strange names for genres of music

[White_Lightning]

*Originally posted by **HP Ellison ***
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.

Yeah, or the Dismemberment Plan.

I just wanted to pop in and say that KillerFig’s description of emo is a remarkably accurate summary of a phenomenon that is difficult to describe. For a more thorough and detailed idea of what emo is, click here.

[Fingolfin]

Alternative Country

[elfkin477]

*Originally posted by (your name here) *
**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? **

Which just makes The Urge’s oft catorgization(at least in reviews) of “reggae-ska hybrid” confusing… Just sounds like Ska to me I tried to explain to my dad what “hardcore” meant, but either I’m not good at explaining it, or defining genres is a futile effort.

[DKW]

Anyone with the Winamp player has access to a number of really, really weird genres. (Still have no idea what “Booty Bass”, “Porn Groove”, or “Primus” are, and not really sure I want to know.)

As far as the usage of all these different labels? Well, main genres are always helpful for sorting out the main categories, not to mention making the jobs of the people who have to classify things easier. No one at Tower Records is going to know emo from emu; having the catchall “Pop/Rock/Soul” category really helps (as well as freeing them from having to make a distinction between Pop, Rock, and Soul, if you catch my drift).

Subgenres, particularly the dance subgenres, go into the different styles. The distinctions are a lot more subtle than for the main genres, and you have to listen carefully to find out which is which. For example, disco is the classic dance music, house is the modern version, eurobeat is fast-paced with powerful instruments, trance has “mantra”-sounding music, rave is the forceful, repetitive, minimalist pure dance sound, techno is heavily “electronic”, and jungle and drum 'n bass are the primary breakbeat subgenres (and yes, there is a difference!). Although the distinctions are subtle, these are definitely different kinds of music, made for different purposes (never play a rave song at a 7th-grade dance party, for example), so it’s usually worthwhile to learn the distinctions.

Beyond that, if you don’t know why you should care about all those SUBsubgenres (“Christian Gangsta Rap??”), you probably shouldn’t care. I noticed that the biggest motivation for these is not wanting to be put in a different genre or subgenre (the dreaded “electronica” is one). Fine and good for them, but you’d best stick to the terms you understand.