDM use symphonies while MDM not necessarily. It's call "melodic" because both guitars and vocals (or in this case growls) has the structure that characterizes death metal itself. However, the tempo (or time) of the bass and drums differs completely with the tipical structure of both, death metal, and symphonic death metal.

However I have to agree with you brownstone, between metalcore and hardcore metal I don't see/hear an obvious, clear difference. I think it's in the style of singing and tempos, but this time I'm not sure. If you want we can debate about it.

Back on topic, well because you cannot put the same label on everything Ferb. Heavy metal and THRASH (lol sorry had to do it) metal are completely different. Now I think the whole point of the sub genres is to facilitate recognition. But also is to say "hey I don't do the same genre as you do! I do blackened doom agressive metal while you do blackened doom passive metal".

Now you say it's unclear all this sub genres thing. If something is metal it should be call like that at all times. But I think the problem is the fact that there are many music critics that says: "no this isn't X genre of music, is actually Z genre cause if you hear the breaks...." . It's just technicalities that musicians that know how to read scores and staves (sorry if it isn't the right term in english) have these pathetics fights. It's their fault IMO!

 

[Alex]

I made a similar thread about genres a while ago and agree with you Ferb.

Some sub-genres are needed, especially if there are blending of two different genres e.g. funk-rock, pop-punk etc.

However some sub genres are created just to categorise a few people. Grunge is one of those genres.

Grunge was given to bands that came out of Seattle like Nirvana, Alice In Chains, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam and a few others. However in most genres there are a similarity e.g. you can tell which bands are pop and which are not, these 'grunge' bands didn't sound similar at all, they all had different influences and all had different styles the only similarity between them is they came from Washington.

So yeah while some sub-genres are needed a lot of them are not.

 

[X]

What a fucking terrible and just flat out idiotic thread. Why sub-genres? Because people need a way to classify and categorize music just like they do to any other form of media or art. Seriously, how is that difficult for you to grasp? How is this a problem? Just calling everything "rock" would be beyond stupid, you're lumping MILLIONS of bands who play thousands of distinctly different types of music into one single category, and that's stupid and almost downright insulting.

I think the better "Why" question would be "Why did you create this abomination of a thread?" quite frankly. I'm tempted to trash this thread it's so stupid.

 

[The Crock]

Ummm... y'know, there's definitely a reason for sub-genres. It's a variation of that one specific genre, so it gets a slightly different classification. Without sub-genres it would be very complicated to classify music. Fairly annoying as well. They're useful.

 

[Remy LaCroix]

Pirate Metal (yes that really exists)

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Wow, I hoped you're red-repped to hell for this. No, it does NOT. If lyrical content determined a subgenre, then there would be thousands of labels with DIFFERENT musical styles. You can have a black metal band wail about sunshine and lollipops, while have a post-punk band sing about the same thing; would they be called sunshine and lollirock? Hell no! That logic is flawed, but that's not what you were talking about originally, I just wanted to bash you for thinking "pirate metal" is legit. Alestorm are NOT pirate metal.

Anyway, back on topic. Yes, subgenres are needed. It helps categorize music and makes it easier for people to find what they're looking for. I hate posting in an "all-metal" thread cuz I like black metal and funeral doom, and those subgenres are obscure (the latter being more), so I'd be out of place.

When people talk about hardcore punk in an "all-hxc punx" thread, I'll be out of place with all the faux-metalcore and the new "hardcore" with all the sweeps and shit I've been listening to (the scene here is atrocious) -- I'll be one of the few people who'd talk about crust punk and powerviolence.

Let's compare this to artists in the art world: Salvador Dali was a surrealist, and van Gogh was a post-impressionist -- to call 'em both painters just for the sake of it is ignorance. Sure, they're painters, but they have their different styles.

The world needs labels, pretty much. Or else it'd be a giant clusterfuck. This is why the Dewey Decimal System rocks!

 

[TheAbsolute1]

I'll use an analogy we can all understand. Genres and Sub-Genres is Similar to Wrestling and all its different styles. You've got Technical, Power, High Flyers, Shooters, and many more. Although it's all Wrestling, it is also different forms of wrestling. There are far too many different types of the same music to categorize them the same.

 

[Spidey Revivey]

To put it simply, Sub-Genres are needed because there are experimental bands out there and we need to have our iPods organized.

What would you categorize a group like Gorillaz as? They aren't a typical Rock band, and you can't jot them down as Pop or Rap, though you can claim some of their songs are influenced by them. Same goes for Linkin Park really. And I assure you there are millions of groups out there that are so WTF with their music you can't possibly label that shit.

So we have Sub-Genres and we need Sub-Genres. That's like saying why do we have colors like Indigo or Burgundy? It broadens the color scheme quite a bit and keeps the rest of us from conforming to a basic albeit uneducated frame of mind. Sub-Genres are those little colors in the crayon box that makes us feel smart when we use them.

 

[zomigosh]

I'll give you an example:

Led Zeppelin is a Hard Rock band. Now, The Beatles are a Classic Rock band.

Can you see the difference between the two? Both of them have a rock style as a whole but their music is completely different. Being their music can both be similar but completely different at the same time, that's why you need sub generes.

 

[Attitude]

This is tough. On one hand I feel we don't need sub genres. Country doesn't have sub genres. I mean they they have Old Country and Modern Country. And you could say Bluegrass is a sub genre for country. On the other hand it's good that we do have sub genres.

For example I just looked up Coldplay and Bon Jovi. Bon Jovi is considered a Hard Rock Band and Coldplay is considered Alternative Rock. Both are Rock Bands but they have different styles of rock.

Sub Genres are needed in some aspects.