Why is “ska” music called “ska?”
and what the heck is this newer thing called “HxC EmO?”
Note: these aren’t band names, they are genre names, AFAIK.
Why is “ska” music called “ska?”
and what the heck is this newer thing called “HxC EmO?”
Note: these aren’t band names, they are genre names, AFAIK.
Hey. I can’t answer the question about Ska, but I can (sort of, maybe) answer the “HxC Emo” question.
HxC first. HxC means Straight Edge Hardcore. Straight Edge is not a genre as such; it refers to someone who has committed to taking no recreational drugs (including alcohol, tobacco, and caffeine). The term originated with the hardcore band Minor Threat’s anti-drug anthem “Straight Edge.” Straight Edge kids can be identified by the Xs they paint on their hands at shows. Why Xs? Because it was customary for a lot of clubs hosting punk and hardcore shows to draw an X on the hand of anyone who was under 21, so the bartender would know not to serve them. Straight Edge kids started drawing an X on their hands to show that they were voluntarily not drinking at the club. Straight Edge hardcore bands abbreviate their genre as HxC.
Emo is a style of music that has its roots in punk rock but is much more melodic and frequently involves emotions other than just anger. It was originally referred to as Emo-core punk, but eventually devoloped an identity of its own. It’s a pretty broad genre, including bands as diverse as Rites of Spring, Promise Ring, and The Get Up Kids.
HxC Emo, then, is a combination of Hardcore and Emo elements, by Straight Edge artists. It is also a pretty broad genre, but off hand the only such band I can think of would be Boysetsfire. Hope this is some help to you.
-KillerFig
ok, killerfig nialed the hvc emo good. while striaghtedge goe sinto more depth than that, i won’t hijack here.
i think ska is a derivitive from a jamaican (sp.?) or other caribbean term. since it partially evolved out of that region, i’m assuming that it’s name comes fomr there too.
i guess it goes right along the mystery of the name reggae.
ah well, it’s all good music, right?
ugh, can’t type today, sorry.
In the past couple of years it’s apparently been decided that we need to have more subgenres of music than we need bands to fill them. Look at electronic music - there must be a gazillion different microgenres within it. I have yet to hear these genres well-defined, or any argument why they should be called anything other than “person with synthesizer”. Many people can argue for hours about which sub-sub-sub-category a certain band falls into, and I suspect the only way to end such arguments is to make a new category just for that band.
I’d just love to be the guy who woke up one morning and decided that all this old, musty-sounding music was out and I was going to start composing something that would last, something with some substance, something classical!
what about shoegazing? .
uh…the link doesn’t work.
I once thought “shoegazing” referred to guitarists constantly looking down at their effects pedals, as a lot of the shoegazer bands played with distorted guitars. But, apparently, it just refers to either (1) the fact that shoegazers are so self-centered, they’d rather look at their shoes than at you, or (2) they’re so introspective, they just spend all their time kinda looking at themselves (akin to “navel-gazing,” I guess). Cite is an old copy of New Musical Express that I probably read drunk, so take the above with a grain of salt.
As I recall, some NME wag just pointed out that in every picture you saw of one of these bands, they were staring at their shoes.
You have to admit it was a better name than “dreampop”.
Saw a small blurb article for a new genre called Nortec. It’s a combination of Mexican Norteno music and techno. :rolleyes:
Person with synthesizer? Heh. What was the most recent electronica you’ve heard? An early 80s Kitaro album?
You’re saying Propellerheads (Break Beats), Portishead (Trip Hop), Orbital (Trance), Daft Punk (House) and Prodigy (Hardcore Techno) are all essentially the same? Or even that they can all be summed up as “person with synthesizer”?
All genres are inherently subjective. You’re not really gonna find a scientific delineation of genre borderlines. That doesn’t mean there aren’t significant differences in the feel of each subgenre.
While I don’t agree on the “guy with synth” description, can anyone really keep all the electronica sub-genres straight? Between drum and bass, jungle, big beat, etc., it drives me nuts. Similar names, similar styles, uggh!
You know, I saw Sing-Sing play last month, and that’s pretty much exactly what Emma Lush was doing. They sounded great, but man, at least wave around a glow-stick or something.
Psychobilly!
Although it can be very confusing, I’d argue that most of these subgenres are necessary. Face it-there are so many bands out there today that for the sake of the consumer, we can’t simply just use punk, rock, electronic, country and what have you. Granted, this means that the consumer has to be a hell of a lot more educated, but such is the way of things.
Besides, imagine the terrible situations that could arise from lack of subgenres in the underground scenes. You're a hardcore fan, you see a Death Cab for Cutie flier. Now, say you've never heard of them, but they're playing somewhere that puts on a lot of hardcore shows, and you figure, hey, the word "death" is in the title, I'm sure they're hard as hell.
Exactly.
Powerviolence.
For the people who say we need these silly genres to keep all these bands straight I say, “No we don’t.” You think that because you know what the hell the subtle differences are between these things. I don’t, and telling me, “Well THIS one is Goa, but THIS one is Trance” isn’t going to enlighten me because I have no idea what these things mean.
To me, yeah, they’re pretty similar. If I owned this stuff and sorted my music by genre, they’d all be on the same shelf.
These little microgenres mean nothing to anyone except the people who invent them. And what’s funny is how often I hear people saying “Music is great these days because no one pays attention to genres.” You must be kidding. We’re in a genre explosion. Perhaps it’s true that musicians are making more stuff that doesn’t classify as easily, but that hasn’t stopped people from inventing genres for them and then getting all bent out of shape when someone else doesn’t agree to their classifications.
you consider portishead to be at all similar to the prodigy???
i guess all genres sound the same to someone who isn’t interested in the music, but to someone who is into (in this case) electronica, the genres are an absolute must.
well, they don’t serve a particular purpose, except for description or classification, but then again, this is the only purpose for any genre
prodigy use frenetic hip hop break beats, hardcore guitars and many vocal samples.
portishead use turntables, live instrumentation (including an orchestra at one time) and have a feel and sound more akin to soulfull jazz than fatboy slim party-music. the two have as much in common as the sex pistols do with miles davis.
that said, i couldn’t hope to differentiate between the multiple genres of metal around. i’m sure they’re still necessary though.
plus kudos to hp ellison! death cab for cutie rock my world!